3.5mm extension for both mic and audio?

[Silver29]

So my current PC audio situation is a little bit on the weird side, but here's the gist of it:

I am currently using a Hyper X Cloud II headset. I've recently upgraded to an Asus Xonar DSX PCI Express sound card, and it's sound is fantastic, considering the price. Problem is, to use it with my headset, I need to ditch the USB cable(the HyperX uses USB if you didn't know) and stick with the 3.5mm cable. In my specific situation, this required an extension cord and a 1 female to 2 male 3.5mm splitter(the male sides plug into the mic and audio jacks, the female into the headset). Now, this sketchy setup works just fine if I wedge myself under my desk to plug the Hyper X's freakishly short cable directly into the female side of the converter. If, however, I avoid permanent spine damage by using the extension cord I purchased, only the audio works, and not the mic. That's great and all, but I'm a bit of a greasy gamer, so a non-functional mic simply won't do.

So, basically what I just wrote way too much trying to ask is, what kind of extension cord should I use? The one that I am currently using was simply advertised as a 3.5mm extension cord; I'm afraid I threw out the packaging so don't have a name for it. I suspect that the cord is only capable of powering the audio of the headset, and not the mic, but when I searched for one that could do both, the same stuff came up. Anyone know of a specific kind of cable that can get the job done?

I'd really appreciate if any of the good Samaritans of Tom's Hardware could help me out with this probably stupidly simple problem. Thanks in advance.

Not sure why anyone would need this, but here's my system specs just in case:

CPU: i7-4770
GPU: sapphire R9 280X
RAM: Gskill 2x4GB 2400mhz
MOBO: msi Z97 Guard-Pro
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DSX PCI Express 7.1

 

[Mr Kagouris]

Audio extension cords aren't really a brand thing. If I understand this correctly, the headset uses an audio+mic combo jack but with the extension you have now only gives audio. Well that's because combo jacks have 4 channels (one for the mic, one ground, two for each stereo channel) whereas regular stereo audio jacks have a total of 3(ground, two stereo channels).

You can either look at the name of the product when looking for one, or look at the pictures. The male side of the extension cord will have 3 rings on it if it's for combo jacks.

Alternatively you can use a splitter and two stereo extensions (one for mic one for audio).

 

[Silver29]

Audio extension cords aren't really a brand thing. If I understand this correctly, the headset uses an audio+mic combo jack but with the extension you have now only gives audio. Well that's because combo jacks have 4 channels (one for the mic, one ground, two for each stereo channel) whereas regular stereo audio jacks have a total of 3(ground, two stereo channels).

You can either look at the name of the product when looking for one, or look at the pictures. The male side of the extension cord will have 3 rings on it if it's for combo jacks.

Alternatively you can use a splitter and two stereo extensions (one for mic one for audio).

Awesome, thanks for the quick reply, kagouris. Looks like that is in fact the problem, as my mic's plug has 3 rings, while the extension cord only has 2. I'll look into purchasing a 3-ring extension cord. Thanks again.

 

[malcolmcal]

You can usually plug the mic cable in most of the way but not all the way in and it should work. A computer microphones plug looks like a stereo plug: tip (left) ring (right) and sleeve (ground) but is actually wired like this: : tip ( mic signal +) ring (power from sound card) and sleeve (ground)