USB speakers without the headphone jack
Hey...
So a couple years ago, my dad bought a new computer for the family to use from a really cheap, crappy place. As it turned out, this "brand-new" computer came with both of its headphone jacks completely busted. They look alright, but the one on the front of the computer doesn't connect at all and it will literally eject the headphones that you put in (there's a spring in there or something >_> and the one in the back thankfully stays in, but it can't play foreground noises. Only background noises.
So when I'm playing Maple or something, I can't hear my skills, and I can only hear far-away attacks and the background sound of the background music (I'm sure there's a term for it, but i can't remember what. XD).
SOOO....
My main point is, I asked a worker at my local Costco if there's such thing as speakers/headphones that connect to the computer via USB, and ONLY USB, so all sound is transferred through the USB rather than the headphone jack. He said yes, but they didn't have them at Costco.
So my question is, what is the term for speakers/headphones that connect with the USB, but without the headphone jack? I need the term because "speakers/headphones USB not headphone jack" isn't making Google too friendly towards me at the moment.
Thanks xD
4 Comments • Newest first
Before you order anything, you might want to spend a little time trying to fix what you already have. (This is all easy stuff to try.)
(From the description you gave, with front and back jacks, I'm guessing this is a desktop computer..?)
The headphone jack in the back would NOT produce the symptoms you mentioned. The sound would either be ON or OFF completely, it can't possibly "split" the sounds like you said if it was physically broken. The problem is most likely a setting in the speaker setups that's set wrong. If you can find and change the setting, you can probably make it work.
The first thing to do would be to look at the back of the computer. Make sure you have the speakers plugged into the GREEN jack, that's the headphone jack.
Make sure it's not in a black or grey jack, and not any of the others, just the green one.
If it's already in the green jack, look in the "task bar tray" (next to the clock in the corner of the Windows desktop) and see if there is an icon that says anything about "audio control panel", or "sound center" or something like that (mine says "VIA HD Audio Deck - hover the mouse pointer over each little icon and it should pop up a "bubble" with the name of the program the icon opens. It will be something different from the normal Windows volume control. When you find something like that, right click on the icon and on the popup menu hit "Open" and if it's the right one it should open the special audio controls for your sound card.
There should be buttons or a menu for different things that control the way the sound plays and how it sounds. Click around in all of them, there are some cool things in there. But look for one first that says something like "Speakers" and has choices like "2 Channel", "6 Channel" and so on. Click it to make the "2 Channel" be selected.
Another thing to look for is a setting that lets you plug the headphones in the front and the speakers in the back. You want to be sure that setting is set so that BOTH the front and the back play exactly the same thing. On mine, it's called "Redirected Headphones", and the one you DO NOT WANT is the one called "Independent Headphones".
*** THIS may be the thing that's "splitting" the sound so you only get part of the sound out the back. ***
If you can't find the sound control panel, or can't find a setting that fixes it, the last thing to try would be to download and reinstall the sound drivers for your computer.
The easiest way to do that is to go to the computer manufacturer's web site (like dell.com or toshiba.com) and find the Download or Support page and find the "downloads" or "drivers" link. They'll usually ask you what MODEL and MODEL NUMBER the computer is. That's usually printed on a label on the back or bottom of the computer.
Then they'll show you a page with all the drivers they have for that computer. Find the line that says "audio drivers" or "sound drivers" and download the file.
When the download finishes, open the file and it will install the newest sound drivers. Restart the computer and hopefully that will fix the "split sound" problem.
Also check again for the sound or audio control panel icon in the task bar tray like above, and see if if there are any settings now that might fix it also.
Sorry it's hard to describe exactly what to look for, but it depends on what kind of sound system is built into your computer... not all of them are the same, and the controls are all different. It shouldn't be too hard to figure out.
Just a little time might make the speakers you already have work the way you want them to.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121016
Found this in about one minute.
[quote=djpinc19]Search "USB headphone" and "USB speaker"
Do multiple searches with smaller parameters.
Some trusted online retailers are Newegg.com and Amazon.com[/quote]
Whenever I search things like that, though, I only get USB-powered speakers that still require a headphone jack.
Search "USB headphone" and "USB speaker"
Do multiple searches with smaller parameters.
Some trusted online retailers are Newegg.com and Amazon.com