# Headphone audio not working properly



## djr5899 (Sep 24, 2007)

Forgive me, as I know this isn't exactly "home theater" content, but I figured it was pretty similar and the smart audio guys would be here. 

I have a fairly new pair of headphones (less than 6 months old) that had been working fine. I used them with my phone, iPod, laptop, etc. Recently, the sound became very faint in both ears (like 5% volume out of both when 100% volume set on the device). Played around with the headphones a bit and really couldn't see it being a loose/bad/broken wire type of issue.

I did discover, however, if I only insert the headphone jack in partially, and hold it there, the sound works just fine. I have tried this on multiple devices....multiple devices hear the muted 5% sound when plugged in fully, and multiple devices get correct sound volume when partially plugged in.

Anyone have a reason why this may occur and if it is fixable? I've done a lot of web searches, but really turned up nothing but people blaming the device or just saying the headphones are broke get new ones. I'm not an audio guy, or wiring guy, but fairly technical. Most reasonable answers I have seen is a grounding issue or channel issue, but there wasn't really enough explanation for me to consider those as the cause of the problem.

Thanks in advance.


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## bpratt (Nov 24, 2005)

I had a similar thing happen to a set of ear buds that I plugged into a lot of different devices. The stereo jack has only three connections, one for the left ear, one for the right ear and a common connection used by both. In my case, I cut the stereo jack off the end and replaced it with another one that I purchased at Radio Shack. The problem was the common connection was broken about 2 inches from the end and cutting off about 3 inches of wire and replacing the stereo jack solved the problem. I don't know why a broken wire would give you a reduced volume in both ears or why plugging the jack in partially seemed to fix the problem but it does.


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## toobs (Oct 10, 2012)

I used to buy cheap aux cables for my car stereo all the time and after a while, they start to fade out. One side will work and the other stand didn't. I ended up buying a name brand cable and no problem since then. I was talking to a friend and he said that they coat the connector and when the coating comes off, there is where you start to have problems because there is no more coating on the connector. 

Don't know if this is true, but after switches to a branded cable, I have no problems playing tunes in my van, using aux.


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