3.5mm Headphone problem

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David321

485 posts

Ultimate Geek

#250817 27-May-2019 06:58

Hi all,

I wondering if someone has a solution to a problem I have been having for quite some time, as I am over buying different things to try and fix it which do not work.

I have a Sony TV in the bedroom and used to have a 5M headphone extension lead plugged into it with headphones on at the other end, never had any issues with sound quality or anything like that.

Now when I use the same extension in the same TV there is either no sound, or sound in just one ear piece, or the sound is there but bad quality, for example with the bad quality if I am watching a music video the music sounds fine but the vocals sound quiet and distant.

I have a pair of head phone spilters from PB tech and I I plug these into the TV and the head phones into one of the female ports the sound work perfect, with that in mind I went to PB Tech to buy another extension as I figured the problem must be the old extension cable. But after bring home home the new extension cable I still had issues, although not as bad.

The issue I have with the new cable is that I only get good sound if the head phones are partially plugged into the female end of the extension, if I click them right in the sound goes bad again.

I am currently using them partially plugged into the extension as it give good sound although its not as secure so it is not completely ideal.

Can any tell me what may be causing this, its driving me nuts!

_David_

Kim587

128 posts

Master Geek

#2246291 27-May-2019 08:59

I've had similar issues in the past, normally it boils down to either:

The headphone cable itself starting to break inside the insulation - particularly the area around the jack.
Dust build-up in the female socket, blocking the plug from making a good contact. I remember once cleaning out my iPod headphone socket and being amazed at how much gunk had built up inside it.
I've also heard stories of dirt build-up on the male end, again preventing a good quality contact.

So I'd start with seeing if you can rule out a hardware fault on your headphones, perhaps by trying a different pair in your tv, or trying your current headphones with a range of different sources (perhaps laptop and phone). Failing that, try checking your plugs/sockets are all nice and clean.

If that doesn't work I'll probably be out of ideas.

David321

485 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2246398 27-May-2019 11:21

Yeah thats the thing, I have tried different headphones, (less than a week old) and am now also using a brand new extension cable, if i put the splitter in the TV and plug the head phones into the female port on them it works great, but then with the extension i get crap sound if the head phones are clicked in all the way to the female end, but i get good sound when they are plugged in about three quarters deep.

_David_

jonathan18

7413 posts

Uber Geek

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Trusted

#2246405 27-May-2019 11:49

Sounds a frustrating problem!

Have you also tried the old and new extension cables in a different system to see if they work ok? Even just a phone with a 3.5mm plug would allow you to check this; it's also not quite clear to me whether you've tried plugging the headphones directly into the TV, and whether they work ok that way (you talk about using a splitter, but unsure why this would be necessary?). Essentially you want to cross-check every part of the chain in different scenarios to determine the source of the problem - or at least rule out what's not causing it.

David321:

Yeah thats the thing, I have tried different headphones, (less than a week old) and am now also using a brand new extension cable, if i put the splitter in the TV and plug the head phones into the female port on them it works great, but then with the extension i get crap sound if the head phones are clicked in all the way to the female end, but i get good sound when they are plugged in about three quarters deep.

When you say 'good sound' when the plug is partially in, is it in stereo? It's often possible to get sound otherwise coming from only one side of a pair of headphones to come out both by not fully inserting the plug, but it's usually mono - I imagine there's some shorting going on that leads to that, so it's not necessarily the audio as originally intended, if you get what I'm meaning (so it can be falsely giving the impression of solving the problem).

Fred99

13684 posts

Uber Geek

#2246406 27-May-2019 11:50

Bit of a long shot perhaps, but has the headset got a mic - and the plug on the end a TRRS rather than a usual TRS 3.5mm stereo male plug?
If so, then a female TRRS to male TRS adapter may solve the issue.

David321

485 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2263253 24-Jun-2019 10:52

Hi all, here is some photos, there is one photo which is the male end of the splitters (which work in the tv) and another photo is of the extension, which does not work in the tv.

The other photo is the male end of my head phones.

Maybe that helps?

_David_

vexxxboy

4244 posts

Uber Geek

#2263257 24-Jun-2019 11:04

how do the headphones sound plugged straight into the tv. do they work . not sure if you said they do.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Bung

6480 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#2263290 24-Jun-2019 11:44

David321:
Hi all, here is some photos, there is one photo which is the male end of the splitters (which work in the tv) and another photo is of the extension, which does not work in the tv.

The other photo is the male end of my head phones.

Maybe that helps?

Have you noticed that the upper plug in the lower photo is different? That's what Fred99's post is about.

Sharesies kids

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richms

28175 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2263558 24-Jun-2019 17:51

With a 4 pole plug into a 3 pole socket, if it works or not depends on the sockets design as to where the ground connector is and which pole it connects to on the headphone.

Ideally get a 4 pole to dual plug adapter like used to connect a headset to a PC with seperate mic and headphone sockets - they are $2 or so on aliexpress

Otherwise get a CITA adapter cable which swaps the ground and mic connections around which will make it work. also cheap on aliexpress.

Richard rich.ms

sqishy

470 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2263564 24-Jun-2019 18:18

David321:

Hi all, here is some photos, there is one photo which is the male end of the splitters (which work in the tv) and another photo is of the extension, which does not work in the tv.

The other photo is the male end of my head phones.

Maybe that helps?

So if this photo the top one goes to headphones thats 4 pin which supports Mic and Headphones hence when you only partially plug in to TV you get sound i.e R/L and ground, pushing it all in gets out of alignment and tried to send sound to mic.

1101

3122 posts

Uber Geek

#2265666 27-Jun-2019 10:51

The 4 pole plug can also be used for audio + video . And Ive seen some systems using 4pole with non standard pinout

DonH

230 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2265712 27-Jun-2019 12:29

From looking at the photos, and assuming the headphone lead is the slim one with the 4 connections, you will need a splitter designed to separate a combined mic / earphone into separate standard earphone and microphone connections.

Something like this: https://www.jaycar.co.nz/3-5mm-4p-skt-2x3-5mm-plug-cable-250mm/p/WA7022

The TV headphone socket will almost certainly be "stereo", the 3-connection type in your upper photo. You plug a 3-connection extension into the headphone socket, plug the red (or green, forgot which) plug of the splitter into the extension, and your headphones into the central socket of the splitter.

People hear what they see. - Doris Day