USB gaming headphones with microphone - Audio-Technica ATH-ADG1

Correctly connecting an audio device to a sound source - whether it be a computer, laptop, smartphone, TV, stereo or anything else - is an important aspect of arranging your speaker system. Connecting speakers or headphones to a sound source is a very simple task for specialists or just experienced users of technology. Any person who understands computers without hesitation will be able to connect ordinary headphones to the standard sound card of the device. However, an inexperienced user may experience a number of difficulties associated with the relatively large variety of connectors and plugs used to connect headphones.

Strictly speaking, even an experienced person may have some questions if the circumstances of connecting the headphones are non-standard. What are the features of connecting certain headphones to different equipment?

Why are adapters needed?

We live in an era of mass standardization, to which manufacturers of mobile and stationary equipment are being pushed by leading companies. Gone are the days when, when a headphone broke, you had to search all the surrounding shops, hoping to find a suitable headset for your phone - as a rule, you could only connect the headphones that came with the kit.

Computers have never suffered from such a problem - sound cards have always used standard mini-jacks - acoustic connectors with a diameter of 3.5 mm, also called line outputs, to which most headphones fit. Problems could (and still can) arise only when using professional or non-standard equipment.

The fact is that headphones can be connected using one of three types of jacks:

• Standard - with a diameter of 6.3 mm, which is used in professional monitor headphones, microphones, electric musical instruments. Most sound cards for computers do not have such connectors.
• Mini-jack - 3.5 mm, which is available on the main part of the headphones and headsets.
• A micro-jack, which has a diameter of 2.5 mm, is rare, but sometimes such headphones may need to be connected to an ordinary sound card.

With connectors, too, everything is not so simple. Everything is very straightforward, if a modern smartphone, tablet, player or computer acts as a sound source, you can only find a standard mini-jack in them. But sometimes you may need to connect to other equipment - a TV, a music center, an old phone or an old game console. And it is far from always possible to find a mini-jack in them, usually the only analog connector is RCA. What to do in such cases?

Thus, we have several possible plugs that need to be connected to some variety of sockets. To make this possible, you need to either turn the plug into a corresponding one or another connector, or vice versa - make the connector fit the existing plug. For this, various adapters are used.

How to choose the right adapter?

In order not to make a mistake with the choice of an adapter, you need to carefully examine the available equipment and understand which set of connectors and which plug is available to you. Let's consider several situations:

1. There is a standard line-out on the sound card of a computer or phone and non-standard headphones - for example, with a micro-jack. In this case, you will need an adapter 3.5 mm plug - 2.5 mm socket.
2. There is a TV without a line-out and standard headphones. Immediately discard the possibility of using digital interfaces - of course, you can convert a digital signal to an analog signal, but such a transformer will cost too much. It is much easier to connect headphones to the analog jack, which is found on almost all TVs - RCA. This is a tulip made up of three connectors, of which you only need red and white. Accordingly, the adapter must have an RCA plug and a 3.5 mm socket.
3. I have a computer with a burned out sound card. A difficult case - the acoustic connector can no longer be used. Luckily, you can use a USB-to-mini-jack adapter, which is essentially an external sound card that handles the sound on its own. At one end of such a device there will be a USB plug, and at the other end there will be one or two 3.5 mm jacks - for headphones and for a microphone.

In the future, another situation may appear - connecting standard headphones to an iPhone, which will only have a proprietary Lightning connector. Most likely, this will become another area of ​​​​mass application of headphone adapters.

Connecting headphones through an adapter

As follows from the foregoing, adapters may only be needed for wired headphones. Wireless Bluetooth headphones, on the other hand, are usually connected directly, since they are usually used with mobile devices, which always have a built-in transmitter. In principle, connecting wireless headphones to an analog jack through an external transmitter can be considered a particular case of using adapters.

Connecting headphones to a sound source using an adapter, in principle, does not differ in any features. This is true for typical situations - when wired devices are connected to analog audio connectors. You should act like this:

• the adapter is connected to a suitable connector on the sound source;
• headphones are connected to the adapter.

After that, it remains only to adjust the sound, and you can start using it.

The procedure is somewhat different in the above particular cases: when using USB or wireless headphones. The adapters used in this case are somewhat conditional, although they have similar functionality: they allow you to connect the device to a source that does not have an appropriate connection interface.

The basic principle of connecting a USB adapter, or an external sound card, is exactly the same - the devices just need to be plugged into one another. After that, you should do the following operations:

• the device will be detected by the computer, like everything that connects to USB, and the search for drivers will begin;
• drivers should be installed so that the computer recognizes the adapter and the sound can be processed by it;
• the device is configured in the same way as the built-in sound card - using a utility from the manufacturer or a standard Windows tool.

If you are using a Bluetooth adapter for your TV or music center, no configuration is required. In order for such a system to work, the transmitter is connected to the line output on the body of the sound source (if there is no 3.5 mm jack, a second adapter is required - from RCA to mini-jack). When the device works and is detected by the TV, you can turn on the headphones. They themselves will connect to the transmitter, which will begin to sound the sound device.

Thus, adapters may be required in a variety of situations. It is worth noting that, in most cases, their use does not affect the sound quality in any way, since there is no signal transformation - only the connection interface changes.

Some computer headphones connect to a sound source via a USB port. Their feature is the use of a digital signal processing system. We will talk about its advantages and the most important characteristics of such devices below.

Main advantages

Headphones connected to a USB connector significantly reduce the noise level and normalize the amplitude-frequency characteristics. With them, the sound becomes as clear, lively and saturated as possible. Many of these models support customization using simple applications. They allow you to choose the optimal operating modes for different tasks:

• full transmission of all ranges for listening to music;
• clearing the voice from noise for online communication;
• bass boost and various special effects for games.

Options

Gamers will surely appreciate high-end headphones with support for surround sound technology. They use integrated sound cards with a USB connector, which split the signal into several channels and change its characteristics. Thanks to this, the user is completely immersed in the virtual world. Such technology allows him to instantly detect opponents, focusing on the sounds of footsteps, shots and explosions.
Many headphones with a USB plug are equipped with microphones. They are suitable for online communication using special messengers and game chats. In order to make every conversation as convenient and productive as possible, you should choose headphones with a digital noise reduction system. Such devices with a USB input transmit even the finest nuances of the user's voice.

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Our online store catalog contains USB headphones from many well-known manufacturers, including Razer, SteelSeries, Plantronics, Sony and others. For their quick selection, it is enough to contact the company's specialists, who are ready to provide professional advice. Any headphones can be ordered with delivery in Moscow, Veliky Novgorod, Kirov, Tyumen and other Russian cities.

Where can they be appliedUSB headphones

No one, probably, will argue with the fact that wireless technology is convenient. Firstly, there are no heaps of wires, and secondly, freedom of movement is not limited (except perhaps by the range of the device). And the fact that USB-headphones appeared is a regularity. It is much more pleasant not to get tangled in wires, listen to music or

talk on Skype and move around the apartment or office. Wireless headphones can be connected to a computer, laptop or netbook, phone, smartphone or iPad, or any other device that has the appropriate connector. Usually, headphones are also equipped with a microphone - in them you can not only listen and perceive audio information, but also talk on Skype or on the phone. In order for such devices to be coordinated with the computer, drivers are supplied in the kit. If you bought USB headphones for use on a PC or laptop and you have Windows installed, then in most cases the device is detected and coordinated with the computer, drivers are loaded automatically without your participation. Just

plugged in USB headphones, waited a few seconds and started working. In addition to home use, this wireless device can be used in offices. There are even special models for business use. They differ from household ones in that they have one earpiece, that is, they are monophonic. Instead of the second, a soft stop is usually installed. This is due to the fact that when conducting business negotiations, you need to hear not only what the interlocutor says, but also perceive information coming from people who are nearby.

How to connect

They can usually be connected directly to the appropriate socket on the device. But there are models that have a mini-USB connector or a standard Jack plug for audio systems. If your device does not have a corresponding jack, do not worry, there is a USB headphone adapter. This is a small device with

which you can connect headphones with a standard Jack type connector. Another adapter allows you to connect headphones with a mini-USB connector, there are also special miniature models for connecting to the iPhone.

Sound quality in wireless headphones

Wireless technology is, without a doubt, convenient. But in the case of headphones, there are nuances. USB headphones are suitable for communication, negotiation, they are convenient in the game. In the case of listening to music, watching a movie, careful sound calibration is required, especially low frequencies: without this, you can even tear your eardrum. There are also issues when playing several sounds at the same time: if the plot of the film is dynamic and music is superimposed on the dialogue, they can sometimes sound fuzzy. There are also disadvantages when playing music: the sound is flatter and more inexpressive, and the adjustment possibilities are more than modest. To date, no model of wireless headphones can match the quality of sound reproduction with wired "brothers". If you need a headset for gaming or chatting, USB headphones are a great choice, but if you want to listen to music or movie soundtracks in good quality, have regular (wired) or decent speakers.

You made up your mind and bought USB headphones for listening to music on a computer or laptop, or for scoring computer games. In any case, you made the right choice.

The main advantage of USB headphones over conventional ones is the stable sound quality, because. via USB, the computer sends a signal in digital form and the headphones themselves process it on their own, convert it to analog form, and you hear it. While the sound quality of conventional wired headphones is critically dependent on the quality of the sound card or amplifier to which they are connected.

USB headphones are designed to greatly simplify and unify the sound quality.

However, if you have never encountered USB headphones before, you may have questions about how to connect them and how to use them to their fullest, because many USB headphones have additional functionality.

I'll show you the whole process of connecting and setting up a great headphone amplifier. Do not be surprised, I will show you an example with an amplifier, but since USB headphones are perceived by all computers as an external audio device, then there will be no difference. Another reason is that right now I don't have full-fledged USB headphones on hand and I won't be able to take the necessary screen shots, but the amplifier is there and I took pictures for each step of setting up your headphones.

How to connect headphones with a microphone to a computer via USB

Connection process:

Remember that I am giving you an example on Sennheiser GSX 1200 Pro equipment, in your case the device will have the name of your headphone model.

Step 1 - Connect USB Headphones

Choose a free USB port of your computer or laptop that is convenient for you and connect headphones to it. Try to choose the USB port to which you will constantly connect the headphones. Of course, you can then connect to any other free USB port, but there is no guarantee that the settings will not be reset.

Step 2 - nuance with the microphone

If your headphones don't have a built-in microphone, your computer will see them as an external audio device. If the headphones have a built-in microphone, then the nuances begin. Some manufacturers make the computer see the microphone and headphones as 2 different audio devices, and some manufacturers make the computer see the microphone and headphones as one device.

From my experience, I can state the following: if USB headphones have a virtual surround sound function, most likely the computer will see 2 virtual devices: we will use one to output the main sound (music, games, movies, system sounds), and the second device will be used only for programs with voice communication (skype, discord, raid call and similar). 2 virtual devices are not created by chance, so the headphones can process the sound from games to give it more volume and depth, while not affecting the voice of your interlocutors.

In the case of my example, there are just 2 virtual devices.

Step 3 - Configuring Drivers

Connect the headphones to the USB port, the computer should tell you that it has found a new device. If your USB headphones have a virtual surround sound function, make sure you download the necessary drivers from the manufacturer's official website. There are headphones that do not need drivers, you need to make sure that if drivers are needed, they are downloaded and installed.

Remember that you need to install drivers with the headphones connected.

There is a speaker icon in the bottom right corner of your screen, right click on it. You will see the menu, the picture of which is located above. Select Playback Devices.

Step 4 - Differentiation of device rights

If the system sees your headphones as 2 virtual devices, carefully read what they are called. Usually, the device that is intended to output the main sound has the “Speakers” status, and the secondary one, which is intended for voice communication, has the status “Headset earphone” or similar.

Select the main device (Main Audio) and right-click on it. Select "Use as default".

If the system sees your headphones as one device, right-click on it and select "Set as default".

Step 5 - Selecting a device to talk to

Find the device with the status "Headset Earphone" in the list, right-click on it. Select "Use default communication device".

The main thing - do not confuse, otherwise you won't get multi-channel sound in games, and some apps will not work properly at all.

Step 6 - Setting Up Surround Sound

If your headphones support virtual surround sound, you'll need to configure Windows audio output so that your headphones receive a multi-channel signal. To do this, find your headphones in the list of devices with the "Speakers" status from step 4, right-click on it. Select "Set up speakers".

Step 7 - Multichannel Audio


Choose between 7.1 or 5.1 speaker configurations, depending on which option is available to you. If both options are available, choose 7.1

Step 8 — Configuring Surround Sound

Step 9 - Broadband Sound


Be sure to check that all checkboxes are enabled.

Step 10 - Disabling Advanced Features

Select the "Main Audio" device and right-click on it. Select "Properties".

Select the "Enhancements" tab. Make sure all checkboxes are unchecked, otherwise the device will not be able to independently process sound and create virtual surround sound.

The latest major Windows 10 update introduced a new menu item called Spatial Sound. In our case, it should be disabled. This item was added so that people using simple sound codecs built into motherboards and laptops could get software emulation of surround sound in games. For processing, the power of the central processor is used and the quality of the virtual sound is poor.

If you enable this item when using your USB headphones, the sound will be very distorted, be sure to turn this off.

Everything, the initial setup and connection of USB headphones to a computer or laptop is over. Further, it all depends on which drivers and the program for controlling the functions of the headphones you have installed.

Remember that in voice communication programs you should always select a secondary virtual device with the “Headset earphone” status as a communication device for the correct differentiation of audio streams and their subsequent processing, of course, if your computer sees your headphones as two virtual devices. If you have one device, you do not need to select anything, the programs should work correctly automatically.

Today there is a huge variety of different headphones - even the most demanding lover of high-quality sound can choose the optimal model for himself. What is usually based on the choice of headphones?

First of all, attention is drawn to the most basic feature - the way the headphones are attached to the ears. On this basis, the devices are divided into plug-in - placed inside the ear and overhead - pressed against the outside of the ears. You can also subdivide headphones into wired and wireless, open and closed, in-ear and vacuum headphones, monitors and household ...

The only sign, it would seem, unites absolutely all the headphones - one way or another, they all connect to the sound card of the sound source via a line output - a 6.3 mm jack, a 3.5 mm mini-jack or a 2.5 mm micro-jack. So the headphones are connected to computers, phones, tablets and even TVs.

But what if there is no sound card? For example, the integrated board in the computer burned out, but there is no way to buy a new discrete one? The standard audio jack stopped working, no speakers or headphones make sound. In this case, USB headphones will come to the rescue, which have a built-in sound card, process the sound themselves, and connect to the sound source via a standard USB 2.0 or 3.0 connector. What is typical for these headphones and are they worth the money?

Features of USB Headphones

Unlike most headphones, which connect to the line-out on the body of the audio source, USB headphones connect to any available USB port. Thus, the connection will not cause problems in almost any situation - almost any modern device is equipped with at least one such connector. The only exception is mobile phones. But even with them you can avoid the problem - it is quite possible to find headphones that use the micro-USB port for connection.

When connecting these headphones to a mobile device, it is worth remembering, however, that USB headphones are very demanding devices. Through this interface, they transmit not only information about the reproduced sound, but also electricity for power supply - and in much larger quantities than in the case of conventional passive headphones. The built-in sound card, the sound amplifier and the dynamic emitters themselves are powered by USB. As a result, the battery of your mobile phone or tablet may drain quickly when using these headphones.

The purpose of USB headphones is not limited to the situation in which a conventional acoustic connector is not detected on the sound source. Another use case is to connect in parallel with conventional speakers or built-in laptop speakers. While conventional headphones, when connected, are defined by the system as a replacement for speakers, USB headphones are a separate device that can be used simultaneously with speakers. Due to the built-in sound card, they can be fed separate sound information - for example, listen to music through speakers and at the same time talk via Skype using headphones.

Pros and Cons of USB Headphones

From all the described features characteristic of headphones of this type, it is easy to draw a conclusion about their advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the following features:

• built-in sound card that allows you to process sound regardless of the sound source;
• due to some independence of the device, it is easy for the manufacturer to ensure the high quality of the headphone filling and, accordingly, the sound quality;
• reliability and durability;
• ease of maintenance of the device;
• many USB headphones have a very high-quality microphone in their design, which allows you to easily communicate through voice chats and IP telephony.

Unfortunately, nothing can do without a number of disadvantages. The negative sides of USB headphones are as follows:

• as in the case of any other headphones, the sound quality, although it is at a high level, is still far from full-fledged acoustic systems - the variety of reproduced frequencies may not be enough for high-quality listening to certain musical genres;
• due to the powerful filling, which includes a sound card and a sound amplifier, the cost of USB headphones is very high;
• unlike a simple speaker cable, which can be more than a meter long, a USB cable is usually quite short, which limits the use of such headphones;
• it is not possible to connect standard USB headphones to most mobile phones, as they usually do not have such an interface installed.

Despite the shortcomings, USB headphones can quite help in various situations and bring a lot of pleasure from listening to music. The main thing is to choose them correctly. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the characteristics of the electronics, but also to the features of the headphone case - they should sit comfortably on the head so as not to bring discomfort during a long device. So, some headphones are able to remember the shape of the ears and fit them comfortably, regardless of individual characteristics.

USB headphone setup

Since headphones of this type are detected by the system of a computer or laptop as a separate device that is not associated with the sound system of the sound source, a number of problems may arise when connecting, preventing the use of equipment in normal mode.

The most common problems are related to the fact that the headphones either do not work, or only work separately from the speakers. What to do?

First, you need to connect the USB headphones correctly. This is done as follows:

• you can ignore the line outputs - if something is already connected to them, let it stay there, speakers or other headphones should not interfere;
• find a free USB connector on one of the faces of the computer;
• connect the headphone cable to the jack;
• the system will immediately begin the process of determining the equipment - its type and name, as a rule, will be determined without problems, but there may be problems with the automatic search for drivers;
• if the drivers were not found automatically, they should be installed from the disk that came with the headphones.

There is no need to remove the drivers that were installed on the computer earlier - they are in no way connected with USB headphones and are responsible for the sound card built into the computer. If you remove them, the usual speaker connectors will stop working.

In some cases, driver incompatibility is observed. If this happens, you need to do the following:

• open the control panel;
• find the "Sound" menu;
• in the window that opens, a list of detected sound devices will appear, among which you need to find the connected USB headphones;
• in the properties of the headphones, you need to make them the default device.

After completing these steps, the sound will be output to the headphones regardless of the speakers. To assign a particular program to them, you will have to use the mixer - it is launched using the corresponding button near the volume control, which is located in the tray, next to the clock.

Thus, USB headphones are a very convenient acoustic device that significantly expands the capabilities of a computer in terms of sound output.