Wierd headphone thing

[DEATHMASTER]

So I'm listening to my mp3 player and i snag the cord a bit and the music somehow changes but it's still the same song. What happened was my headphone's input piece was partially out and somehow this produces only part of the music. It's as if you're listening to the same song but from a different perspective, that of someone behind the singer. It's a bit wierd but basically just pull your input piece out barely until the sound changes. It's the only other sound aside from the usual so there should need be more than a bit of a pull out. It's nice listening to all my songs with this. It clears out any enhancements to the sound like the voice of one of the singers got to be regular (what he REALLY sounds like) and any enhancement is like hearing warping. This only worked with 2 different mp3 players of mine and didn't work with my PC speakers.

 

[lefty]

I learned about this a couple years ago. Pulling it out partway makes only one earpiece go. If your headphone jack is fairly loose, you can wiggle the plug and if the music is stereo you'll get either stage of it. I don't know exactly the terminology, but one way you wiggle it and you'll hear vocals, guitar, etc. Wiggle it the other way you'll get drums, bass, backups. I use it to help transcribe bass parts if it's not clear enough.

 

[Stigmata]

I get that all the time if I don't plug my headphones in all the way on my computer. It ends up sounding really ****ing cool, and I always love hearing songs from new perspectives.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I learned about this a couple years ago. Pulling it out partway makes only one earpiece go. If your headphone jack is fairly loose, you can wiggle the plug and if the music is stereo you'll get either stage of it. I don't know exactly the terminology, but one way you wiggle it and you'll hear vocals, guitar, etc. Wiggle it the other way you'll get drums, bass, backups. I use it to help transcribe bass parts if it's not clear enough.

Is that with a specific headphone or any? I only get one other perspective.

 

[lefty]

I've done it with different kinds of headphones, I think. But it really depends on how messed up the jack is. If you wiggle the headphone plug while it's in it'll probably loosen it up, but I do not endorse or encourage cocking up your electronics.

 

[jondy]

I kindof assume it's to do with the phase of the two signals.

If you pull out the plug halfway, often both earbuds get the same signal. If both channels carry the same signal and one of them carries a reversed phase, identical waveforms will cancel out, so anything that's panned dead centre - usually vocals, maybe lead guitar, etc. will be cancelled, leaving, generally speaking, reverb trails and the rest of the band.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

They aren't cancelled, just distanced like what it would sound as if they were in front of you.

 

[jondy]

I suppose that's what I mean - of course, the cancelling wouldn't be perfect, it would just alter the balance of the instruments. I suppose also if you just listened to the left or right channels of a track, they'd have different mixes too, so if you Ockham this idea it's probably just that :bounce:

 

[Unfocused]

You know this equalizer thing in Winamp, or any other player? Play with the sliders and you can achieve a similar effect.

 

[Vegeta897]

Unfocused, that's not really what they're talking about.

 

[Unfocused]

Unfocused, that's not really what they're talking about.

I know the effect they're speaking of (I experienced this as well and thought my player is broken), but isn't plugging the headphones only partly in causing only sounds of certain frequencies to be transmitted? Can't you achieve a similar effect by adjusting the sliders in the equalizer in a certain way?

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I thought about that, but I don't really like equalizers enough to try.

 

[dfc05]

I used to have a really crappy, cheap pair of headphones where the wire on one side was messed up. The sound would change or cut out when I held the wire a certain way. I'm not sure if this is similar to what you're talking about. I found it really annoying because they were the only headphones I had at the time and I literally had to hold the wire to get a consistent sound out.

 

[Vegeta897]

I know the effect they're speaking of (I experienced this as well and thought my player is broken), but isn't plugging the headphones only partly in causing only sounds of certain frequencies to be transmitted? Can't you achieve a similar effect by adjusting the sliders in the equalizer in a certain way?

There is a bit of odd mess done do the EQ, but mostly it's that one of the channels is being cut. In most popular music, songs are very reliant on stereo and so it will usually sound weird if you only have one channel going. Also what Jondy said.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

I used to have a really crappy, cheap pair of headphones where the wire on one side was messed up. The sound would change or cut out when I held the wire a certain way. I'm not sure if this is similar to what you're talking about. I found it really annoying because they were the only headphones I had at the time and I literally had to hold the wire to get a consistent sound out.

That's just failing wires. I've had that before, its different in a crappier way.

 

[Jintor]

Any headphones I buy eventually will start to put the different 'channels' of the song into either the left or the right speaker. It really pisses me off, partially because I'm not sure whether it's my headphones, my MP3 player, or my ears at fault.

 

[VirusType2]

^
it can happen if you damage the cord. Usually one channel or the other stops working, or may work if you wriggle the cord

you can take precautions like making a loop and stuff like that to act as a safety catch.


best thing to do is make sure your cord is not way too long, because then it catches on stuff. You can double it up and put some tape around it to shorten it.

 

[Jintor]

My cord is like inside some weird rope thing, so I don't think that's it. One of my MP3's had a problem with the contact point at the base, so I threw that one out. But the one after just started breaking down. It's probably because they were el cheapo $25 ones though.

 

[kineaesth]

I was watching a film on my iPod this one time and the headphones came loose and wiped out the entire audio track. Didn't even know that it was possible, to be honest.

 

[VirusType2]

I was watching a film on my iPod this one time and the headphones came loose and wiped out the entire audio track. Didn't even know that it was possible, to be honest.

I keep my MP3 player in my pocket while I'm listening, and during the winter sometimes I would generate static and get a nasty shock in my ****ing ear. Fairly painful and startling. It also shorts out the MP3 player and the power goes off, but doesn't seem to damage it.