Aurora R16, microphone inputs, which ones work for the microphone jack?

Question

we are all familiar with the 3.5 mm input and output jacks on every computer since the late 80s. However, some of these inputs are only made for certain types of plugs. They all have a colored ring around the plug. Depending on the device it can be one or three rings. Headphones, for example, have two rings indicating a left and right audio channel.

My R16 microphone input doesn't give me any detail about what kind of plugs it supports. Some cheap microphones come with one ring. My lapel microphone has two rings. I've also seen plugs with three rings, but I'm not sure exactly what they are used for.

What kind of plug does the Jack on the microphone input support for my computer? Do I have to use one with 2 rings? You can often plug ANY of these into a Jack. The worst thing that happens, your device doesn't work. Picture just for attention and a little bit of reference.

Vanadiel · Answer

There are different types of 3.5 connectors and they are designated by their ring/sleeve layout.

TS

TRS

TRRS

TRS identification

The R16 has:

One headset port - 3.5 mm Universal audio jack
One optical S/PDIF port - Optical
One coaxial S/PDIF port - RCA
One audio input/microphone port - 3.5 mm, 6 stack
One line-in port - 3.5 mm, 6 stack
One center/subwoofer LFE surround port - 3.5 mm, 6 stack
One front L/R surround line-out port - 3.5 mm, 6 stack
One rear L/R surround port - 3.5 mm, 6 stack
One side L/R surround port - 3.5 mm, 6 stack

TRS is the type for stereo in or out. All the ones with L/R would be TRS.

TRSS is for a headset as it contains L/R + Microphone in 1 cable and 1 single connector.

Center/Subwoofer is also TRS as it contains a mono Center and mono Subwoofer. It's basically the same as L/R as it carries 2 separate channels.

S/PDIF is fiber and a special connector is used for those.

In the sound control panel you can often reconfigure the various sockets, so if something does not work check there first.

For example the input/microphone port has to be configured in the audio control panel as either an input or a microphone, but it cannot be both at the same time.

They use color coding to make it easier to plug in computer audio equipment as it's an universal color coding system.

3.5 mm is not available in balanced mode, so you cannot short out the socket.

Kcp30228 · Answer

@Vanadiel​  When you said TRSS, did you mean to say TRRS? Reminds me of my old Telco days of tip and ring :-) I ended up purchasing one of these. https://rode.com/en-us/microphones/lavalier-wearable/lavalier-go?variant_sku=LAVGO still kind of surprised that the microphone would not be TS. makes sense that stereo headphones would be TRS it's left and right. Am I right in assuming that the tip would be the ground, or are we talking about something completely different?

Kcp30228 · Answer

@Vanadiel​ disregard the comment about the ground. Your article states that the sleeve is ground.

Vanadiel · Answer

Yes, TRRS. I prefer XLR because it's so much easier, but I can see why they would not include that on a motherboard.

Kcp30228 · Answer

@Vanadiel​ Sorry this is so old, but can you clarify what they mean by '6 stack?'

Alienware Desktops

Aurora R16, microphone inputs, which ones work for the microphone jack?

Was this post helpful?