headphone splitter as dual input

Jan 26, 2006 at 12:08 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 7

wush

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Hey.

I have a some headphones connected to a cmoy amp. I'd like to have both of my computers connected to the amp's single input so that I do not have to swap cables when I switch computers. Could I use a headphone splitter for this?

32_1_b.JPG


I gather these are usually used to clone an ouput rather than receive 2 inputs. The computers would not be playing sound at the same time (what would happen if they did?)

TIA
 
Jan 26, 2006 at 2:53 AM Post #3 of 7
Quote:

Originally Posted by wush
I have a some headphones connected to a cmoy amp. I'd like to have both of my computers connected to the amp's single input so that I do not have to swap cables when I switch computers. Could I use a headphone splitter for this?


You need three male plugs for that, if I'm not misunderstanding the question.

Quote:

I gather these are usually used to clone an ouput rather than receive 2 inputs. The computers would not be playing sound at the same time (what would happen if they did?)


I'm rusty on electricity, but I think that whichever system is putting out the greater voltage at any instant is going to be dumping part of the signal into the other system. I looked into connecting a stereo source to a mono amplifier and found that I would need a resistor on each line before they are connected. Presumably four resistors could make your idea safe.
 
Jan 26, 2006 at 3:24 AM Post #4 of 7
Quote:

I have a some headphones connected to a cmoy amp. I'd like to have both of my computers connected to the amp's single input so that I do not have to swap cables when I switch computers. Could I use a headphone splitter for this


why would you not use a simple A/B switch or even el cheapo input selector ? The "Y" adapter seems to be the worst solution

Quote:

I'm rusty on electricity, but I think that whichever system is putting out the greater voltage at any instant is going to be dumping part of the signal into the other system.


series resistance on each computer output would prevent the two from "fighting" and in effect make this a kind of passive mixer but using a straight "Y" cable is not a real good idea and if you go to the trouble to make a resistor box better to just make a A/B input selector since that is really the best solution

Mini box.DPDT Switch,Jacks...DONE ! About $10 total
 
Jan 26, 2006 at 3:42 AM Post #5 of 7
I just tried it with this adapter:

pRS1C-2265730w345.jpg


and it worked fine. I had it plugged into the input of my pocket amp, with my computer and my iPod plugged into it. Either source worked fine, and if you play them both at once they just mix together. Also if you have it plugged into an amp and you plug the source into one of the plugs (on the adapter) and your headphones into the other plug on the adapter it just acts as a pass through, cutting out the amp entirely!
 
Jul 6, 2011 at 1:14 PM Post #6 of 7
Hi all, new here. I don't have an amp but I'm looking to do something similar. I have some (Beyerdynamic DT770) headphones that I want to pipe two inputs into. One input is a keyboard, the other would be an MP3 player or computer. The idea would be that I can play music over the headphones and pipe the keyboard in at the same time. 
 
Do I need an amp to do this? 
 
I'm thinking if I had a splitter like this
 
    [female]
          |
        /   \      
[male]  [male]
 
then I could plug my headphones into the female of the splitter, and plug the two male ends into my keyboard and computer. Would this work? 
 
Jul 6, 2011 at 3:46 PM Post #7 of 7
Yes, you can do that.  
 

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