[bigshot]

Perhaps a damaged stylus?

 

[TaKo15]

Perhaps a damaged stylus?

Theoretically? Probably, an unevenly worn stylus could become so flat on one side that it can no longer track the high frequencies.
But if you view some spec sheets of phono cartridges channel balance is always at least 1-1.5dB (Maybe some verg high end cartridges do better?)
which is clearly audible even with regular stereo listening.
I have several digital recordings from some of my rare LP's before I got rid of them, and can usually tell within the first few seconds of listenibg to them what cartridge I used by channel balance alone. I had an Ortofon OM40 which leaned about 1.5dB to the left and an expensive Audio Technica MC that prefered the right channel by about 1dB. (Easily confirmed by checking the digital recordings in Audacity).

 

[bigshot]

1 to 1.5 would be noticeable if it was across all frequencies. If it was only in a certain frequency range, then it would depend on how important that range is. Obviously the frequencies that make up the human voice would be the worst, because vocals are often mixed to mono. If it was other frequency ranges that weren't in the core and weren't mixed to smack dab in the middle, you might not notice 1 to 1.5 db in music.

 

[Lvivske]

Having a balance issue and thought this would be a good thread to bump & ask

I recently broke my headphone plug and had to solder a new plug about a month ago. Then I broke it again last night just in normal use, ground wires came loose, so I redid it last night much more secure. I also reflowed the L (tip) connection while I was in there because it looked kinda weak.

Today I'm listening and notice on some songs there's a channel imbalance, particularly with vocals on some songs, with the left channel being slightly louder

- I did a bunch of tests and couldnt find imbalances generally, but I did try playing music or static with my amp at zero and rolling volume up, and did find the L side was audible first
- I reversed L/R on my source and the L side stayed louder
- I reversed the connections on my headphone drivers, and the imbalance switched

So I know it's not the source (no change) and not the drivers (they switched when reversing the connectors)

I then tested resistance (while plugged into the 300ohm headphones) with one probe on the plug to sleeve (negative) and one to lead. With 2k selected, Left measures 0.317 and Right measures 0.319. If I do a continuity test from T/R/S to the pins on the other end, they read the same, ~.23

How is this possible and how can I test further to figure out what's causing this? I have a multimeter but didn't really understand the previous instructions in this thread, and dont want to just randomly disassemble and mess with soldering without a clear goal or way of measuring whats going on

 

[Tubewin]

Can anyone listen to the song Anette Askvik's Liberty. At 20 seconds into the song is where the vocals start, and I'm hearing her voice favor the right side slightly with the Susvara. I'm using qobuz for the track. Youtube sounded a little more centered for some reason. Just want to make sure it's the track and not the headphones or a channel imbalance somewhere. The strange thing is that the vocals on the track on the Utopia is centered.

 

[TaKo15]

Having a balance issue and thought this would be a good thread to bump & ask

I recently broke my headphone plug and had to solder a new plug about a month ago. Then I broke it again last night just in normal use, ground wires came loose, so I redid it last night much more secure. I also reflowed the L (tip) connection while I was in there because it looked kinda weak.

Today I'm listening and notice on some songs there's a channel imbalance, particularly with vocals on some songs, with the left channel being slightly louder

- I did a bunch of tests and couldnt find imbalances generally, but I did try playing music or static with my amp at zero and rolling volume up, and did find the L side was audible first
- I reversed L/R on my source and the L side stayed louder
- I reversed the connections on my headphone drivers, and the imbalance switched

So I know it's not the source (no change) and not the drivers (they switched when reversing the connectors)

I then tested resistance (while plugged into the 300ohm headphones) with one probe on the plug to sleeve (negative) and one to lead. With 2k selected, Left measures 0.317 and Right measures 0.319. If I do a continuity test from T/R/S to the pins on the other end, they read the same, ~.23

How is this possible and how can I test further to figure out what's causing this? I have a multimeter but didn't really understand the previous instructions in this thread, and dont want to just randomly disassemble and mess with soldering without a clear goal or way of measuring whats going on

That's most likely just the volume potentiometer on your amp, they usually have a bit of an imbalance at the low end, so if you turn it all the way down and back up again you'll often hear one channel kick in first. Should be completely gone by the time you hit 9 o'clock on the volume knob and is completely normal.