how's this for a novel cause? always the last thing you check. and, i can construct a chain of logic, too.

a few weeks ago, i noticed my mp3 headphones were shorting a little and i wasn't sure if it was the phones or the player so i checked them through the amp in the studio. the amp is a standard 1/4 jack. both my studio phones and my mp3 phones are 1/8. so, i need an 1.8th-->1/4 converter that sits in the amp. they're those big plugs, you've seen one around. i had to take the studio phones out of the converter to check.

as i was checking to make sure it's not the amp before i reinstalled by swapping the phones direct from the mixer, i noticed it was a little dirty.

cleaned it off, and it *finally* sounds crystal clear.

hopefully that holds. but, dammit. who'd have guessed that?

 (it was the player that was shorting, not the walking phones. it's an old sansa. and it's ultimately probably just dirty, too, but i'm going to need some kind of cleaner to get in there.)