Solved! Left speaker does not play audio when connected to computer, but does when connected to phone

Bolo2k10

Prominent
May 24, 2017
4
0
510
I own Creative Gigaworks T20 series ii speakers for my build. I currently have an issue where if I plug the aux into my computer, the left speaker doesn't emit any sound. However, if I plug the aux out of the computer and into my phone, and play the same song, the left speaker works. My L/R levels are balanced. Anyone have any guesses?

*Using the Realtek HD Audio Manager, I was able to test each speaker and determined that there IS sound coming out from the left speaker, but it is extremely quiet. Once plugged into my phone it works fine...
 
Solution
Line level outputs typically have a source impedance of 50 to a few hundred ohms. They are intended to drive loads that have a high input impedance, usually greater than 5k ohms. They are typically optimized for very low noise and low distortion when used with high impedance loads.

Headphone outputs typically have a source impedance less than a hundred ohms and the better ones have a source impedance of a few ohms or less. They are intended to drive the lower impedances presented by headphones which typically range from 16 ohms to 300 ohms. They are optimized for being able to drive higher current and for delivering reasonable distortion and noise with low impedance loads.

Line level outputs usually do poorly when driving headphones...
Let me make sure I understand you fully:

Speakers plugged into rear speaker out port (green) you get no sound to L speaker (very faint when testing in Realtek manager), but with leaving this cable plugged in and connceting an aux cable from phone to blue aux-in port on PC you hear sound from the L speaker just fine?
 

Bolo2k10

Prominent
May 24, 2017
4
0
510

That didn't have an effect. I don't believe its a jack issue. I initially had it plugged into the L Out jack in the back of my desktop. I then tried switching from the L Out jack to the headphones jack in the front of the computer. The same issue persists. Right channel is far louder than the left. I tested the aux with different speakers and the same problem arose. Going to try a different aux now.
 

Bolo2k10

Prominent
May 24, 2017
4
0
510

Almost right. Aux cord connects from an aux jack in the back of my speaker into the L out port in back of my computer (red, not green). Very faint with Realtek. Leaving this cable plugged in, if I plug a different aux from my phone into the aux jack in front of the speaker (not computer), it works fine.
 

Yamitime

Estimable
Sep 4, 2014
66
0
4,610
Line level outputs typically have a source impedance of 50 to a few hundred ohms. They are intended to drive loads that have a high input impedance, usually greater than 5k ohms. They are typically optimized for very low noise and low distortion when used with high impedance loads.

Headphone outputs typically have a source impedance less than a hundred ohms and the better ones have a source impedance of a few ohms or less. They are intended to drive the lower impedances presented by headphones which typically range from 16 ohms to 300 ohms. They are optimized for being able to drive higher current and for delivering reasonable distortion and noise with low impedance loads.

Line level outputs usually do poorly when driving headphones because their higher source impedance will not properly damp the driver at low frequencies and they can suffer from high frequency rollof when loaded with significant capacitance.

Headphone outputs can be used to drive line level loads and can provide good noise and distortion performance but are typically not as good as line level outputs.
 
Solution