One of the biggest problems we have with wired headphones is the wiring. Since these wiring and the cables used are fragile, any pulls, strains, and manhandling can damage the headphones for good. Many of us who have experience with technical stuff might have tried to fix these headphones, but it didn’t take long for us to realize that the wiring on these isn’t the same with household installations where color codes are sometimes ignored. In fact, ignoring headphone wire color codes when trying to fix headphones could either make or mar our efforts.
In this article, I’ll be sharing headphone wire color codes so you know what goes where, including headphone jacks with mic wiring diagrams. Let’s begin with the color codes for wired headphones.
Headphone Wire Color Codes
Most headphones come with between three and four wires, the wiring color codes for a four-wire headphone goes thus:
- The Red color cable is the right signal
- The Blue color cable is the right ground (earthing)
- The Green color cable is the left signal
- The Copper/Gold color or bared cable is the left ground (earthing)
If the headphone you have comes with three cables, the color codes will be slightly different but the principles are generally the same. Here are the headphone wire color codes for a three-cable headphone:
- The Red color cable is the right signal
- The Blue/Green color cable is the left signal
- The Copper/Gold color or bared cable is the ground (earthing)
As you can tell, the difference between four cable and three cable headphone wire color codes is that there is only one ground, and the cable on the left signal or ring is going to be either blue or green. The right signal or ring is almost always going to be for the red-colored cable.
To know which side of the headphone jack is which, get a standard headphone plug, have the plug facing away from you like it would look when inserting/inserted into a phone, and the right pin would be the right where the red wire goes, the center pin is the ground where the copper cable goes, and the left is the left pin where the blue or green wire goes.
For some headphones, to know which of the points on the jack is for what color, turn the jack away from you, like you would when inserting it into a phone. The first soldered port from you would be the microphone, the second will be the left ring, the third will be the right ring, and the fourth will be the ground.
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Headphone Jack with Mic Wiring Diagram
Most headphone jacks with mic come with pretty much the same wiring color codes, so we will be sharing a wiring diagram that would work for multiple brands of the headphone. The first soldered port from you would be the microphone, the second will be the left ring, the third will be the right ring, and the fourth will be the ground.
Samsung Headphone / Headset Jack Wire Color Code
The headphone wire color codes for Samsung headphones and headsets are pretty much the same. Most of them have around four cables. There is green, black, copper/gold, and red. Here are the color codes of each of these:
- The RED cable is meant to go to the right ear.
- The GREEN cable is the color for the left ear
- The Gold/Copper cable is for the ground
- The BLACK cable is for the microphone
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Tips for Repairing a Headphone with Color Codes
One of the hardest things for most about repairing headphones and earpieces is the fact that they have multiple colors, but understanding what goes where makes the process of repairing very easy.
For most people, you can use a multimeter on the low-ohms range to see which rings have what connections (the right and left have around double the resistance you would find on either the mic or ground ring).
Something I have learned from years of repairing headphones is that there is no universal standard for colors, and there could be slight differences on a manufacturer by manufacturer basis.
You could also plug the headphone jack into a phone port, then touch each of the points with each cable to know what goes where. You would want to check for the right and left ears first, have those soldered in place, then check the mic port and then the ground. If you touch the point with the left wire, you will hear a ticking sound on the left ear only, and when you do the same on the right, you will hear a ticking sound on the right ear only.
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