2012 Mac mini - headphone jack issues?

[bankshot]

Tonight I discovered that my headphone jack isn't working as expected: the machine always uses the internal speaker, no matter what I plug into the jack. System Preferences only ever shows "Internal Speakers" in the sound output device list. The line-in jack does work as expected.

HOWEVER, in the course of testing I discovered a little twist: if I reboot with something plugged into the headphone jack, the computer recognizes it and uses it. System Preferences correctly lists "Headphone port" as the output device. As soon as I unplug the headphones or speakers from the jack, it goes back to the internal speaker as expected. But then it will no longer recognize anything new plugged into the jack.

Is anyone else seeing this behavior? I don't know if this also happened on my 2007 mini because I had external speakers connected 100% of the time, including at startup (and I guess that could be a workaround for this one). But I can't imagine that's the standard, expected behavior?

I currently have an appointment at the "Genius" Bar tomorrow morning. Assuming this is a defect, it'll be a hassle to be without the machine as I just got it all setup and everything moved over. Ugh. I already dismantled it to remove my 3rd-party SSD for warranty service, which was a pain. Should have tested this before installing the SSD last week!

[bankshot]

Well, since I have a workaround and it seems like this may not be hardware after all, I went ahead and canceled my "genius" reservation for now. But for ultimate confirmation, I'd love to know if anyone else is seeing the same thing: if you plug in headphones/speakers after bootup, does the Mac mini recognize and use them? Can you unplug and plug things into the headphone jack at will, with the computer properly switching between internal speaker and headphone jack?

If others are seeing this issue, I wonder if it's just a software bug? Hopefully someone can test this, and thanks.

[Carl%R]

I just 'hot-plugged' an optical cable into the audio out jack and the mini automatically selected it. Works like a charm and I'm now listening to a 24/96 flac file in VLC, through an external DAC. I haven't tried headphones or an analog cable yet.

[xlii]

Just plugged my headphones into my 2012 mini and they worked as expected.

[bankshot]

Awesome, thanks both of you for testing.

So it's definitely a hardware defect on mine. Weird that it does work when plugged in at boot. I'd think that'd be more likely a software issue.

Guess I'll have to send it in, but maybe next week since it's not an urgent thing...

[sunandsurf]

Hmmmmm. I never would have thought about this situation if I hadn't read your post; will give it a test tonight and post; probably (I hope) just a matter of yours being the unlucky lemon....

*** tested it and it works as it should ;-)

[ugadawgs311]

I've used my headphone jack since day 1 with no issues.

[Jayrcee]

No issues with my headphones.