@bassmannate wrote:
What I don’t understand though is how would a bad jack explain stuttering only when the volume is turned all the way up on higher bitrate files?
Note that skipping may be caused by bad files, as others tried to rule out here. Also clipping of files is a concern. The jack problem is easy to check. When the stuttering is happening, back out the plug a small amount and see if it stops. If it does it is most likely the jack is faulty. It is causing a semi-short (lower resistance) than it normally should. Note also that there is some variance is headphone plug length and contact centers which throws more tolerance error into this situation. Some headphones may work fine others may not, but the jack should accept all unless they are outright defective.
The problem will mostly show at high volume, high bass because of higher current draw on the headphone amplifier. The amplifier is built into the system chip on the AMS SOC. Most other players have a seperate dedicated amp chip. The system chip is most likely getting loaded down from current draw on the amp section and causing processing delays. Or the amp section may be shutting itself on and off due to too much current draw on it if it has a current limiter. I can’t say for sure, but I assume this is what is happening.
