Technical jargon

Turn away now if you don't want to hurt your brain.

So… the gullible me, bought a mic from futureshop… and of course, they all seal their products in those air tight plastic boxes that cannot be opened. I can't open them to test for compatibilities with my mp3 player first.

The specs on the back of the box doesn't help. They just list all the marketing stuff like, noise cancelling capability and 1-10v. The output signal of this mike is too small for my mp3 player to detect so the signal gets cut off at the input jack of my mp3 player. 1-10v my ass. I wish I have an oscilloscope, so I can probe this thing and find out exactly what is happening with the signal. I feel so mad, because I cannot return it as it works with a computer… Of course it works with a computer, a computer amplifies it I don't know how many times, an mp3 player doesn't have the power to do that.

Whining about this, I remembered my days as an engineer. While I was testing the chip we made, I have to doubt even the equipments we use. Unlike a big company, we cannot afford the best of the best, so we cannot rely on the testing equipment. It made me study and understand, how everything is done. So I am not just an ignorant engineer who tells my boss what the result is after what kind of measurement. So that I can make a decision on my own..

I remember, when HP's audio engineer came over, I kicked his ass with my knowledge in all the equipments and the deep understanding of signals, but he kicked my ass with his experiences