Sound issue with headphones

mark_alfred · 11-15-2018, 06:29 AM

Hello. I have a laptop and desktop, running Ubuntu 16.04 and Debian 9 respectively. I'm finding that the sound I get with headphones (using the regular headphone jack) is not as good as what it used to be. Even at full volume I'm barely hearing it (I've recently bought a couple of different headphones and it's true with all of them). On the other hand, the sound I get using speakers is fine.

Any ideas what's up with this?

RandomTroll · 11-15-2018, 07:19 AM

Are the speakers passive or do they have their own power?

mark_alfred · 11-15-2018, 07:25 AM

The speakers do have their own power (IE, they're plugged in).

RandomTroll · 11-15-2018, 03:45 PM

If they have their own power they probably have their own volume controls.

frankbell · 11-15-2018, 08:44 PM

If you have another set of headphones or one of earbuds, test with them.

The results will tell you whether the problem is with the headphones themselves.

If the headphones do not have a hardware volume control, I'm betting that the headphones are wearing out, since you have already indicated the problem travels with them from one machine to the other.

mercyroy · 11-17-2018, 02:59 AM

I think the problem is with one of the earbuds so you can try any other earphone.

fatmac · 11-17-2018, 03:52 AM

Have you checked that the volume for the headphones hasn't been reduced (or muted) in alsamixer &/or pavuctrl(?).