do 1/4" jacks really sound better than 1/8" jacks?

[Joshatdot]

 

[FallenAngel]

No

Here is my mangled interpretation of a famous Buddah quote: Don't believe anything if it goes against logic!

 

[exe163]

If it does get ready for increase sales on 3.5mm to 1/4in adaptor

 

[Nebby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallenAngel /img/forum/go_quote.gif No Here is my mangled interpretation of a famous Buddah quote: Don't believe anything if it goes against logic!

I'm sure someone, somewhere has made up some strange logic to "prove" that 1/4" jacks are better than 1/8" jacks.

IMHO, the stereo jack design is faulty; a short-circuit that occurs every time you put the plug in or take it out is not a good design. But hey, what do I know

 

[FallenAngel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nebby /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm sure someone, somewhere has made up some strange logic to "prove" that 1/4" jacks are better than 1/8" jacks. IMHO, the stereo jack design is faulty; a short-circuit that occurs every time you put the plug in or take it out is not a good design. But hey, what do I know

That's completely true, the whole design of arranging contacts in a line is faulty, that's why XLR is beautiful! With 3.5mm and 1/4" you always short out a contact when connecting/disconnecting it, but with XLR connectors you don't. This does cause serious problems with some output stages in amps, specifically discrete stages that REALLY don't like having its output stages shorted.

As for 3.5mm vs 1/4" - depends on the quality of the contact and this matters A LOT less if you don't disconnect the headphone while the amp is on (avoid connecting/disconnecting it). Other than that, I can't see any logical reason to have one any better than the other. Well, when you compare a ****ty 3.5mm connector to a nice 1/4" connector, sure, but otherwise, you're all good.

 

[jamato8]

The material used for both is normally brass. Who wants the signal going through that? We buy expensive recabling and end up terminating it in brass. I do work hard to get nonmagnetic at least. Radio Shack makes a cheap female that I use for my extension and it is copper. I bought an expensive Vampire that was supposed to be top of the line and it is magnetic. No one tries very hard in this area and the design is poor, as stated. At least with the mini there is less material to corrupt the signal though you could get more crosstalk.

 

[tomb]

I sort of agree with most of the comments in principle. However, ruggedness and reliability hasn't been mentioned and is the real determining factor.

Frankly, the contacts in any 3.5mm jack are not as strong as a 1/4". Quality 1/4" jacks - not necessarily ones with esoteric conductive metals - will last through constant use for literally years without failure. The loss of good contact with a 3.5mm is when, not if. It will happen eventually: maddeningly scratchy, intermittent contact. The electrical contact surface in a 3.5 or 1/8" jack is not large enough for a reasonable safety factor. This means that any wear, surface imperfection, slight film corrosion, or metal fatique in the contact springs, etc. - is immediately noticed in the smaller jack. In many of those instances, the effects are not reversible, either.

 

[silverrain]

Yup.

 

[carmatic]

the tolerances supposed to be tighter with 3.5mm jacks because of their smaller size, yet they are much more common than 1/4" jacks... the 3.5mm extension lead wont even fit snugly anything i plug with it

keeps popping right out at the slightest prod...

 

[gkl]

i like my plugs BIG

 

[progo]

XLR is just beautiful but while we talk about TRS plugs, I prefer the larger ones because they don't look like toys.

 

[NoXter]

From the mechanical side the 1/4" plugs are much better than the 1/8".

 

[appophylite]

The only way 1/4" exceeds 1/8" is in mechanical stress, sheer size and, for some people, aesthetics. There is no sound difference between the two based on size alone.