[Meh]

Hey guys so I'm getting married soon and moving into a smaller apartment, so the usual speakers I use for audio on my TV & PS3 will be too loud.  However I obviously don't want to listen to either TV, games or movies on those crappy TV speakers at low volumes just because neighbours might complain.  The only thing is I'll need to power 2 headphones at the same time because the wife likes to watch/play with me. I currently have a Sennheiser HD-555 & Shure SRH-840, but plan on getting an HD-650 later on. What would be my best option? Is there anything that would support more than one optical input (one from TV, one from PS3?)? I was looking at the Earforce DSS & Astro MixAmp 5.8 originally, but I heard that the AX720's support headphones as well. Which of these 3 would be best for what I need? Also, where exactly is the input port for the 720's for other headphones? I didn't see any in the manual I was looking over.
 

 

[Headfonenut123]

On the 720 inline volume puck you can pull it apart in the middle which exposes 2 3.5mm jacks one for game audio and one for mic, I dunno about optical connections but astro do a 2 headphones powered splitter so you can connect 2 headphones through one astro mixamp but the mixamp struggles to power 1 pair of headphones let alone 2 so I am unsure of the results

It was mainly developed for using 2 astro headsets at the same time

 

[dadab12]

I think that the Mixamp is essential to a surround experience for the PS3/Xbox 360, I'm gonna buy one along with a separated amp for listening to music..
From what I heard the Mixamp is an excellent piece of hardware for that purpose

 

[Headfonenut123]

I think that the Mixamp is essential to a surround experience for the PS3/Xbox 360, I'm gonna buy one along with a separated amp for listening to music.. From what I heard the Mixamp is an excellent piece of hardware for that purpose

Kudos to that it is a great bit of kit especially for game chat with your friends

 

[Meh]

Ok well then for the 720, there's 2 3.5mm ports.. does that mean I can power my 2 headphones at the same time without a problem?  As for the MixAmp the only thing I don't like is that it uses batteries.. I would prefer to have the wired option instead but can't find anyone that sells it still here in Canada.  Also.. the MixAmp is like 3 times the price too.  It sounds like I should go for the MixAmp, but does anyone have experience with the 720 and know if I can power my 2 headphones at the same time?

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

Ok well then for the 720, there's 2 3.5mm ports.. does that mean I can power my 2 headphones at the same time without a problem?  As for the MixAmp the only thing I don't like is that it uses batteries.. I would prefer to have the wired option instead but can't find anyone that sells it still here in Canada.  Also.. the MixAmp is like 3 times the price too.  It sounds like I should go for the MixAmp, but does anyone have experience with the 720 and know if I can power my 2 headphones at the same time?

The two ports - one is for headphone out and one is for microphone in.  So you can't power 2 headphones at the same time that way, but you can get an adapter I talk about below...
 
Are you going to need for you and your wife both to be able to voice chat?  Or just using headphones without voice chat. 
 
If you both are going to be using headsets (with mics and voice functionality) The mixamp is the only that will support two headsets working from one amp by either:
 
      1)  using the "powered splitter" accessory, or
      2)  buying an additional RX receiver to pair with the Tx amp - probably quite costly in Canada
 
but all the amps will support two headphones with just a standard splitter. 
Here's a nifty splitter that has separate volume controls
 
In fact, if you don't play online and don't need voice at all, the DSS (which is the cheapest of the three) does a fine job IMO.  I own both the Mixamp 5.8 and DSS.
 
As for the mixamp using batteries, if you plug in a usb cable it gets power that way and doesn't need batteries.