Gaming Headset Splitter

[TheJHigg]

Hey everyone,
So I just purchased a pair of A40's from Astro. It's a great headset and I'm really enjoying it. But I'm trying to plug in my speakers along with my headset so I can alternate between the two when I want. My only output for the speakers is a headphone jack so my only option to connect it is through the headphone port in the back of my PC. So when I got my headset I plugged in the mic jack and unplug my speakers since I only have one port. I plan on getting a splitter to have both connected simultaneously, but my headphones connect through a 3.5mm 4 pole jack, and the only splitters I saw at the store were 2 pole. I didn't buy it because I was worried the sound quality would dip going through that splitter. Do I need to find a 4 pole splitter or would the 2 pole do the job fine? Thanks in advance

 

[VincentP]

2 pole would only give you mono sound through both ear pieces, and no microphone.
Do your speakers have a headphone output?
I don't expect you will find a splitter with microphone support.
A stereo splitter should be available though, where the jack will have three segments.

 

[TheJHigg]

2 pole would only give you mono sound through both ear pieces, and no microphone.
Do your speakers have a headphone output?
I don't expect you will find a splitter with microphone support.
A stereo splitter should be available though, where the jack will have three segments.

oh is that all that's different about the 4 pole, it supports microphone input? Because I already have a splitter that separates into sound and microphone for my headset. The mic jack is already plugged into its port, I was only concerned about the sound quality decreasing as it went through the splitter for my headset audio and speakers.

 

[VincentP]

The splitter means you have two devices in parallel, decreasing the load impedance.
This can affect the amplifier if the resulting impedance is less than the supported minimum load impedance.
To make matters worse, the headset will have much lower impedance than the amplified speakers.
All this is not ideal for sound quality, but I can't say if you will notice a difference.

As for the number of "poles". Two segments means mono sound, three means stereo sound and four means stereo sound with microphone.
It is also possible to have three segments for mono + microphone, but I haven't seen this used.
If your splitter has three segments on the jack, it is likely stereo and worth trying.

 

[TheJHigg]

The splitter means you have two devices in parallel, decreasing the load impedance.
This can affect the amplifier if the resulting impedance is less than the supported minimum load impedance.
To make matters worse, the headset will have much lower impedance than the amplified speakers.
All this is not ideal for sound quality, but I can't say if you will notice a difference.

As for the number of "poles". Two segments means mono sound, three means stereo sound and four means stereo sound with microphone.
It is also possible to have three segments for mono + microphone, but I haven't seen this used.
If your splitter has three segments on the jack, it is likely stereo and worth trying.

Thanks for your help man, I really do appreciate it. Sorry for being technically illiterate, I'm just starting to get into computers and stuff. Thanks again though