I wanted to adapt my audiophile headphones into a gaming headset so that I could communicate with my teammates in comfort while enjoying crisp game audio. Although I approached this from the perspective of an Xbox One gamer, the process is relevant to all gamers, regardless of platform (pcmasterrace included).
This is what I wanted:
Clear comms and the ability to adjust the balance between game and voice volume levels on-the-fly.
This is what I had:
- Stock Xbox One Chat Headset (MSRP $24.49, Amazon.com)
- Xbox One Stereo Headset (MSRP $59.99, Amazon.com
), bundled with Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter (MSRP $24.99, Amazon.com
)
- Fiio E17 (Amazon.com
)
- Sennheiser HD 650 audiophile headphones (MSRP $499.95, Amazon.com
)
The Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter features a single 3.5mm input, allowing you to plug in a CTIA headset. This is necessary for the original Xbox One controller – newer Xbox One controllers feature an onboard 3.5mm port. More information on connecting compatible headsets to the Xbox One is available at: support.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/accessories/connect-compatible-headset
Last I checked, the Apple iPhone headset won’t work, because Apple has proprietary standards (surprised?)
I initially investigated the Astro Mixamp (MSRP $129.99 Amazon.com), which is talked about a fair deal amongst console gamers. Some say it’s the best investment for a console gaming setup. I opted not to go down that route, in favor of something simpler.
Plenty of commercial products aim to make adding a microphone to an existing headphone setup easy:
Microphone Options
- AntLion Audio ModMic, starting at $42.95 on Amazon.com
. The official website for the ModMic is modmic.com
I ruled this one out because I don’t want to put any tacky adhesive onto my nice headphones, but others swear by the ModMic - Headset Buddy MoovMic $20 (Amazon.com
)
- Zalman ZM-MIC1 ~$10 (Amazon.com
)
This is the one that I picked up for use in my setup – it clips onto your headphone cables - V-MODA headphone owners might look into the $30 V-MODA BoomPro (Amazon.com
), which comes recommended by Destiny Serious Business fireteam member extra-ordinare PullRequest.
Plugging it all together
Now we have headphones and a microphone: let’s connect it all together!
The cheapest solution is to take a CTIA headset adapter and plug it into the stereo headset adapter. This is truly plug and play, and it only adds a single interface. Run the mic to the mic input, amp the audio output it if you like it loud, and enjoy.
I bought this CTIA headset adapter (Amazon.com)
Readers also like Sennheiser’s PCV 05 Combo Audio Adapter (Amazon.com)
Watch out that you don’t purchase a stereo splitter! The difference is in the connector. You must get a CTIA Y adapter, like the one that I linked. The male portion is 4-pole as opposed to 3-pole (TRRS vs. TRS).
TRRS = Tip Ring Ring Sleeve
For PS4 owners
The DualShock 4 controller has an onboard 3.5mm CTIA port. All of the above is applicable to your case. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a hardware solution to allow on-the-fly adjustment of the game and chat volume mix for the PS4.
The finished product
I hope this helps – GLHF 🙂
For those curious to learn more about audio jacks in general, I found these pages to be very informative:
- cablechick.com.au/blog/understanding-trrs-and-audio-jacks/
- provideocoalition.com/ts-trs-trrs-trrrs-combating-the-misconnection-epidemic/
Solution proposed on XIM4 forum: xim4.com/community/index.php?topic=36866.0
Xbox -> Optical Out -> Creative Sound Blaster sound card
Going balls to the wall with a PC sound card…
One with optical in & out, like Creative Sound Blaster Z
us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-z
Creative Sound Blaster ZxR
us.creative.com/p/sound-blaster/sound-blaster-zxr