Is it bad to have audio playing in headphones all the time?

[nexus5rocks]

I have a CL Soundblaster Z card and I use optical to my receiver and analog to headphones. Because it's plugged in the back and hard to reach, I just leave it plugged in and send audio to both outputs but I use the headphones only during gaming. The rest of the time is music and movies over the speakers.

I guess the question is will the extra wear on the drivers (Sennheiser Momentum) be negligible or something to be worried about?
Should I just an extension cable and plug in when I use it?

 

[MongGrel]

I've done that intentionally just to break in headphones/earbuds sometimes.

Unless you have a receiver rated to blow them out and leave them turned up to max, I doubt you're hurting much.

 

[giantpandaman2]

I've done that intentionally just to break in headphones/earbuds sometimes.

Unless you have a receiver rated to blow them out and leave them turned up to max, I doubt you're hurting much.

Agreed.

 

[Kartajan]

I've done that intentionally just to break in headphones/earbuds sometimes.

Unless you have a receiver rated to blow them out and leave them turned up to max, I doubt you're hurting much.

As long as the output of the soundcard is under 200mW, you should be covered under warranty
https://en-us.sennheiser.com/service-support-services-warranty-conditions

 

[Deders]

I thought windows only allows you to output to one device at a time. So when optical is selected, all others should be mute,

Some headphones do wear out a bit after prolonged use and you get a different frequency response (maybe less bass) after a few years of use, but there is no way of knowing which will and by how much unless you've already noticed it on a previous identical pair, and even then the process is so gradual that you won't notice it if you use them regularly.

I would hope that Sennheiser would do all that they can to minimise this from happening,

 

[nexus5rocks]

No, you can have 2 outputs. The main output is set to default and then set the digital output to play stereo.

 

[mindless1]

Yes. Given enough hours the drivers will be looser and treble definition will suffer as well as the bass getting boomier. If the volume is kept at sane levels it'll take many thousands of hours to make enough difference to notice, though some people's ears are better than others.

You wrote that "you can have 2 outputs", but does that mean you MUST have 2 outputs live, cannot disable one or the other to mute the headphones? Your call, you could use an extension cable or just figure that you may move on to different headphones before there's enough wear to matter.

 

[JeffMD]

All things that move wear out. So yes it will eventually tear apart after a certain number of vibrations.

 

[Oyeve]

You should be fine as long as you don't overload the drivers. And the sound shape will not change. Its a myth and I really can't believe people still think this.

 

[mindless1]

^ No it really does change, as in it is both measurable with equipment and stands up to blind ABX human perception testing, BUT some cans change more than others. Plus those in this topic were only for gaming, not a use where you're as likely to notice the small changes over time.

While some people don't have good enough hearing to discriminate the difference, that does not dismiss that others can to a level far higher than would be accounted for by random chance.