Are there headphones with a USB input? Why are adapters needed?

You took the plunge and bought USB headphones to listen to music on your computer or laptop, or for voiceovers computer games. In any case, you made the right choice.

Basics USB advantage headphones over regular ones lies in stable sound quality, because... By USB computer sends a signal to digital form and the headphones themselves process it on their own, convert it into analog form, and you hear it. While the sound quality is normal wired headphones critically depends on the quality of the sound card or amplifier to which they are connected.

USB headphones are designed to significantly simplify and unify sound quality.

However, if you have never encountered USB headphones before, you may have questions about how to connect them and how to use them to their fullest, because many USB headphones have additional functionality.

I'll show you the whole connection and setup process using an example of a great headphone amplifier. Don't be surprised, I'll show you an example with an amplifier, but... All computers perceive USB headphones as an external audio device, so there will be no difference. Another reason is that right now I don’t have full-fledged USB headphones on hand and I won’t be able to take the necessary screenshots, but I do have an amplifier and I took pictures for each step of setting up your headphones.

How to connect headphones with a microphone to a computer via USB

Connection process:

Remember that I am giving you an example using Sennheiser GSX 1200 Pro equipment; in your case, the device will have the name of your headphone model.

Step 1 - USB connection headphones

Choose a free USB port on your computer or laptop that is convenient for you and connect headphones to it. Try to choose the USB port to which you will constantly connect your headphones. Of course, you can then connect to any other free USB port, but there is no guarantee that the settings will not be reset.

Step 2 - nuance with the microphone

If your headphones don't have a built-in microphone, your computer will see them as an external audio device. If the headphones have a built-in microphone, then the nuances begin. Some manufacturers make it so that the computer sees the microphone and headphones as 2 different audio devices, and some manufacturers make it so that the computer sees the microphone and headphones as one device.

From my experience, I can state the following: if USB headphones have a virtual surround sound function, most likely the computer will see 2 virtual devices: we will use one to output the main sound (music, games, movies, system sounds), and the second device will be used only for programs with voice communication (skype, discord, raid call and similar). 2 virtual devices are not created by chance, so the headphones will be able to process the sound from games to give it more volume and depth, without affecting the voice of your interlocutors.

In the case of my example, there are just 2 virtual devices.

Step 3 - Setting up drivers

Connect your headphones to the USB port, the computer should tell you that it has found a new device. If your USB headphones have virtual surround sound, make sure you download the necessary drivers from the manufacturer's official website. There are headphones that do not need drivers, you need to make sure that if drivers are needed, they are downloaded and installed.

Remember that you need to install drivers with headphones connected.

There is a speaker icon in the lower right corner of your screen, right-click on it. You will see the menu, a snapshot of which is located above. Select Playback Devices.

Step 4—differentiation of device rights

If the system sees your headphones as 2 virtual devices, carefully read what they are called. Typically, the device that is intended to output the main sound has the status “Speakers”, and the secondary one, which is intended for voice communication has the status "Headset earphone" or similar.

Select the main device (Main Audio) and right-click on it. Select "Set as default".

If the system sees your headphones as one device, right-click on it and select “Set as default.”

Step 5 - select a device to talk to

Find the device with the status “Headset Earphone” in the list, right-click on it. Select "Set as default communication device."

The main thing is not to confuse, otherwise you will not get multi-channel sound in games, and some applications will not work at all.

Step 6 - Setting Up Surround Sound

If your headphones support virtual surround sound, you will need to configure the audio output in Windows so that the headphones receive multi-channel signal. To do this, find your headphones in the list of devices with the “Speakers” status from step 4, right-click on it. Select "Set up speakers".

Step 7 - Multichannel Audio


Choose a 7.1 or 5.1 speaker configuration depending on which option is available to you. If both options are available, choose 7.1

Step 8 - Set up your surround sound configuration

Step 9 - Broadband Sound


Be sure to check that all checkboxes are enabled.

Step 10 - Disconnect additional functions

Select the "Main Audio" device and right-click on it. Select Properties.

Select the "Enhancements" tab. Make sure all checkboxes are unchecked, otherwise the device will not be able to independently process sound and create virtual surround sound.

In the last major Windows update 10 there is a new menu item “Spatial Sound”. In our case it should be disabled. This item was added so that people using simple built-in motherboards and laptop sound codecs, were able to obtain software emulation of surround sound in games. Power used for processing central processor and the virtual sound quality is poor.

If you enable this item when using your USB headphones, the sound will be very distorted, be sure to turn this item off.

All, initial setup and connecting the USB headphones to your computer or laptop is complete. Then everything depends on what drivers and software you have installed to control the functions of the headphones.

Remember that in voice communication programs you should always select a secondary virtual device with the “Headset earphone” status as the communication device for proper differentiation of audio streams and their subsequent processing, of course, if the computer sees your headphones as two virtual devices. If you have one device, you don’t need to select anything, the programs should work correctly automatically.

Where can they be used?USB headphones

No one would probably argue with the fact that wireless technologies- it's comfortable. Firstly, there are no heaps of wires, and secondly, freedom of movement is not limited (except by the range of the device). And the fact that USB headphones appeared is a pattern. It’s much more pleasant not to get tangled up in wires, listen to music or

talk on Skype and move around your apartment or office. Wireless headphones can be connected to a computer, laptop or netbook, phone, smartphone or iPad, or any other device that has an appropriate connector. Typically, headphones are also equipped with a microphone - you can not only listen and perceive audio information, but also talk on Skype or the phone. To ensure that such devices are compatible with the computer, drivers are supplied. If you bought USB headphones for use on a PC or laptop and you have Windows installed, then in most cases the device is detected and matched with the computer, and drivers are loaded automatically without your participation. Just

We connected the USB headphones, waited a few seconds and started working. In addition to home use, this wireless device can be used in offices. There are even special models for business use. They differ from household ones in that they have one earphone, that is, they are monophonic. Instead of the second one, a soft stop is usually installed. This is due to the fact that when conducting business negotiations, you need to hear not only what the interlocutor is saying, but also perceive information coming from people nearby.

How to connect

They can usually be connected directly to the corresponding connector on the device. But there are models that have a mini-USB connector or a standard Jack plug for audio systems. If your device does not have a corresponding jack, do not worry, there is a USB adapter for headphones. This small device, with help

which you can connect headphones with a standard Jack type connector. Another adapter allows you to connect headphones with a mini-USB connector; there are also special miniature models for connecting to an iPhone.

Sound quality in wireless headphones

Wireless technology is, without a doubt, convenient. But in the case of headphones there are nuances. USB headphones are suitable for communication, negotiations, and are convenient for gaming. In the case of listening to music or watching a movie, careful sound calibration is required, especially low frequencies: Without this, you may even rupture your eardrum. There are also issues when playing multiple sounds at the same time: if the plot of the film is dynamic and music is superimposed on the dialogue, it may sound unclear at times. There are also disadvantages when playing music: the sound is flatter and less expressive, and the adjustment options are more than modest. To date, no model of wireless headphones can compare in terms of sound reproduction quality with their wired “brothers”. If you need a headset for gaming or chatting, USB headphones are a great choice, but if you want to listen to music or movie dubbing good quality, have regular (wired) or decent speakers.

Correctly connecting the audio device to the sound source - be it a computer, laptop, smartphone, TV, stereo system or anything else - is an important aspect of arranging your speaker system. Connecting speakers or headphones to a sound source is a very simple task for specialists or simply experienced technology users. Any person who understands computers will be able to connect regular headphones to the standard sound card of the device without hesitation. However, an inexperienced user may have a number of difficulties associated with the relatively large variety of connectors and plugs used to connect headphones.

Strictly speaking, even an experienced person may have some questions if the circumstances of connecting the headphones are non-standard. What are the features of connecting certain headphones to different equipment?

Why are adapters needed?

We live in an era of mass standardization, to which leading companies are pushing manufacturers of mobile and stationary equipment. Gone are the days when, if your headphones broke, you had to search all the surrounding stores, hoping to find a suitable headset for your phone - as a rule, you could only connect the headphones that came with it.

Computers have never suffered from this problem - sound cards have always used standard mini-jacks - acoustic connectors with a diameter of 3.5 mm, also called linear outputs, to which most headphones fit. Problems could (and still can) only arise when using professional or non-standard equipment.

The fact is that headphones can be connected using one of three types of jacks:

• Standard – with a diameter of 6.3 mm, which is used in professional monitor headphones, microphones, and electric musical instruments. Most sound cards for computers do not have such connectors.
• Mini-jack – 3.5 mm, which is located on the main part of the headphones and headsets.
• A micro-jack, which has a diameter of 2.5 mm, is rare, but sometimes such headphones may need to be connected to an ordinary sound card.

It's not so simple with connectors either. Everything is very straightforward, if the sound source is a modern smartphone, tablet, player or computer - you can only find a standard mini-jack in them. But sometimes you may need to connect to other equipment - a TV, a stereo, an old phone or an old game console. And it’s not always possible to find a mini-jack in them; usually the only analog connector is RCA. What to do in such cases?

Thus, we have several possible plugs that need to be connected to some variety of connectors. To make this possible, you need to either turn the plug into one that corresponds to one or another connector, or vice versa - make the connector suitable for the existing plug. This is what various adapters are used for.

How to choose the right adapter?

In order not to make a mistake when choosing an adapter, you need to carefully examine the existing equipment and understand which set of connectors and which plug is available to you. Let's consider several situations:

1. There is a standard linear output on the sound card of a computer or phone and non-standard headphones - for example, with a micro-jack. In this case, you will need a 3.5 mm plug - 2.5 mm socket adapter.
2. There is a TV without line-out and standard headphones. Immediately discard the possibility of using digital interfaces– of course, convert the number to analog signal It’s possible, but such a transformer will cost too much. It is much easier to connect headphones to the analog connector, which is found on almost all TVs - RCA. This is a tulip consisting of three connectors, of which you only need red and white. Accordingly, the adapter must have an RCA plug and a 3.5 mm socket.
3. I have a computer whose sound card has burned out. A difficult case - the acoustic connector can no longer be used. Fortunately, you can use a USB to mini-jack adapter - essentially, it is an external sound card, which will process the sound independently. At one end of such a device there will be a USB plug, and at the other there will be one or two 3.5 mm jacks - for headphones and for a microphone.

In the future, perhaps another situation will arise - connecting standard headphones to an iPhone, which will only have a proprietary Lightning connector. Most likely, this will become another area of ​​mass application for headphone adapters.

Connecting headphones via an adapter

As follows from the above, adapters may only be needed for wired headphones. Wireless Bluetooth headphones, as a rule, connect directly, since they are usually used with mobile devices, which always have a built-in transmitter. In principle, a special case of using adapters can be considered connecting wireless headphones to the analog connector via an external transmitter.

Connecting headphones to a sound source using an adapter, in principle, is no different. This is true for typical situations - when wired devices are connected to analog audio connectors. You should proceed like this:

• the adapter is connected to a suitable connector on the sound source;
• The headphones are connected to the adapter.

After that, all that remains is to adjust the sound, and you can start using it.

The procedure is somewhat different in the special cases described above: when using USB or wireless headphones. The devices used in this case are classified as adapters somewhat conventionally, although they have similar functionality: they allow you to connect a device to a source that does not have a corresponding connection interface.

The basic principle of connecting a USB adapter or external sound card is exactly the same - the devices just need to be plugged into one another. After this, you should do the following operations:

• the device will be detected by the computer, like everything that is connected to USB, and the search for drivers will begin;
• Drivers should be installed so that the computer recognizes the adapter and the sound can be processed by it;
• the device is configured in the same way as the built-in sound card - using a utility from the manufacturer or standard tool Windows.

If you use a Bluetooth adapter for a TV or music center, no configuration is required. For such a system to work, the transmitter is connected to the linear output on the body of the sound source (if there is no 3.5 mm jack, you will need a second adapter - from RCA to mini-jack). When the device works and is detected by the TV, you can turn on the headphones. They will connect themselves to the transmitter, which will begin to send sound to the audio device.

Thus, adapters may be required in a variety of situations. It is worth noting that, in most cases, their use does not affect the sound quality in any way, since the signal is not transformed - only the connection interface changes.

Some computer headphones connect to the sound source via USB port. Their feature is the use of a digital signal processing system. About its advantages and the most important characteristics We will describe such devices below.

Main advantages

Headphones connected to a USB connector significantly reduce noise levels and normalize amplitude-frequency characteristics. With them, the sound becomes as clear, lively and rich as possible. Many of these models support customization using simple applications. They allow you to select optimal operating modes for different tasks:

• full transmission of all bands for listening to music;
• clearing the voice from noise for online communication;
• bass enhancement and various special effects for games.

Options

Gamers will surely appreciate high-end headphones that support surround audio technology. They use integrated sound cards with a USB connector, which divide the signal into several channels and change its characteristics. Thanks to this, the user is completely immersed in the virtual world. This technology allows him to instantly detect opponents based on the sounds of footsteps, gunshots and explosions.
Many headphones with a USB plug are equipped with microphones. They are suitable for online communication using special messengers and game chats. In order to make every conversation as comfortable and productive as possible, you should choose headphones with digital system noise reduction. Such devices with a USB input convey even the subtlest nuances of the user's voice.

High-end computer accessories at Eldorado

The catalog of our online store includes USB headphones from many well-known manufacturers, including Razer, SteelSeries, Plantronics, Sony and others. For their quick selection All you need to do is contact the company’s specialists who are ready to provide professional advice. Any headphones can be ordered with delivery to Moscow, Veliky Novgorod, Kirov, Tyumen and other cities of Russia.

Today there is a huge variety of different headphones - even the most demanding amateur can choose the optimal model for himself. high-quality sound. What is the choice of headphones usually based on?

First of all, attention is drawn to the most basic feature - the way the headphones are attached to the ears. On this basis, devices are divided into in-ear devices - placed inside the ear and on-ear devices - pressed against the ears from the outside. You can also divide headphones into wired and wireless, open and closed, in-ear and vacuum headphones, monitors and household…

The only feature, it would seem, is common to absolutely all headphones - one way or another, they are all connected to the sound card of the sound source via a linear output - a 6.3 mm jack, a 3.5 mm mini-jack or a 2.5 mm micro-jack. This is how headphones connect to computers, phones, tablets and even TVs.

But what to do if there is no sound card? For example, the integrated board in the computer burned out, but there is no way to buy a new discrete one? The standard audio connector has stopped working; none of the speakers or headphones produce any sound. In this case, USB headphones will come to the rescue; they have a built-in sound card, process the sound themselves, and connect to the sound source via a standard USB 2.0 or 3.0 connector. What is typical for such headphones and are they worth the money?

Features of USB headphones

Unlike most headphones, which connect to the line output on the body of the sound source, USB headphones connect to any free USB port. Thus, the connection will not cause problems in almost any situation - almost any modern device is equipped with at least one such connector. The only exception is mobile phones. But you can also avoid the problem with them - you can easily find headphones that use a micro-USB port for connection.

When connecting such headphones to mobile device It is worth remembering, however, that USB headphones are very demanding devices. Through this interface, not only information about the sound being reproduced is transmitted to them, but also electricity for power supply - and in much larger quantities than in the case of conventional passive headphones. USB powers the built-in sound card, sound amplifier and the dynamic drivers themselves. As a result, when using such headphones, the battery of your mobile phone or tablet may quickly drain.

The purpose of USB headphones is not limited to the situation in which the usual acoustic connector on the sound source is not detected. Another use case is to connect in parallel with regular speakers or the built-in speakers of a laptop. While regular headphones, when connected, are identified by the system as a replacement for speakers, USB headphones are separate device, which can be used simultaneously with speakers. Thanks to the built-in sound card, you can supply separate sound information to them - for example, listen to music through speakers and at the same time talk via Skype using headphones.

Pros and cons of USB headphones

From all the described features characteristic of headphones of this type, it is easy to draw a conclusion about their advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include the following features:

• built-in sound card that allows you to process sound regardless of the sound source;
• thanks to some independence of the device, it is easy for the manufacturer to provide high quality headphone fillings and, accordingly, sound quality;
• reliability and durability;
• ease of device maintenance;
• Many USB headphones have a very high-quality microphone in their design, which allows you to communicate without problems through voice chats and IP telephony.

Unfortunately, nothing can do without a number of disadvantages. Negative sides USB headphones are as follows:

• As is the case with any other headphones, the sound quality, although high level, still far from full-fledged speaker systems– the variety of reproduced frequencies may not be enough for high-quality listening to certain musical genres;
• because of powerful filling, which includes a sound card and a sound amplifier, the cost of USB headphones is very high;
• Unlike a simple speaker cable, which can be more than a meter long, a USB cable is usually quite short, which limits the use of such headphones;
• there is no way to connect standard USB headphones to most mobile phones, since usually such an interface is not installed on them.

Despite their shortcomings, USB headphones can help in various situations and bring a lot of pleasure from listening to music. The main thing is to choose them correctly. In this case, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the characteristics of the electronics, but also to the features of the headphone body - they should sit comfortably on the head so as not to cause discomfort during long-term use. Thus, some headphones are able to remember the shape of the ears and fit them comfortably, regardless of individual characteristics.

Setting up USB headphones

Because headphones of this type are defined by the computer or laptop system as a separate device that is not connected to the sound system of the sound source, when connected, a number of problems may arise that prevent you from using the equipment in normal mode.

The most common problems are that the headphones either do not work or only work separately from the speakers. What to do?

First, you need to connect your USB headphones correctly. This is done as follows:

• on line outputs you can ignore it - if something is already connected to them, let it remain there; speakers or other headphones should not interfere;
• find a free USB connector on one of the sides of the computer;
• connect the headphone cable to the connector;
• the system will immediately begin the process of identifying equipment - its type and name, as a rule, will be determined without problems, but with automatic search driver problems may occur;
• If the drivers are not found automatically, they should be installed from the disk that came with the headphones.

There is no need to remove drivers that were previously installed on the computer - they are in no way connected with USB headphones and are responsible for the sound card built into the computer. If they are removed, the usual speaker connectors will no longer work.

In some cases, driver incompatibility occurs. If this happens, you need to do the following:

• open the control panel;
• find the “Sound” menu;
• a list of detected ones will appear in the window that opens sound devices, among which you need to find the connected USB headphones;
• In the properties of the headphones you need to make them the default device.

After completing these steps, sound will begin to be output to the headphones regardless of the speakers. To assign this or that program to them, you will have to use the mixer - it is launched via the corresponding button near the volume control, which is located in the tray, next to the clock.

Thus, USB headphones are a very convenient acoustic device that significantly expands the capabilities of a computer in terms of sound output.