FM3 headphones jack

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Just catching up but this headphone thing is a bizarre surprise. I would humbly submit that the final product with that jack better be a lot better than whatever trash Line 6 put in the Hx Stomp - I like that unit quite a bit but the headphone jack is just so bad. But $950 for the jackless FM3 seems right.

I do feel for those waiting who needed it...I wouldn’t be happy finding out direct USB was yanked after such a wait. But eh whatever
 
Many IEM companies make ported ears for just this purpose. There are also fancier rigs that have a tiny mic so you can blend in ambient sound. Or simply pull your standard IEMs out a smidge so they're not perfectly sealed (though this is not ideal for many reasons).

Thanks. I am definitely looking into this as we speak. :)
 
I got on the waitlist in July so I figure my number wouldn't be called until late April early May timeframe anyway, so really no biggie for me.
 
How do you "fix" a jack in this instance? No hole in the sheet metal and no components on the PCB.
You think a warehouse full of units made it to Fractal in that condition by mistake?
 
How do you "fix" a jack in this instance? No hole in the sheet metal and no components on the PCB.
You think a warehouse full of units made it to Fractal in that condition by mistake?

Speculation is useless, but one scenario could be component shortages. Hey, we don't have headphone amplifier circuitry and it's months delayed. We can ship you a batch of units without it until that comes in stock.
 
I remember reading years ago about some device that had arrived at dealers, in bulk, and only then people realized it had NO power switch and no way to turn it on. Or something like that.. apparently early demo / review hardware had it but somehow the main production run was effed up. Arg.. I can't remember what that product was or who made it, but the story sticks in my mind.

I can say this much for sure: If there was no internet, I might never notice a missing hp jack. Power switch a little more critical!
 
How do you "fix" a jack in this instance? No hole in the sheet metal and no components on the PCB.
You think a warehouse full of units made it to Fractal in that condition by mistake?
Cliff said it couldn't be added

You CAN use one of those adapters for like $5 listed earlier if you need to use headphones, if not just wait till April, it's not that far off.
 
If you were to just plug a TRS splitter cable into the Output 2 L/R you would not properly power a set of headphones, or not for optimal volume and sound quality due to the impedance mismatch. I was looking into a solution in case I do get a unit without headphones and for less than the 50 dollars you save from not having the headphone jack you can buy this affordable but decent enough Mackie headphone amp and then a TRS insert cable to plug into the L/R output 2 on the FM3 into the stereo TRS input of the Mackie. That way you are not sacrificing any audio quality and to be honest the headphone amp that you would get in a consumer audio interface or even possibly the FM3 is most likely of comparable quality. The noise floor may or may not be worse but for less than $50 you can find a good solution for home headphone usage with the FM3 :)

Also even if it turns out to not sound good enough, there are higher quality amps you could buy in the future. The headphones themselves are probably the biggest determining factor also e.g. ( A pair of Apple ear-pods or a cheaper set of over the ear studio headphones vs. Beyerdynamic DT770, etc. )

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/HM4--mackie-hm-4-headphone-amplifier

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...cable-1-4-inch-trs-to-dual-1-4-inch-ts-9-foot

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In small joints where there's no space for monitors and I'm not using my wireless IEMs, I have found this jump audio dual cable to be beneficial in eliminating the extra IEM cable.
http://www.jumpaudio.net/ixmcablesetup.html
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I usually run an aux out return from the board to get a good band mix but I guess for those that "need the feed from FM3" headphone outlet, i assume it would work the same and most IEMs don't need too much to drive them.
 
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Without a headphone jack...I have to plug in 2 guitar cables...and a third party unit to listen to headphones on my ax8
 

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Without a headphone jack...I have to plug in 2 guitar cables...and a third party unit to listen to headphones on my ax8
Yep me two and works great for me, all kinds of low cost options for all of us AX8 users and soon to be FM3’ers that opted for early delivery...
 
Just out of morbid curiosity, how is it the pictures of the FM3 show a headphone jack from day one, the user manual references a headphone jack, but the first units FAS ships go out the door without them?...and then the units that will come with that component that they showed would be there, the ship date gets pushed out...again?
 
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