Headphone Wire Melted

2008-01-19 23:15:48

I was listening to some music earlier on a pair of Beyer DT100 headphones (connected to the headphone jack on my amplifier).

All of a sudden I was only getting sound from the right speaker. I checked the jack plug on the end of the headphone wire to find that one of the wires inside the removable cover had melted and become un-soldered from the jack plug!

I'm thinking this could have been caused by a loose connection? I wasn't listening to the music loud, I never do on those headphones. Any ideas as to what could have caused this?

Headphone Wire Melted

Reply #1 – 2008-01-20 00:38:57

Your assumption of "melted" is probably not correct. It was most likely just a 'cold' solder joint. These can sometimes preform adequately for an extended time, but because the connection isn't complete, knocking about, vibration, temperature changes, and mechanical stress will eventually cause separation. Careful resoldering usually works well.

Headphone Wire Melted

Reply #2 – 2008-01-20 12:21:26

The solder was runny when I removed the cover, and the plastic coating on the wire was blackened and melted too. The solder hardened again after it cooled.

There must have been a lot of heat to cause this.

Headphone Wire Melted

Reply #3 – 2008-01-20 16:20:01

I would advise you not to use that amplifier again until you've had it checked by a professional. If that much heat is getting to what's meant to be a line-level audio output then there could be a dangerous problem inside the amp.

Headphone Wire Melted

Reply #4 – 2008-01-20 16:25:21

Luckily it's still under warranty so I'm taking it back to the store this week for them to take a look.

What kind of dangerous problem could we be talking about here? It seems to work fine with my loudspeakers - what you said has worried me a bit so I have stopped using it immediately because you never know.

I wouldn't have thought there was any way headphone cable could melt while being connected to an amp, it's not as if the cable is carrying really high voltage or anything. The booklet says the headphone jack output is only 10mW @ 8 ohms.

Headphone Wire Melted

Reply #5 – 2008-01-20 17:07:37

It's probably perfectly safe, but it's not impossible that somehow there is an electrical fault inside that has led to large currents going to the wrong place, which obviously could be very dangerous indeed! More likely it's just a problem with heat dissipation, which is less alarming but could still be damaging your equipment.