Apple has in the past not looked kindly on companies offering MagSafe adapters for their products, but with a magnetic connection for audio rather than power, and Apple starting to move from MagSafe to USB-C, perhaps a new Kickstarter campaign might make it.
Magzet is a two-part magnetic kit for 3.5mm audio connections. One half is designed to remain in the audio socket (and cleverly manages to avoid cutting sound to the speaker when there’s nothing connected to it), the other attaches to your headphone jack. Once in place, it breaks away cleanly like MagSafe if you walk away from the device while still wearing your headphones.
The prototype is clunky, and I wouldn’t personally want to leave the jack in permanently, but they are aiming to make it smaller, and it will definitely save some devices. You can reserve a Magzet kit by backing it from $20 plus shipping.
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The curse of backward compatibility is why Apple didn’t do this themselves, I expect. Adapters and sockets and blah blah…
It’s a very nice system, but I’d like to see it built into the phone and headphone cords purposely designed for it. The 3.5mm connector is prehistoric and needs an industry-wide unpatented update. A large company like Sennheiser for example, needs to offer the IP altruistically.
I dont understand the fuzz, this was done years ago by a company that doesn’t exist anymore. Replug. The page is still up on amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Replug-Breakaway-3-5Mm-Audio-Adapter/dp/B0013KXCMO/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8
Hi Sebastian –
Thanks for the feedback. The Replug has two main differences from what we created with the MAGZET Series1 – it was mechanical and not magnetic and second it did not solve the jack left in situation where audio is re-routed automatically to headset mode. We solved that with a patent pending solution when just our MAGjack is left in – nothing is detected on a phone until the MAGkap is mated to the MAGjack.
Jon Hallsten
Apple’s lawyers? Magnetic electrical connectors predate Magsafe by at least 35 years. I’ve got toys from the mid 70’s with such connectors.
Just connect the MagBulky to the Maghideous.
At this point, I almost don’t even care what it looks like. As long as it works…I’ve broken so many things because of this.