PC Audio Pinout Rant
We all know how on TRS (unbalanced), the pinout is
| Pin | Signal |
|---|---|
| Tip | Left |
| Ring | Right |
| Sleeve | Ground |
And then there is this shit:
So TRRS is mostly (>90% market)
| Pin | Signal | 95th percentile |
|---|---|---|
| Tip | Left | Left |
| Ring 1 | Right | Right |
| Ring 2 | Ground | Mic |
| Sleeve | Mic | Ground |
But wait! It gets worse!
So the pink jack on PCs is standardized, right?
WRONG!
Sennheiser does it like this:
Creative Labs used to do it like this (no idea if that is still the case):
Some obscure website mentions this:
| Pin | Signal | Or maybe? | But are you sure? | Possibly? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tip | Mic | Mic | Mic | Mic L |
| Ring | Bias | Mic | Ground | Mic R |
| Sleeve | Ground | Ground | Ground | Ground |
That was not helpful, was it?
So, maybe if we look at the AC97 standard and then probe the few pc cases I have here?
Oh look! There is a Bias Voltage (5V). Then again, AC97 is “legacy” allthough many pc-cases have the AC97 pinout connector after the HD-Audio header.
Let’s look at the two side by side:
Mic is still there, Ground, DAFUQ? WHY?! So It is maybe bias, maybe ground?
