New Headset with TRRS 3.5mm making a subtle buzz

[antoniu200]

Hi! So, I recently had my Plantronics headset die (one 3 pole connector for the mic, another one for the headphones), because of the bad quality potentiometer, so I bought myself a new headset: a JBL Tune 500 (one 4 pole connector for both the mic and headphones). All great and dandy, until I notice a subtle buzz sound (~60Hz, very, very low dB) coming out of them when I connected them to my PC, but the sound wasn't present on my phone. Now, the first thing I tried was replacing my front 3.5mm jacks. After replacing them, the sound was still there.

Did some digging, and found out it could be a ground issue. I saw some people suggesting an adapter from one 4 pole connector to two 3 pole connectors. Had one ordered, arrived yesterday and the buzz sound is still there.

Now, I gave this a tought and I came to the conclusion that the adapter might not be using the ground connection.

And the question comes: what do you all think could be the problem here? My other Plantronics headset didn't have this buzz sound, and neither does my friend's headset when connected to my computer (also two 3 pole connectors). However, any 4 pole headset I connect to my PC have this buzz sound occur, as soon as I run some more intensive programs.

[Khron]

Re: New Headset with TRRS 3.5mm making a subtle buzz

That might depend on how the TRRS is wired.

As far as i know, the two standards in use have reversed assignments between the second ring and the sleeve (ground and mic are reversed between them; tip and first ring are still headphone left/right).

[antoniu200]

Re: New Headset with TRRS 3.5mm making a subtle buzz

That might depend on how the TRRS is wired.

As far as i know, the two standards in use have reversed assignments between the second ring and the sleeve (ground and mic are reversed between them; tip and first ring are still headphone left/right).

Well, all I can say is it's definitely not the Apple way, as Apple Earphones have a delay when connecting to my phone, while normal ones don't. And these JBL ones connect in an instant. It's the standard way.

Another clue that leads to this is that the adapter gives the headset on my PC the mic functionality. So, it's not that.

[antoniu200]

Re: New Headset with TRRS 3.5mm making a subtle buzz

I have just read an article about ground loops and now I have a question: is it possible that the buzzing sound appears because the PCB might have a connection between the mic ground and the speaker ground?