Question Astro 40 headset

[heartcooksbrain]

I’ve had my Astro 40 headset for around 6 years now (since March 2014), and recently the sound coming from the speakers inside the headphones stopped producing sound normally. It isn’t that I can’t hear anything; it’s that it’s super quiet and not putting out all the full sound (i.e. I can’t hear any sound of what people are saying if there is someone speaking, and I can’t hear the full sound of music — no bass, no vocals, no depth at all; it’s like it won’t play all the tracks/channels of the audio — you can’t tell what song is being played at all).

The only time it sounds normal is if I push up/in the part of the cable wire that connects to the headset, really hard, and keep holding it like that (which is obviously impossible to do when gaming, since both of your hands are being used for the controller, and you can’t relax at all if using it for anything besides gaming if you need to constantly push the cable wire up/in super hard). The jack connection is clearly not working properly.

So I’m wondering, is my headset completely toast and I need to buy a new one? In my attempt to find what went wrong with my expensive headset here, I first tried to see if it was a lint problem, so I stuck a toothpick in it and twisted it around inside the jack, but no lint came out. Then I got a high powered flashlight and used it to look inside the jack hole. I am wondering if what I am seeing is normal or not...

Essentially, there is one long rectangular “slot” on the wall of each “side” of the round hole, set 90° apart (so there are are 4 of these rectangular slots in total, inside the jack hole). Each slot has some sort of metal tab in it that makes connection with the metal of the 3.5 metal adapter end part of the cable wire that you plug in to the jack hole (the same wire that you use the other end of it to plug in to your controller or whatever other electronic device you are wanting to listen to with the headset) — all except for one side/slot... There is one rectangular slot that is empty, with no metal tab in it.

Is that normal? If not, is it possible to repair, or would such a repair cost more than buying a new Astro 40 headset entirely?

Sorry for such a long post.. I really hope someone can help me out. Thanks!

 

[hang-the-9]

Are you using them with the mix amp that came with it? Try them on another system? If the cable is loose that can be fixed, but you would need to take it apart and solder the connections.

If you would rather replace them, this is a great deal https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-pc37x-gaming-headset For the price it may be the best gaming headset out now.

 

[heartcooksbrain]

Are you using them with the mix amp that came with it? Try them on another system? If the cable is loose that can be fixed, but you would need to take it apart and solder the connections.

If you would rather replace them, this is a great deal https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-sennheiser-pc37x-gaming-headset For the price it may be the best gaming headset out now.

Thanks for the reply, mate.

Yes… I’ve tried my headset with the mix amp with my PS3, as well as with my PS4 controller, my iPhone, and plugged directly in to my Samsung tv’s headphones jack. No luck with any device I’ve tried it with.

Also, the cable isn’t loose at all to the feel like you suggested as a possibility. It seems to still fit snugly (but perhaps you are just saying that the connection is lose inside, even if the feel of it still feels normal to a layman like me).

I’m a middle aged 45 year old disabled lady — I don’t know how to take this gear apart, much less solder anything lol (what sort of repair business would do that? Do you know by chance?).

I checked out your link… That is indeed a good price, but unlike the damaged Astro 40s I have, there’s no surround sound listed as it’s feature. : / I really loved that surround sound feature of my Astro 40s!

So do you think that it is indeed the issue that that one rectangular side/slot not having metal in it is what is causing the audio problem? As in, it originally came with metal there when it was shipped to me, and it’s somehow become dislodged recently and is missing now (and that is what is causing the problem)?

I wish there was a way I could upload the picture I took of the jack hole for you and others to see, which shows exactly what I’m talking about, but I don’t see a way to do that here. Hopefully you can visualize what I’m describing decently enough from my words. If not, if if there is a way to upload an image from my photo library to a post here, please feel free to let me know how do do so if you know how.

Sorry again for my verbosity!


P.S. Why do I see a notification that says that my post is waiting for approval from a moderator before anyone can see it besides me? Do they do that for every single post here? If so, that is really sad. : /

 

[hang-the-9]

Without looking at the headset and taking it apart to check it, everything is just guessing. Only way to fix it would be to take it to a computer shop and see what they say if you want to fix it vs get a new set. The surround sound does not come from the headphones but from the mix amp. The headphones themselves are not good, they are bought by gamers that go in for the marketing not for audio quality. Surround sound in a headphone is impossible since you have two speakers on the sides of your head. All the positional audio is faked through software, which you can run with any headset.