Laptop Headphone Jack is Broken
Zeromus
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Ah, college dorms, ever the toxic force when it comes to technology and possessions.
Without getting too into the nitty gritty, some dipshit managed to break my computer's headphone jack (sigh), and I'm sort of wondering what my best options are here and if anyone could make some recommendations. In my Google searches, I seem to have come across two solutions: getting a set of headphones that connects to a USB port (perhaps not my ideal scenario, but doable), or "buying an external audio interface that connects to the computer via Firewire or USB, ignoring the internal sound card. The bonus is that you'll substantially improve the audio quality of your computer. " I don't know anything about the latter, but I do enjoy audio quality (:P), so I'd like to hear more about this if people have suggestions. Otherwise, thoughts either way would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Edit: Does anyone have experience with a product like this? http://www.amazon.com/External-Sound-Adapter-Desktop-Notebook/dp/B000BUDHNQ/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241032326&sr=8-7 Might be a good solution rather than buying a pair of headphones that I'd only be able to use with my computer.
Without getting too into the nitty gritty, some dipshit managed to break my computer's headphone jack (sigh), and I'm sort of wondering what my best options are here and if anyone could make some recommendations. In my Google searches, I seem to have come across two solutions: getting a set of headphones that connects to a USB port (perhaps not my ideal scenario, but doable), or "buying an external audio interface that connects to the computer via Firewire or USB, ignoring the internal sound card. The bonus is that you'll substantially improve the audio quality of your computer. " I don't know anything about the latter, but I do enjoy audio quality (:P), so I'd like to hear more about this if people have suggestions. Otherwise, thoughts either way would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Edit: Does anyone have experience with a product like this? http://www.amazon.com/External-Sound-Adapter-Desktop-Notebook/dp/B000BUDHNQ/ref=pd_bbs_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1241032326&sr=8-7 Might be a good solution rather than buying a pair of headphones that I'd only be able to use with my computer.
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I have this one, or at least one incredibly similar, and I've been satisfied. I picked mine up for about $22.
One benefit it had over many others is an optical SPDIF out (from the same port as the headphone jack, using an adapter), allowing me to use it with my desktop to output AC3 audio to my receiver (also supports outputting digital stereo PCM audio). Good for the movie watching. Also much better sound quality than my internal audio. MUCH better. The only downside is that mine did not include an input (so you'd still need to use your onboard).
The straight headphone jack sound is better than my old integrated card as well. The quality of the signal isn't really any better, it's just the vastly reduced noise that's nice.
I heartily recommend finding a cheap USB sound card in a thumbstick form factor. I also recommend combining this with a USB extension cable that may or may not come with it, because that way you don't have the dongle hanging out of your laptop directly asking to get hit and break your USB port. I'd be unsurprised if something similar is what killed your headphone port.