I had a pair of Sennheiser PC350s left over from my PC gaming days when switched over to the Xbox 360. I was a bit dismayed to find that the range of gaming headsets for the Xbox 360 ranged from pure crap (Microsoft's headset) to fairly expensive (Astros, Trittons, etc.). Obviously I didn't want crap, and I simply could not believe that the various Xbox 360 headsets out there would sound better than my PC350s. I was also being cheap and didn't want to spend $100 or more when I had perfectly good PC gaming hardware to salvage.

After an exhaustive search for a solution (I won't bore you with details), I finally found a solution that I am rather pleased with: an Xjacker Gaming Headset Amp. It plugs directly into the Xbox 360, is USB powered, sounds bright/clear/LOUD, and powers my PC350 with little/no effort. All for just $20. Gotta say, one of the better purchasing decisions I've made in recent times.

Here's a link to what I use: http://www.xjacker.com/ampkit.php

Yup, its true - at least I think it is. If I remember correctly, somewhere on Xjacker's site, they have a comparison page of sorts, and it lists the exact parts you'd need to get from Radio Shack to duplicate their solution. It also mentions that the Radio Shack parts cost more than their kit (which is probably why they listed it - to highlight their price point).

My included wiring (mentioned above) converts both, and since I have an 2.5mm adapter plug (just a straight-standard jack) it can fit into the X-box headset adapter but giving me volume control ( since; as you can see on the G.I.'s there is a volume controller along the wiring, but adjusts both chat and in-game, with in-game winning the lead for drowning out chat to a whisper). I didn't know; since you seem to have much more knowledge about this than I, if this would work, but I wanted to simply get your opinion before I spend more money (even if it is a mere $7) on something that will; in the end, become a cat toy (more by being stolen by the animal because lack of use than being bestowed to her).

Either way, if nothing is known as to the result of this I'll give it a try and report back on the outcome.shorteypants

Sorry for the delay in replying, but since a free GameSpot account doesn't have email notifications of replies, I had no idea. When I use my Xjacker kit, I adjust the game sounds to be lower in volume than the chat sounds so that I can get a good balance. The only drawback is that some games are kind of quiet as a result. But I know that Xjacker has come out with a new amped kit now. This lets people turn their in-game sound volume down, turn their chat volume up, and then amps the resulting mic so that everything is audible. Hope that helps.

Okay, so the Xjacker kit got here yesterday, but I didn't have time to test it out until this afternoon. I followed the included instruction sheet, got into a ground war game in MW2, and tried it out. Here's the lowdown so far:

It's a simple two-piece kit. The first piece is basically a 3.5mm-to-2.5mm stereo phono adapter so that I can plug my PC headset's mic into the Xbox 360 controller. I'm not sure why its a stereo adapter instead of a mono adapter (since all it does is facilitate the mic input). I suppose I'll just consider it a bonus that I have a stereo adapter so that I can also use it for other purposes. The second piece is a six foot long 3.5mm-to-3.5mm stereo phono cable. This was used to connect my PC headset's headphone plug into my stereo deck's headphone jack. I then redirected the chat to come through the headset as per the instructions, and that was all I needed to do.

Well I'm happy to report that it works just fine (yay for me since I hate returning things online)! I must've bugged a few people on my team with "can anyone hear me?" questions, but everyone said that they could hear me just fine. There was only one adjustment that I had to make - and that was to turn the game's volume down a bit so that it wouldn't drown out the chat. Once I got a good mix between the game volume and chat volume, I turned up the overall volume on my stereo and everything was perfect. The only part that sucked was my KDR as I haven't played MW2 for a couple of weeks, but that's a different story.

Overall, both the cable and the jack seem pretty standard. They seem like something Radio Shack would carry, nothing particularly special. But since the kit was cheaper than Ratshack (even with shipping), I still ended up saving money. Final verdict? Yes, I'd buy it again . . . and yes, I'd recommend it to others. Would I still buy it if I had $60 (or more) to spend on a Turtle Beach X11 (or better)? Maybe not. But having spent only $7 (plus shipping) to bring an old PC headset back to life on the Xbox 360? That's a no-brainer any day of the week.

If y'all got any questions, I'd be happy to answer them if I can.

Okay, so here's what I've found out:

Like Izzie said, the Intec Xbox 360 Headset Adapter (also sold under the brand Datel) has nothing to do with adapting PC headsets whatsoever. It doesn't even have the right jack for a PC headset (3.5mm) and only connects small cell/mobile headsets (2.5mm). Plus, even if it had the right connection, it still wouldn't have output game sounds and audio through my PC headset as its for chat/vox only. So that's a big fail on multiple levels - at least for me.

Likewise, the Headset Buddy Xbox 360 PC Headset Adapter Kit for Game/Chat Sound is a fail for me as the damn thing is $30! At that price, I wouldn't have saved any money at all by trying to use my own PC headset. I could've just gotten a Turtle Beach XLC headset for that price. They do make a $10 one that only does chat/vox, but then I wouldn't be able to hear games through my PC headset . . . so again, fail.

The SteelSeries Xbox 360 Headset Connector was very promising as it pretty much does exactly what I wanted. It would've let me chat and hear game audio all through my PC headset, so it was most definitely a contender. The price is $15 which is not great, but not too bad either.

And finally, the Xjacker 1.0 Xbox 360 Headset Adapter was also a contender since it does the same thing that the SteelSeries adapter does. It just does it with standard cables instead of the fancy-looking little box. It only costs $7 though, so that was a big plus as its less than half the price of the SteelSeries one.

I've also learned that I could just get a 3.5mm-to-2.5mm adapter and a 3.5mm-to-3.5mm extension cable from some place like Radio Shack and accomplish the same thing. But as it turns out, the cheapest that Radio Shack sells that adapter and cable for is $12 ($6 each). So from a price standpoint, the Xjacker still wins.

Based on all of that, I went for the Xjacker adapter. It was definitely the cheapest so it won in the "most-bang-for-the-buck" category. Not ashamed to say that I'm on tight budget atm so the price difference was a plus. And it seemed like they're using fairly standard connections so that if I ever stop Xboxing, I can also use them for other miscellaneous purposes. And not that it makes a huge difference, but the Xjacker has a longer warranty, but whatever.

So, thanks for the input Izzie! I'll pop back in here and let y'all know how it works out after it arrives.

Anyone got any last minute input/suggestions for me? Gonna be making a decision and purchase later on tonight. Thanks!

I use this. The Intec adapter has nothing to do with adapting a PC headset to a 360 controller.

IzzieWaru

Regular Xbox headsets are for chat anyway, so it's not really a selling point. If your television has a headset plug you can buy another splitter for the headset and an extension cord and just plug it into the tv.

IzzieWaru

[QUOTE="IzzieWaru"]

I bought a pair of nice PC headphones and just bought an adapter so I can use them with my xbox.

http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-PC-Headset-Adapter-3-5mm/dp/B0035AMM76/ref=sr_1_cc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1280353857&sr=1-1-catcorr

GenesisGod