USB Headset and Non-USB Speakers (resolved)

Post by **Cheesy** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:50 pm

Woot...more annoying questions from me!

So, today my third set of headphones in a year broke and I went to get new ones...again. (thank god for warranties)

Anyway, I ended up getting an Altec Lansing USB Headset, and now I have it plugged into a USB port. It's working great.

But I also have a pair of speakers I like to use sometimes, and I want to be able to use those at the same time as the headphones (just lowering the volume on one of them) or at least have a way to alternate between them within Windows. Is there a way to do it?

Right now both are plugged in, the headset by its USB plug and the speakers by their Analog plug. However, I only get sound from the USB. I'm able to go to Sounds and Audio Devices in my control panel and change the "default device" to toggle between them, but for it to take effect I have to restart the program (ie iTunes), and even then it doesn't always work.

Is it possible to get them both to playback at the same time, or at least to able to instantly toggle between them?

Thanks!

speed_demon · Post by **speed_demon** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:56 pm

What soundcard do you have? I know the X-Fi has options for switching to the headphones from speakers when the headset is plugged in automatically. Check your cards' audio options if you can.

I dont use iTunes so I dont know about options inside of the program that could do anything for ya.

If that doesnt work, why can't you just unplug the one you dont want to use?

styphon · Post by **styphon** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:34 am

Not used USB before but if I understand them correctly they have an inbuilt sound card type thing. This means that you will have 2 cards, with the speakers being in a separate one to your headphones. Every program I know of can only use 1 sound card at a time, so you wont get to have sound coming out of both from the same program. To switch between the two all you need to do is go into the programs sound settings and switch the audio output from one sound card to the other. The other thing is you could have one program, say teamspeak, coming through your headphones, and then another program, say iTunes, coming through your speakers.

Charger · Post by **Charger** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 11:40 am

Thanks for asking this Cheesy....i just bought the same usb headset 2 days ago...same problem as u.....with only on-board sound, i have to change settings every time i switch between the pairs...haven't been able to run both simultaneously....also having problems with static when both are plugged in...damn.

Post by **Ash2Dust** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:08 am

Unless a progam has the option to choose which sound output(s) to use, the program will use what is set as default in windows. Maybe a third party has a windows hack/software to do that, but havent googled or heard of one.

But on the bright side, you should be able to pick the headset for input even if you use the speakers for output as they are separate settings in windows.

Winter_Lion · Post by **Winter_Lion** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:30 pm

Cheeseman,

I am stumped on this one. I have lots of USB devices but my sound is configured through my Audigy 4 soundcard and with Xp64 even that software is limited to what it can do........Sorry mate!

Winter

Post by **Goggles** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:05 pm

bumpie

just curious if anyone has learned anything new on this topic

Charger · Post by **Charger** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:28 pm

Yeah Goggles, whenever I plug in my new USB webcam for amateur porncasting, the damn speakers start ferociously crackling. How can I gyrate to the beat of "Promiscuous" with all this distraction?