Moog Music Forum

Hey folks,
In general i like this synth a lot....But there are some flaws i found.....my headphone output is way too loud. When turning the knob to 1 % its already too loud for chilled headphone sessions. Turned up to 10 % is almost insane and very very noisy. I know that i can lower the overall volume by setting the vca even lower at lets say 20 %. But the behavior is still strange to me. Using presets will set the vca often to a quite high value. so this workaround is not helping enough.

Can this be adressed with an upcoming firmware update ? I dont see many users complaining about it. Is it common ? Are there others sharing this experience ?

Plus, the basic noise floor of the synth is way too prominent. Even without any further overload, the oscillators set to 30 % and vca to 50% , its much louder than i would expect. I cant get a clean triangle sound at all. There is an extra buzzy sounding layer involved. I assume, its probably a part of the trademark sound but i rather would like to prefer to add saturation thus noise to my taste and not from the start on. The noise occurs on the headphone out and as well on the main outs. My P5, OBX8 or my modular system isn`t noisy like this synth.

I agree that the synth is overall very loud, and that the headphone out is pretty loud. I don't think its too bad though, and i think the big problem for me is that there is not much control when the level is low. Its like the difference between off and 1% is too big, and I want finer control from zero up.

Same here. Its the same behaviour on the main volume and the headphone volume. These pots seem to be linear instead of logarithmic.
Interestingly the main output controls the dry synth output in parallel to the delay volume. But the delay volume is logarithmic like it should be.
That means that depending on the main output volume, the dry/wet ratio changes.

I really hope that the volume pots are digitally controlling the volume. Then it could be possible to update via firmware.

I think that since the synth is on the louder end, the noise floor is more noticeable because usually it is not turned up very loud. I notice the noise floor doesn't seem so bad when the synth is turned up all the way.

The delay is too noisy for you too ?

I have to have my headphone out at 1% for some patches, otherwise it actually feels ear-damagingly loud. I don't think I've ever dared/wanted to put it above 25%.

I tried putting my headphones (Sennheiser HD595) into the mono out and THAT port felt more functional/appropriately levelled for headphone use (though was only coming out in one ear due to the stereo/trs mismatch - so not a solution as such).

kevinplaystheblues wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:53 pm I have to have my headphone out at 1% for some patches, otherwise it actually feels ear-damagingly loud. I don't think I've ever dared/wanted to put it above 25%.

I tried putting my headphones (Sennheiser HD595) into the mono out and THAT port felt more functional/appropriately levelled for headphone use (though was only coming out in one ear due to the stereo/trs mismatch - so not a solution as such).

It depends on the headphone impedance. Mine are 500 ohm and it's almost too quiet.

Kwamensah wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2025 12:02 am

kevinplaystheblues wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:53 pm I have to have my headphone out at 1% for some patches, otherwise it actually feels ear-damagingly loud. I don't think I've ever dared/wanted to put it above 25%.

I tried putting my headphones (Sennheiser HD595) into the mono out and THAT port felt more functional/appropriately levelled for headphone use (though was only coming out in one ear due to the stereo/trs mismatch - so not a solution as such).

It depends on the headphone impedance. Mine are 500 ohm and it's almost too quiet.

But such a range (mine are either 50 or 120 - haven't checked which version I have) is hardly uncommon. A headphone volume knob should have the range to service all common impedances. I bet both yours and mine would be fine in my old Voyager, or anything else in our studios?

kevinplaystheblues wrote: Sat Feb 15, 2025 12:16 am

Kwamensah wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2025 12:02 am

kevinplaystheblues wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2025 10:53 pm I have to have my headphone out at 1% for some patches, otherwise it actually feels ear-damagingly loud. I don't think I've ever dared/wanted to put it above 25%.

I tried putting my headphones (Sennheiser HD595) into the mono out and THAT port felt more functional/appropriately levelled for headphone use (though was only coming out in one ear due to the stereo/trs mismatch - so not a solution as such).

It depends on the headphone impedance. Mine are 500 ohm and it's almost too quiet.

But such a range (mine are either 50 or 120 - haven't checked which version I have) is hardly uncommon. A headphone volume knob should have the range to service all common impedances. I bet both yours and mine would be fine in my old Voyager, or anything else in our studios?

The only synths I've used my headphones in that it wasn't quiet was Elektron. I actually use UAD x4 because the headphone preamp is lit. It's hard to find a balance for headphone preamps because impedance varies so wildly. Make it too powerful and you raise the noise floor. Make it too weak and it won't power higher impedance headphones. It's a balancing act.

The headphone level is too loud for me too. I didn't notice it during my first explorations. Is it possible it changed with the last firmware ?
Besides, the main output is now too weak ! I have to push the gain in my sound card for the Muse and it's ok with my others synths Subsequent, Pro 3... I think I haven't the problem before...