How to Repair or Replace Your Broken Headphone Jacks

If you haven't met a person that's broken a pair of headphones, you might need to get out more. No matter how expensive or cheap a pair of headphones are, the sound can get buggy, the wire can get cut, or the headphone jack itself can be broken or ripped off the cord. But instead of buying a new set of headphones or borrowing the ones from your cousin with the earwax problem, you can easily fix it yourself.

What You'll Need

• 1/8" headphone plug (found at RadioShack, Walmart, etc.)
• Soldering gun and solder *
• Hot glue gun and hot glue
• Tweezers
• Sandpaper
• Wire Strippers

* If you bought a plug with screw terminals, like the one below, you will not need to solder.

Image Credit polkaudio.com

Step 1: Cut Off Original Plug

First, cut the wire a few centimeters below the busted jack location.

Step 2: Separate and Strip Wires

Separate the two black wires, then remove the plastic casing from each with a wire cutter or knife.

Step 3: Sand Off the Colored Coating

Now, remove the colored enamel coating from the non-ground wires with sandpaper to reveal the bare copper wire underneath.

Step 4: Separate the New Plug

Once the wiring has be sanded properly, take off the plastic base of your new plug to reveal the inside terminals.

Step 5: Place Plastic Plug Housing Around Wire

Before you forget, make sure to install the plastic base onto the wires, so that when you start connecting the wires to the actual plug, you don't have to pull it all apart and start over to put it on.

Step 6: Solder Wires onto Plug

Now, you will need to make sure the corresponding lines reach their designated spot, ensuring that your headphones playback the music properly. Then just solder them in their proper places and use a little hot glue to secure the plastic base back onto the plug.

For a full walkthrough, check out the video below.

If you have a different headphone plug then the ones pictures in the video, go ahead and watch the following video to fix headphones with mics, volume controls or bass boost.

Image by Nduitch, AudreyObscura