QuadCortex sounds distorted and low in volume through headphones

Hi!
I got my Quadcortex yesterday and I have a concern. Listening through headphones I have to turn up the volume to around at least 80% to get the decent amount of volume that I’m used to using my HX stomp. Also when I turn the volume up this much the sound starts to distort even though it really isn’t loud in my opinion.
I’ve set all the ins, outs and HP level to the point that nothing is peaking so allt that should be fine. I’ve played around with the impedance settings as well and this had no effect.

The device is updated yesterday and I did a factory reset but this changed nothing. I’ve tried listening through both my Superlux HD681 headphones and my Shure SE in-ears, no difference.
I played with my HX stomp in between just to see the difference and when I have the volume on the HX on around 60% it’s about as loud as the QC is on 100%. Also the big thing that I don’t understand here is that even when I turn my HX volume up to a point that it hurts my ears the sound still isn’t even slightly distorted or breaking. Why is there such a big difference with the QC?

This is really annoying and I’m wondering if there’s something wrong with my device. I also want to point out that I bought an FRFR amp with my Cortex and this way everything sounds good.

Being able to get a good and loud enough sound though headphones is a dealbreaker for me so I’d be really happy if someone could help me out with this ! :pray:t2:

/Freddi

Welcome to the community! Sorry to hear you’re having trouble driving your headphones. I can’t find any output specs for the HX Stomp, but it’s likely just a matter of the HX Stomp having a higher maximum output power for headphones (the Quad Cortex maxes out at 300mW). Feel free to email support@neuraldsp.com for additional troubleshooting.

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The QC should be loud enough. So either something is set up wrong or the unit has a defect.
Is the volume wheel all the way up?
In I/O Settings > headphone output > Multi Out to 0dB rather then +6dB (default). Is it still distorting?

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So if I have the volume wheel all the way up and multi out to 0db It starts to distort if I go louder than about -16 db on the HP level.