Fixing damaged headphone wiring.

[nub]

Well, it's a sad fate I've come across recently. I bought an $80 Plantronics 3D sound headset, on a discount due to my friend's girlfriend using her employee discount.

Besides that, I still want to save this great headset instead of having to buy a new pair.

It connects using a usb dongle in a front USB port on my pc. The headphone and mic jack on the front of my pc no longer work because they are connected to my integrated Soundblaster Audigy MB, which is no longer recognizable by my pc after reformatting with XP over Vista. You can blame Creative for that, the ass holes.

Anyway, the damage is right where the cord connects to the male part of the head phones that goes into the jack hole on the PC (sounds really odd calling it a jack hole). I have to make the cable bend the right way or else I only get sound in the left speaker. It's really just a pain in the ass, I do some real elaborate shit just to get the sound to play in both ears. The damage isn't at all visible, it has to be right where the cord meets inside the plug-end, or something. It originally had a soft-rubber coating, but I "skinned" the plug and underneath is just a hard-plastic shell which I really cannot access.

The reason it got damaged is because of the way I have to connect it. I often end up snagging the cord because of the insane amount of slack they have. They can easily get tangled around my feet, or get caught under the wheels of my chair. Honestly, the initial snag that made the headphones start acting up was because I went to get a drink but forgot that I had my headset on (it's SO comfortable) and I just pulled the cords straight out of the usb dongle, that shit was snagged so hard too, I'm AMAZED I didn't snap that usb dongle right out of the port, or damage the actual port itself even. I guess the headphone cord took all the beating.

The mic works flawlessly, nothing wrong with it at all. So I guess I got lucky with that.

So basically, my question is, what can I do to fix this thing? And afterwards, is there any way I can reinforce my cords so they don't end up doing the same thing over again? Like, maybe putting some tape around it to stiffen it up some? Anything?

My current guess is to take the plug-end of some older headset and just cutting this damaged one off and attaching a the replacement. The only thing I fear is losing any sound quality because these headphones have really good sound quality.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[srredfire]

If the wire is damaged... sounds like you're SOL. Sorry. I've gone through like, jesus I have no idea. Dozens of head sets. One time I was in bed talking to someone on skype, probably some amazingly attractive girl, but anyways, the cord wasn't as long as I thought it was, but this is back in the day when all the ports were ONLY in the back. So I rolled over in my bed, farther away from my comp, which caused it to tug, causing my computer to fall off this huge desk it was on. Hugeeeee slam on the ground. Suprisingly, the computer was fine, but the front end of the computer landed on the cable, and completely severed it, clean cut. I was like fffffffffffffffffffffffffuck. One time I got pissed off at my friend, like super bad, and threw my headphones as hard as I could at the wall. They shattered. Many times I've just worn out the cords, or broke the head band, or stripped the wires from rolling over them in my chair. My latest one I brought back from Colorado, got smashed in my backpack and broke it in half.

So yeah. I got shit luck when it comes to them.

Sorry for your loss

[zombie@computer]

you can buy a new plug easily enough, i guess for less than one $ since its just a few € cents here anways.

Anyway, allmost all onboard soundcards have connectors for front access. Take a look at the motherboards manual, im sure theres a way to connect the front plugs to the motherboard internally.

[Dionysos]

Its easy to fix broken cords, Ive done it dozens of times.

What you need is a soldering gun (is that what its called?), and remove the rubber isolation from the cable. Cut it about 2cm from where you think the break in the cable is. If you cant reuse the old jack, youll have to get a new one.

Simply twist and solder the broken strand together again, dont forget to put on new isolation. If you havent done this before, you might want to check youtube or something to help you along the way, but it really isnt hard and only takes a couple of minutes.

[nub]

Well I've definitely repaired cables, but I simply twisted the wiring together and just taped around it with electric tape. I didn't know soldering the twisted wires would help.

On second thought, we have good family friends, and the dad used to be an electrician and repaired stuff like this, so I think he'll help me with this.

If not, then I'll do what you guys said, thanks.