The Issue
Yesterday, I was listening to some music yesterday through my interface (UR22 mkII, while using the headphone output), when I noticed a bit of distortion coming from the left stereo channel. At first, I thought it could be an issue with the cable of my headphones, so I switched it, but the distortion was still there.
Today, I began to use my computer again, and the distortion was still there, and even worse: at times, the left channel will go mute.
I think this might be a hardware issue, but I have yet to test the line outputs so as to know more accurately if the headphone output is malfunctioning or it’s something else.
I could really use some help, because this is quite annoying. I’ve owned this interface for 3 years and I didn’t really have issues with it, until now.
Thank you beforehand for your help, and have a good day.
I suppose the first thing to try would be a different set of headphones. Or maybe by “switching the cable” you actually meant “switching the headphones”? Have you tried the same set of headphones through the output of another device just to rule that one out?
What were you using to listen to your music? DAW software? A general computer media player? Online streaming?
This is where details sometimes (all the time) help.
Do you have anything else you can plug into the headphone jack to rule out a hardware malfunction? Are you using an adapter of any kind …?
By “switching the cable” I mean an actually different cable for the same headset (my Audiotechnica headphones allow me to do that since they came with 3 different detachable cables for different situations and such). I already ruled that one out with an iPad, the headset is fine.
I was using FL Studio when I found out about the issue, then switched to Spotify to know whether it was an issue with my DAW or not.
The line outputs are functioning OK, I tested them yesterday night, and there doesn’t seem to be a distortion issue. Surprisingly enough, when I switched back to my headset, that distortion was no more.
A note about the cables: while all 3 have a 1.8" TRS plug, you can screw a 1/4" adapter on 2 of them (which I use interchangeably). That adapter comes with the headphones. It sometimes unscrews a bit, but when I found out about the distortion issue, I checked it and it was tightly screwed on.
Interesting, for sure, that the issue seemed to have remedied itself after trying the other outputs. Other than an intermittent internal hardware failure, I’m out of ideas.
Thank you for providing the extra details. It will help greatly in case someone else can make a more educated guess as to what is going on.