Instrument 07 · audio out
Sound test
Left, right, then the sweep. Your ears do the reading; the fixes are below.
Play each channel. The word you hear should match the button you pressed.
Test the rest of your setup
How to read your results
The channel test answers one question with no room for argument: does left play left? Swapped sides mean reversed plugs or reversed headphones, and a silent side means a broken cable, a half-seated plug, or a balance slider someone nudged years ago. The sweep walks from 20 Hz to 16 kHz; hearing it fade in somewhere in the low bass and disappear in the high treble is normal and partly your ears, but crackles, buzzes or dropouts at specific frequencies are the hardware talking.
Common fixes
- One side silent: half-seated 3.5mm plugs cause most of it. Reseat firmly, then test the same headphones on a phone to divide headphone faults from jack faults.
- Buzzing at low frequencies: on speakers, something on the desk is resonating; on headphones, a torn driver, which the sweep exposes mercilessly.
- Crackling with movement: a failing cable at the plug or the earcup joint. Replaceable-cable headphones make this a cheap fix.
- Everything quiet: check the physical volume wheel on the headset cable; it has fooled everyone at least once.