headcase99
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2012
- Posts
- 2
- Likes
- 11
For some time now, I’ve really enjoyed using my Turtle Beach gaming headset for delivering HD gaming sound, but I could BARELY hear my gaming friends over the highly compressed voice chat that comes with the Xbox or PS3 console. For those who play a bit, you know how much of a disadvantage it is when your buddy is telling you “Enemy on the left!”, “Use this weapon I just dropped!” or some other comment, and you either can’t understand what he’s saying, or it comes in too late to help.
And given I tend to only want to talk with my buddies while gaming in either a public or private game, we started connecting our smartphones directly to our gaming headsets for either FaceTime (1-on-1 gaming) or Skype (multi-party gaming) audio chats. The difference when using HD audio this way is amazing… its as if your gaming partners are literally in the same room with you, and it makes all the difference in the world.
Granted, some newer gaming headsets, including my Turtle Beach XP500, incorporate a Bluetooth radio for connecting your smartphone, but I found two drawbacks to that solution:
1. given the low bandwidth of Bluetooth, the audio quality of a FaceTime or Skype conversation over BT wasn’t much better than the chat audio from the gaming console
2. the battery of my gaming headset would be exhausted much more quickly when using the additional BT wireless connection vs. using the wired connection
However, here was the problem I encountered when using the wired connection: regardless of whatever adapter I purchased to connect my headset’s 2.5mm jack to my iPhone’s 3.5mm jack, the iPhone would continue to use its internal speakerphone microphone instead of the boom mic on the headset. I tried different adapters from Amazon, eBay, and other places to no avail. I even tried different gaming headsets from both Turtle Beach and other vendors. I was so frustrated with the available solutions, I even looked into constructing my own custom cable even though I had no prior experience in doing such.
Then some folks online recommended I try kVconnection.com, as they specialize in making various adapters for whatever need you might have.
I first ordered their standard 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter, which is compatible with various smartphones including iPhones. But once I received the part, it too exhibited the same behavior. So I called their tech support, and they were very willing to help troubleshoot the problem I was having.
Thinking perhaps it was a problem with the adapter they sent me, they immediately sent out a replacement unit. Two days later I plugged in the replacement adapter, but again the same issue: my iPhone was still utilizing the internal speakerphone mic instead of my headset’s boom mic.
I again called the guys at kVconnection.com, and they said this problem was perhaps due to my gaming headset's impedance level. They said they would make a custom adapter that would be modified to force the microphone impedance detection, and they would send it to me that same day for me to test out.
Upon receiving the custom 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter, I plugged it in… success! After weeks of hunting for a solution, I was finally able to use the boom mic of my gaming headset.
I thought I’d share this story, given the challenge I had in finding a proper solution. Should you have a similar issue with your smartphone (and unless you wish to construct your own), here’s a direct link to this custom item, which isn’t on their site menus:
http://www.kvconnection.com/product-p/009-733.htm
A very responsive and customer-friendly vendor too.
And given I tend to only want to talk with my buddies while gaming in either a public or private game, we started connecting our smartphones directly to our gaming headsets for either FaceTime (1-on-1 gaming) or Skype (multi-party gaming) audio chats. The difference when using HD audio this way is amazing… its as if your gaming partners are literally in the same room with you, and it makes all the difference in the world.
Granted, some newer gaming headsets, including my Turtle Beach XP500, incorporate a Bluetooth radio for connecting your smartphone, but I found two drawbacks to that solution:
1. given the low bandwidth of Bluetooth, the audio quality of a FaceTime or Skype conversation over BT wasn’t much better than the chat audio from the gaming console
2. the battery of my gaming headset would be exhausted much more quickly when using the additional BT wireless connection vs. using the wired connection
However, here was the problem I encountered when using the wired connection: regardless of whatever adapter I purchased to connect my headset’s 2.5mm jack to my iPhone’s 3.5mm jack, the iPhone would continue to use its internal speakerphone microphone instead of the boom mic on the headset. I tried different adapters from Amazon, eBay, and other places to no avail. I even tried different gaming headsets from both Turtle Beach and other vendors. I was so frustrated with the available solutions, I even looked into constructing my own custom cable even though I had no prior experience in doing such.
Then some folks online recommended I try kVconnection.com, as they specialize in making various adapters for whatever need you might have.
I first ordered their standard 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter, which is compatible with various smartphones including iPhones. But once I received the part, it too exhibited the same behavior. So I called their tech support, and they were very willing to help troubleshoot the problem I was having.
Thinking perhaps it was a problem with the adapter they sent me, they immediately sent out a replacement unit. Two days later I plugged in the replacement adapter, but again the same issue: my iPhone was still utilizing the internal speakerphone mic instead of my headset’s boom mic.
I again called the guys at kVconnection.com, and they said this problem was perhaps due to my gaming headset's impedance level. They said they would make a custom adapter that would be modified to force the microphone impedance detection, and they would send it to me that same day for me to test out.
Upon receiving the custom 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter, I plugged it in… success! After weeks of hunting for a solution, I was finally able to use the boom mic of my gaming headset.
I thought I’d share this story, given the challenge I had in finding a proper solution. Should you have a similar issue with your smartphone (and unless you wish to construct your own), here’s a direct link to this custom item, which isn’t on their site menus:
http://www.kvconnection.com/product-p/009-733.htm
A very responsive and customer-friendly vendor too.
