wrote in message
oups.com...
I plug my headphone into computer's sound card. The headphone only
works when it is pulled out slightly. If it is fully inserted, some
sound won't play as loud as it should be (human voice is noticeably
weaker).

My speakers, and other headphone work well on the sound card.

Is this a compatibility problem, or my headphone is broken?


Sounds like the ground is open circuit, I'd guess the wire has a break where
it enters the plug. The effect is that the two positives (left and right)
are applied in series across the headphone transducers, causing two out of
phase signals to cancel out certain sounds recorded on both L and R
channels, like voice as you have found.

When you pull the plug out slightly you are causing only one channel to be
applied across both transducers, ie mono in both sides of the headphones, so
the phase cancellation effect vanishes.

The solution is to cut off the plug (with a couple of inches of wire to make
sure only good cable is left) and fit a new plug. The break could also be at
the headphone end or in the middle of the cable, but the plug is the usual
suspect.

Dave