GRcade

I'm thinking of buying some expensive headphones but I have no idea if the way I'm going to be connecting them will make them a pointless expense? I'm going to plug them into the normal TV headphone socket but this just seems so old fashioned when other newer audio outputs are available but not for headphones as far as I can tell.

I have a panasonic plasma and I'm thinking of going for the Sennheiser PXC350 to try to get the most from the sound aspects from Blue Ray films and games on the PS3 and 360. Any help will be welcome as I'd rather not waste £90 if they are not going to give any better results than my Sennheiser px100's that I use now.

AFAIK, The standard headphone jacks on the TV are definately not the best way to get audio quality. As to the best way, I unno.

I use optical sound through an amplifier for mine, but thats 5.1, not headphones.

Thanks for the info does anyone else know anything about how to get the best out of headphones from a TV?

I'd forget it Peter and put the money towards a surround sound system. Blu-ray discs will be in 5.1 and will have to be mixed down to stereo for the headphones - not the way you want it. You could always but surround sound headphones but the range isn't fantastic and they are pricey.

Trinity wrote:I'd forget it Peter and put the money towards a surround sound system. Blu-ray discs will be in 5.1 and will have to be mixed down to stereo for the headphones - not the way you want it. You could always but surround sound headphones but the range isn't fantastic and they are pricey.

I think thats what he was after. My only concern was, If you spunk a tonne of money on surround headphones, Its useless because of the limited capabilities of the headphone jack.

I've had a surround sound system before but the soundproofing in my house is rubbish and I don't like being a noisy neighbour. I just want the best sound I can from headphones.

For the 360 Have you considered getting the VGA cable? You get a stereo rca phone female jack to male 3.5mm headphone adaptor with it (see below), you would then have to buy a female female 3.5mm adaptor or extension for your headphones.

Your TV should have a vga in, and imo, it displays the best picture for the 360. The VGA cable also has an optical port if you want to use that later. (although i think the component cable also has one). Having said that i think you could do something similar with the component cable.

EDIT

vga cable


or

component cable


This is the thing you get with the official 360 vga cable;

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=34196



Then get an adaptor

So rather than pluging the audio leads in to the tv just plug it straight into the headphones. Not sure how volume control will work. Ill just give it a try.

EDIT2, yes it does work, sound is at an okish volume

Thanks for the advice that's the 360 sorted (I have both of those types of leads and that adapter) now all I need is to sort out the PS3 and I use a HDMI cable for that.

Ive just thought, Using that solution is pretty pointless.

All you're doing is achieving the same goal as the headphone jack, just with more effort. You'll still be getting 2.1 sound.