headset connection problem -- what's wrong?

[unhappy_spammed]

Here's the deal

Recently, and completely randomly, my headphones I use on my computer stopped working properly.

Here's what happens:

If I plug my headphones completely into the extension cable, and then completely into the headphone jack on the back of my computer, they dont work. The sound is either really really muffled or completely gone. Sometimes it will quietly play my music, but the sounds from ventrilo wont play, or equally strange things.

If i plug my headphones halfway into the extnesion cable, and the extension cable completely into my computer, they work fine.

If i plug my headphones completely into the extension cable, and the extension cable halfway into the computer, they work fine.

If i plug my headphones halfway into the extension cable, and the extension halfway into the computer, they dont work.

If i plug my headphones completely into the front headphone jack of my computer (without using the extension), they work, but the sound is very staticy, and distorted. Halfway, works fine.

If I plug my speakers completely into the back OR front jack of my computer, they work fine.

If i plug my headphones completely into my Zune, they work fine. If I plug them halfway in, they're extra loud. I was going to do a headphone jack repair like this (http://www.instructables.com/id/SC5E5ZIFLEBWHI1/) but it's clearly not the headphones since they work fine with the Zune.

Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on here, and what part of my setup is broken. I dont know how headphone connections work at all.

At first I thought it was the extension cable, but the same thing happens with just the headphones plugged into the comp. Then I thought it was the headphone jack, and come to find out that if I plug it into hte extension and then leave THAT hanging out, it works fine. So I thought maybe it was my computer, but why would both jacks do this, and also work when my headphones are hanging out of the extension cable. For that matter, why would the speakers work fine if it was the computer.

Also, when I plug my headphones into my Zune they work fine, but halfway out are louder, i'm assuming that's normal?

Thanks guys.

 

[Thejavaman1]

Really muffled normally means that instead of connecting the signal and the ground the left signal is getting connected to the right signal. The reason you sometimes get sound is that there is still a voltage difference between the two unless the signals are exactly the same (ie if you play the same sine wave over each channel you won't hear anything because the peaks and valleys will match up so the voltage potential between the two signal wires is always zero).

Halfway plugging means that you are connecting different sets of wires (headphone use TRS connectors) why they get extra loud doesn't make sense though. Really it sounds like there is probably a short somewhere inside of the connector and the only reason I can think that you get sound with the Zune is that the way you plug in the connector makes it so that the short is fixed. If you are plugging things in halfway, you should only be getting sound out of one side (the sleeve will no longer be connected). If you are getting sound out of both side, then there is a problem in the connector (or headphones, but connectors are the most likely point of failure).

The standard wiring for unbalanced stereo TRS connectors is:
Tip - Left
Ring - Right
Sleeve - Ground

I can't figure out exactly what is messed up right now, but there is a problem with the headphone connector from the symptoms you've described.

 

[unhappy_spammed]

i'm getting sound out of both

i thought it was a problem with the connector too, but i've tried two different extension cables as well as plugging it directly in and i get the same problem every time, so where's the connection failure?

 

[unhappy_spammed]

some follow up info

when i plug my headphones completely into the computer through the extension, it seems that it's actually limiting frequencies. i can hear talking, but some parts of music will be gone.

i tried my zune headphones, plugged into my extension cable, and they worked fine.

when i plug it in halfway, it's playing only the right channel, but through both headphones.

 

[unhappy_spammed]

aha.

i seem to have found the point of failure. it seems that the wire where the volume control and the upper length of my headphones meet is messed up. when i push it around iwth my fingers i can get it to play the sound normally

the zune wasnt playing normally either. i tried playing an instrumental song with lots of left and right audio tracks and realized that one side was gimped.