A few PopN questions

So I've been playing a bit more PopN Music lately, I think it's version 20, at the local R1. A bit difficult though since the volume on the machine is super low and I can't even hear half the songs. Is there a headphone jack anywhere on these?

Also, after playing just 3 games, my fingers started to feel a bit sore. Not very painful, but that kind of light buzzing feeling, along the undersides of my fingers. Should I wear gloves when playing, or...? I tried hitting the buttons as softly as I could, but they don't seem very sensitive and I kept getting misses.

Also noticed some weird difficulty ratings. FFFFF is rated "24" on normal mode, and I can almost full combo it, pretty easy overall, so I tried Sana Molette Ne Ente, which was "25" on Hard mode...and it was way harder by a huge margin, didn't even get above 20% life at any point in the song since it was just spamming double/triple notes for most of the song. Why is a 25 such a giant jump in difficulty from a 24? Or is it because the 25 was Hard whereas the 24 was Normal?

I’m your go-to gal for Pop’n, so lemme see what I can do. :3
There is no headphone jack on the Pop’n cabs from what I know.
Wearing gloves when playing is optional; really depends on player preference. I might recommend it if your hands hurt when playing.
It’s likely because Sana Molette Ne Ente IS Hyper (hard). A 25 on Normal is usually a lot easier than a 25 on Hyper judging from my own experience.

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Yeah, my hands didn't really 'hurt' per se, they just felt sore and had a bit of a buzzing feeling in them. I'll try wearing some cotton gloves next time and see if that helps.

And yeah that's what I assumed for difficulty, I think it works that way in Beatmania as well.

Hypers of the same difficulty are a big step up from normals, yes (IIDX and occasional Pop'n player)

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i experienced pain when playing popn my first couple times. you do need to be careful about the way you are hitting the buttons. striking the buttons with too much vigor can definitely hurt. especially it hurts when you hit the bone of the underside knuckle of your fingers against the button...

for a bit, i did try to wear gloves, but it became unneccessary quickly, because as i got better at the game, i began to hit the buttons with less vigor and force, and more precisely and with less motion. as my playstyle got better to handle more notes and harder songs, the way i was contacting the buttons got less painful as well.

but still, long multiple hour sessions of popn will leave my hands hurting. i really feel the need to "take a day off" after playing a long popn session and rarely play two days in a row which is making it difficult to break out of lower 40s on the current scale.

there are two round1s near me and neither popn cab has headphone support, but if you ask them to raise the volume for you thats something they should do nicely.

So I bought a Pop'n controller for the original PlayStation console from MomoCon 2018. But, the right yellow button is acting strangely by self-pressing. The only way to catch the Pop-kun is holding the right yellow button to stop it from lighting up. Is there an expert of this issue?

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Thats normal, the yellow button is "normally closed" (always triggering) so that a playstation can detect that it has been connected versus a plain dualshock controller. are you trying to use it on a PC via USB converter?

Yes, I am using it. But it's both an adapter and a converter. I bought it at Amazon.

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