1 pair of headphones, 1 mic, 3 devices

[FRNND_P]

Hi, I have an audio technica m50x and and antlion mic, I'm trying to use these on three devices without having to unplug stuff constantly, I found this cheap mixer that I think will do for the headphone side of things: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KGYAYQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

but for the mic I don't know if a solution like this would do: BEHRINGER MICROAMP HA400(one of the options in the link is the mixer and the other one is the micro amp)

 

[royalba94]

You know I was gonna say a bunch of stuff but I think you've got the solution already

 

The Mixer will be for the headphones and the Micro-Amp should work for the Mic

 

There are some other ways you can do this but I think this is the most elegant hardware solution.

 

If the three devices are all PCs then you could use some cool (and free) software but there would be setup time and if you run into issues it would probably be worth the $50 for the reliability of a hardware solution.

 

[FRNND_P]

17 hours ago, royalba94 said:

You know I was gonna say a bunch of stuff but I think you've got the solution already

 

The Mixer will be for the headphones and the Micro-Amp should work for the Mic

 

There are some other ways you can do this but I think this is the most elegant hardware solution.

 

If the three devices are all PCs then you could use some cool (and free) software but there would be setup time and if you run into issues it would probably be worth the $50 for the reliability of a hardware solution.

 

Hi, thanks, the devices are a PC and consoles, but I have another question, I asked about the mic in amazon and received this "The headphone outputs are 8 ohms each, so it depends upon what your inputs are. "

these are the specs, cause I'm not very technical in sound:

• Pattern: Uni-directional
• Sensitivity: -38 ± 3 dB
• Response: 100 Hz–10 kHz
• SNR: >50+ dB
• Impedance: 2.2 KΩ
• Operating Voltage: 1 to 10V
• Max current at 2.0V: 500 µA
• Max input SPL: 110 dB

• Pattern: Omni-directional
• Sensitivity: -26 ± 3 dB
• Response: 30 Hz–17.5 kHz
• SNR: 58+ dB
• Impedance: 2.2 KΩ
• Operating Voltage: 1 to 10V
• Max current at 2.0V: 500 µA
• Max input SPL: 110 dB

 

[AAJoe]

I recognize those tech specs  To be clear the ModMic can only operate at a maximum of 12v phantom power. Don't go beyond that. We do have an XLR Power Converter, but it sounds like you're trying to keep this as inexpensive as possible.

 

For the mic your problem is you need three outputs and one input. I don't see how the headphone amp will help here. The normal way you'd do this is with a line splitter, which is usually XLR, but then you're ending up with a ton of extra gear. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=Splitter Sending a mic signal to two locations is pretty easy, you can just split the mic signal (you need to make sure the mic has plenty of power) but 3... You can certainly try it with passive splitters, but each split you do will decrease the mic levels and the ModMic is fairly hard to drive for a 3.5mm mic as it is. If you plug it into a good source it may work.

 

One option that came to mind was a simple mixer like the Xenyx 302, which has a USB out and also an RCA out. I assume at least one of these three is a PC so that covers the USB out. For the next two it would depend on what you're using, but in theory since you're only focused in using it as a mic out, you may be able to just use the left channel for one device and the right channel for the other. Since the mic is mono and will be sampled down to mono when you go to 3.5mm it won't matter. Or maybe it will. I've certainly never tested it  I picked the 302 because its the cheapest mixer with a 3.5mm mic in. If you went with XLR there's plenty of choices but then you need a 20 dollar power converter on top of whatever else.

 

In short... more info on what you're hooking the mic up to could help. You're in a bit of uncharted territory with a ModMic here, but I am happy to toss around ideas.

[FRNND_P]

3 hours ago, AAJoe said:

I recognize those tech specs  To be clear the ModMic can only operate at a maximum of 12v phantom power. Don't go beyond that. We do have an XLR Power Converter, but it sounds like you're trying to keep this as inexpensive as possible.

 

For the mic your problem is you need three outputs and one input. I don't see how the headphone amp will help here. The normal way you'd do this is with a line splitter, which is usually XLR, but then you're ending up with a ton of extra gear. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=Splitter Sending a mic signal to two locations is pretty easy, you can just split the mic signal (you need to make sure the mic has plenty of power) but 3... You can certainly try it with passive splitters, but each split you do will decrease the mic levels and the ModMic is fairly hard to drive for a 3.5mm mic as it is. If you plug it into a good source it may work.

 

One option that came to mind was a simple mixer like the Xenyx 302, which has a USB out and also an RCA out. I assume at least one of these three is a PC so that covers the USB out. For the next two it would depend on what you're using, but in theory since you're only focused in using it as a mic out, you may be able to just use the left channel for one device and the right channel for the other. Since the mic is mono and will be sampled down to mono when you go to 3.5mm it won't matter. Or maybe it will. I've certainly never tested it  I picked the 302 because its the cheapest mixer with a 3.5mm mic in. If you went with XLR there's plenty of choices but then you need a 20 dollar power converter on top of whatever else.

 

In short... more info on what you're hooking the mic up to could help. You're in a bit of uncharted territory with a ModMic here, but I am happy to toss around ideas.

Thanks for all your help, the devices are a PC, PS4 and a Nintendo Switch, for the consoles I intent to use an 3.5 to usb adapter and for PC just the 3.5 plugs, the headphone amp just looked like it received 1 and out puts up to 4, besides cheap i would like to keep the set up simple, if possible of course, also for the mic I don't really intend to use a mic to output on all 3 at the same time, I just want an easy way to switch between all 3

[AAJoe]

I see - it will work for that @FRNND_P but I think the quality is going to suck.

 

The problem as I see it is you'll have to go from 3.5mm to 1/4" and the mic signal is not going to be powered at the source. So first you'd need some way to power the mic then lead it into this device. Then split it out back out of 1/4" and back into 3.5mm or something else. I suspect the result of which will be... less than ideal.

 

Still, if you can find a way to get power to the mic first it should work. I just have no idea how it will sound. Also if you do this be sure you get the right cable adapters. I imagine they are just TRS cables, but I leave it up to you to figure it out  

[EsaT]

18 hours ago, FRNND_P said:

Thanks for all your help, the devices are a PC, PS4 and a Nintendo Switch, for the consoles I intent to use an 3.5 to usb adapter and for PC just the 3.5 plugs

If you have analog headphone output from different devices and also analog mic input for them, then you could use audio switches to select to which source headphone is connected and to whose input ModMic is connected.

https://www.amazon.com/Stereo-Manual-Selector-Sharing-Switch/dp/B00NTJET10/

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2018-Latest-Little-Bear-Mini-4-Port-Stereo-Manual-Selector-Audio-Sharing-3-5mm-AUX-Speaker/32884302408.html

[royalba94]

57 minutes ago, AAJoe said:

I see - it will work for that @FRNND_P but I think the quality is going to suck.

 

The problem as I see it is you'll have to go from 3.5mm to 1/4" and the mic signal is not going to be powered at the source. So first you'd need some way to power the mic then lead it into this device. Then split it out back out of 1/4" and back into 3.5mm or something else. I suspect the result of which will be... less than ideal.

 

Still, if you can find a way to get power to the mic first it should work. I just have no idea how it will sound. Also if you do this be sure you get the right cable adapters. I imagine they are just TRS cables, but I leave it up to you to figure it out  

The Heaphone amp says that it is powered though so shouldn't it work?

 

if it doesn't then maybe an easy fix would be a portable headphone amp and an adapter.

• Adapter (needs to be this type, not the ones for separating mic and headphone): https://www.amazon.com/YCS-Basics-Splitter-combining-sources/dp/B00EA8QUTS/
• Portable amp: https://www.amazon.com/A1-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B01LYYKP29/

 

As for 1/4in to 3.5mm adapters one pack of these will have it sorted for both units: https://www.amazon.com/VizGiz-Converter-Amplifier-Headphone-Earphones/dp/B077DTZ5T5/

Or if he needs more cables anyway then maybe a few of these: https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-CMS-110-Stereo-Interconnect-Cable/dp/B000068O35/

 

Either way I'll be interested to see what @FRNND_P works out

[TVwazhere]

On 9/4/2018 at 4:00 PM, FRNND_P said:

I found this cheap mixer that I think will do for the headphone side of things: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KGYAYQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

I'm using this mixer right now. I do not recommend it.

 

Problems:

 

• There's no ground. Occasional static occurs in the ear pieces.
• Output is Mono, only going to the left channel/earpiece. This is okay for me since I'm listening to a podcast on my phone (which is the same audio in both ears) and PC sounds (like notifications for emails) but for anything else, it's not great. (I've tested the cables and the 1/4" to 3.5mm jacks, it's not those)

It has a lot of potential but falls short.  

 

[AAJoe]

On 9/6/2018 at 11:07 AM, royalba94 said:

The Heaphone amp says that it is powered though so shouldn't it work?

 

if it doesn't then maybe an easy fix would be a portable headphone amp and an adapter.

• Adapter (needs to be this type, not the ones for separating mic and headphone): https://www.amazon.com/YCS-Basics-Splitter-combining-sources/dp/B00EA8QUTS/
• Portable amp: https://www.amazon.com/A1-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B01LYYKP29/

 

As for 1/4in to 3.5mm adapters one pack of these will have it sorted for both units: https://www.amazon.com/VizGiz-Converter-Amplifier-Headphone-Earphones/dp/B077DTZ5T5/

Or if he needs more cables anyway then maybe a few of these: https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-CMS-110-Stereo-Interconnect-Cable/dp/B000068O35/

 

Either way I'll be interested to see what @FRNND_P works out

The headphones are powered, but the mic line isn't  It's amplifying the headphone signals so you don't go from loud to silent when you're powering 4 headphones. The problem is a electret mic needs power to get the signal out in the first place. No power, no sound, nothing to amplify.

 

I think... anyway . 

[FRNND_P]

Hmm, @TVwazhere thx for the warning, I guess ill go with something with more quality, and @EsaT I was thinking that to, just didn't know if it was going to work, I guess ill just have to try and see. 

 

Thanks for your help