Your TV is packed full of ports that you might not know what to do with. Of course, you want your devices plugged into your HDMI ports, and it's important to use your USB port to the best of its ability. What you might not be aware of is your TV's 3.5 mm headphone jack. This might feel like something that's totally obsolete in today's age, especially since phones got rid of them years ago, but I found a clutch use for mine.
An underrated port that comes in handy
Your TV can do more than you think
For a long time, I didn't really think about what all the ports on my TV could do. I was always the guy who plugged in my device and called it a day, but when I started expanding my setup, I started to realize my TV is capable of so much more. Whether it's bias lights adding a nice touch to movie nights or plugging in a streaming stick to load up my apps faster, there's a lot you can do just by utilizing your TV's ports.
On the surface, a headphone jack doesn't seem like it'd have much value, but that couldn't be more wrong. I had a cheap Pyle receiver sitting in my garage powering speakers that I never used, so I decided to experiment a little bit. I quickly found out that this receiver didn't have any HDMI out functionality, so I needed to grab an RCA to 3.5 mm cable, and luckily, Best Buy had one for sale for $6. At that price, it's incredibly tough to beat, and it ended up giving me a massive upgrade in sound. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd get any use out of a port like that, but here we are.
I don't know how long a cheap audio receiver lasts, but for $30 or so, I don't have a lot riding on it if it breaks after a few months. Obviously, I'm not hoping that happens, because this has certainly opened my eyes to how easy it is to upgrade audio. A decent pair of bookshelf speakers rival a soundbar, and depending on who you ask, even sound better. If you're patient and open to thrifting or bargain hunting, you can get a whole setup put together for under $100. The nice part about bookshelf speakers is they can continue to be used as you build a surround sound setup. My very first pair of bookshelf speakers I bought are currently sitting behind my couch as a pair of surround sound speakers.
Maybe not a long-term option
It works well for what it is
This is more about the limitations of my audio receiver than the port itself, but I didn't want to rely on something so cheap for long. What I ended up doing was shopping Goodwill auctions and grabbing a receiver for $15. This means I was able to leave behind my 3.5 mm jack and move onto the HDMI ARC port and have more control over how my speakers sound.
The cheaper receiver worked a lot more like something I just plugged speakers into and controlled the volume on. I had no room correction functionality, and I'm not entirely sure that it was even passing through uncompressed audio since I didn't have an option to switch between formats.
Having a true receiver is a much better scenario, and while it's larger, I have no issues with it -- especially since I got it for so cheap. However, using an older receiver with my TV's 3.5 mm jack definitely opened my eyes to how useful these ports are. I'm very glad my TV had this port for me to use, even if was just for a week.