- Oct 4, 2015
- 2
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- 4,510
So I've been struggling with my new USB headset on and off for weeks now and this is my last-ditch effort to at least figure out what is causing this stupid issue. I'm going to try my absolute best to correctly explain everything that's going on in detail but I'll put a tl;dr list at the end.
To make a VERY long story short basically I got a USB headset I intended to use on both my PC and my Playstation 4 since my old headset was PC only (3.5mm jacks). It's a Skullcandy Slayer, which has a USB controller that can be separated from the combined mic/audio 3.5mm jack. When I plug the headset in to my PS4, my desktop, and my laptop there is a very loud and obvious hum/static/buzzing/feedback/interference noise that will only go away when you turn the volume on the in-line controller down, to the point you can't hear anything at all anyway. Turning down the volume on the PC does nothing to the noise. There's also static when speaking into the mic and in a quiet room with no audio playing if you speak you can hear static feedback in the headset from the mic (it's very strange).
Here's where things get complicated... I figured the headset was just broken so in an attempt to be thorough I unplugged the headset from the USB controller and plugged the 3.5mm jack directly into my PS4 controller's headset port. It works perfectly. Game audio is clear as day and the mic sounds great. I assumed the USB controller was just defective so I took the headset to my PC and used the mic/audio splitter from my old headset to connect it. Works exactly the same as the old set, low and poor mic audio quality included (most likely due to no dedicated sound card, just my motherboard), but no feedback in the headset.
Normally I would just connect it to the 3.5mm jacks and call it a day but one of the main reasons I got this USB headset was because my mic audio was just atrocious set up with the split jacks. Connected through USB this headset sounds great once I run the mic audio through Adobe Audition's noise reduction and back out through a virtual audio cable. But the sound I hear in the headset is still plagued by static and buzzing.
I first noticed something was very off when the windows sounds were being distorted through the headset. The sound plays fine but as it ends/trails off you can very clearly hear the audio being distorted, it's really hard to explain but it's a sort of electronic buzz. The static also gets louder/worse when audio is actively playing (YouTube video, games, Skype call, anything).
My boyfriend has the same model headset, just a bit older, but he's never had a problem with his. I took my headset to his house and tried it on his computer, there was still a subtle static sound but it was MUCH quieter on his machine and the buzzing was gone completely. Sounds weren't distorted and there was no static feedback when you spoke into the mic. We used both my USB controller and his and I ended up taking his cable back home with me to try. The same problems persisted on all my devices even with his USB controller.
TL;DR SUMMARY: USB headset has very loud and obvious hum/static/buzzing/feedback/interference noise when plugged in to PS4, desktop, and laptop
I'm going to try to remember exactly everything I've done up to this point...
- updated my motherboard's BIOS
- unplugged all other USB devices (used PS/2 mouse & keyboard while testing)
- deleted audio drivers and reinstalled, several times
- tried every USB port multiple times
- tried disabling front USB ports in the BIOS, and vice versa
- diabled all other audio devices, even my main speakers while testing
- plugged into a USB wall adapter to see if just having power was causing noise, got power and was silent
- purchased an AC powered USB hub, tried all of those ports, problems still persist
- plugged the headset into my laptop, nothing changes even when running off battery
- unplugged my ethernet cable, ran off wifi card
- disabled internet, short of removing the wifi card entirely
- I thought it could be a grounding issue, but my boyfriend's house isn't properly grounded either so...
The only thing I feel like I haven't done is buy a dedicated sound card and just use a 3.5mm splitter. As I stated before though I went to USB in the first place because the mic audio I was getting from that setup was sad, and I'm at the point where I'm sure even a soundcard wouldn't help that (just because of my luck in fixing things so far)...
Honestly if it wasn't for the fact that it works flawlessly when connected to my PS4 controller I would have just sent it back. I was going to anyway, but it's the Assassin's Creed edition I'd been pinning for so I wanted to try to fix it...
Any help at all would be appreciated. At this point I'm just hoping to identify the problem, even if I can't fix it or come up with a permanent solution I at least want to know what the frick is going on...
To make a VERY long story short basically I got a USB headset I intended to use on both my PC and my Playstation 4 since my old headset was PC only (3.5mm jacks). It's a Skullcandy Slayer, which has a USB controller that can be separated from the combined mic/audio 3.5mm jack. When I plug the headset in to my PS4, my desktop, and my laptop there is a very loud and obvious hum/static/buzzing/feedback/interference noise that will only go away when you turn the volume on the in-line controller down, to the point you can't hear anything at all anyway. Turning down the volume on the PC does nothing to the noise. There's also static when speaking into the mic and in a quiet room with no audio playing if you speak you can hear static feedback in the headset from the mic (it's very strange).
Here's where things get complicated... I figured the headset was just broken so in an attempt to be thorough I unplugged the headset from the USB controller and plugged the 3.5mm jack directly into my PS4 controller's headset port. It works perfectly. Game audio is clear as day and the mic sounds great. I assumed the USB controller was just defective so I took the headset to my PC and used the mic/audio splitter from my old headset to connect it. Works exactly the same as the old set, low and poor mic audio quality included (most likely due to no dedicated sound card, just my motherboard), but no feedback in the headset.
Normally I would just connect it to the 3.5mm jacks and call it a day but one of the main reasons I got this USB headset was because my mic audio was just atrocious set up with the split jacks. Connected through USB this headset sounds great once I run the mic audio through Adobe Audition's noise reduction and back out through a virtual audio cable. But the sound I hear in the headset is still plagued by static and buzzing.
I first noticed something was very off when the windows sounds were being distorted through the headset. The sound plays fine but as it ends/trails off you can very clearly hear the audio being distorted, it's really hard to explain but it's a sort of electronic buzz. The static also gets louder/worse when audio is actively playing (YouTube video, games, Skype call, anything).
My boyfriend has the same model headset, just a bit older, but he's never had a problem with his. I took my headset to his house and tried it on his computer, there was still a subtle static sound but it was MUCH quieter on his machine and the buzzing was gone completely. Sounds weren't distorted and there was no static feedback when you spoke into the mic. We used both my USB controller and his and I ended up taking his cable back home with me to try. The same problems persisted on all my devices even with his USB controller.
TL;DR SUMMARY: USB headset has very loud and obvious hum/static/buzzing/feedback/interference noise when plugged in to PS4, desktop, and laptop
I'm going to try to remember exactly everything I've done up to this point...
- updated my motherboard's BIOS
- unplugged all other USB devices (used PS/2 mouse & keyboard while testing)
- deleted audio drivers and reinstalled, several times
- tried every USB port multiple times
- tried disabling front USB ports in the BIOS, and vice versa
- diabled all other audio devices, even my main speakers while testing
- plugged into a USB wall adapter to see if just having power was causing noise, got power and was silent
- purchased an AC powered USB hub, tried all of those ports, problems still persist
- plugged the headset into my laptop, nothing changes even when running off battery
- unplugged my ethernet cable, ran off wifi card
- disabled internet, short of removing the wifi card entirely
- I thought it could be a grounding issue, but my boyfriend's house isn't properly grounded either so...
The only thing I feel like I haven't done is buy a dedicated sound card and just use a 3.5mm splitter. As I stated before though I went to USB in the first place because the mic audio I was getting from that setup was sad, and I'm at the point where I'm sure even a soundcard wouldn't help that (just because of my luck in fixing things so far)...
Honestly if it wasn't for the fact that it works flawlessly when connected to my PS4 controller I would have just sent it back. I was going to anyway, but it's the Assassin's Creed edition I'd been pinning for so I wanted to try to fix it...
Any help at all would be appreciated. At this point I'm just hoping to identify the problem, even if I can't fix it or come up with a permanent solution I at least want to know what the frick is going on...
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