While this seemed to do the job at first, after a few days it seemed that the connections were looser and any movement made the thing totally go off and than had to turn on device again, etc

Intermittent connection problems

I think the plug just makes a bad connection

Intermittent connection problems

I don't know if I got a bad one or as with some cheap headphones a loose connection means you will always have problems.

I use it all winter on the ski slopes (for years) to connect my built-in helmet headphones to my I Pod classic.