As has been noted in nearly every writeup about the iPhone, the headphone jack is recessed. This design decision (apparently necessary due to some element of the iPhone’s design) means that most headphones won’t fit into the port. The list of victims includes my beloved Bose QC2 noise cancelling headphones. Belkin and others have announced iPhone headphone adapters, but I really don’t want to carry around yet something else any time I leave the house. In looking closely at my headphone plug, though, I sensed an opportunity.
The base of my Bose’s mini-jack connector has a small plastic ring around the metal plug. I thought that if I just took a utility knife to that ring, it might just be enough to allow the plug to fit in the iPhone’s socket. Using a pair of older broken headphones (see, honey, that’s why I keep broken stuff around!) as a guinea pig (they had the same style of connector), I set to work with the utility knife. In under a minute, the plastic ring was cut free with no apparent damage to the rest of the jack. I then tried pushing the plug into the iPhone’s headphone socket, and it worked!
So then I carefully repeated the work on my Bose headset, and I’m thrilled to report that it too can now be connected to my iPhone. Above left is a small picture of the before-and-after headphone jack. Because that picture is miniscule, I also made bigger separate images of both the before and after versions. I added the yellow dots to the “before” image, so you can see exactly where I cut. (The colors vary greatly because the flash was used for one image but not the other.)
It should go without saying, but if you’re going to try this yourself, you could break something. Any damage to your headphones, iPhone, or fingers is your responsibility, not mine. On the difficulty scale, though, this was a very simple project, and now I don’t need to purchase an adapter just to use my headphones of choice.
Superb! Works perfectly on the detachable cord for the Bose QC3 too. Thanks for saving me ten bucks!
Has there been any official word from Apple about why they chose to make the recessed opening so narrow? Surely they could have made it 1 mm wider to accommodate standard connectors . I doubt that it was simply a careless oversight.
My guess is that Apple wanted a way to spur on 3rd party accessories for their iPhone. Accessories are a huge industry. So why not shake the market up and get manufacturers to make items specifically for the iPhone.
I know V-moda has already designed a headset complete with an attached clickable microphone just like Apple's headsets. This unique feature alone warrants a whole new set of headsets. So why not make the jack different at the same time?
Not saying I agree with Apple's design, but it might explain a thing or two.
Christi
Thanks for this technique. I had started something similar but didn't do it right. After reading what you did, I removed the similar area from my ER6i and it worked. Back to the store will go the Belkin headphone adapter that I bought.
Wonderful! I just performed the surgery with a pen knife on my Bose headphones. God, I love the internet.
Nice. I did the same with my Bose QC3 cable. FYI - the serrated blade on a Gerber / Leatherman multitool works really well for this - but watch those fingers :-)
Thanks for the tip, well worth reading. This page is getting more hits than my normal pages.
So, the fix was easy on my QC3, but not quite as simple on the Bose Earbud headphones as the housing is much harder plastic. I'll have to find a better "knife" to perform the surgical procedure.
I do have a solution though, I'll just perform the same procedure on the "extension cord" that comes with the Bose QC3 headphones with my Bose earbuds and all will work just fine.
I cut a ring of rubber away from my Creative EP630's and now they fit perfect. Less than 1/8th of an inch, I'd say.
You are the best. I was going to waste $10 to buy a piece of junk adapter so I could use my sony headphones. Now I don't have to. Thanks!!!
For those that may own them, I found that my Bang & Olufsen A8 Earphones have the same connector plug as the iPhone earphones, with no modifications necessary.
wow.
a little shaving with a knife and things are all better. I didn't have to remove much, which really makes me wonder why they did this.
I misread the instructions and fed the hell out of my iphone's headphone port
I broke out my pocket knife last night and altered a few plugs for the tiny new iPhone jack. Works like a charm! I'm glad other people are thinking for themselves instead of screaming about the expensive new accessories they think they will have to purchase.
Fantastic tip. I just performed the same surgery on a little 4" mini-jack extension cord I had lying around and my Sennheiser's are working perfectly now. Anyone who is skiddish about cutting their prized headphones can run down to radio shack and pick up a little extension cord for a few bucks. Cheaper and a lot more convenient than the unruly Belkin adapter.
Sanding down the plastic works great too and no chance of slipping and slicing a finger or the cord. Just wrap the plug with tape to protect it while sanding.
I, too, have the Bose QC2's. They should come with an extension cable that you can do the same mod on. I used my pocket knife right here at the office and it works perfectly. I was tremendously apprehensive about doing it to the cable coming off the attenuator, so this was a better alternative, IMO.
I was less worried about making a mistake once I remembered that the QC2 cable is easily detached -- I figured if I messed up, at worst it meant buying a new cable :)
-rob.
I'm thinking someone out there will get the idea to solder a new jack on their headphones for the same reason. JUST A WARNING TO YOU... I'm rather sure that many headphone cables use some sort of conductive plastic, and IT CANNOT BE SOLDERED! I had tried to repair some headphones of my own (more than once) and realized that there was no way to solder the wires together. I did however twist the ends together (staggered so that they won't short) and use some shrink tube (available at Radio shack, I think) to make a clean connection. For those of you who are unfamiliar with shrink tube, it's (obviously) a rubber tube that you can slide over the cable before reconnecting, and it (again, obviously) shrinks over your connection when complete by using a little heat from a heat gun or lighter.
Be careful geeks!
i was wondering what to do with my auxiliary connection in the car when I came upon this website... thank you! - it took me five minutes to solve the problem of connecting my iphone to the aux jack in my car... as someone above said: i love the internet!
maria
I tried your suggestion on my cassette adapter but it only works if I take off the protective rubber sleve I bought to protect my iPhone. Oh well, I can always get an extension cord from the same place I bought the cassette adapter-Walmart! ;-)
Thanks so much for the info! It worked! I cant believe how simple the solution is. In my case, I had to rotate the tip counterclockwise to loosen it and extend 1 mm. longer.
Just to let you all know, I used a #11 scalpal, and the rubber piece came of my QC2's with precision. You can't even tell there was a piece that was supposed to be there!!! The clear plastic underneath wasn't even scratched.
so i built my own extention cable as well. i thought that i would share the info.
i bought a $1 pair of stereo headphones at the $.99 store. cut off the end xacto knifed the end to make it fit into the recessed hole on the iphone. i molded it a bit with a hot soldering tip to clean up the part that i cut off. it fits!
the pinout for the plug is standard stereo.
tip = red - (right)
ring = white, or whatever (left)
sleeve = ground
so that means that on the special iphone buds connector the extra ring closest to the plastic barrel must be for the mono mic.
i hope that that helps
worked great with mine...glad I checked your experiment. Thanks.
Thanks--fabulous bit of information; it worked like a charm. Here's to the internet and Google ("iPhone bose earphones" was all it took to find you). What an amazing age we live in.
Thanks!!!!
I was just loading audio book for a trip to Japan and was bumming out when the bose headset did not work.
Your tip took 10 seconds and worked great!
Great idea. Just modified my Shure headphones and they now work great.
Do all these altered plugs still work with other audio devices post surgery? If so, (and I can handle messing with my brilliant ER6i's) I may just have to try.
I had great success using your tutorial! Thanks Rob!
I did a variation on your fix and it works perfectly. I usually plug my QC3 headset in via a splitter because when I am on a plane (every week or two), someone always asks if they can watch (and listen to) whatever CSI or Numb3rs episode I am watching. I did the mods to the splitter with a cigar ring cutter (never leave home without it!) and it made the most perfect factory cut around the connector. Peeled that ring off and it works perfectly. One more thing...the rubber "skin" iphone case added some extra depth to overcome. If you stretch the hole in the rubber case around the outside of the plug connector, it serves to strengthen the connection by holding it in nice and tight.
Thanks for the info Rob...you just saved my butt...err...ears for that 6 hour flight home on Thursday!!
David T.
Has anyone tried the surgery on a set of Grado's?
They have a much larger plastic barrel behind the male connector, at least as compared to the pics above.
I think you'd need to take off at least an 1/8" on the Grado plastic housing in order to get a clean cut behind the flange - which I worry would be enough to expose the wiring.
Thanks in advance -
Jay
Worked like a charm on my Ultimate Ears Fi3's. Plastic was very soft, so it was really easy. Thanks!
Just tried it with my Bose Roommate speakers....worked like a charm. Thanks for the great tip!
Turns out my B&O headphones work just fine. The reason for Apple's design decision is pretty obvious and, personally, I think they made the right call. The most fragile part of the iPhone is the headset connector. The jack sits on the edge of the circuit board where it is susceptible to high shearing forces imparted by pulling on the cord. In pre-MacSafe power adapter days, this was the same thing that caused the most damage to PowerBooks. Tugging on the cable would break the circuit board at the power jack.
Apple recessed the jack on the iPhone, allowing the headset plug to be supported by the iPhone case itself. This is a brilliant idea and probably reduces damage to the iPhone by a HUGE percentage. So, once you decide to recess the jack, you're left with either 1) making the iPhone case thick enough so there's adequate material to support the recessed plug or 2) reducing the diameter of the recess hole. Since many headsets actually fit the smaller hole, and since an adapter would cost about ten bucks, they opted for #2. Which was a GREAT decision I think.
As popawoody has already put so eloquently, Apple did not design the headphone jack just so they could "spur on sales of 3rd-party accessories". My Senn 650's, 580's, 280's and B&O phones all work fine with my iPhone. The V-Moda Vibe Duos looks pretty nice!
http://iphone.macworld.com/2007/07/jack_not_name_jack_job.php
http://www.v-moda.com/collection/modaphones/vibe%20duo.aspx
Actually, according to Apple in a conversation with our own Jason Schnell, it was purely an aesthetic decision, and had nothing to do with the strength of the unit:
From this recent post by Jason.
-rob.
I just preformed the simply operation on my Bose Quite Comfort 2, now they fit like a glove!!! Thank you for Saving me $10 plus tax and another thing to carry around in order to use my Bose headphones, THANK YOU!!!
This is perfect information! i have modified all my headphone jacks with no ill effect. Sharp knife , shave at the shoulder.
CS2 CS3 Bose iPhone headphone
Brilliant....I owe you...we all owe you!!!
If you decide that you dont want to cut up your QC3s you can plug the airline adapter in to the iphone and then plug the headphones into that and it will work just fine. But it is very simple to cut the little rubber band and it works GREAT!!
Just confirming that this works great with the big honking Shure plug on my E3s (and presumably on other Shure canalphones).
In fact, cutting back the rubber reveals a hard plastic core that's the perfect diameter.
Not only was the surgery successful in enabling my headphones to work with my iPhone, but the alteration does not negatively impact the ability of the headphone to still function with my other devices (i.e. Pioneer INNO, MP3 players). Thanks for the advice!
This is the greatest think that I found that I used to connect my SHur Headphone to my Iphone. It works and no extra money spend:)))
Thank you for providing this valuable information.
Davit
I was thinking about doing some "surgery" to my Shure earphones but I wasn't sure. After looking at the stupid lonnng adapters, I decided to investigate around the web. You guys gave me the last push I needed to customized my earphones.
I works like a charm, it only took like 10 min. to do a good job and saved me $100 on a new pair of earphones.
Awesome!!!!!
COOOOOOL!!!!!
Heck yeah - not only worked on my bose, but it also worked perfect on my Bang & Olufsen.
I just did this with my Shure E4G headphones, and it worked wonderfully! As much as it would be nice to have a Shure set of headphones with a built in mic, I'll go with this for right now, without the hassle of the Shure adapter.
Thanks!!!!!!! You rock.
Thanks SOOO much! After waiting over a month for my Belkin adapter that I wasn't thrilled with anyway, in less than a minute I can now use my Bose headphones. You're great!
Yea.. Make sure you don't even knick the metal part of your headphones. I have the Bose Ear Buds and since the rubber casing is very hard, I had to practically carve out the rubber. I carved it out perfectly, and saw that I knicked one little side of it.. Just looks like a scratch, not even that big.. I plugged them into my iphone and thought it was working perfectly, only to find out that that scratch took out some sort of channel.. So out of any song I play, some sounds/vocals/instruments DO NOT play and sound distorted. Even tried them out with other devices and same thing.. They are ruined.
Carving worked great for my Shure E2c's.
Great new, thanks so much.
Does anyone know if the quietcomfort cell connect accessory kit works with the iphone?
Just adding my thanks - I didn't know or notice the recessed headphone jack and hit the web for an answer (Googled for iPhone headphone socket) after my Aiwa Pipe-Phones didn't work.
Fixed in 10 minutes. Fantastic.
Cheers, Dugald.
thank you very much for this tip i was tired of hearing those cheap earbuds, i used to have the same bose QC, but i use now shure e500, i didnt want to mess with a $500 earphones so i used the bose adapter the same you have and works excellent thank you very much amigo!! goodbye crappy apple headphones
Me thinketh it be due to thee FCC. Many a iPod accessory doeth not beeth of the iPhone compatible flavor. Some of them are of the headphone only connection typeth.
Me does posses one modified Belkin TuneCast of the headphone only variety that I madeth before reading thy article. That wich was not iPhone compatible, now is.
Keep thy sword sharp... many more modding jobs lie ahead.
Sir Coward
thanks for making it possible for my child to watch a movie on the plane without making everyone else hear it! The plane is in a few hours so no time to purchase an adapter. I butchered the other headphones trying surgery without guidance. You saved the last pair - your before and after photos were key - Thanx!
Thank you, you just saved my Iphone from an appointment with a drill press and/or 200 feet of water in Lake Washington!
YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THE SURGERY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO.
I did and I'm glad, but I checked my airline adpater and low and behold you can use the adapter to plug into the Iphone and it fits/works just fine. You get that nice snap so it is seated properly and all is fine.
So if you have the QC3 with the airline adaptor, use it. Also it will enable your splitter to work again if you bought one.
Thank you for posting this! I found an iphone headphone adapter in a parking lot, and i was so happy....till i started using it. i could see why whoever bought it threw it out their window. it adds a good 2 inches to the length of ur current headphone jack. so totally it was pretty much 3 inches of headphone jack + iphone = uncomfortable & uglyness in pocket.
it was simple cutting the end of the jack, i resorted to :steak knife & nail clippers
works fine. looks better, and feels loads better inside my pocket =) now i don't feel like i have a stick piercing into my leg when i walk.
This approach works neatly.
I didn't want to buy any huge/ugly adapter and decided to take the risk. It was totally worth it.
My Sennheiser CX300 fits my iPhone perfectly now.
Thanks for sharing.
GREAT! I had been looking at the jack on my Wisenheimer wondering if this was possible. I almost started it and then chickened out. Then I read this and decided to go for it.
It worked perfectly and now I can chuck those stupid iPod phones away into the box with the others from previous iPods. I hate them and can't work out how people stop them dropping out of their ears. Mine stay put for - well - about three seconds before popping out.
Now I am enjoying my music on the move again - and with bass too!
Works for older Shure model headphones as well. Fantastic. Just wish I had thought of this BEFORE I went out and bought the adapter.
Amazing! and good idea!.. keep it up!Another thing you can do is .if u have a rubber cover over the jack. just slowly remove the jack.. mostly found on sony jacks (i guess)
I wanted the mic/button so i changed the earphones but kept the Apple cable
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dontknow/2082291590/
Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks .... sick of the iphone ear pieces falling out, got a clip on the ear set and was really P***** off when the jack wouldn't fit in the socket. Did the micro surgery took 5mins it took longer to scrub up and sterilize the scalpel ahahah
thanks again
Fantastic!
Thanks for the info. Worked like a charm!
Thank you! This worked great with my shure e3c set. It was more than a small ring of plastic, but I could still cut enough away to make it work. Very simple and I never even thought of it. You are a genius!
at the link i will paste below you can buy the bose communications adapter which replaces the cable your headphones come with. The new cord had a mic on it so you can talk with it on the iphone and it also had a few extra adapters so it works with most cell phones.
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=8AC679C3&fnode=home/shop_iphone/iphone_accessories/cables_docks&nplm=TP731VC/A
About 5 minutes and my pocketknife was all that were required to make my Koss TD-61 fit even better. They worked as-is, but only with the right angled jack facing the rear of the iphone.
I tried this on the extension plug that came with the headphones, so if there was a problem I wouldn't hurt anything major. It worked great! Now I have the extension for the iPhone and the regular jack for the iPod and others! Thanks so much for the great idea!
If you buy the new Bose QC3, it comes with an adapter that can be switched from single or double jacks, use the single adapter, it will fit right into Iphone. No cutting needed. But somehow the maximized if you compared in using the Iphone headphones. Is this normal? Does anyone know why? THX
I did the easy "surgery" on my extension cord of my Bose headphones. OMG!! It worked.!. I wish I had known about this before I went to Australia last November! I would have been able to listen to my iPhone tunes. Oh well. Now I can enjoy my Bose sound through my iPhone. Thanks for the tip!
I love the Internet too. Worked like a charm on some older Sony headphones, and now I'll do it to the adapter on my Prius.
This is brilliant. I used a Stanley exacto knife and it worked perfectly. Thanks a million!
Worked perfectly and easily. Thanks for the tip.
Worked great with my Koss earplug hedphones which I love and just using a Swiss army knife.
Thanks so much!
hey, thanks for the tip
i just tried it with my sennheiser headphones and it worked like a charm.
one tip though, for anyone trying this: don't shave off the entire "ring" of rubber... just slice it off asymmetrically, on one side only. that way you can have the jack flush with the hole on the iPhone, like the supplied headphones. if you slice the whole "ring" off, the jack is only flush on one side and has exposed metal on the other.
Thanks alot, was annoying when i went out running with the white iphone(ipod) head phones, they kept falling off, also was crap that my Bose QC2's didnt work, but never thought something so simple would fix the problem! thank you so much!
Thanks for the tip... It worked perfect for my Shure headphones. Saves me a trip to the shop for such anoying adapter! Internet rules!
Worked like a champ, only took my hubby 1 min to do. Thank you!!
WOW that was a great idea ,i had a great pair of shure earphone and you know the sound that come with them ,well like most of you folks i also purchased an iphone only to find out my shure headphone did not work with it ,i had to purchase that 2 inch extension ,i then purchase a pair of sony earphone which did work but the sound just wasn't the same then my girl friend found your site and the technique that you use ,i tried it and voila it worked -thank you
This is so easy and brilliant! My newly brought QC3 now works really well. I was so disappointed at first when I learned that the two didn't fit. Saves me from the hassle bring the adaptor.