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Some OnePlus users find swapped left/right audio channels with wired headphones

With the headphone jack dead, wired audio is a little less reliable than it once was. Now, some OnePlus users are reporting a strange issue that swaps the left and right audio channels when wired headphones are hooked up.

Highlighted by Android Police, user reports from OnePlus’ forums, Reddit, and XDA’s forums that many OnePlus devices are seeing an issue that reverses the audio channels of wired headphones. That means audio meant to be heard by your left ear would be heard by your right. It doesn’t sound that bad at first, but it would probably mess your brain just a little bit and for certain games or videos, it could be really bad.

Reports on this issue are primarily found from OnePlus 7 series users, but the issue dates back to OnePlus 5 owners as well. What’s especially weird about this issue is that there isn’t one common thread for everyone (at least outside of USB-C). Some people are using official accessories, others aren’t. Some are using dongles, others are using USB-C headphones. Even weirder, wireless accessories are immune, so this isn’t something at the core of the system either.

OnePlus is apparently looking into this matter, but there’s no true fix right now. Some users report that apps which swap audio channels or just listening to music in mono makes things better, but those are far from ideal.

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