[lolwatpear]

Hey, I purchased a used TB DSS at a good price, looking for a budget amp to power my PC headset (Plantronics 777) and give dolby surround sound on the 360.  I wanted a used astro mixamp, but I'd rather wait until I find a better deal on it.  I have a few questions about it:
 
1. I noticed that you're supposed to plug in the USB from a TB branded headset into the USB port on the amp.  This made me wonder if my Plantronics 777 would get properly powered considering there's no USB from the headset itself.  I'm specifically buying this for the amp, because the volume is not loud enough.
 
2. I'm confused about what dolby surround sound this will give me through my Plantronics.  I'm going to run a toslink cable from the RCA audio cable adapter to the DSS and the 3.5mm audio cable from the DSS to the headset.  Will this give me 7.1 surround sound as advertised?
 
3. I don't understand what will happen with the lack of mic inputs on the DSS (compared to the Mixamp).  Will the chat volume be okay without have control over it? 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Hey, I purchased a used TB DSS at a good price, looking for a budget amp to power my PC headset (Plantronics 777) and give Dolby surround sound on the 360.  I wanted a used Astro mixamp, but I'd rather wait until I find a better deal on it.  I have a few questions about it:
 
1. I noticed that you're supposed to plug in the USB from a TB branded headset into the USB port on the amp.  This made me wonder if my Plantronics 777 would get properly powered considering there's no USB from the headset itself.  I'm specifically buying this for the amp, because the volume is not loud enough.
 
2. I'm confused about what dolby surround sound this will give me through my Plantronics.  I'm going to run a toslink cable from the RCA audio cable adapter to the DSS and the 3.5mm audio cable from the DSS to the headset.  Will this give me 7.1 surround sound as advertised?
 
3. I don't understand what will happen with the lack of mic inputs on the DSS (compared to the Mixamp).  Will the chat volume be okay without have control over it? 

1. I believe the TBS DSS get it power from the USB connection on the bottom of the DSS, which would connect to the USB port on the xBox
2. You need to run optical straight from the xBox's optical port to the DSS optical port.
3. I believe the xBox uses it's USB port for mic input

 

[lolwatpear]

Quote:

1. I believe the TBS DSS get it power from the USB connection on the bottom of the DSS, which would connect to the USB port on the xBox
2. You need to run optical straight from the xBox's optical port to the DSS optical port.
3. I believe the xBox uses it's USB port for mic input

Thanks, but
 
1.  I know the TB DSS gets the power from the USB connection, but I don't understand why turtle beach branded headphones need to plug it's USB into the DSS.  With the plantronics headset, there's only a 3.5mm speaker/mic output like most headsets.  I want to know if I plug only the 3.5mm speaker into the DSS, would it get amped?
 
2.  I know that, but I'm wondering what dolby digital (5.1 or 7.1) I'll be getting in the headset using that setup you mentioned, not how to set it up.  I've read that it won't actually do 7.1, so I'm looking for confirmation.
 
3.  I actually know that isn't true.  USB audio/mic does not work in anyway with the 360.  A 3.5mm mic is required to work with a 360.  My question is, when I get in game, what will the chat volume be like without the ability to control the chat volume, which the astro mixamp is capable of.  The DSS cannot do this, so I'm wondering if it will be loud enough.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Thanks, but
 
1.  I know the TB DSS gets the power from the USB connection, but I don't understand why turtle beach branded headphones need to plug it's USB into the DSS.  With the plantronics headset, there's only a 3.5mm speaker/mic output like most headsets.  I want to know if I plug only the 3.5mm speaker into the DSS, would it get amped?
 
2.  I know that, but I'm wondering what Dolby Digital (5.1 or 7.1) I'll be getting in the headset using that setup you mentioned, not how to set it up.  I've read that it won't actually do 7.1, so I'm looking for confirmation.
 
3.  I actually know that isn't true.  USB audio/mic does not work in anyway with the 360.  A 3.5mm mic is required to work with a 360.  My question is, when I get in game, what will the chat volume be like without the ability to control the chat volume, which the astro mixamp is capable of.  The DSS cannot do this, so I'm wondering if it will be loud enough.

Here is a link to the TBS DSS user guide
http://www.turtlebeach.com/support/entry/830517163/
 
TBS headphones need to plug into the USB connection to use the TBS headphones built in mic, "USB Chat".
The 3.5mm headphone jack on the DSS should easily drive (amp) your Plantronics headphones, as I would guess the Plantronics are low Ohm headphones.
 
The TBS should feed Dolby Headphone to the headphones thru the 3,5mm headphone jack.
As far as I can tell, 5.1 (6-channel) is what comes thru the optical cable, but the DSS might expand the 5.1 to 7.1 (add two fake channels)
In the past the "Dolby surround" was used to add (hide) more then two audio signal into a 2-channel feed.
So I'm guessing the DSS can somewhat semi-fake a 7.1 audio signal from just a 2-channel feed.
 
I looked over the xBox back panel, could not find a analog mic input port.
The TBS DSS user guide shows how the USB connection is used to feed "USB chat" to the xBox.
 
I would think in the xBox OS there would be a mic volume control.

 

[lolwatpear]

Thanks, those answers helped.  As for the mic, the 3.5mm from the headphone goes to a 3.5mm female to 2.5mm male adapter connected to the xbox controller (that I purchased separately).  There are no mic inputs on the 360 like you said.