Can playing music too loud ruin your headphones?

M

-mondo-

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Aug 9, 2011
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Hi guys. I have some JVC HA-RX900 headphones (they're great. love em). Today while i was in the shower, my girlfriend used my comp. She watched some music videos.. listening to them through my headphones. The problem is she wasn't wearing them.. she just cranked it so loud that she heard the music from wherever they were sitting in the room. When i walked in myself i thought she was listening to music through the speakers..

Anyway. I'm not sure if it's in my head or not but the bass seems a little flat. Can playing music too loud damage the drivers? I'm not sure how long they were playing like that, I still have to ask her. I've owned these phones for over 2 years now.

Any help/comments would be greatly appreciated :)

P.S. I just ordered another pair because.. they are that good that I want another set for the future, either way!
 
i doubt that your computer sound card has enough power to drive those things to the point that they would get damaged unless you are using an amplifier......then yes it is possible they were damaged. typically you would hear distortions in the sound output.
 
You can most definitely damage speakers playing sound too loud. Though it can depend if your sound card is even powerful enough to put that volume into your headphones.
 
The main thing to watch for is clipping. If you hear popping/crackling turn down the volume.
 
if the headphone design is not efficient with cooling the driver's voice coils it is possible to damage them by over-heating with prolonged high-volume use.
 
SirMaster said:
You can most definitely damage speakers playing sound too loud. Though it can depend if your sound card is even powerful enough to put that volume into your headphones.
Click to expand...

+1 to this. So to answer your thread question, Yes.
 
Heat is the real enemy, as mentioned above. Not only the drivers, but also the amplification circuitry may overheat during extended periods under heavy load. Damage to the drivers will manifest itself as crackling usually, but the "flat bass" you describe may be the result of harm to the amplifier. If it was being driven directly off your onboard sound, this is a good possibility. There may not be enough power coming from the onboard to damage the headphones, but I doubt very much that the opamp onboard is going to be able to handle max volume indefinetly. Your phones are most likely ok, test them on another source before replacing them.

Dustin
 
once you hear popping under normal volume.. that's the sign that your headphones are toast.
 
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