Help Sound with earphones sometimes sounds hollow

[lmstam]

Hi,

For a while now when I listen to music on my phone (I have a oneplus one) with earphones the sound sounds hollow, almost like it's further away. When I fumble with the jack and wiggle it around and get it out and in a couple of times it works normally again.
I don't have this when I use my earphones with my laptop.
Is this a hardware problem? I'd really hate to get a new phone now because I was planning on getting a new one at the end of this year.
Thank you for your help!

 

[Hadron]

If the solution is wiggling the connection then yes, it's most likely a hardware problem. Of course that could just mean some fluff in the headphone jack, or the cable starting to go on the earphones, instead of the phone itself being faulty.

 

[kris443]

Did you try a different set of earphones? I had one set go bad...

 

[lmstam]

I have been playing around with it and it seems to only happen on Spotify, and not on my play music app. It happens when I skip a song. I've been having a strange thing with Spotify when I skip a song it kind of skips the first second or so. It's hard to explain but you hear the first tone, and then it skips a second and then it goes on. This is an entirely different thing but it gets hollow after it skips the second.
I have tried deleting Spotify and reinstalling it several times but it doesn't help.

 

[lmstam]

Did you try a different set of earphones? I had one set go bad...

I don't have any other headphones unfortunately and I don't really feel like buying new ones because these still work fine apart from the problem. I might buy new ones but I'm afraid it won't matter

 

[lmstam]

If the solution is wiggling the connection then yes, it's most likely a hardware problem. Of course that could just mean some fluff in the headphone jack, or the cable starting to go on the earphones, instead of the phone itself being faulty.

It's not really wiggling. I try to put it in halfway and play the music and then put it in all the way and that works.

 

[kris443]

loudness contour on spotify? Don't know spotify so can't help...

 

[Hadron]

Hmm, if you've been testing long enough that you are sure it only happens on Spotify (and it's not just chance that it has only happened with that app) and only when you perform that specific action (skipping) then that makes software more likely: maybe a glitch in the audio output when skipping that is fixed by stopping and starting the audio (taking a few attempts, by the sound)?

 

[lmstam]

Hmm, if you've been testing long enough that you are sure it only happens on Spotify (and it's not just chance that it has only happened with that app) and only when you perform that specific action (skipping) then that makes software more likely: maybe a glitch in the audio output when skipping that is fixed by stopping and starting the audio (taking a few attempts, by the sound)?

Yeah maybe. It also happens when skipping in a song (so going back or forward in the song)
Also just tested it with YouTube and that's also fine.
Once the sound is 'hollow', it does stay hollow until I fix it, however.
I think I'm just going to have to accept it. If it doesn't get any worse I can live with it.