Kia Stinger Buyers In The U.S. Got These Cool Headphones

[davebo]

I've hooked up my headphones with the cable and they play just fine without needing to hold a button down, so you could just contact harmon kardon and see about a replacement cable since it's clearly malfunctioning.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I've hooked up my headphones with the cable and they play just fine without needing to hold a button down, so you could just contact harmon kardon and see about a replacement cable since it's clearly malfunctioning.

It is? What is that "remote" button for anyway?

 

[BigPlum]

Got a GT2 19 in November
Today I was pleasantly surprised to get a set of Headphones

View attachment 17580

Got my GT1 in November, this gives me hope...

 

[davebo]

It is? What is that "remote" button for anyway?

I think it's safe to assume it is if you have to constantly hold it down to hear audio. That isn't normal behavior for headphones. I'm sure the instruction manual which I don't have in front of me would say what it's for. If I recall, isn't the port with 3 notches on it a 3.5mm for putting in a device, then the 2 notches are on the 2.5mm side going into the phones? That would lead me to believe the button serves a function not for the headphones but just for something you plug it into, like a smartphone might use it as a mute button or something. That's why I suggested buying a longer 2.5mm->3.5mm cable with no button on it, just bypass that feature entirely. But check the manual first to see if it does serve a purpose. You said you have to hold it down to get good audio. Does that mean if you don't hold it, the audio only comes through on one channel then pushes to both when you hold it, or is just garbled low quality or something?

 

[MerlintheMad]

I have mentioned this before: on my computer the headphones work just fine through the cable. On my Yamaha receiver, listening to CDs or DVDs, if I don't hold the remote button in, the sound is very faint, and if I turn it up it gets louder, of course, but it sounds monural with almost no bass and sounds like crap. When I hold the remote button in the sound booms and goes full stereo.

The manual is no help. All it says is "remote" and nothing at all about what it's function is. The manual is all but worthless.

 

[davebo]

Hmm, so it just sounds like an all-purpose button for devices that would make use of it. Maybe your receiver has some function for it, or maybe that third notch is just messing things up. If it were me I'd probably just buy a cheap 3.5 to 2.5mm cable with no button at the length I wanted and take that third notch out of the equation.

 

[MerlintheMad]

If I recall, isn't the port with 3 notches on it a 3.5mm for putting in a device, then the 2 notches are on the 2.5mm side going into the phones?

I missed this. What are you describing here? "Notches"? 2.5mm, 3.5mm? "Port"?

Hmm, so it just sounds like an all-purpose button for devices that would make use of it. Maybe your receiver has some function for it, or maybe that third notch is just messing things up. If it were me I'd probably just buy a cheap 3.5 to 2.5mm cable with no button at the length I wanted and take that third notch out of the equation.

Since I don't know what a "third notch" is, I can't say.

 

[davebo]

If you look on the jack at both ends of the cable, you'll see one is slightly thicker with three black lines on it. The other side is smaller and only has two lines. That's the end that goes into the headphones, and the two lines are for left and right audio. The third line on the thicker end is what sends the signal when the button gets pressed, so it's not actually interacting with the headphones at all, it's just causing some interference between the button and your receiver.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Ah, so the "lines" are the "notches" you referred to? This is making sense. I've just experimented more. The "active noise cancelling" button, with the headphones ON, seems to have a minimal effect on the sound as well. When the ANC button is activated the light beside it is lit up, and the sound increases a tad. "5 Channel" is the best over all sound, but it is still monural. When I hold the "remote" button in, all becomes enhanced and fulsome. Without the remote button held in, the sound is just so lacking in dynamics. Oh, well. I guess all I can do now is get rid of that "three notch" cord and go with a standard headphones cord that has no "remote" button on it, then we'll see. @davebo Thanks for sticking with me on this!

 

[Optima Mystic]

Typically the third line on the connector is for the mic.

 

[compujas]

Typically, but not always. It's really any signal, usually a mic or a remote.

I don't have a set of these headphones (yet?), so I don't really know what they are or what the cable looks like, but my guess would be if the headphones are multichannel (more than stereo), they're looking for a third signal through the cable to transmit that extra channel. If the cable has a remote button, that button is a break in the signal, so until you hold the button down and actually make connection, that signal isn't getting through, and then when you hold the button down it lets the signal through. Just a guess. I've never had multichannel headphones though, so I don't know how they actually function.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Typically, but not always. It's really any signal, usually a mic or a remote.

I don't have a set of these headphones (yet?), so I don't really know what they are or what the cable looks like, but my guess would be if the headphones are multichannel (more than stereo), they're looking for a third signal through the cable to transmit that extra channel. If the cable has a remote button, that button is a break in the signal, so until you hold the button down and actually make connection, that signal isn't getting through, and then when you hold the button down it lets the signal through. Just a guess. I've never had multichannel headphones though, so I don't know how they actually function.

Mystery solved! Well, half of it, at least. It's the thrice bepoxed 1/4"phone jack adapter.

The one on the right is from Radio Shack and works perfectly. The one that has been greatly annoying is the taller one on the left, from Best Buy. Heh! Not hardly "best", is it? The headphones work just fine, as I've said, on the computer: pushing in the "remote" button on the audio cable does nothing. And guess, what? Pushing in the button when using the brass one on my Yamaha receiver also DOES NOTHING. The sound is perfect if I use that jack. What's wrong with the "Best Buy" (Buy More) jack? Any ideas why it screws up the sound coming into the headphones when I use it on the Yamaha (and without it, on my 'puter, the headphones work just fine)? I had no clue that if you bought two of these bog standard 1/4" jacks that they would be different in performance. I bet anyone working in the Buy More doesn't have a clue either.

(edit to add: Radio Shack has dried up and moved away; there is only one left in all of Utah, clear up by Hill, dammit: this of course reduces me to buying a 1/4" jack from somewhere/anywhere and trying it out; and if it doesn't work either, trying a different one from somewhere else; I'm borrowing more trouble, I know, but do you blame me?)

 

[MerlintheMad]

Only the jack on the left (Radio Shack), for no known reason, allows full stereo without having to hold in the "remote" button (I think that remote button has something to do with mic capability, but danged if I can tell how). Hold the phone, there is a solution:

An online search with the phrase "three channel 1/4" headphones jack" turned up this gem: https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-d...headphone-and-three-stripe-earphone-headphone

"Now you are still able to use your headset and play stereo audio correctly, all you have to do is fully plug in your cable, play some noise through your headset and slowly pull the jack out (not all the way) until the the audio plays clearly in both channels."

Well, dog my cats! It works! Yay! I don't have to hold that dammed "remote" button in anymore.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I just discovered, also, that if I plug the HK three channel jack into a 6' extender cable, that fits into the 1/4" jack, that everything sounds perfect. So, I have beat my head against the wall, all for nothing.

 

[AV8R]

My god 454 posts and 23 pages later and we are still talking about headphones. They should have shipped all the cars with a set in the glove compartment then it would have been a standard feature.

 

[AV8R]

If talked that much about headphones to my wife she would divorce me! Lol

 

[eljay]

AV8R, you've got to admit that a fair number of those—now 456 posts—are you lot down there whinging about not getting any headphones.

 

[AV8R]

AV8R, you've got to admit that a fair number of those—now 456 posts—are you lot down there whinging about not getting any headphones.

The ratio of us complaining about not getting them vs you lot having them is about 1/100

 

[eljay]

Hey, I'm not blaming you; we've done our fair share of complaining about not getting the 360° cam on the 2018s in the U.S. Given the chance, I'd trade.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Hey, I'm not blaming you; we've done our fair share of complaining about not getting the 360° cam on the 2018s in the U.S. Given the chance, I'd trade.

Just think of all the fun I'd have missed, trying to figure out how these headphones work.