Headphone Heights

Welcome to Headphone Heights, the place for all your ear bud discussion

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There are reasons...

Posted by mlsstl on January 21, 2024 at 14:12:08:
The standard 1/4" and 3.5 mm headphone jacks have a common ground. There are some amplifier circuits than cannot have a common ground between the left and right outputs. So, that requires a four pin connection instead of three. The XLR headphone jack and TRRS jacks provide for separate ground connections.
Besides the amplifier requirement noted above, the Schiit Midgard I just bought has a "Halo" circuit option which includes the headphone drivers in the feedback loop. For this to work, again separate grounds are required. The Midgard has two headphone jacks -- a standard 1/4" one with a common ground and an XLR connection with four pins for the Halo option. (The difference between the two connections is subtle, but present. Per my experience I prefer the Halo connection with my Sundara phones, but according to the reviews, depending on the headphone used, some people prefer the 1/4" jack.)