The Sidetone/Mic-Monitoring Problem 2k17

[m1sterfancypants]

Okay so this problem has been bothering me for a long time ever since I've switched over from the Turtle Beach X12's, which have a great built in mic monitoring/sidetone feature (I'll just refer to it as sidetone from now on), but their overall quality and comfort is just nowhere near the Hyper X Clouds and they make my ears sore in no time.  I've been using the Kingston Hyper X Clouds for I think more than 2 years now. Awesome headset. Great build quality, super comfy, and great sound quality (I don't think I'm an audiophile but I can barely tell a difference between them and my Audio-technica ATH-M50x's in terms of sound quality (let me know if you disagree on that, I'm curious as to what other people think)).

 

What still frustrates me to this day is the fact that THEY DON'T HAVE SIDETONE (which, if you didn't know, is a feature that allows your voice which goes into the microphone to playback into your headset so you can hear yourself speaking as if not wearing a sound isolating headset). I've spent countless hours searching for solutions to give me sidetone with the Clouds. I've fiddled with Windows, read forums, researched devices, etc. etc with no success. So many of the solutions out there are either very expensive and/or very complicated. What I am looking for is a relatively cheap solution to give me LAG FREE sidetone ON MY PC AND PS4 in my headset (no, I do not want to dish out $200+ to get one that has sidetone, because quite frankly, in every other aspect I believe the Clouds are one of the best gaming headsets on the market and I want to use them).

I just read another older forum on this matter (see link at the bottom of this post), and it seems that the best solutions for PC require a $70-$80 DAC (Behringer Xenyx 302USB (http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/302USB.aspx). What caught my attention was this Syba USB adapter: https://www.amazon.ca/Syba-SD-CM-UAUD-Adapter-C-Media-Chipset/dp/B001MSS6CS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491015290&sr=8-1&keywords=syba+usb\

(all the devices mentioned are also discussed more or less in the other forum). TheSyba USB adapter seems to have good reviews on Amazon and apparently can deliver sidetone, but what I am wondering is if it will also be able to plug into my PS4 as well as my PC and allow me to plug in my Cloud headset and have proper sidetone. I heard that there are some loudness issues but I'm not sure how common that is. I also heard that the sidetone can be adjusted in the software; what I'm wondering is if the settings are stored in the device itself so that when I plug it into my PS4 it will still work and give me sidetone (I'm willing to sacrifice the convenience of plugging the headset right into the dualshock 4 controller).

 

If anyone has any information on the Syba USB adapter, or any other solution <$50 that is properly reliable, fairly simple, and works well, PLEASE let me know (honestly this has been pissing me off for so long I am probably willing to spend a bit more for a proper solution, but that Behringer dac just seems too expensive and bulky and I'm not sure if it will work on PS4). Otherwise I will have to keep dreaming that the Cloud 3's will feature sidetone (Kingston, PLEASE PUT IN SIDETONE) (or that another manufacturer can produce as good of a headset for as good of a price and have sidetone built in) and use my old, painfully uncomfortable, static plagued TB X12's for whenever I'm playing/chatting with friends on Skype or PS4, which, btw, for on the PS4 i have to primitively use an extension cable and USB power adapter to my couch to plug in the USB connector of the X12's into, and then plug in the headphone and mic cables into the controller using the joiner cable that came with the Clouds (pretty ironic, huh?).

 

Thanks for reading.