Jacks and Plugs
TIL that beyond simply “TRRS” 3.5mm jacks, that carry a microphone signal in addition to left/right audio for headphones (etc), there are two standards, CTIA and OMTP. Pretty much everything I use seems to be CTIA: SoundBlaster Play! 4 specs : “1 x ⅛″ Headphone-out Jack (4-pole, CTIA)” HyperX Cloud Stinger headset Apple (though theirs is somewhat nonstandard in that it apparently “uses a non-standard microphone and control signaling method”) Sennheiser PC38X ( discussion ) Next, common power plugs we use every day have names and specifications (duh). I’m cobbling together a poor man’s iMac (a Mac Mini mounted to the back of a matte monitor), and one of the things I want to ensure is that there’s a single power cord required, just like an iMac. The three prong “computer” power plug? The “male” version is an IEC 60320 C14 (a/k/a the IEC 320 C14) connector, the “female” part the C13. The part that plugs into a North American 110V outlet? NEMA 5-15P (“125V, Class 1, 15A plug”). (The f...