Mono headphones

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buffbiff21

Gawd
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
1,014
I want some mono headphones. No, not one speaker. I want the audio signal to be transmitted to each speaker equally.

But buffbiff21, why the hell do you want mono speakers?

Check it out: when I listen to a Van Halen album, for example, there is loud guitar in one ear and low decay in the other. I find this is extremely annoying.

My little fix for this is unplugging the jack just so slightly so that only the left spectrum is heard, but in both ears. However there is a flaw to this fix: the signal is weaker and slighltly muffled.

I tried taking a scalpel to my crapass earbuds - to cut open the rubber that encases the wires; soldering both the wires together. This didnt work

So my question is can someone recommend me mono headphones (if they make any) or is there any way I can somehow mod my headphones to make them mono?

thanks in advance
 
Since you know how to solder, why not completly recable them yourself. I would think if you just reterminated them with a mono jack, you would do ok.
 
Viper87227 said:
why not completly recable them yourself.
Click to expand...

heh heh... because they are HD580s :)

Wouldnt switching to a mono jack only transmit the signal to one ear though? I want both spectrums "fused" into one signal so both ears hear the same thing.

Plus I have no experience with wiring headphones. Could you point me to a guide of some sort? EDIT i just found this

I only experimented rewiring my earbuds since I did not care about them. :D

Thanks though man!
 
buffbiff21 said:
heh heh... because they are HD580s :)

Plus I have no experience with wiring headphones. Could you point me to a guide of some sort?

I only experimented rewiring my earbuds since I did not care about them. :D

Thanks though man!
Click to expand...



You could still do those fairly easily. Just chop the end off, and re-terminate. The biggest question is can you solder in a tight space? Re-cabeling with a mini-jack can be a bitch.

As far as how to do it, it wouldn't be hard. You just need to figure out which two wires are your signal, which two are your ground. Do you have a multimeter?
 
What music software are you using? Foobar has a "downmix stereo to mono" option. No need to ruin perfectly good headphones just because one or two songs are mixed improperly... what about movies, games, etc.?
 
Viper87227 said:
The biggest question is can you solder in a tight space? Re-cabeling with a mini-jack can be a bitch.
Click to expand...
haha yeah it can. I do quite a bit of work on my guitar so the soldering will not be an issue.
Do you have a multimeter?
Click to expand...
negative

Ahriman4891 said:
Foobar has a "downmix stereo to mono" option.
Click to expand...

Hmm you kno, I just might have to use that. I use my headphones only for my Creative Zen when I am at work. *gasp* I know, sin :rolleyes: I really need a portable amp for them...

(I do not use my headphones for my PC setup - I have a 1000w surround setup for that. :D)

Again, thanks guys
 
Using a mono plug isn't a good idea. He would completely lose the audio from the channel that doesn't get connected to the plug. Since some of his audio is coming from one channel and the rest in the other channel, then he'd miss some of the music. That is of course if my assumption on mono plugs being shorter than stereo ones is correct.. Forgive audio gods, if I have commited a carnal sin in your eyes. :D

meh... looks like I'm the idiot here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Photo-audiojacks.jpg

I suppose what you could do, since you don't want to mangle you're headphones, is make an adapter cable that plugs in between your headphones and the source. Just make sure you have at least one mono plugs in it and you'll be set, but I'd think using two mono plugs would be easier to wire since it'd be one less wire to solder. :)
 
buffbiff21 said:
haha yeah it can. I do quite a bit of work on my guitar so the soldering will not be an issue.

negative



Hmm you kno, I just might have to use that. I use my headphones only for my Creative Zen when I am at work. *gasp* I know, sin :rolleyes: I really need a portable amp for them...

(I do not use my headphones for my PC setup - I have a 1000w surround setup for that. :D)

Again, thanks guys
Click to expand...

1000w?
 
ryan_975 said:
They make 1000w home audio systems. In fact my dad bought this one about a year ago I think.

speakers: 135W x 6
sub: 190W

But my Logitech x-230's sound better than that particular system and I hate my speakers.
Click to expand...

LMAO, you have to be joking. My HK AVR-320 only pulls 580 watts MAX from the wall. And its only advertised as a 275 watt system. My sub (Acoustech H-100) is only 150 watts! Obviously those Insignia specs are VERY overrated, if you actually drove those little bitty speakers with 135 watts the voice coils would probably turn into magma.

That thing maybe pushes 20-30 watts per channel actual at 8 ohms. Why would they rate the thing at 6 ohms anwyays? To confuse the average buyer? The sub is probably less than 80 watts.

Hell, I'm buying a Yamaha RX-V1400 from a friend of mine for $150 in a couple weeks, even with that powering my system it'll be far from 1000 watts.
 
killernoodle said:
LMAO, you have to be joking. My HK AVR-320 only pulls 580 watts MAX from the wall. And its only advertised as a 275 watt system. My sub (Acoustech H-100) is only 150 watts! Obviously those Insignia specs are VERY overrated, if you actually drove those little bitty speakers with 135 watts the voice coils would probably turn into magma.

That thing maybe pushes 20-30 watts per channel actual at 8 ohms. Why would they rate the thing at 6 ohms anwyays? To confuse the average buyer? The sub is probably less than 80 watts.

Hell, I'm buying a Yamaha RX-V1400 from a friend of mine for $150 in a couple weeks, even with that powering my system it'll be far from 1000 watts.
Click to expand...

Like I said, my x-230's sound a hell of a lot better. They're only like 32wattts (I think, but I'm not far off).
 
Get a minijack cable out from your soundcard, attach a mono-minijack cable connector to that, plug a Y-splitter into that, plug your headphones into the Y-splitter. Voila, equal sound in both ears.

[ o o o ] to =|====|= to |==| to =|X to (oo)
soundcard to minijack out to mono connector to Y adapter to headphones

There's some ASCII goodness for ya. I have all the parts in my modestly outfitted audio-part drawer.
 
ballpoint said:
[ o o o ] to =|====|= to |==| to =|X to (oo)
soundcard to minijack out to mono connector to Y adapter to headphones
Click to expand...

heh heh... Thanks man, that elicited an idea from the caverns of my mind.

p1010056sv3.jpg

Zen -----> mono 1/8 to 1/4 converter -----> stereo 1/4 to 1/8 -----> headphones

this didnt work however.... :( I only got left spectrum signal. But wer are making progress!! :D

I have some Y - cables laying around. 1 of them is used from my Xfi ----> audio receiver (Yes, the 1000w one :D) How would I go about hooking that up, again?
 
killernoodle said:
LMAO, you have to be joking. My HK AVR-320 only pulls 580 watts MAX from the wall. And its only advertised as a 275 watt system. My sub (Acoustech H-100) is only 150 watts! Obviously those Insignia specs are VERY overrated, if you actually drove those little bitty speakers with 135 watts the voice coils would probably turn into magma.

That thing maybe pushes 20-30 watts per channel actual at 8 ohms. Why would they rate the thing at 6 ohms anwyays? To confuse the average buyer? The sub is probably less than 80 watts.

Hell, I'm buying a Yamaha RX-V1400 from a friend of mine for $150 in a couple weeks, even with that powering my system it'll be far from 1000 watts.
Click to expand...



My surround setup is powered by 3 behringer a500s and a behringer ep1500.

Just because you don't have a high-power soundsystem doesn't mean others don't.
 
buffbiff21 said:
heh heh... Thanks man, that elicited an idea from the caverns of my mind.

Zen -----> mono 1/8 to 1/4 converter -----> mono 1/4 to 1/8 again -----> headphones

this didnt work however.... :( I only got left spectrum signal. But wer are making progress!! :D

I have some Y - cables laying around. 1 of them is used from my Xfi ----> audio receiver (Yes, the 1000w one :D) How would I go about hooking that up, again?
Click to expand...

I left a part out. You need a "headphone splitter" which is one male minijack with two female jacks out. It just duplicates the input into two outputs. If you can get mono sound INTO a headphone splitter, you can use a Y adapter OUT of it to get a stereo signal which is just the mono signal doubled in each channel.
 
I fail to see how this will work... Mono connectors just pick one channel (usu. the left?) The OP does not want just one channel playing in both ears, as I understand... he wants a proper downmix with information from both channels preserved. Maybe some free software like audacity can do that? Then you'll just make the mono MP3s of the songs that annoy you and put them on your player.
 
What you want is a crossfeed plugin. You can get them for both Foobar and Winamp. I use MediaMonkey and it is compatible with Winamp plugins and I use a crossfeed plugin with it.

Here's the crossfeed plugin for Foobar.

http://www.naivesoftware.com/software.html

My EMU 0404 USB has a mono button and it doesn't sound as good as using a crossfeed plugin. Mono takes away all stereo separation which I don't like. I have two crossfeed plugins for MediaMonkey. One is standard with no settings and the other one I can adjust the amount of crossfeed. I don't think this one for Foobar can be adjusted. You can buy headphone amps that have a crossfeed switch too.
 
Ahriman4891 said:
I fail to see how this will work... Mono connectors just pick one channel (usu. the left?) The OP does not want just one channel playing in both ears, as I understand... he wants a proper downmix with information from both channels preserved. Maybe some free software like audacity can do that? Then you'll just make the mono MP3s of the songs that annoy you and put them on your player.
Click to expand...

Gatticus said:
What you want is a crossfeed plugin. You can get them for both Foobar and Winamp. I use MediaMonkey and it is compatible with Winamp plugins and I use a crossfeed plugin with it.

Here's the crossfeed plugin for Foobar.

http://www.naivesoftware.com/software.html

My EMU 0404 USB has a mono button it doesn't sound as good as using a crossfeed plugin. Mono takes away all stereo separation which I don't like.
Click to expand...

Will those work with a standalone protable media player? That's what he's wanting it for.

This might be what you need: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...-3.5mm-Mono-Male-Adapter?sku=335222&src=00633
 
I didn't realize it was for a hardware mediaplayer, thought it was for Foobar etc. playing off his PC. I would get a portable headphone amp with crossfeed and plug the player into that.
 
Fryguy8 said:
My surround setup is powered by 3 behringer a500s and a behringer ep1500.

Just because you don't have a high-power soundsystem doesn't mean others don't.
Click to expand...

True, but I think Killernoodle is probably thinking the same thing that I'm thinking: Someone that refers to their system as a "1000 watt" system like its some kind of proof of total awesomeness is MUCH more likely to have something like this:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3880831

than something like this:

http://www.emotiva.com/ips1.html

Personally, I'd never describe my budget/entry level amp solely by quoting its 770 watt power rating, or my budget/entry level sub solely by quoting its 850 watt power rating.
 
Nicolaskl said:
True, but I think Killernoodle is probably thinking the same thing that I'm thinking: Someone that refers to their system as a "1000 watt" system like its some kind of proof of total awesomeness is MUCH more likely to have something like this:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3880831

than something like this:

http://www.emotiva.com/ips1.html

Personally, I'd never describe my budget/entry level amp solely by quoting its 770 watt power rating, or my budget/entry level sub solely by quoting its 850 watt power rating.
Click to expand...

Ehh come on now I am not that much of a noob.

Yes it is an old Sony 1000w 5.1 surround setup. No it is not nearly as powerful as that amp you listed. No it is not as crappy as that Walmart one you listed. But you know what? It is powerful enough and it sounds damn nice to me.

Now, if I described it as "OH man it's a 1000w Sony Surround setup!!!1111" Then you would all think I am a total idiot - some clown who got sold to by some Walmart salesman. Thus I just left it at saying it is a 1000w surround setup.
 
buffbiff21 said:
Ehh come on now I am not that much of a noob.

Yes it is an old Sony 1000w 5.1 surround setup. No it is not nearly as powerful as that amp you listed. No it is not as crappy as that Walmart one you listed. But you know what? It is powerful enough and it sounds damn nice to me.

Now, if I described it as "OH man it's a 1000w Sony Surround setup!!!1111" Then you would all think I am a total idiot - some clown who got sold to by some Walmart salesman. Thus I just left it at saying it is a 1000w surround setup.
Click to expand...

Walmart salesman... that's a new one to me. :D
 
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