RCA and 3.5mm, Surround Sound

[RavenGuard]

Alright, so I've managed to get a Turtle Beach Earforce HPA2 for Christmas this year.

Link

Now, these will be used for PC gaming, listening to music, all my sound related needs. The issue arises when you add my Xbox 360 to the equation.

Now, if at all possible, I would very much like to run my 360 on the same headphones. I know the Xbox 360 outputs 5.1 through the two RCA component sound cables (red and white), but how do I connect the two RCA audio cables to three 3.5mm jacks and ensure the sound data goes where it is meant to?

I know the 3 input cables on the headphones are "Front", "Rear", and "Center/Sub" but I am not sure which signals come from the white/red RCA connectors.

After I solve that problem, I need a decent way to jimmyrig the mic to work on Xbox Live

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The 360 does not give you 5.1 out of the two RCA connections. If you had a receiver or something, you could apply Dolby Prologic II or something to the signal and get pseudo 5.1 from it, but a digital output from the 360 is the way to get true surround sound from it.

I don't know if there's a good way to do this easily.

EDIT: The general consensus from headphone guys (headfi.org) also seems to be to get a good pair of stereo headphones rather than a "surround sound" set.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...y=y&keyword1=headphone

 

[PurdueRy]

Jimmyrig? What happened to Jerry?

 

[RavenGuard]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
The 360 does not give you 5.1 out of the two RCA connections. If you had a receiver or something, you could apply Dolby Prologic II or something to the signal and get pseudo 5.1 from it, but a digital output from the 360 is the way to get true surround sound from it.

I don't know if there's a good way to do this easily.

EDIT: The general consensus from headphone guys (headfi.org) also seems to be to get a good pair of stereo headphones rather than a "surround sound" set.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...y=y&keyword1=headphone

Ah ok. I always believed it was a 5.1 signal from the 360 as it always properly simulated 5.1 on the 5.1 system.

In that case, I will simply use the headphones for PC sound, or only use them in stereo mode for the 360.

Thanks for the help!

Hmmm... is there a such thing as a optical to 3.5mm surround connector?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: RavenGuard

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
The 360 does not give you 5.1 out of the two RCA connections. If you had a receiver or something, you could apply Dolby Prologic II or something to the signal and get pseudo 5.1 from it, but a digital output from the 360 is the way to get true surround sound from it.

I don't know if there's a good way to do this easily.

EDIT: The general consensus from headphone guys (headfi.org) also seems to be to get a good pair of stereo headphones rather than a "surround sound" set.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...y=y&keyword1=headphone

Ah ok. I always believed it was a 5.1 signal from the 360 as it always properly simulated 5.1 on the 5.1 system.

In that case, I will simply use the headphones for PC sound, or only use them in stereo mode for the 360.

Thanks for the help!

Hmmm... is there a such thing as a optical to 3.5mm surround connector?

If you have a receiver with pre-outs, you could connect that way. There may be a standalone unit that would take a DD / DTS stream and decode it for cheaper. Creative used to make one.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: RavenGuard

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
The 360 does not give you 5.1 out of the two RCA connections. If you had a receiver or something, you could apply Dolby Prologic II or something to the signal and get pseudo 5.1 from it, but a digital output from the 360 is the way to get true surround sound from it.

I don't know if there's a good way to do this easily.

EDIT: The general consensus from headphone guys (headfi.org) also seems to be to get a good pair of stereo headphones rather than a "surround sound" set.
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...y=y&keyword1=headphone

Ah ok. I always believed it was a 5.1 signal from the 360 as it always properly simulated 5.1 on the 5.1 system.

In that case, I will simply use the headphones for PC sound, or only use them in stereo mode for the 360.

Thanks for the help!

Hmmm... is there a such thing as a optical to 3.5mm surround connector?

If you have a receiver with pre-outs, you could connect that way. There may be a standalone unit that would take a DD / DTS stream and decode it for cheaper. Creative used to make one.

http://us.creative.com/product...egory=136&product=9468

 

[RavenGuard]

For the price, screw that

Thanks tonnes for the help though. You guys know ur stuff.

 

[Skoodog]

You need a Y adapter RCA to 3.5mm female. You then plug the green one (I think center/sub) into the female connector.

I'm researching this right now too as i just got an HD DVR and have the same jack problems as you. I'm wondering if I'm able to get 2 Y adapters and plug 2 of the channels in or not.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Skoodog
You need a Y adapter RCA to 3.5mm female. You then plug the green one (I think center/sub) into the female connector.

I'm researching this right now too as i just got an HD DVR and have the same jack problems as you. I'm wondering if I'm able to get 2 Y adapters and plug 2 of the channels in or not.

This thread is 6 months old.

Could you explain what you're trying to do? Trying to use 5.1 headphones with an HD DVR?

Green is FL/FR generally (Orange / Yellow is usually center/sub).