Question Speakers and headset at the same time?

[Mongo123]

I'm having some trouble figuring out how to best get my speakers and my headset connected at the same time.

Both connect with a 3.5mm jack and the only way I have found works is if you connect the speakers to the pc and then connect the headset to the speakers.
Now the question is, is the sound the same as if the headset was connected directly to the pc or worse? Maybe someone who understands audio can help here.
Also I read that connecting your headset to your speakers can damage the headset or something, is this true? I would really like to avoid doing that as the headset is new.

Also one big thing is if I have the headset connected via the speakers I have to constantly unplug the headset when I want to use the speakers and then plug the headset in again when I want that, something that I imagine can wear the jack out.

Windows also seems really weird about recognizing when a audio device gets connected. For example if I plug the speakers in first and then the headset to the front panel, it will only give me the prompt for the speakers and do nothing for the headset. And it's the same thing if I did it the other way around and connected the headset first.
And actually if I unplug the audio device that I got the prompt for the first time I plugged it in, when I plug it in again I get no prompt and it doesn't work.

Thanks!

 

[Lutfij]

Now the question is, is the sound the same as if the headset was connected directly to the pc or worse?
What sort of speakers are we looking at and what sort of sound card are you working with? Usually high end speakers will have their own circuitry and not act as a pass through while lower quality speakers and even keyboards might have pass through or very low quality circuitry in them to dull down the audio experience.

If you're using the onboard audio off your motherboard, please state the make and model of the motherboard, it's BIOS version and the OS you're working with. Please include your audio equipment as well.

 

[Mongo123]

Now the question is, is the sound the same as if the headset was connected directly to the pc or worse?
What sort of speakers are we looking at and what sort of sound card are you working with? Usually high end speakers will have their own circuitry and not act as a pass through while lower quality speakers and even keyboards might have pass through or very low quality circuitry in them to dull down the audio experience.

If you're using the onboard audio off your motherboard, please state the make and model of the motherboard, it's BIOS version and the OS you're working with. Please include your audio equipment as well.

The speakers is the Logitech THX Z623 Speaker System with Subwoofer.
The headset is the Corsair Virtuoso Pro and the motherboard is the Gigabyte Aorus B650E Elite X AX Ice. The BIOS version is the latest F34B and I am on Windows 11 Pro.

And yes I got the speakers plugged into the motherboard directly, specifically the "line out" jack.

I believe that is everything that is relevant.

 

[Mongo123]

Now the question is, is the sound the same as if the headset was connected directly to the pc or worse?
What sort of speakers are we looking at and what sort of sound card are you working with? Usually high end speakers will have their own circuitry and not act as a pass through while lower quality speakers and even keyboards might have pass through or very low quality circuitry in them to dull down the audio experience.

If you're using the onboard audio off your motherboard, please state the make and model of the motherboard, it's BIOS version and the OS you're working with. Please include your audio equipment as well.

You got anything for me mate? This motherboard apparently has "Audiophile Grade Capacitors" whatever that means, it's listed as one of it's features. The Virtuoso Pro is marketed as an audiophile gaming headset.

I was also thinking about getting an amplifier to potentially solve my dilemma.
I would have the amplifier plugged into the pc (motherboard) and then the headset would be plugged into the dedicated headphone jack on the amplifier.
And the speakers would be plugged in to the amplifier which has jacks for left and right speaker.
Would this at all be a good idea or would I be complicating things unnecessarily?
Furthermore would the audio get distorted/ruined due to having to go through several different devices since it obviously originates from the pc?

I'm also wondering what the role of the subwoofer would be in this configuration, would it even be doing anything?

 

[futureman 101]

The simplest way is a 2-1 (3.5mm) audio connector which you can plug both speakers and headphones into.

You could also find a passive monitor controller with the right connections for you. I've got a cheap one with only RCA inputs.

 

[Mongo123]

The simplest way is a 2-1 (3.5mm) audio connector which you can plug both speakers and headphones into.

You could also find a passive monitor controller with the right connections for you. I've got a cheap one with only RCA inputs.

Something like this https://www.teknikdelar.se/produkt/...uMEkpdRTMiRnwihzZ0IzpCUUoTU8on-wQMMiOzc_0VV60 ?

I have to say I am somewhat baffled that things are the way they are in regards to sound output on the pc.
I definitely assumed that in 2024 there would be obvious and standardized ways of connecting multiple sound devices to the pc completely hassle free and without any loss in sound quality.

 

[futureman 101]

Yes that would do it, there's also a much smaller version which is called a Jack plug.(costs a few of whatever currency)

I know, I've got so many devices and ways of connecting them externally. There is a way of setting these things up in PC so you can have headphones and speakers controlled, but if you've only using a 3.5 mm audio out then you are probably limited.

 

[doolittle]

I have done this for my elderly parents TV, so one can use headphones at higher volume due to hearing loss and the other at a normal volume via AVR. I used plain-old RCA patch cables from their TV's RCA line-out to a AV distribution box and one stereo RCA cable to the AVR, and one to a headphone amp so both got the same line-out analog signal and was able to control volume independently of each other. I probably could have used a simple RCA y-adapter but I had the composite video distribution thing already and just used it since I had no other need for it 😆

For the PC just use your 3.5mm to RCA line-out (which your Z623 already uses), and just split that to another headphone amp like this Behringer HA400 and whatever adapters you need, or maybe a higher-end amp some of those can get a bit crazy in price and quality 😉