The Internet has changed the way millions across the world communicate. Using a headset with a built-in microphone, Web users are able to talk to others next door or thousands of miles away for little or no cost at all. Most computer headsets include two jacks: one for the headphone part of the apparatus and the other for the microphone. Although having to plug in two jacks may seem confusing at first, making the connections and configuring the headset to work with your computer is fairly simple.
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Shut down your desktop computer or laptop. Locate the “Audio Out,” “Headphone Out” or “Speaker Out” port on the computer. The label for the port varies on different computers, and your PC may not have any label at all. If you don't see a label for the ports, look for one with an icon picture of a sound wave or pair of headphones. On many computers, the headphone-out or speaker-out port has a green ring around it.
2.
Plug the headphone plug with black, green or yellow plug into the speaker-out or headphone-out jack on the computer.
3.
Locate the Microphone-In or Mic-In port on the computer. On most computers, the Mic-In port has a pink ring around it or a small picture of a microphone above it. Connect the red or pink plug from headset to the Microphone-In port.
4.
Restart the computer. After you log in to Windows, sound from the PC plays over the headphones.
5.
Launch a sound recording application on your computer. Click the “Record” button to test the microphone. If you cannot hear your voice when you play back the recording, click the Speaker” icon in the Windows quick launch tray – next to the time and date on the taskbar – and click the “Mixer” link. After the Mixer window appears, click the “Speaker” icon to turn off the mute function for the microphone.
6.
Open your preferred voice-chat application. Click “Preferences” or “Settings” on the menu bar. Test the headset and microphone by following the prompts in the “Sound” or “Sound Setup” window. Use the headset to communicate with others.
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References (2)About the Author
Jeff Grundy has been writing computer-related articles and tutorials since 1995. Since that time, Grundy has written many guides to using various applications that are published on numerous how-to and tutorial sites. Born and raised in South Georgia, Grundy holds a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
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Grundy, Jeff. 'How to Get a Headset With Two Jacks to Work on a Computer.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/headset-two-jacks-work-computer-31281.html. Accessed 02 July 2019.
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You don't have to purchase a sometimes very expensive gaming headset to get the most from your Xbox One audio experience, especially not if you've already invested in a set of good, sometimes expensive headphones. There are some features you'll lose, but ultimately it might well be the way to go for you.
Products used in this guide
How to connect your headphones to the Xbox One
This part is super simple as long as you're using the more recent versions of the Xbox One controller. These have the 3.5mm headset jack in the bottom, and so to use them all you have to do is plug the headphones into the controller.
If you're using a first-generation Xbox One controller, there is, unfortunately, no headphone jack. As such, you'll need to invest in a Stereo Headset Adapter. It connects to the bottom of your controller with your headphones hooking up to the bottom of the adapter.
You also get added handy features like volume adjust, chat/game audio mix adjust, and a big old mute button. Even on the later versions of the Xbox One controller (with the headset jack), you can gain a fair bit from using one of these.
The official Microsoft one is no longer sold new, however well-known headset maker, Turtle Beach has an excellent alternative.
Sounding goodTurtle Beach Headset Audio Controller Plus
Step up your Xbox audio game
This adapter not only connects headphones directly to the older style Xbox One controller but puts great features like chat/game mix and total volume control into the palm of your hand.
If you don't have inline volume controls, you'll have to control the audio on the console directly. It's not difficult, although with the latest update to the Xbox One dashboard, the audio controls are a little more hidden. Follow these steps:
You'll now have options for enabling and disabling any microphone attached, adjusting volume, mic monitoring and the mix of game audio to party chat.
Adding a microphone to your own headphones
There are some really easy, solid ways of adding a microphone to your headphones so you can indulge in a little party chat action on your Xbox One.
One is the Turtle Beach Stream Mic. It's never going to win awards for outright sound quality, but it has one huge selling point: You can plug it directly into the Xbox One console. It's still going to be better than any headset microphone, and it's now pretty affordable, too.
An alternative is to invest in something like the Antlion Modmic 5. This is a microphone that you can clip to your headphones to create your own gaming headset. You use a splitter to attach the headphones and the microphone, so you can have essentially a full gaming headset plugged into your controller.
The bonus is that you can take the microphone off and then just keep on enjoying your headphones. Not all gaming headsets have a detachable microphone, so you really do get the best of both worlds.
Console microphoneTurtle Beach Stream Mic
An Xbox One compatible gaming microphone
This is an interesting microphone in that not only does it work with PC, but also connects directly to the Xbox One console. The sound quality is certainly good enough for party chat, even streaming directly from the console to Mixer.
Detach at willAntlion Modmic 5
Add a microphone to your own headphones
This detachable microphone clips on to your headphones and combines with its audio before going into your controller, thus giving you great sounding game audio and crystal clear party chat.
If you want to get really fancy, particularly if you're a streamer, you can use something like Astro's Mixamp to integrate your headphones with your PC, console, and even mobile devices audio.
Hook up to the console over optical audio, stick the USB into your PC, and connect headphones or a music player like your smartphone over 3.5mm.
The Mixamp gives you control over the mix of audio, like your level of game audio to party chat. If you use one of Astro's more expensive headsets you can get the Mixamp thrown in, but it's also available to purchase on its own.
Mix it upAstro Gaming Mixamp TR
Mix PC, console and more besides
The Astro Mixamp is a remarkable bit of kit for gamers and the latest model has been redesigned and boasts a better audio processor for better sounding games than ever.
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Richard Devine
Richard Devine is an Editor at Windows Central. A former Project Manager and long-term tech addict, he joined Mobile Nations in 2011 and has been found on Android Central and iMore as well as Windows Central. Currently you'll find him covering all manner of PC hardware and gaming, and you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
How to use your own headphones on Xbox OneSounding goodTurtle Beach Headset Audio Controller Plus$40 at AmazonConsole microphoneTurtle Beach Stream MicHow To Plug Two Headphones Into One Computer To Iphone$92 at AmazonDetach at willAntlion Modmic 5How To Plug Two Headphones Into One Computer System$70 at AmazonMix it upAstro Gaming Mixamp TR$130 at Amazon
I want to make this work: - 1 computer - 1 skype account - 2 headsets (for 2 people)
It's for making conference call with 2 computers but with 3 people (2 of them in the same computer under 1 skype account).
How I can do this?
lak-blak-b
3 Answers
You should get 2 audio splitters - one for the headphone slot and one for the mic slot.
Then connect both the headphone connectors to the splitter which is inserted in the headphone slot, and both the mic connectors to the splitter which is inserted in the mic slot.
This will allow you to have 2 headphone sets connected to your computer at the same time.
I use this for my current computer for skype so I know its possible.
How To Use Two Headphones At Once Windows 10
This is what it looks like:
This model is better if the space between your headphone and mic port is small
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Or this seems to be more flexible:
Gaff
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rzlinesrzlines
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You can always do the call on the PC with a microphone and speakers. I often use my laptop's built in mic and speakers when joining a Skype conference with more than one person in the room.
Dave WebbDave Webb
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rzlines' answer is, electrically, kind of weird. It may work, but I would guess it's because the headsets are identical and you're not talking over each other. The audio quality is almost certainly degraded, however. See this article on why using a Y-splitter backwards is bad.
If you use this kind of 'Y-adapter' to combine two line level audio signal you are effectively shorting two equipment output to each other. Audio equipments are not designed for this.
The 'right way' to do this would be to use a tiny little mixer to mix your microphone signals before going to the input of your sound card (or build the project described in the article referenced above).
However, what I would recommend in your situation is to simply split your headphone output and use a simple desktop microphone to pick up both of your voices. When you think about typical conference-calling systems in company boardrooms, they're usually just using an omnidirectional condenser in the middle of the table.
NReilinghNReilingh
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I am using audacity to record conversation between myself and a friend in the same room. I am currently using two instances of audacity on two separate computers to record each individual headset.
It really is a pain to synchronize these tracks and use two computers to record two people. I would like to be able to record from both headsets on one PC. From what research I have done, my only real option is a mixer, but from what I understand those don't work with PC mics. Another option would be to compile Audacity with ASIO support, and possibly get a secondary sound card.
I was wondering if I am overlooking something simple. Would a 3.5mm splitter cable work with recording both microphones? Are there other options?
Yoshiyahu
migrated from avp.stackexchange.comJan 24 '14 at 12:01
This question came from our site for engineers, producers, editors, and enthusiasts spanning the fields of video, and media creation.
3 Answers
If you're not using any aftermarket audio hardware, and just recording from the line-in on the computer, you already have the bare minimum to record two channels at once.
That line-in is likely stereo, i.e., a left channel and a right channel. Or, more appropriately for your purposes, a 2-channel input.
Microphones are all mono (save a few specialty varieties). So two mono microphones can be recorded at the same time.
Something like this...
JoshPJoshP
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Your options are either a dual mono to stereo adapter like JoshP mentions, using an area mic that could pick up you and your friend at the same time, or if you want the best possible quality, get a cheap USB Audio Interface (~$100 or so) and a couple of lapel mics or even just simple mics like SM58s (~$100 each or less if you go used). It's a bit more of an investment, but if you are trying to ensure the best quality, you'll get much better quality for the money than using a cheap PC mic and consumer mic input.
AJ Henderson♦AJ Henderson
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Your other option is to buy an external sound card that would make an USB device out of a Jack port - it is available widely on the internet and you can get a basic one for less than 10$ / € ;-)
MagixMagix
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