Aggrivated tinnitus from speakers?

I have tinnitus that comes and goes and, for the life of me, cannot determine any correlation to what may trigger it.  When it does bother me, I do not like to listen to headphones.  Between my two systems, one of them is in my basement man-cave with laid-back Elac speakers in a heavily damped room.  I can tolerate listening here a little better than my main system, where the room is a little livelier (but not by much).  I always listen at moderate volumes (in the 60s and 70s).

There are many things that can cause or trigger tinnitus, so the experience of others may not apply to you.  That said, your description of the room leads me to suspect it may be too bright with too much reverb.  For the clap test, put your phone in the listening position and record your clap (from the speaker position).  I suspect you might hear much more of an echo.  Your ears work to mask it a bit.

Also, have you tried the Wiim through your amp's DAC?

I wish there was some easy inexpensive solution for you, but I seriously doubt it. Since vinyl is not as painful to your tinnitus as your streaming I definitely agree with starting with a tamed dac like Denafrips, even the entry level Aries 2. Then a dedicated streamer at least to the level of the Node. At this point, working with the room's acoustics in your current setup is unlikely to cure your problem. However, to tame the brightness, and contrary to the previous poster, I recommend more absorbers than diffusers. You can see my experience with room acoustics under my system.

What was your previous system? Just headphones? Is it possible that the increased bass with the R7’s is causing the problem? I have KEF’s and tinnitus, and a very smooth system that makes it easy to play louder than my ears care for.  And loud for me is still less than 85 db. I find my tinnitus acts up after some sessions when the volume has creeped up a bit, and more bass seems to make it worse. 

You have what they used to call a bright system.  Brightness is elevated  by hard walls.  Glass and brick. Some wire also leads to more high frequency  output. Interesting  you find the streaming worse than cd or lp. That tells you your streamer is bright. What do you have for a cd player? Turntable? Cartridge? Personally  I like walls treated with refraction  and only a wee bit of absorbsion. A thin curtain  a sheer on the wall behind the speakers  will help. Just for a try grab some bath towels and tape them on the walls at the first reflection  points. Find those with a mirror. Sit in you chair have someone  else hold a mirror along the wall and move back and forth  till you can see the center of the speaker. Hand the towel up at that point. The second  reflection  point is where you can see the opposite  side speaker hang another towel there. Listen  and see what you think. Then if you like that the quest becomes finding  the right material  that is even better and looks decent.  Before you spend anything  you cam try it  and see what you think. 

Regards.

I also have tinnitus, here's my path...I do listen to one or more of my systems most of my non at work life. First thing was adjusting my expectations regarding "perfection" and I recalibrated my Enjoyment Meter (too many of us think a thing is the end of the world, when it really is the beginning of a new era). I relocate and position my speakers in the main system more often than most folks, a pair of KRIX Euphonix (change seems to be a benefit in my case). I experiment with room treatment in my old house with very high ceilings, I use mostly tapestry and fabrics. I am using an SAE pre and equalizer system (not only because of tinnitus, but to compensate for years of ear abuse). I limit my high volume exposure (I never thought I'd say that out loud!!!). Hearing aids help with my tinnitus out in the world, but I seldom wear them while listening. I don't do much streaming, mostly as audition and background, (no television in my house) as I am a record/music collector first and an "audiophile" second. I watch my salt intake (something that I noticed for myself). When I do add to my systems I now tend to the British Sound, or more mids, and "softer".And finally, I enjoy the blessed days when the tinnitus recedes back into the background.

@OP 85dB is quite loud so listening at a lower volume level will help. However, improvements to room acoustics and probably a more refined speaker will too. However, I would still be careful with the volume levels. You may be tempted to play louder with a more refined speaker which, in the long term, is not good for your tinnitus.

I’ll be blunt - WIIM is a POS and the McIntosh integrated DAC is as well (it’s harsh sounding). Add to this the KEFs and you’re drilling holes in your ear drums.
Since you will definitely benefit from a DAC upgrade, I’d start there. Try a warm sounding DAC. Go used. Denafrips, Lab12, even a Chord Qutest with the warm filter engaged will be more pleasant. Then upgrade your streamer. Get whatever room treatments you can deal with, especially for the first reflection points and tame the bouncing high frequencies. Play with speaker toe in as well - more direct toe in gives you sharper image but might reduce wall reflections especially at lower volumes and sound less irritating. You never know until you try. Good luck.

Your speakers are bright. a pair of Harbeth die at 15k get them…

beside your speakers are not that good anyway, they won’t be missed

Have you tried using quality sound filtering earplugs.  I have used Alpine Cleartone ear protection plugs when attending concerts etc. takes the edge off.  Available on amazon. 

Thanks for the replies everyone - I currently have the speakers straight out although I did like the sound initially when toed in before my ears started to hurt. I'll try toeing them out too. I do think it could possibly be the room...There is a wall of glass on one side and a brick fireplace on the other, but a big sectional sofa in front of the windows and 9x12 shag rug in the listening area under the sofa .help  The ceiling is strange too with low sections and a channel above where the speakers are. I wish I could upload a photo of the room to share. I know it's not ideal. When I do the clap echo test in the seat where I listen, it's not too bad/loud at all . But when I clap near the fireplace or the windows of course it's amplified a LOT and hurts my ears. Is there a way I can post a photo of the room?

I do have an EQ - part of my problem is I historically favor a V shaped setting, which I'm sure dialing up the treble isn't helping the problem. I probably need to learn to enjoy a more neutral sound. I've heard that it's like many of the best things in life, an acquired taste. That said, I don't think my ear is sophisticated enough yet to adjust the EQ for the room conditions.

I was wondering if I should bring the amp somewhere with me to test different speakers (it's 75 lbs!)  Or on the other hand, try to audition speakers in the space? I feel like my SO would kill me. haha

I’ve always had hearing sensitive to high frequencies,

a) Never point a concentric driver directly at away. Toe it away 15 to 20 deg.

b) If a) wasn’t sufficient, get a Schiit Lokius EQ and start cranking the high bands down.

It is also a wise idea to absorb/place absorptive panels on the ipsilateral/contralateral reflection points.

Coming from a newbie, as I read your post, your descriptions are somewhat similar to what I had experienced. with my KEF speakers(Though not as nice as an r7) I could not turn the dial past 45 without after 30 minutes having to turn the music off. my solution was to get a case(12) of 703 Owens Corning, rigid fiberglass panels, Joanne fabrics, colored burlap, and fir strips to frame. Placed them strategically around the room. Now I regularly start my listening at 55 and on really good recordings will push it to 65 and listen for as long as I care too. If you have WAF issues professional panels can be purchased at sites like GIK Acoustics. Hope your Listening will once again, be enjoyable. 

yeah, I have tinnitus as well.  I bought Wharfedale Lintons and class A amps, smart cabling and limited the volumes, really helped.  Then I moved to new house with a lot bigger room.  Now, I have McIntosh MA 8950 Integrated and Polk Audio R700s, I settled on this combo because it works, doesn't aggravate my tinnitus.  I find myself getting away with higher volumes with this combo. 

@omegaman79 

Your Mac has a five-band equalizer; have you tried using it to ameliorate your problem?

My wife has the same problem.  I stay under 75dbs when she’s around. We are looking at getting her some hearing aids to help with the Tinnitus.

All the best.

OP I’m noticing when I listen to the system, my tinnitus activates at a lower frequency for several hours afterwards.

All speakers in the world behave like a left speaker in below video. I can’t say all tinnitus come from this reason, but my tinnitus is much easier (it’s there but not bothering) after this natural sound technology (right speaker) applied on my system in below video.

As all audio systems sound unnatural like the left speaker, all recording and broadcasting equipment sound unnatural too. All they are made by same technology. So, we are hearing these unnatural sounds from everywhere constantly and they are somewhat responsible for severe tinnitus I believe. Alex/WTA

Try moving the speakers off axis—don’t aim the tweeters at your ears.

Change tubes in the amplifiers to say, vintage Mullards. Oh wait, that’s a solid state amp. Maybe a buffer preamp with tubes could do the same.

Better DAC? There’s obviously some sort of distortion or high amplitude, high frequency noise that’s causing damage.

Dump the speakers. Your hearing is not to be trifled with.