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Jul - Craziness Domain - My Magic Broken Headphones New poll - New thread - New reply
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Posted on 09-15-09 02:19:52 PM Link | Quote
So, the other day, I found out that my headphones had broken, but only partially, as some sound still came through them. After a little while of fiddling with it, I discovered that tugging on the wire in a particular manner provided a temporary solution, as everything was as clear as before when I did that.
Eventually, I wound up listening to my music while forgetting to tug on the wire, and the result was interesting, to say the least.

Some songs lost their melody, essentially turning those with vocals into karaoke versions. Others were almost entirely wiped out, and some, such as NES songs and, say, anything originally recorded on a record, were completely inaudible.

Anyway, here is the big important link with a few examples of what I mean. I had to literally shove my headphones into a microphone to record this, so excuse the somewhat poor audio quality. Oh, and the reason they keep switching back and forth between the normal and the broken versions is that I tugged on the wire so that one could tell the difference even if he or she has not heard the song.
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Posted on 09-15-09 03:38:07 PM (last edited by Erika at 09-15-09 12:39 PM) Link | Quote
Pulling headphones about an 8th of the way out of its jack will do this as well (some work better than others). It has to do with not all the frequencies being picked up due to poor connectivity and is no different than if you were to use a generic voice remover feature in a sound program, which does the same thing only digitally~ Any song you aren't hearing is likely recorded on one of the frequencies being eliminated. I'm not a real sound expert of course, but I know a few things about the physical side

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Posted on 09-15-09 04:05:48 PM Link | Quote


My old headphones broke in that they'd only output one channel anymore Hearing sound in just one ear is weird.

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devin

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Posted on 09-15-09 04:15:21 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Terra
My old headphones broke in that they'd only output one channel anymore Hearing sound in just one ear is weird.


My current pair of headphones do this. As well as every pair I ever buy.

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yde

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Posted on 09-15-09 04:29:49 PM Link | Quote

as soon as my headphones start to fail in any way I'll just buy a new pair. I cannot deal with sounds coming in partially, or in one ear, or whatever. I've probably spent more money on headphones than any other luxury.
the only headphones that didn't die on me were Bose, but they snap so easily it's hardly worth it.

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fleepa | pandora | last.fm

Liliana
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Posted on 09-15-09 04:52:13 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Terra
My old headphones broke in that they'd only output one channel anymore Hearing sound in just one ear is weird.

That happened with my headphones. I managed to repair it though - I took it apart, fixed the cables and re-assembled it. It was a mess.

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Originally posted by HotSoup
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Taryn

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Posted on 09-15-09 06:27:06 PM Link | Quote


Then, there was the set of headphones I vomited on I was very sick with stomach flu in Germany, and I was in student housing and didn't have my own bathroom/toilet, and once I just puked where I was sitting. I spent much of the next day washing and cleaning

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Posted on 09-15-09 06:37:43 PM Link | Quote
Paulguy's Post configuration
it sounds like the 2 channels are being mixed, but one is inverted, destructively interfering with each other. This is how some karaoke algorithms work; as you can see, it's sometimes effective.

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Posted on 09-15-09 08:24:18 PM Link | Quote
I break headphones all the time. There is just no easy way to prevent cord stress, so after six months to a year the connectivity is bad enough that I need a new pair. Sometimes I try old pairs to remember what was wrong, and I think I remember something akin to this effect.

And I need to find more excuses to say things like "destructive interference."
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Posted on 09-15-09 08:36:23 PM Link | Quote
Hm it shouldn't occur so soon. In Germany there is a government enforced warranty of two years, so if headphones broke every six months you would get infinite new pairs of headphones for free.

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Originally posted by HotSoup
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Posted on 09-15-09 08:38:04 PM Link | Quote
&numposts&
Yeah! I remember doing this with my old 1988 gameboy and a pair of crap headphones. Basically, if I pulled the headphones out part of the way, I would only hear sounds that were panned off-center. It was a pretty nifty trick I did back in the day, and it was pretty interesting hearing some individual channels pretty much isolated.

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Posted on 09-15-09 08:47:50 PM Link | Quote
Halfway plugging the heaphones here gives mono sound, but from the right side channel only, so I lose everything from the left (which could really affect stereo sound), but it does sound a bit weird too

As for headphones breaking, I got that many times before (always one side dying), sometimes from tripping on the wire (like this) ... then I went with some cheap wireless to avoid that for about 3 years (but it had bad interference with the wireless phone in the house), and eventually back to normal (but expensive) heaphones that I've had for 2 years so far

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Posted on 09-16-09 05:28:00 AM Link | Quote
Jul Mosts 2008
I simply can't use any headphones other than the pricey AKG studio set I mysteriously acquired several years ago (my mom or dad probably borrowed them from our old church and forgot to return them). The frequency response and amount of detail in the sound is amazing. Unfortunately, the strain relief on the headphone end fell apart some time ago, and the cable is being held in with electrical tape. Gotta be careful...

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Posted on 09-16-09 02:25:19 PM Link | Quote




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Not my headphones, but my TV's right speaker (or sound channel, or something) is beginning to go.

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Danielle
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Posted on 09-16-09 04:42:06 PM Link | Quote
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