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Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
Hi. Today I've discovered all these things thinking for years aux 3.5mm was a simple subject


I have an Xbox controller (elite 2) and an arctis 9x. I'm having a lot of buzzing an disconnect issues with both (too many signals around I guess ) though the headset is having much more issues so I tried to connect it with a 3.5mm cable. The audio is ok but the micro is not working. I read pages and pages today. And I discovered about trs and trss

trrs-diagram1.jpg


I found a 3.5mm cable with 3 stripes (trss) at home... yet the micro is still not working

then I read about ctia and omtp. Finding that Xbox need a ctia cable right ?
3.5mm-varations_CTIA-version__89816.1551456380.jpg


before buying it on amazon. Am I correct ? Then my arctis 9x through 3.5mm aux will have a working micro ?

last but not least. Why is the PS4 working with all kind of cable (trs/trrs) for both sound and micro ?

Thanks
 
Last edited:

Slackerchan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,374
Austin, TX
I am not sure to understand but I never had any alt account. Here or anywhere

Cboat, aka Crazy Buttocks on a Train, was the account of someone on GAF that often had "reliable" insider info on games. He would create topics and type in broken enough English to where it was legible but a search engine or bot would be hard-pressed to understand what was being said.
 

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,573
lol, the cboat thing is an injoke from the old forum, don't worry about it.

Unfortunately I have no specific experience of knowledge to share here, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Dualshock 4 could adjust on the fly to whatever you plug into it; as you can see, the physical plug is the same, it's just what wires they're attached to inside the plug. So as long as the DS4 is sending signal to (or receiving signal from) the right connections, it'll work anyways. I think it'd be pretty easy to figure out what the headset is expecting to be the headphone connection and switch.
 
OP
OP
Falus

Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
Cboat, aka Crazy Buttocks on a Train, was the account of someone on GAF that often had "reliable" insider info on games. He would create topics and type in broken enough English to where it was legible but a search engine or bot would be hard-pressed to understand what was being said.
I was on the old forum with the same name as here. Typing on my iPhone is a hassle as it's Azerty (just corrected azerty with Azeroth... Strange never played Warcraft ). Dictionary is a mess with this keyboard. Sorry

Unfortunately I have no specific experience of knowledge to share here, but it wouldn't surprise me if the Dualshock 4 could adjust on the fly to whatever you plug into it; as you can see, the physical plug is the same, it's just what wires they're attached to inside the plug. So as long as the DS4 is sending signal to (or receiving signal from) the right connections, it'll work anyways. I think it'd be pretty easy to figure out what the headset is expecting to be the headphone connection and switch.
That would explain why every cable seems to work on the DS4. My issue is the Xbox controller.
I will try to buy a CTIA cable and check
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,722
Microphone typically needs TRRS; you have ground, left channel, right channel, and then mic as the last pole.

Ah, the CITA vs OMTP was a bunch of dumb shit. Modern cables and headsets should all use the same standard now, though I'll admit I don't know which it is.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,722
Oh, hold on, I need to check something...
Are you (planning on) purchasing a TRRS to TRRS cable?
The cable itself doesn't have a standard. Tip goes to tip, ring to ring, sleeve to sleeve.

The standard for a device with a removable cable is determined at the device end. This makes it more complicated, as you essentially need a fucked up cable if the Xbox requires the TRRS to be wired differently than what the headphones are.
 
OP
OP
Falus

Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
Oh, hold on, I need to check something...
Are you (planning on) purchasing a TRRS to TRRS cable?
The cable itself doesn't have a standard. Tip goes to tip, ring to ring, sleeve to sleeve.

The standard for a device with a removable cable is determined at the device end. This makes it more complicated, as you essentially need a fucked up cable if the Xbox requires the TRRS to be wired differently than what the headphones are.
A048-DAFF-E44-A-4-FD6-B2-D2-A91-CD597545-B.jpg


i wanted to buy this one.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,722
A048-DAFF-E44-A-4-FD6-B2-D2-A91-CD597545-B.jpg


i wanted to buy this one.
Here's the thing -- a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable can't be CTIA or OMTP... Outside of a very specifically made cable, it'll only pass tip to tip, ring to ring, sleeve to sleeve; if the headphones have the poles on them reversed from what the controller is expecting, then you have to essentially go make your own cable to un-flip them.

However, I'm trying to do a smidge of research, and I think it looks like Steelseries uses this weird 8pin connector for wired?
It is *possible* that they only support mic audio over their dumb 8pin thing. But I can't find any real info on that one way or the other.
 

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,573
I think I found your problem, OP. I don't think that 3.5mm port does what you think it does:



According to this video (which is apparently the user manual for the Arctis 9x--come ON Steelseries wtf), that 3.5mm port is a "SharePort" that lets you share audio with a second set of headphones or another headset. It's possible it doesn't function as a mic input at all.

The reason why I think this might be the case, besides the "manual" making no mention of it, is because the Arctis 9x is specifically designed for the Xbox One, which would make it really bizarre that it doesn't work when plugged into Xbox One controllers. I could maybe see the CTIA/OMTP mismatch thing happening if we were talking about, say, a random cellphone headset or whatever, but this literally has Xbox wireless integration in it.

(caveat: I am basing this solely on the information I managed to Google, and the fact that no one seems to have tried using it in a wired mode with microphone support. Anandtech did mention that it works as an input, but only mentions that the headset functions as standard headphones in this mode.)
 
OP
OP
Falus

Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
I think I found your problem, OP. I don't think that 3.5mm port does what you think it does:



According to this video (which is apparently the user manual for the Arctis 9x--come ON Steelseries wtf), that 3.5mm port is a "SharePort" that lets you share audio with a second set of headphones or another headset. It's possible it doesn't function as a mic input at all.

The reason why I think this might be the case, besides the "manual" making no mention of it, is because the Arctis 9x is specifically designed for the Xbox One, which would make it really bizarre that it doesn't work when plugged into Xbox One controllers. I could maybe see the CTIA/OMTP mismatch thing happening if we were talking about, say, a random cellphone headset or whatever, but this literally has Xbox wireless integration in it.

(caveat: I am basing this solely on the information I managed to Google, and the fact that no one seems to have tried using it in a wired mode with microphone support. Anandtech did mention that it works as an input, but only mentions that the headset functions as standard headphones in this mode.)
thanks. But if it would be only a share port then why the micro is currently working on a dual shock 4 though ? I may have found that the dual shock can work with all cables but the Xbox clearly need a ctia one
I mean there has to be a difference between cables as there would be no reason for omtp/ctia adapter to exist otherwise...... I think

 

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,573
thanks. But if it would be only a share port then why the micro is currently working on a dual shock 4 though ? I may have found that the dual shock can work with all cables but the Xbox clearly need a ctia one
I mean there has to be a difference between cables as there would be no reason for omtp/ctia adapter to exist otherwise...... I think


Oh, weird, you're saying the same headset works fine on a Dualshock 4, mic and all?

What lunatic approved this thing for Xbox Wireless support and then DIDN'T check that it also worked with the Xbox One controller ports?
 
OP
OP
Falus

Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
Oh, weird, you're saying the same headset works fine on a Dualshock 4, mic and all?

What lunatic approved this thing for Xbox Wireless support and then DIDN'T check that it also worked with the Xbox One controller ports?
Yeah exactly.
using the same cable (non Ctia) both my gold headset and arctis 9x works perfectly (sounds +micro ) on the dual shock 4
On the Xbox controller though neither does the gold headset and arctis work for micro. The culprit may be the cable I guess. I'll wait tonight for my amazon order to be here. Strange things

out of curiosity I even bought (sending it back ) a micro usb-> jack for the 9x but no sound at all 😅
 

dom

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,438
It's just called a Mic, not micro. Also, if that TRRS cable is the one you bought thinking it will fix this, it shouldn't. It's just a normal 4-pole cable. You need an adapter that will switch the 3rd and 4th pole. Look for OMTP to CTIA adapter instead.
 
OP
OP
Falus

Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
It's just called a Mic, not micro. Also, if that TRRS cable is the one you bought thinking it will fix this, it shouldn't. It's just a normal 4-pole cable. You need an adapter that will switch the 3rd and 4th pole. Look for OMTP to CTIA adapter instead.
In the cable description
« NORME CTIA ★ Câble disposant de la norme CTIA (norme la plus récente). ATTENTION Si votre matériels disposent de la norme OMTP il faudra utiliser un adaptateur OMTP/CTIA pour pouvoir profiter pleinement du câble »

it says it's CTIA and « warningif your device needs OMTP you need an omtp/ctia adapter "
Not sure. Sounds like it's natively CTIA?
 

Weltall Zero

Game Developer
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
19,343
Madrid
I was on the old forum with the same name as here. Typing on my iPhone is a hassle as it's Azerty (just corrected azerty with Azeroth... Strange never played Warcraft ). Dictionary is a mess with this keyboard. Sorry

The joke is about the title of the topic, which if you don't already know what the hell trs, trrs, ctia and omtp are, seems like random gibberish. :D
 

dom

▲ Legend ▲
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,438
In the cable description
« NORME CTIA ★ Câble disposant de la norme CTIA (norme la plus récente). ATTENTION Si votre matériels disposent de la norme OMTP il faudra utiliser un adaptateur OMTP/CTIA pour pouvoir profiter pleinement du câble »

it says it's CTIA and « warningif your device needs OMTP you need an omtp/ctia adapter "
Not sure. Sounds like it's natively CTIA?
That cable is no different then the one you currently have as it does no converting. There is no difference between a CTIA cable and an OMTP one. They are the same thing. It's dumb for them to even mention it. That's whey you need an adapter/converter.
 
OP
OP
Falus

Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
That cable is no different then the one you currently have as it does no converting. There is no difference between a CTIA cable and an OMTP one. They are the same thing. It's dumb for them to even mention it. That's whey you need an adapter/converter.
It can't have natively the good order of pins ? My bad then. You have any link for such a converter ?

After reading what I wrote and considering both headset (gold and 9x) have functional sound and mic on the DS4 I could use any trrs + adapter with the Xbox controller and the mic would work ? Considering that none of them are working right now
 
OP
OP
Falus

Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
That cable is no different then the one you currently have as it does no converting. There is no difference between a CTIA cable and an OMTP one. They are the same thing. It's dumb for them to even mention it. That's whey you need an adapter/converter.
Got the cable. As you said. It's same. No mic on Xbox
So if I understand correctly
Dual shock 4 is both omtp/ctia hence why the arctis and the gold headset have sound and mic
And the Xbox controller would be ctia where the gold headset and the arctis are omtp so I would need to put a ctia to omtp adapter on the Xbox controller ?

thanks
 
OP
OP
Falus

Falus

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
7,656
So. I got my adapter. They're not working
But actually the gold headset works on the Xbox controller.

So with a 4 poem 3.5 cable

Ps4 : arctis 9x sounds ✅ mic ✅ / gold headset sounds ✅ mic ✅
Xbox : gold headset sounds ✅ mic ✅ / arctis 9x sounds ✅ mic ❌

i really have no idea. I guess if I play MP game on Xbox I'll use the arctis wirelessly or the gold headset