What are the pros and cons of the 3.5 mm headphone jack's design?
Pros:virtual standard across various audio devicescan accommodate a forth connection, commonly used as a microphonecan have a decent degree of electrical noise insulation, particularly if the plug is designed with a metal case well suited for low-frequencies like audio and electrical power transmission (some large headphones can have up to 5W of RMS power)Cons:metal part of plug can get worn out rather easily, particularly if gold-coatedaudible clicks and pops on connection/disconnection due to shorts (hardware/software can solve this)plug length makes it likely that in the event of a sudden removal (i.e. tripping on a cable), it will damage the jackthis follows with a rather high possibility that one of the wires soldering joints will fail eventually due to mechanical stress. it is difficult to solve this problem in this kind of plug designsub-optimal contact resistance. circular "flower" contact designs are available, but tend to be more expensiveesp on older equipment, positions for mono (2w), stereo (3wire), microphone (4 wire) can vary, so if we insert a stereo plug into a mono jack the result can either go the left or right channel or even both (worst case, because impedance is split this way!)expensive. USB connectors are cheaperoccupies a lot of vertical space (unlike a flat USB connector)the plug itself is large. 90degree angled connectors are becoming the norm, but still won't solve #3.not suitable for high frequency electronics due to LC due to cable design (data transmission; FM radio is about the limit)no locking mechanism, as it gets older it becomes increasingly easier to pull outdifficult to plug/unplug with one handNeutral:it's an analogue transmission medium.
Why don't we use headphone jacks and ports for USB and headphone purposes? And why not use it for both purposes? It's super small. It can be done. Is there a reason not to?
A headphone jack only has 3 connector pins. A USB C connector has 18 pins! 9 are used though (so you can plug it in upside down) That is a staggeringly large difference in computing possibility. Each extra pin essentially adds a power of 2 to the previous pin data potential, so simplistically speaking, 9 pins has 512 possible states, whereas the headphone jack would only amount to 8.Also, size of the connector in the phone/device is much larger than a usb c connector. We’ve just all stuck to a crappy format for a long time and honestly one that works for what it is and was used for. In miniaturizing technology, we constantly improve previous standards moving toward faster/better/smaller. We have freaking 4k screens in our pockets now! Come on!
Which condenser mic is better, usb or 3.5mm jack without interface?
There are all kinds of microphones of each type, and it would be difficult to conclusively say that one is always better than the other, but odds are highly likely that the USB mic is better.USB microphone companies make the assumption that you are using a computer to record audio, and that the competitive option would be using an external USB preamp, and plugging a regular XLR condenser into a computer with that. Since most any XLR condenser can be assumed to be a lot more serious than a 3.5mm jack microphone, and since even the 3.5mm audio converters in a typical computer are not so great in the first place, you could infer that the USB mic should wind up better. Further, a USB microphone has a preamp inside that is designed exactly for that microphone. Odds are better that you will get really low noise and optimized performance, and that turned into USB data before anything in your recording device like a questionable analog to digital converter or some afterthought preamp on a chip can muck things up. The output level of a 3.5mm microphone could be just about anything too, making you boost the signal (and the noise,) or less often, but still possible, overloading an input.I have heard a few decent sounding 3.5mm microphones though, so you never know.
Sound glitch in Sony Vegas Pro 13?
Ever since I performed a system restore on my computer and then reinstalled Sony Vegas 13, I have constantly had this issue that also seems to happen with Windows Media Player. The issue is that, whenever I minimize Vegas 13 or WMP, then sometimes when I maximize it, the sound will only play from one of my speakers. Then if I minimize it again, there will be a 50/50 chance that the sound will restore to both speakers, but as soon as I minimize the window or open another window over it, then it will only play sound through one speaker, right or left... Can anyone please help me with this? I never experienced this problem until I restored my computer.
If I buy wireless Bluetooth headphones with a USB charger, will they work like wired headphones if they're plugged into my computer usb via USB cable?
Only a few will do thatConnect in more ways than one! "Tap your Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled device on the headset for easy, one-touch Bluetooth pairing. Besides Bluetooth pairing via NFC or the conventional way, you can also connect the headset to your PC or entertainment devices using the USB 2.0 connection, or the analog 3.5mm jack."Sound Blaster EVO ZxR Another:Bluetooth or corded - enjoy music any way you like Amazon.com: Philips SHB7000/28 Bluetooth Stereo Headset, Black (Discontinued by Manufacturer): Electronics Another:Enjoy studio quality sound wirelessly with Bluetooth or go wired Amazon.com: 808 DUO Wireless and Wired Precision-Tuned Over-Ear Headphones - Matte Black: Electronics
Can you attach a microphone to a video camera using micro usb?
No, you can't. Most cameras today use either standard audio inputs (XLR, 3.5mm plug. The BMCC uses 6.35mm plug inputs) or a proprietary audio interface that ensures the customer will buy the manufacturer's product. Some cameras lack any external audio input whatsoever, forcing you to make do with the onboard mic.Having an external audio interface that relied on USB or micro USB would be a nightmare, because no manufacturer can ensure that their camera is compatible with all USB microphone models.
Will plugging headphones often damage the port?
Every connector you have ever seen has a limited lifetime, which is measured in plug/unplug cycles. I just took a quick look at the spec sheets for a couple of 3.5mm barrel jacks, and see they’re rated at 5,000 cycles by the manufacturer. The USB micro-B connector that’s been the standard power/data jack for phones is rated at 10,000 cycles, as is the new Type-C connector that’s expected to replace it. These get longer life by locating the contact springs in the cable plug, rather than the jack. Apple’s Lightning jack is proprietary, so unrated by any source I can find, but I’d expect it to last somewhere between the 1,500 cycles of the USB Type B connector and the 5,000 cycles of the audio jack.So basically, most people will not own their phones long enough to wear out any jacks on the phone. However, it’s not the wear per se, but the potential for damage, that you need to watch out for. Any plug sticking out a phone you’re carrying has the potential of getting wacked normal to the direction of motion of the plug, causing shearing forces between the plug and the jack. Do that often enough or severely enough, and something will break.There’s also the possibility of corrosion. Professional 1/4″ jacks and plugs use brass with nickel-chromium plating, which is hard, thick, corrosion resistant, and lasts pretty much as long as the mechanical bits will. Consumer gear uses a mix… usually brass or stainless steel springs, sometimes plated with nickel, then gold, tin, or silver on top. Each of these has issues. Tin plating is the cheap solution. Silver is the best normal conductor, but both tin and silver corrode. Gold doesn’t corrode in normal environments, but it’s really soft and they often use as little as less than 0.25µm coating of gold (gold flash), which can wear off much sooner than the springs and other mechanical bits. So it is technically possible for your jack to wear or corrode long before it’s “expiration date” based on the mechanical specs.Another possibility is that you get dirt, oil, or other unwanted stuff up in the jacks. You can find some contact cleaner at most hardware stores that can help wash this stuff out. But be careful.. you won’t want to dissolve it from a jack and have it wash down deeper inside the phone.
How do you use Bose Companion Speakers 5 with my Sony Bravia KDL-37XBR6?
It looks like that bose unit only accepts USB input, so you'll need to convert the headphone output of the TV to USB using something like this: (this does audio and video, so you'd just use the video part. also you'd need a "Y" adapter to split the 3.5mm headphone signal into two rca jacks). http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Creator-Capt... It looks like these units work with some computers and don't work with others, but this is what you need to do to get the audio signal into the Bose. Just a note, the headphone jack on that Bose unit is meant to have headphones attached to it, it is not meant to have an input signal going into it, so I would highly recommend you don't try to put a signal into it like you tried or you could fry the unit. If you want to take a chance on a unit like the one I linked to, then after you get it, take it over to your local Radio Shack and tell them you need a "Y" adapter to go from the cable you're connecting to your TV headphone output into the USB converter unit, and they'll show you what you need (around $5).