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Odd earbuds vs. headphones issue, post-recording

D

dougjwray

Jul 20, 2005
7,050
7,915
#1
I hope someone can help with this one...
My son samples old stuff to manipulate it and create beats. Recently, he used my little Zoom digital recorder to record (digitize) a song he found on a vinyl record. He took the headphone signal from the stereo receiver and plugged it into the line input of the recorder, recorded it, then transferred the file to his laptop.
Now he tells me that when listening to the song through headphones, it's 100% fine, but when listening through earbuds, one side is good and the other is muddy, distorted, etc.
I mentioned this to his little (16-year-old) sister (I'm an old Luddite and consult with the kids about newfangled technology), and she said that it was a very common occurrence.
I can't figure this out. Shouldn't earbuds function exactly like headphones? What could be the problem??
 
#2
dougjwray said:
I hope someone can help with this one...
My son samples old stuff to manipulate it and create beats. Recently, he used my little Zoom digital recorder to record (digitize) a song he found on a vinyl record. He took the headphone signal from the stereo receiver and plugged it into the line input of the recorder, recorded it, then transferred the file to his laptop.
Now he tells me that when listening to the song through headphones, it's 100% fine, but when listening through earbuds, one side is good and the other is muddy, distorted, etc.
I mentioned this to his little (16-year-old) sister (I'm an old Luddite and consult with the kids about newfangled technology), and she said that it was a very common occurrence.
I can't figure this out. Shouldn't earbuds function exactly like headphones? What could be the problem??
Click to expand...

Earbuds should function exactly like headphones. Some older ones nearly have no bass at all. If the headphones were connected to the same output as the earbuds, there is something wrong with the earbuds (or it is the bass issue).
You son shouldn't use the headphone signal from the receiver. Every receiver that has a headphone output has a record out on the back, too. This has real line level, the headphone output not. Could even be a phase issue becoming more obvious on the earbuds. The headphone output goes through the volume, balance and tone settings of the stereo receiver.

Your son might need some of these:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/cordial_c...iZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6NCwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOiJlbiJ9
 
#3
DirkP said:
Earbuds should function exactly like headphones. Some older ones nearly have no bass at all. If the headphones were connected to the same output as the earbuds, there is something wrong with the earbuds (or it is the bass issue).
You son shouldn't use the headphone signal from the receiver. Every receiver that has a headphone output has a record out on the back, too. This has real line level, the headphone output not. Could even be a phase issue becoming more obvious on the earbuds. The headphone output goes through the volume, balance and tone settings of the stereo receiver.

Your son might need some of these:
https://www.thomann.de/gb/cordial_c...iZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6NCwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOiJlbiJ9
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply and the information. I really appreciate it.
 
#6
Lots of earbuds have a second "ring" connector for the volume control, (TRRS type) and are really only intended for use with smartphones. Have a look...

TS-TRS-TRRS-TRRRS-Connectors-1.jpg


The Zoom is designed to work with standard 1/8" (3.5mm) TRS stereo headphone plug.
 
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#9
dougjwray said:
when listening to the song through headphones, it's 100% fine, but when listening through earbuds, one side is good and the other is muddy, distorted, etc.
Click to expand...
If unplugging the headphones in which it sounds fine and then plugging in the earbuds results in that issue, it's not the recording. Either the earbuds are going bad or there is an incompatibility between the source (laptop) and the earbuds.

Do other music sources (iTunes, Spotify, etc.) have a similar problem with the earbuds plugged in to the laptop?
 

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