Pine's HDMI-VGA adapter

[wpersin]

Not a rant post, just an information post and hopefully Pine team can revamp the adapter design.

So, I bought the adapter along with the board.
I'm still exploring, but I find that the audio port on the VGA adapter is on the wrong side.
The awkward position resulted in the audio connector pushing on the ethernet and power cables.

 

Yes there's the onboard 3.5mm audio jack but for some applications (or OS), it seems to only want to output via the HDMI connector.

For example: on xubuntu image by long sleep updated by Pine (20160502), it only lists 1 output device: sndhdmi Analog Stereo, and that's via HDMI, so I'm left with no choice but to connect via the adapter. If only the port was on the other side (plus the markings on the adapter)...

Does the HDMI adapter output of 3.5mm sound out work if HDMI is not connected to TV or monitor?