Stereo Left Right Audio Test
Verify your headphones and stereo speakers. Test Left channel, Right channel, stereo separation, alternating ping-pong audio cues, frequency sweeps, and balance calibration.
How to Use This Test
- Put on your headphones or sit directly centered between your stereo desktop speakers.
- Click "Test Left Channel". You should hear audio exclusively in your left ear.
- Click "Test Right Channel". Audio should play only in your right ear. If reversed, your headphones are on backwards!
- Click "Alternating Bounce" to test stereo spatial panning.
- Use the Phase Test to ensure your speaker wiring or sound drivers maintain correct acoustic polarity.
Why Is Sound Coming from Both Sides on Left/Right?
If clicking "Left" plays sound equally in both ears, check the following:
- Mono Audio Setting: Check your operating system accessibility settings (Windows: Settings > Accessibility > Audio > Mono Audio; macOS: Accessibility > Audio) to ensure mono mixing is disabled.
- Loose 3.5mm Headphone Jack: An incompletely plugged headphone jack often shorts the left and right contact rings together.
What Is Audio Phase (In-Phase vs. Out-of-Phase)?
In-Phase audio plays identical sound waves in unison, creating a solid, rich, focused center image with full bass. Out-of-Phase audio inverts one channel, causing the sound waves to cancel each other out. Out-of-phase sound feels hollow, thin, and disorienting, as if coming from behind your skull.
Headphone Balance Adjustment
If one side of your headphones is naturally quieter due to driver aging or mild hearing differences, use the Balance Calibration Slider to find your ideal listening midpoint.