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Sound through one headphone only! help!

KrysRain

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I get this problem a lot with multiple types of headphones, and I dont know how to make it stop! Now, I am constantly using my headphones, upwards of 10 or more hours straight per day, so they do get more rough treatment than most... I used to go through $30 Sennheiser headphones every three months, this happened for nearly three years. Now I have a Bose AE2 hedset and find that 9 times out of 10 its in the cable, usually close to the jack that goes into my audio device :( The cables used to be $7 to replace but now they are nearly $20, and I dont want to have to start dishing out money again....is there any way to prevent the splice from happening in the first place?
 

giradman

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I get this problem a lot with multiple types of headphones, and I dont know how to make it stop! Now, I am constantly using my headphones, upwards of 10 or more hours straight per day, so they do get more rough treatment than most... I used to go through $30 Sennheiser headphones every three months, this happened for nearly three years. Now I have a Bose AE2 hedset and find that 9 times out of 10 its in the cable, usually close to the jack that goes into my audio device :( The cables used to be $7 to replace but now they are nearly $20, and I dont want to have to start dishing out money again....is there any way to prevent the splice from happening in the first place?

Hi KrysRain - welcome to the forum! :) Now, you've posted to a 4 year old thread so a new one may have been a better option to attract more attention. First, give us some information on your iPad(s), i.e. model and iOS installed. Second, I've never heard of someone going through as many cabled headphones as you describe - when they malfunction on your iPad, have you tested them on another system - the issue may be a damaged or dirty iPad headphone jack - have you tried to use some compressed air to 'blow out' the jack?

BUT, I agree w/ TP concerning the suggestion of BT (Bluetooth) wireless headphones - have you given that option a try? I'm on my second iPad which contains over a 100 hours of music - I use a BT speaker & headphones, especially when 'on the road' - my suggestion is to obtain some wireless headphones and forget being tethered to your iPad - the experience is really a revelation - let us know. Dave
 

KrysRain

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Yeah, a new one....not likely to find one, not with the searching I've done. I've had every iOS system from 5 on the original iPad to now 9.2 on my iPad Air 2. Same problem, same solution....always a new audio cable. And yes, I've tried it on other devices, a Windows 8 PC, a Sony portable CD player, and a 4th Gen iPod Nano. Doesnt matter the device, the problem is always there. And if you wanna dish some money into my bank account, I'll gladly take you up on the siggestion of BT headphones ☺️. Since that isn't likely tho, I'll say no I havent tried them, and if I do I wont get the usage out of my iPad that I do with non-BT headphones....again, I use them upwards of 10 or more hours a day, which is a huge strain on battery life.
 

twerppoet

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I've just got (today) some iFrogz headphones for about $100. They are supposed to get about 12hr of listening time. The audio is ok, and they seem to work far better than the cheaper Bluetooth earbuds I've owned before. Of course, it's only been one day, so I could get bit, again.

Oh, and though I havn't used it yet, they come with a double ended cable that will let them be used when the battery runs low. If for some reason that cable dies, then it will probably be cheaper to replace than any decent set of earbuds.

For standard sets, I use the earpods that came with my iPhone. I bought an extra set a year ago, because I lost track of the originals. But I rarely use them with the iPad, and it sounds like you use your's far more often and in more rugged situations than me. Mostly I just listen to podcasts on my iPhone when out for a walk; maybe an hour or two a day. I stuck with them mostly because (for me) they are more comfotable than most other earbuds.

What you may want to consider is that if you are going through several sets of earphones a year, then a more expensive (and sturdy) set may actually save you money; whether it's Bluetooth or just a better built cabled set. Even it it comes out even, at least it's a savings in frutstration.
 
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KevinJS

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Probably worth mentioning here that Sennheiser Momentums are great headphones, come in on-ear and over-ear variants and have replaceable cables.Retail price is pretty steep, but they can often be found on Amazon for a very reasonable price. I paid CDN$78 for mine.
 

Maluzu

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Ipad mini - plays only left side. Thought headphones, replaced, sane thing no change. Stuck no matter how many diff ones we try.

Interesting thing is this- Jacked into car stereo through lightning cable same thing, left speakers only!
 

twerppoet

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Ipad mini - plays only left side. Thought headphones, replaced, sane thing no change. Stuck no matter how many diff ones we try.

Interesting thing is this- Jacked into car stereo through lightning cable same thing, left speakers only!

It might be hardware, as in the audio chipset. I can't remember if there is a seperate amp for the lighning port and headphone jack, so it's possible that this would effect both with just one failure. But before you go down that path, here are a few things you should check first.

If you have not doen so, reset the iPad. Hold down the Home and Power buttons until you see the Apple Logo. This is similar to restarting the iPad, but clears out a few things.

Go to Settings > General > Accessibilty and check out the Hearing settings. Make sure the L <-> R slider isn't all the way to one side.

If that does not fix it, you can try Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. If it is a stuck setting, this will probalby fix it. You'll also have to retweek most of your other settings back to what you like. Nothing is erased, and your account settings will not be changed.

If none of this works, try turning on Mono in those Hearing Accessibilty settings. With luck, this will make both earphones work again; or cause them both to fail, or do nothing at all. I don't know enough about how the iPad switches to mono to make a confident guess.

Of course, you are giving up stereo, but this should be better than nothing until you decide what to do about repairs.
 

Maluzu

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  1. It was all the way to the to the left in the excess abilities options, it is now fixed thank you
  2. It might be hardware, as in the audio chipset. I can't remember if there is a seperate amp for the lighning port and headphone jack, so it's possible that this would effect both with just one failure. But before you go down that path, here are a few things you should check first.
If you have not doen so, reset the iPad. Hold down the Home and Power buttons until you see the Apple Logo. This is similar to restarting the iPad, but clears out a few things.

Go to Settings > General > Accessibilty and check out the Hearing settings. Make sure the L <-> R slider isn't all the way to one side.

If that does not fix it, you can try Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. If it is a stuck setting, this will probalby fix it. You'll also have to retweek most of your other settings back to what you like. Nothing is erased, and your account settings will not be changed.

If none of this works, try turning on Mono in those Hearing Accessibilty settings. With luck, this will make both earphones work again; or cause them both to fail, or do nothing at all. I don't know enough about how the iPad switches to mono to make a confident guess.

Of course, you are giving up stereo, but this should be better than nothing until you decide what to do about repairs.
It was all the way to the left in the excess abilities thank you so much it is now fixed
It might be hardware, as in the audio chipset. I can't remember if there is a seperate amp for the lighning port and headphone jack, so it's possible that this would effect both with just one failure. But before you go down that path, here are a few things you should check first.

If you have not doen so, reset the iPad. Hold down the Home and Power buttons until you see the Apple Logo. This is similar to restarting the iPad, but clears out a few things.

Go to Settings > General > Accessibilty and check out the Hearing settings. Make sure the L <-> R slider isn't all the way to one side.

If that does not fix it, you can try Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings. If it is a stuck setting, this will probalby fix it. You'll also have to retweek most of your other settings back to what you like. Nothing is erased, and your account settings will not be changed.

If none of this works, try turning on Mono in those Hearing Accessibilty settings. With luck, this will make both earphones work again; or cause them both to fail, or do nothing at all. I don't know enough about how the iPad switches to mono to make a confident guess.

Of course, you are giving up stereo, but this should be better than nothing until you decide what to do about repairs.
 

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