[JML]

Anyone else (other than me and two other Head-Fiers) have problems with the D-25S headphone jack not wanting to release some miniplugs? I have two, and they are the same (a Radio Shack adapter and a Sony MDR-A44L are hard to insert and remove).

 

[FlurkingShnit]

I use a modified Radio Shack extension cord as an Ety 4P to 4S adapter and it is very hard to remove from the headphone jack of the d-25S. I fiddled around with it way too much and now the sound has suffered a bit. Luckily I had an extra from Xin Feng so it's working fine now. I'm just careful to touch only the very end of the cable and not the part that can twist in and out of the gold plated plug.

 

[JML]

Hmmm.... I think this is worth changing the title of the string from "question" to "warning." That's about four or five of us that have found the RS adapter to be a problem with that D-25S jack (I asked about other adapters on the cables, etc. forum.) It can't be a rare problem if so many have experienced the same thing.

It pushes in, but with extra force, and is almost impossible to get out. I've tried several other minis, and they're all OK. A Canare F-12 is a bit tight, and one Sony plug, but not as bad as the RS. A right-angle RS adapter is fine, but it is not gold-plated.

I peeked in the Sony jack, and it seems to have a sharp edge on the spring-loaded clip. The RS adapter seems to have sharp, almost oversized, sections. Putting them together is a recipe for disaster!

 

[Russ Arcuri]

I haven't had any problems with miniplugs getting stuck in the D-25S headphone jack. I have tried Koss KSC-35, Sennheiser MX-400, Grado SR-80, Sony MDR-V6, Sennheiser HD495, and Sennheiser HD-580. None of them require adapters to plug into the D-25S headphone jack, and all work fine. I've never tried the ratshack adapter.

 

[JML]

Russ, the Radio Shack adapter is the one that's the real problem. The other Sony plug is OK now; it was new and was nowhere as bad a fit. The RS plug is definitely a bad match for the D-25S jack.

But folks, please, please don't go out and try this just to prove me right or wrong! There have been enough similar experiences that you don't need to sacrifice your D-25S to confirm it. I'm just trying to avert someone freaking out when the damn thing won't release, and find they've ruined the player by doing an Arnold S. imitation.

 

[acidtripwow]

My problem is with the line out and not the headphone jack. It's sometimes hard to release the Kimber Kable RCA to mini cable. I'm now using Kimber Kable Silver Streak interconnects with a Radio Shack RCA to mini adapter and it releases a lot better.

 

[ChenaynayC]

As AcidTripWoow says:

Quote:

My problem is with the line out and not the headphone jack.

And, I have only had problems with the Kimber mini-mini. The other cables I've tried work fine (RadioShack and Markertek).

 

[JML]

The jacks used by Sony are the same for line-out and headphone.

I think the Kimber connector is from Switchcraft. When I was testing minicables, I had a RS patchcord that hung up on the lineout, and got rid of it fast; that one also felt rough to my fingers, and I think the Sony jack is catching on the edge of these plugs, where the metal rings and the plastic insulators between sections come together (in fact, I can see this on the RS adapter - there are tiny nicks in the metal). The Canare F-12 work fine, but there is less of a noticeable difference between the heights of the insulator and metal sections.

ADDED LATER THAT EVENING: I picked up two more RS adapters tonight on the way home, one gold and one nickel, and peeked inside the Sony with a minilight. The Sony jack has two cylindrical spring-like pieces of metal set at right angles to the jack, and these contact the plug on the curve of the cylinder. Each has two circular cutouts on the side, parallel to where the plug does, so they're sharp. The RS adapters -- gold-plated or not -- do indeed have undersized insulator sleeves (the plastic rings between the three metal parts of the plug). So they're uneven and have sharp edges (every other plug I looked at, even from RS, is far, far smoother, with insulation and metal matching much closer).

The combination of jack & plug is definitely dangerous, because the edges on both come into contact and lock. The jack would lose the fight, in the long run.

I'd say the problem is RS's, not Sony's, but they could share some blame, and maybe Switchcraft as well. The plugs ought not to be finished that way, because it will abrade any jack's contact points, and could even break them.

 

[JML]

For all you other D-25S owners, there are two adapter solutions, from Grado and from PartsExpress/Dayton. Go to the other thread on adapters that I began on the Cables forum: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showth...&threadid=8076