Thanks for the detailed guidance!
Mine are the ...63B models, already on their way. Didn't have any braid but used some stranded copper wire to take up the solder. Took one apart and it immediately screamed at me how inadequate the design is (the 3.5's are no better BTW). The sprung tip contact is not bad, it has enough travel and almost enough pressure but it's the only one to pass. The switch is on that one too. The middle shaft contact is far less well done and the ring connecting to the first segment is a design-atrocity amounting to the bright ring around the orifice if I see it correctly. Anyone who wants to see, just take one apart. I can only speculate that my troubles were related to this last 'feature' but don't really have the setup to pinpoint it, there's nothing worse than intermittent contact to trouble-shoot. Then on a hunch I measured a few of my plugs and got one of the following reads for each:
0.242
0.246
0.247
0.248
0.250
THIS, is a freaking JOKE, so all the sprung points should be like the one for the tip at a minimum!
Anyway, ain't gonna work my blood-pressure up over this, no more Asus anything, it's that simple. I'll install the new jacks when I get them and I'll move forward from there by immediately attaching actual-use adaptor cables to the computer back-panel.