Passenger Headset Sockets

[Chris Kebab]

Someone might be able to help..

Went to plug in my own new headset to find the supplied supposed "airline" 2 pin jack adaptor doesn't work in the BA 2 pin headset socket. On my adaptor it has two 3.5 mm jacks but BA have two sockets but one socket is smaller than the other. Is this a BA "feature" or standard. Anybody know where to get an adaptor that fits on these seats?

[VS-LHRCSA]

That's new to me, sounds a bit strange. There is no commercial reason why BA would want to discourage pax using their own headsets. Infact, they would save a headset pack being opened. I am wondering it is it the actual seat you were sitting in. The sockets get a lot of abuse over the years (pax standing up with the headset still on weakens them) so that may explain it.

The only explanation is that maybe BA have made their headsets like this so they can't be used at home or on other airlines - to cut down theft.

I've seen plenty of BYO headsets in F and J, so perhaps it's just in Traveller?

[Final 3 Greens]

What aircraft?

I have a BA headset from an A320 and it has 2 x 3.5mm jacks.

[iansmith]

I think I have seen this before. One socket is the standard 3.5mm left and right combined headset jack. The other is power. I used my jack without the adaptor into the one standard sized socket, ignoring the other, and it worked fine.

[Chris Kebab]

VS - Traveller, moi??:)

This was a brand new BA "Club Class" seat last week on a 747, the one with an up down divider rather than a fan.

I am positive they were a different sizes, maybe Ian S has it. If the smaller one is power maybe I should have persevered and used a single jack.

Why do you need a powered headset? ANR or something?

[life_sentence_as_AME]

yep... noise reduction

[10secondsurvey]

Hi

Here's what I have found previously. If you plug in your own headphones into just a single socket (which you can do), then usually you find the volume hard to control. That is, at base level, the volume is very loud, and when ccrew make an announcement, you wll be deafened.

Recently, I got a pair of those snazzy bose quiet comfort noise cancelling headphones, and in the box, there is a cleverly designed adapter, which can use one or two sockets. One of the jacks is a standard size, whilst the other is smaller. This is explained by the instructions, that the second smaller jack, when needed by an airline seat, controls the volume.

So from what I gather, you can plug into a scket with two jack points (one bigger than the other), with a normal headphone jack, but will have less control of volume. The preferable scenario, however, is to use an adapter that will enable you to plug into both, the standard size hole, and the smaller sized hole.

I think?

[Eboy]

On some UNITED States carriers with a similar 2-jack setup, I have found that with the Bose self-powered noise-reduction headsets one can just use one jack -- it is the only one that fits the standard audio plug. The other jack for ANR support is smaller and does not fit the standard plug.