[Dobrescu George]

as a general rule for anything that has a headphone out, is it better to leave the headphones out or in during the time i am not using them?..
 
i am wondering if the wear will be worse if i plug and unplug a lot, or if i let headphones in? 
 
there are logical reasons for both to be bad, to let them plugged in creates corrosion, and weakens the springs, to get them in and out wears the springs and might deteriorate the plating on the headphone hole...
 
i am asking the question, so if anyone has an answer, i am all ears!

 

[RRod]

  as a general rule for anything that has a headphone out, is it better to leave the headphones out or in during the time i am not using them?..
 
i am wondering if the wear will be worse if i plug and unplug a lot, or if i let headphones in? 
 
there are logical reasons for both to be bad, to let them plugged in creates corrosion, and weakens the springs, to get them in and out wears the springs and might deteriorate the plating on the headphone hole...
 
i am asking the question, so if anyone has an answer, i am all ears!

 
If your amp doesn't have a muting relay, then on power-up/down it's best to have the headphones out as loud signals can be generated at those times. The wear issue isn't something to sweat about.

 

[Dobrescu George]

   
If your amp doesn't have a muting relay, then on power-up/down it's best to have the headphones out as loud signals can be generated at those times. The wear issue isn't something to sweat about.

for 3.5 headphone jack, i thought that it would go bad faster if i pluged in and out a lot.

 

[castleofargh]

I've always killed my cable long before the jack ^_^.

 

[bfreedma]

  
If your amp doesn't have a muting relay, then on power-up/down it's best to have the headphones out as loud signals can be generated at those times. The wear issue isn't something to sweat about.

for 3.5 headphone jack, i thought that it would go bad faster if i pluged in and out a lot.

I agree with RRod. Assuming you aren't plugging your headphones in a few hundred times a day, the power cycle is the bigger risk.

 

[Dobrescu George]

i am plugging in and out quite often... the fiio x5 has a relay to prevent noise...

 

[RRod]

I've always killed my cable long before the jack ^_^.

Got-dang office chairs!

 

[luberconn]

i unplug mine after and hang every use.  no problems so far. 

 

[joseph69]

I have the WA6/Soloist, I always power on(volume off) then plug in the HP's…then (volume off) unplug the HP's before powering off, with no issues.

 

[Dobrescu George]

ok, thanks for the help!..
 
i always felt, with all sources that the jack was... feeling a little loose after a while... i want it to stay as strong as possible..

 

[4to15Characters]

I have the same question, but what if the amp is never turned off? This is my situation with a Shiit Modi 2 and Sennheiser HD598.

 

[Baxide]

Take the headphone out of the headphone socket.
There are two reasons for that from a technical perspective.
1. Switch ON surge from some headphone amps is not suppressed. That surge can take out headphones. The driver coils can melt at a weak spot, just like how a fuse works.
2. The blades inside the headphone socket have a certain amount of a springy travel, so that when you remove the headphone plug, the blades flip back to its normal position that allows signal to pass to say an audio line output. If you leave the headphone plug in constantly, on cheaper headphone sockets especially the blades will lose their springy touch after a while. And then you'll start getting loss of signal to the headphones.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  for 3.5 headphone jack, i thought that it would go bad faster if i pluged in and out a lot.

 
They do eventually but unless you're doing it roughly and at an angle you're much more likely to kill a driver when the amp doesn't have a proper muting relay before you wear out the jack. 

 

[4to15Characters]

  Take the headphone out of the headphone socket.
There are two reasons for that from a technical perspective.
1. Switch ON surge from some headphone amps is not suppressed. That surge can take out headphones. The driver coils can melt at a weak spot, just like how a fuse works.
2. The blades inside the headphone socket have a certain amount of a springy travel, so that when you remove the headphone plug, the blades flip back to its normal position that allows signal to pass to say an audio line output. If you leave the headphone plug in constantly, on cheaper headphone sockets especially the blades will lose their springy touch after a while. And then you'll start getting loss of signal to the headphones.

I've never had reason 2 happen to me ever and I've got some speakers that have been plugged in for five years and they're still going strong, the socket holding onto the jack same as always.
 
But everything people have been saying is about the amps. How will my HEADPHONES fair if they're left plugged into a powered amp 24/7? In this case, I've got a Shiit Magni 2 Uber and Sennheiser HD598.

 

[Baxide]

The thing is not whether it has happened to someone or not. But when it does happen, you won't be happy.
I was in the hifi repair business by the way, and my comments and advice are purely based on the kind of faults that I found with customers' units.
 
In the case of an amp: the same things apply. But most amps have a speaker protection relay that cuts out any thumping sound. The headphones are normally fed from the speaker outputs via a high value resistor. Very few amps have a separate headphone amp section.