Nari Essential Audio Clipping when listening to Metal

Solution found!

Refer to my 4th reply to my main thread for solution. Please let me know if this works for anyone else.

I just got these headphones yesterday, I primarily want to use them for games like Squad and listening to my vast collection of metal. However, today as started up spotify and started listening to some Born of Osiris I found that the headphones were having some major issues with clipping during the high screams and high guitar notes. I am very disappointed to notice this issue as it is the first time I have bought a pair of headphones and ever had issues with clipping. After briefly reviewing the forums I see this is a pretty common issue, but I have not found any responses from razer that have indicated a fix or desire to resolve the problem. If I cannot find a solution very soon I will return these and get a pair from a company that values quality over marketing.

 

I just went through the process of uninstalling and reinstalling synapse 3 as per the reddit razer forum recommendations, but it did not solve the issue, if anything it seems to be worse. I am just flabbergasted at poor quality of razer software. If anyone has found a fix I would be happy to try it. Really glad I saved my receipt. Because it looks like a return is in my future.

 

I should also note that even after uninstalling synapse 3 and outputting audio directly to the headset the clipping issue is still happening.

 

As an experienced troubleshooter I have found something that seems to partially alleviate the clipping issues, though I am still in the process of testing. Preliminary results suggest the issue may be caused by razers specific in box directions about how to use the headset, among other possibilities. The instructions tell you to turn up your systems audio to max and adjust the sound via the headsets audio control. I decided to do the opposite, I turned the headset volume up to max and used the system audio to adjust, by doing so the clipping has become much quitter although it does still appear to be an issue. Will update as I find out more.

 

To help educate those who are unaware of what clipping is, or refer to it as distortion/crackling, I am linking a wikipedia article on the topic as well as a small excerpt that defines it. Understanding this helps to explain why my fix in the previous reply is working.


"Clipping is a form of waveform distortion that occurs when an amplifier is overdriven and attempts to deliver an output voltage or current beyond its maximum capability. Driving an amplifier into clipping may cause it to output power in excess of its power rating.

In the frequency domain, clipping produces strong harmonics in the high-frequency range (as the clipped waveform comes closer to a squarewave). The extra high-frequency weighting of the signal could make tweeter damage more likely than if the signal was not clipped." - Wikipedia

Note how it mentions high frequency ranges and how those are the ones that are clipped, this matches the issues I have experienced of having high screams and high guitar sounds clipped off.

In general, the distortion associated with clipping is unwanted, and is visible on an oscilloscope even if it is inaudible.[1]

When an amplifier is pushed to create a signal with more power than its power supply can produce, it will amplify the signal only up to its maximum capacity, at which point the signal can be amplified no further. As the signal simply "cuts" or "clips" at the maximum capacity of the amplifier, the signal is said to be "clipping". The extra signal which is beyond the capability of the amplifier is simply cut off, resulting in a sine wave becoming a distorted square-wave-type waveform.

Amplifiers have voltage, current and thermal limits. Clipping may occur due to limitations in the power supply or the output stage. Some amplifiers are able to deliver peak power without clipping for short durations before energy stored in the power supply is depleted or the amplifier begins to overheat." - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipping_(audio)

 

Leaving this thread up as a record of the steps I have taken to arrive at my current solution. - Death