• WaterWaiver@aussie.zone
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    8 months ago

    That’s really weird o.o The adapters should just be metal and plastic, same as the cables.

    Maybe they have a really weak connection internally, ie high resistance? This might lead to both lower volume in the headphones and (in some circumstances) higher noise, especially if it’s an unstable resistor.

    I recommend starting a shelf of cursed items :)

      • WaterWaiver@aussie.zone
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        8 months ago

        This could end up competitive.

        Invite people to your house, give them a tour and briefly mention the shelf before scurrying them on. Watch their faces contort but don’t give them the opportunity to ask any questions.

        EDIT: I have a vague guess at what could have gone wrong with your adaptor. It might have had OK L and R contacts but a broken G contact. You would then hear the difference between the L and R channels, which most often sounds like garbage. Music would be weird (entire instruments/vocals disappear) and mono audio would be silent or near-silent (so you’ll have to turn it up a lot and will hear noise).

        • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pub
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          8 months ago

          Hahaha!! Like a random red door on the back wall of the basement. “That’s just ‘the door’. Nothing to worry about, as long as you keep your distance” and quickly walk them off with no further explanation. Hahahahaha

          That makes sense. I used to get the adapters from a local shop where I used to live, and they were cheap cheap. Converted to USD, they were probably around $0.10 a piece. He gave them out free when you purchased headphone. After a while I got tired of the static and low sound quality, so I just got a cable (3.5-6.35) on ebay, and it’s been fine since.

      • WaterWaiver@aussie.zone
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        8 months ago

        Oh. Back to resistance: Doesn’t really matter audio quality doesn’t care it’s still the same AC signal just with less amplitude

        Only for ideal resistors.

        Resistors are noise sources. Intentional resistors tend not to be too bad (and probably won’t be heard in this situation unless you have super-high-impedance headphones, perhaps 10’s of K), but unintentional resistors (eg corroded unstable metal contacts inside a plastic part) can be atrocious.

        A few things to add to this:

        (1) If your resistor acts even slightly like a diode then you will encounter partially rectified RF signals (more noise yay). Metal oxides between metals can do this, eg if the connector has crimped two badly-plated bits of metal together.

        (2) Plasticisers in some plastics can leak out, causing corrosion on unseen internal metal parts.

        (Of course linking all of this together is just conjecture, the causes of Moss’ bad adaptors might be something completely different)