Do you guys think I damaged my headphones?

[oohhh yeah]

Hi guys,

So today I went to play GT6 and plugged in my headphones into my receiver, unknown that the volume was set to 40 (that is the setting for non headphones) and when the headphones are plugged in the required setting is only 8.

So it blasted my headphones pretty loud....the headphones sound alright but it is hard to tell exactly how it sounded before/ how well it sounded before. I got them recently and I am am wondering if the headphones are damaged/sound worse/worse off than before the sound blast?

Or do headphones not damage like that in this scenario and it is a "work or not work" or it will be easy to tell the damage?

Cliffs:
-Sound setting on high
-Plug in headphones
-Headphones get blasted for a sec or two
-Can't really tell if headphones are damaged or not
-Are my headphones sound quality slightly damaged/not as good as before or is it just as good as before the incident? I am just worried I ruined a bit of quality as the headphones are quite new I feel optimistic as the headphones SEEM to be the same as before, but I do not know much about headphones and if this scenario is cause for concern.

Basically I'm trying to ask, if I don't notice it, could it have suffered slight quality loss? Or is it if I don't notice it then I need not worry.

Thanks


Edit: Also, this will probably get answered regarding the original question, theoretically if you wanted to ruin a set of headphones could you do it by plugging it into your computer/phone and cranking it to 100% and leaving it there for _____ minutes?

 

[Grayfox]

Depends on the headphones.

Putting too much power into speakers can blow them but with out knowing the peak output level limit of the speakers it is hard to say.

 

[oohhh yeah]

They're a pair of Somic G923 http://www.dx.com/p/somic-g923-styl...lack-red-3-5mm-plug-220cm-169555#.UzF9Q_ldWSo

The sound quality is excellent on these...they sound the same as far as I can tell but I'm wondering if it's possible to have slightly degraded the sound quality because there is no easily observable difference from before this incident.

 

[Parker]

If they sound the same, does it really matter?

I'm no expert on the matter but I'd think if they were damaged you'd definitely be able to tell.

 

[Omnis]

They're fine. If you can't notice a difference, you won't. Those aren't exactly audiophile headphones anyway.

 

[oohhh yeah]

They're fine. If you can't notice a difference, you won't. Those aren't exactly audiophile headphones anyway.

If they sound the same, does it really matter?

I'm no expert on the matter but I'd think if they were damaged you'd definitely be able to tell.

Well, the problem is that I'm not sure if they sound the same or not, partly because I haven't had too much use with them. I'd just exchange it for peace of mind but return shipping is expensive.

They seem fine...but how do headphone damage work in a situation like this? Is it possible for headphones to have slight quality loss in this situation where it is not totally noticeable to the user?

Is that even possible?

 

[Minty]

I would think the speaker on headphones are light enough to where excess power wouldn't put too much stress on it unless you went totally overboard. And if you did get to a point where it broke them, it would probably have killed them entirely. So if they work at all, they probably work as well as they always have, especially if it was only under that much power for a short time.

 

[Omnis]

No. If you overdrive your headphones, they'll clip. If they don't sound flappy or buzzy, and if the driver itself looks fine (but you don't want to take it apart), then they're fine.

They're $20 headphones. Relax. If you can't tell they're broken, they're no broken. If they are, it's only $20.

 

[Jet Badger]

Edit: Also, this will probably get answered regarding the original question, theoretically if you wanted to ruin a set of headphones could you do it by plugging it into your computer/phone and cranking it to 100% and leaving it there for _____ minutes?

Without an additional amplifier, no way. Especially on a retail portable device. I had $10 headphones, I would connect them to 2W desktop speakers and ramp up the volume so I can hear them from afar. They sounded like crap before the "treatment" and made no difference afterwards. Headphone drivers are not that fragile really.

 

[eSZee]

What's the max power your receiver outputs through the headphone jack and what's the max power the HPs can handle?

 

[phillgt2002]

Your headphones are fine. You can only break headphones if you put a powerful amp that's past the headphones ability to handle and bring the volume up. Like Omnis said, if the headphones don't sound flappy, or static like when bass hits they're fine. The drivers in headphones shouldn't be able to flex too much to break.