Potentially Important Discovery

[FunTimes]

I was recently talking with technical support about a problem I was having with my speaker setup and it was mentioned that the 3.5mm port on a laptop, amplifier, or similar device did not maintain two discrete audio channels and instead mixed them together and sent that mixed signal to each speaker rather than sending the left channel to the left speaker and right channel to the right speaker like is required for these subs.

Now this is significant because if it is true then that means when someone is listening on headphones through a 3.5mm or similar connection then they aren't truly recieving the stereoscopic effect that is required. And even more significant is the reduction in audio quality when this mixing occurrs.

So my question essentially is whether or not this claim is true? (And I'm leaning towards it being true because it was reflected in my speaker setup because I used a 3.5mm Y-split RCA cable from my laptop to amplifier). And if it is true then how can the two discrete channels be achieved with headphones?

Thank you for your time.

[apollolux]

It probably depends on the speakers and/or source device/software. When I play a song on my iPod, for example, that has discrete channels (e.g. a particular riff only plays on the left and a separate riff plays on the right) the channels stay separate and it is clearly reflected in the respective side of the headphones/earbuds/etc. When I mix digital audio in a DAW like Cakewalk Sonar or Ableton Live I clearly hear left channels on the left speaker and right channels on the right.

Unless explicitly stated expect stereo data to be sent through 3.5mm as stereo rather than mixed down; any claim to the contrary sounds like FUD otherwise.

[HorizonPUA]

this is just total bullshit, the 3.5mm has two different signals...
so its even better then speakers since its a clear cut between left and right ear

[apollolux]

I searched for the standard schematic again, this image illustrates it best:

[FunTimes]

If the above is true then my next question becomes why did tech support lie and why did my audio setup not output two discrete channels and instead mixed them together? Because the 3.5mm Y-split RCA cable connecting from the headphone port of my laptop to the left and right line input of the amplifier was advertised as capable of supporting stereo sound but whenever I played an audio file in which sound was only in one channel and the other channel was silent I was getting sound out of both speakers rather than only one speaker as would be expected?

[Blink]

You can always do a test online.

http://www.audiocheck.net/audiotests_stereo.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M05w0gIDQVM

[Shannon]

If the above is true then my next question becomes why did tech support lie and why did my audio setup not output two discrete channels and instead mixed them together? Because the 3.5mm Y-split RCA cable connecting from the headphone port of my laptop to the left and right line input of the amplifier was advertised as capable of supporting stereo sound but whenever I played an audio file in which sound was only in one channel and the other channel was silent I was getting sound out of both speakers rather than only one speaker as would be expected?

Why would you jump to the assumption that you were lied to? It is much more likely that it was a case of telling you what they thought was true, and they were simply mistaken.

If you have the audio being mixed together, that is very likely the software between the audio and the jack. I don't see what else it could be.

Do some tests on the suggested test site links and see what you get.