BA ClubWord - can't use own headphones
 

Recently flew ClubWorld with BA on one of the new 777's and discovered that the headphone socket does not take he standard 2 pin adapter which came with my own headphones. On the BA phones, the two pins are different sizes. I guess there is no way round this? Using one pin only seems to give mono sound.

I may be wrong but I thought the small pin is the noise cancelling signal that they have. The large pin (3.5mm jack) carries the stereo sound. I usually use my in ear earphones and they work fine apart from the common feature on BA aircraft that the left and right channels are swapped round (this is, of course, easily rectified though).

I never noticed this! I always use my Bose in 3.5mm jack, with no problems on any BA jet. Will have a go turning them around next time, lol

Dont use the 2 pin adapter, just stick the standard 3.5mm jack in the bigger of the 2 holes.

The smaller socket is for powering the noise cancelling headphones 5v dc I think (could be wrong about the voltage, virgin is 5v) the other jack is a standard 3.5mm stereo jack and is compatible with nearly all headphones.

The smaller socket 2.5mm is for powering the noise cancelling headphones 5v dc I think (could be wrong about the voltage, virgin is 5v) the other jack is a standard 3.5mm stereo jack and is compatible with nearly all headphones.

Sorry for the double post, no idea how, I blame the iPad

Did the BA headphones work ok in the socket? Just wondering if it was faulty as my Bose QC15's work absolutely fine in the socket - I think there is only one of the two sockets the jack will fit into. Its weird your headphones didn't come with a standard minijack and an adapter as lots of them do these days.

my Sennhieser's work fine in the 3.5mm jack

^ works every time.

I'm guessing the OP got a dodgy connection at their seat and that it only payed mono - I've had that before - and assumed it was that way due to the type of connector.

weehaggis, did you report it to the crew? They would have tried to move you, or you could have claimed some Avios for compensation for a non-working entertainment system.

Which explains why you can't use the BA headphones in your own equipment (iPod, laptop, etc.). Good thing too, else there'd be large numbers disappearing from each flight!

Or maybe CW pax are better than that? ;)

Anyone else notice how the volume on decent headphones is so much louder than the BA ones?

I end up turning the volume down to its minimum, but they reset it to their version of normal on the announcements and causes me to jump out of my seat!

My Bose headphones have two settings for loudness, on BA flights I either have to set it to low on the headset, or if I forget have the volume on minimum on the control

Indeed it does.

I have used the BA headphones in my iPod, you just have to twist the jack so that only the larger jack plug goes into the iPod. Easy