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Headphone jack delay

V

Vixus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2004
23
0
I noticed that on my new 11" macbook air 2011 seems to exhibit some lag when switching over from laptop speakers to headphone. For some odd reason, when I plug in my headphones while audio is playing on my laptop, it takes almost 3 seconds to switch the audio over to my headphones. The worst part is that while it's waiting to switch over, audio is still coming out of the speaker which can be quite annoying. Anyone exhibiting the same behavior?

I called Apple Support and no one could tell me if this is normal behavior.
 
HiRez

HiRez

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2004
6,250
2,576
Western US
Yeah, same with my 13". Thought it was broken the first time and unplugged and replugged it about 3 times before it finally came on. Weird. Hopefully that's a software/firmware thing that can be fixed, although it's not really the end of the world as far as flaws go.
 
V

Vixus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2004
23
0
It's not a big deal, but I have to say that it seems like a major flaw. Customer support wanted me to bring my air in to the store because they couldn't figure out if this was normal. So essentially, I have to waste time at the store because of their incompetence. The last thing I want is to make a trip there and them telling me that this is normal behavior.

I'm just glad to hear that I'm not the only one. Anyone else NOT have this problem?
 
8

87am

macrumors regular
Feb 27, 2011
153
0
Same here on my 15 MBP. I never noticed it until I upgraded to Lion...
 
G

Geetarpicker

macrumors newbie
Jul 20, 2011
16
0
My new 13" does this, though it's not 3 seconds more like 1-2. At first I thought the jack was bad, then I thought about it. My guess is the switching from speaker on (no headphone plugged in) to speaker off (after headphone is plugged in) is done electronically by a circuit that detects the load of the headphone. In other words I don't think the headphone jack has any old school type switching contacts. If this is indeed the case that is probably a good thing. Switching contacts can go bad quickly in small jacks, and an intermittent contact issue could cause the speaker to drop in and out even if you never used the jack. Anyway, it seems the jacks don't have switching contacts which is one less thing to go wrong. Maybe a software update could speed up the detection circuit a bit.
 
RobT

RobT

macrumors 6502a
Dec 20, 2007
665
113
Ohio, USA
My new 11" MBA does this. When I first plugged in headphones I had that "panic" feeling thinking the jack didn't work. Then it sprang to life. It's like a two second delay. Right now I'm in the "glad it works camp" more than the "it shouldn't have to be like this camp," which is subject to change.
 
DustinT

DustinT

macrumors 68000
Feb 26, 2011
1,556
0
Geetarpicker said:
My new 13" does this, though it's not 3 seconds more like 1-2. At first I thought the jack was bad, then I thought about it. My guess is the switching from speaker on (no headphone plugged in) to speaker off (after headphone is plugged in) is done electronically by a circuit that detects the load of the headphone. In other words I don't think the headphone jack has any old school type switching contacts. If this is indeed the case that is probably a good thing. Switching contacts can go bad quickly in small jacks, and an intermittent contact issue could cause the speaker to drop in and out even if you never used the jack. Anyway, it seems the jacks don't have switching contacts which is one less thing to go wrong. Maybe a software update could speed up the detection circuit a bit.
Click to expand...
Yup, thats whats happening. Its a feature that will pay off over the years, don't sweat it.
 
Y

YEEZY

macrumors member
Jul 29, 2011
99
0
However, sometimes when I unplug my headphones/speakers, sound just stops coming out. And then I have to restart my MBA to make it work. So it definitely seems like a software issue to me.
 
V

Vixus

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2004
23
0
I think that's a problem. You should definitely get that checked out.
 
T

twilightcircus

macrumors newbie
Dec 9, 2007
10
0
2011 Macbook Air Audio Jack Delay

I have owned a refurbished 13" July 2011 Macbook Air for three days now. I bought it online from Apple. Overall I love it.

However, when my speakers are playing, and I plug in my earbuds, it takes 3 seconds for the audio to switch over.

Does this happen with both Lion AND Leopard?

Is this Macbook Air specific?

Hopefully further OSX or firmware updates address this problem.
Although much worse things can happen, it seems a bit sloppy for an $1100 machine.

Click HERE for one of two related apple forums.
 
K

komoornik

macrumors regular
Jul 29, 2011
135
0
Another thing to convert to Windows 7 - it's working perfectly for me ( Win 7 on MBA ).
 
S

Stingray454

macrumors 6502a
Sep 22, 2009
593
115
I have seen the same behaviour on every macbook I've tried, back to my first one (late 2008 macbook, first aluminum version), and even on my iMac. I'm pretty sure all Macs behave this way, although I'm not quite sure why. Might have something to do with some audio jacks beeing a normal/optical hybrid, so the OS needs some time to figure out if you inserted an optical connector or regular one. Anyway, no reason to worry about it, it's not a hardware problem and I don't think anyone is impatient enough to not be able to wait 2 seconds when plugging in some headphones :)
 
P

pieuk

macrumors member
Dec 25, 2011
48
0
happens on my 13" to. tis normal!

once on my mbp i remember i couldn't get the sound to work, and a red light was shining out of the headphone port :O
 
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