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by cosmic_cheese 101 days ago
It'll never happen but I'd love to see a new analog audio connector designed with portable audio and extreme durability in mind make a debut. The old 1.44mm connector is nice for its ubiquitous nature, but its internal footprint is large and it's prone to contact issues over time (I'm sure most of us have had a device/headphone pair where the jack had to be rotated into a "sweet spot".

I'm not well versed in the world of port design, but what comes to mind is a little shallow magnetic nub with a couple of contacts on it. Easy to clean, impossible to break by accidental torquing, not deep enough to get stuff stuck in it.

The cool thing is that whatever the new design is, making adapters for 1.44mm to the new thing is dirt cheap since it's still just an analog connection.
2 comments
ansgri 101 days ago
What’s 1.44 mm connector in this context? Common sizes for headphones are 2.5, 3.5 and (lately) 4.4 mm
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chaz6 100 days ago
Since you mentioned 4.4mm, thought I would chime in and mention pentaconn (the trade name) which is a TRRRS connection (which does include a ground connection as well as L+/L-/R+/R-. I still do not understand the purpose of the ground connection in these plugs since there's nothing to ground on the other end.
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ansgri 100 days ago
Isn’t it the only common variant of 4.4mm? Since portable balanced audio is audiophile-adjacent, no wonder it includes the common ground of dubious utility.
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crote 100 days ago
Don't forget the classic 6.35mm jack!
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hackshack 100 days ago
USB-C has a mode to run analog audio over its cable, called "Audio Adapter Accessory Mode." It uses the D+ and D- pins for Right and Left, and SBU1 and SBU2 for Mic and Ground.

Texas Instruments explains the scheme in a document, "tidub66.pdf."

I know USB-C connectors aren't quite what you had in mind, but they are smaller and more rugged than the 3.5mm connector (in my opinion).

Downside is it is not widely supported, but it is possible. The host device needs to support a way to detect the analog USB-C audio cable (recognized through four shorted pins) and then to split off the analog audio signals before they hit the internal USB transceiver chip.

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