And then people keep asking me why I have trust issues with wireless tech. A 3.5mm jack just works, with everything, every time, all the time, regardless of any outside factors.
I keep having to reset it and fiddle with it every reboot.
The problem I personally have (if there are any pulseaudio experts out there) is it continually re-enabling ephemeral audio sources like HDMI and bluetooth when they are plugged back in, even if I'd set them to "off" before unplugging them - fortunately since I set the analog to default it usually doesn't mess anything up, but it's a bit untidy, and also annoying for the one USB webcam that has a mic plugged in, where I get a surprise input if I don't watch it.
It'd be great to have it persist settings for identically named sources even after they are removed.
If it's any consolation... I recently came across an ASUS all-in-one PC where it was not enough to install the Realtek Windows HDA driver, no... that would have been too easy. You also needed to install a tiny extra driver that wasn't visible by default on their driver list in the Audio driver section. The entire audio world is utter, utter madness.
[1] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/sound/hd-audio/notes....
The shitty mux connected to the jack on the other end is the problem there.
There is at least one relevant "outside" factor. While the connector is standardized, the housing end of the plug does not seem to be. As soon as a phone is in a case, the case's hole for the 3.5mm connector is too small to accept the housing of a normal 3.5mm plug. That's true even for the shell the active3 tab comes with, not only some cheap after-market. It still works with the connector not fully in, but not reliably.
Maybe my 3.5mm connectors are all too old and I should try to find a replacement with a more narrow housing. Or a 3.5mm male/female "adapter" with a narrow housing.
The spring is that bent metal piece. As you push the plug in it initially pushes by the spring and then it catches in the narrow section of the plug to hold it in.
Also, "there are examples online" != "this is a common thing". I have used dozens of 3.5mm and Bluetooth devices, and I've never had a Bluetooth device that 100% worked and I've never had a 3.5mm device that didn't work.
There are counterexamples in both categories, but my sample size is big enough now that I am willing to bet that the 3.5mm connector is just very well-designed and difficult to damage.
????? I guess I may be using the incorrect word. How do you refer to what keeps the audio circuit closed when no plug is inside the jack, opens it when the plug is inserted, and generally holds the plug inside the jack?
> Please link to someone with a broken 3.5mm connector due to a spring, if you can find it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZIWvvl_O7M -- first DDG result. Almost anyone suffering from a loose connection, losing one channel, sound continues to go to the speakers, etc. is suffering from either dust or this.
_In this very article_ there is someone complaining about the plug detect misbehaving which is actually something sensed by the spring (which opens a circuit when the plug is inserted -- on a classic TV this actually opens the normal audio circuit so that you don't hear anything on speakers, on a modern smartphone it just signals the OS).
> There are counterexamples in both categories, but my sample size is big enough now that I am willing to bet that the 3.5mm connector is just very well-designed and difficult to damage.
My dislike comes from a period when I was doing tech support some decades ago. People complain about broken microUSB connectors and the like, but now microUSB is something well designed, since it usually breaks at the cable side (i.e. the cheap side; for example the springs are on the plug). The 3.5 jack is not well-designed since it is usually the jack which wears (at the expensive side).
Keeping something 24/24 7/7 plugged in usually starts to kill the plug in a couple years. E.g. I'm hard of hearing, so I have to keep my headset plugged in all the time in the TV, and a after a couple years of this I start having problems where I suddenly lose one channel and have to go around the TV fiddling with the plug. Eventually this kills the jack (sound always goes to speakers or viceversa), which I've already replaced a couple times...
The part is made with a specific dimension when plated; the plating wears off -- this produces an undersized spring component and results in a sloppy/loose fit.
it happens more with headphones with a very heavy wire or jacks that get plugs swapped very often.
it can be fixed by carefully using a pick to deform the spring further out, so people tend to think that if that's the case then it must be the spring itself getting lazy.
I chose them because they were the smallest and most discreet ones and I'm glad for once to have Apple's quality.