iPod headphone out distortion

[coolrunner989]

I just got a new pair of headphones after my old ones broke about a month ago. I get home, plug them into my ipod and they sound great, except for this faint distortion that especially comes through on drum fills and low bass notes. I tried turning the output volume down and it's still there, so it's not the headphone speakers suffereing from overexcursion. I plug them into my computer or my friends iPhone and they sound wonderful at all volumes/styles of songs, no problem.

Is there anything I can do to fix this problem? It's really bugging me as the clarity of the music is just not there, and I dont have the money to drop for a new ipod right now.

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

If you plug your iPod into a stereo or use different headphones, is the distortion still there?

If you listen to the files in iTunes or whatever program you use, is the distortion there? If so, then it's probably in the recording files themselves.

[PhatBasstard]

It's not in the files.

I posted about this a year or so ago.
It's not just the headphone out, but the dock as well with certain settings.
I cannot use the R&B EQ setting because with certain hot, heavily compressed tracks (many Red Hot Chili Pepper tracks from Stadium Arcadium come to mind) hard bass and drum notes have a slight distortion.
Yes, I am using the SoundCheck but that doesn't completely level out all tracks as I still must go in and volume adjust (usually upwards) a few.
However, turning down the overall volume on the offending tracks doesn't solve the problem either if the heavily bassed R&B setting is still used.

My solution is to just use the Rock setting almost always. None of the tracks have the distortion with this setting.

My Ipod (60 gig) is about three years old now and the battery is not holding a charge like it used to so it's about time for me to update. I'm hoping they have addressed this issue in the newer ones.

How old is yours?

[megadan]

I would remove any EQ you are using on the iPod and see if that helps.