Phantom power in 3.5 mm jack!

Who decided it was a good idea to put 48V phantom power for microphone to 1/8″ / 3.5 mm jack? This is like asking intentionally for a disaster (fried mic or other device) to happen one day or next.

This is this funny silly mixer/soundcard “M6 live sound card” sold in price range $15 up to nearly $80 depending on where you buy it.

Related video on phantom power
https://youtu.be/W42MRnJhXrk?si=MC-Iu3fEz85PbQPA

What is wrong with 48V phantom power in 1/8″ jack instead of standard XLR?

Having 48v on the 1/8″ inputs is a real dound card killer if you plug it accidentially to this input instead right jack next to it.

There the condenser inputz and the 48v input next to each other in here. The condenser inputs are for small unbalanced electret mics. They use same pinout and specifications as PC sound card microphone inputs (low current around 3-5V power at around 1 mA or less, here volrage is 3.3V). The 48V input has balanced mic input with 48V phantom power in it (when turned on).

The electet microphones designed for low voltage might not like 48V at all.

If the person that is using mic is bad, rattling the plug around might make for an interesting event.

During connecting or removing the 1/8” jack, a momentary short circuit can occur, potentially frying the power supply or the mic. It’s a lot to assume all connections to be made with power off, with never even an accidental removal.
That’s the reason phantom power is customarily only on XLR inputs, since those cannot short while being connected.

In modern phantom power implementations the short circuit does not normally fry the phantom power supply. It is typically current limited with 6.8 kohm resistors.
Microphone could be less happy.

It really makes anything sing. Thus why we call it the phantom of the opera.

Why we need so many different cables and connectors? They reply is: so fools (like maybe you) don’t plug things the wrong way and fry stuff, or kill themselves! Or even worse someone else!