Confused about headset vs speakers

I want to buy a headset (Plantronics 330) with two 3.5 plugs to plug into my sound card (SoundBlaster Audigy), because that seems to give the best audio quality from what I've read. But I am confused about how the headset interacts (or not) with my regular pc speakers.

1) Can both headset and speakers be used at the same time or do they both use the same input in a sound card? In other words: when I want to use the speakers instead of the headset, do I have to unplug the headset and replug the speakers in order to hear the sound on my speakers again? And vice versa. That sounds a bit odd, because most sound cards are located at the back of a pc, which makes frequent changing somewhat difficult.

2) Also I've heard something about a splitter, in which both headset and speakers can be plugged. Do I need that splitter? Further I heard that a splitter can cause damage to the devices. Is that true?

I don't actually want to use both headset and speakers at the same time, I only don't want to change plugs every time I change from speakers to headset.

What you've heard is very common, but those who say headsets with 3.5" plugs offer better sound quality than USB headsets are generalising. Some USB headsets (the cheap ones) offer crap sound quality, others (the more pricey, well made ones) offer better sound quality than you get from the integrated sound card of many brand new PCs. I've got the Plantronics DSP-550 headset (USB) and from an audio POV, it gives my Sennheiser headphones a run for their money. (That's excellent btw.)

An invaluable advantage of a USB headset is the separation you get between the two devices. Ie. you can talk on SL, your VOIP phone, or SKYPE through the headset, while listening to music through your regular speakers. With a headset that plugs into your soundcard there is no such separation. You'd have to turn off the background music (or internet TV, or radio, whatever) completely in order to talk. Not only that but you'd have to fiddle around the back unplugging the speakers and plugging in the headset before you can answer the call -- something you don't have to do with a USB headset because there's no need to ever unplug it. No btw, there isn't a second output on soundcards specifically for headsets.

As for splitters, I understand they can damage the output (soundcard, not headphones) and cause sound distortion, but maybe there are splitters with circuitry designed to prevent the voltage leakage that causes this?

Allright Object. So what you are saying is: go for the USB right? For me the difficult switching with plugs in my sound card is really not what I want, so USB seems the only choice I guess. Maybe others can comment too on this, for instance the sound quality with good USB-headsets compared to regular 3.5 headsets.

After searching further, I am convinced that a USB-headset is the way to go for me. I want to buy the Plantronics .Audio 500 USB PC headset. Can anyone comment on it?

I have a USB Plantronics Headset with mic I really like but don't know how to set it up in XP without canceling my plug in speaker. Maybe I made a mistake when I changed it in the Control panel to the default device.

Any advice?

Well, what I was really saying was that there are lots of misconceptions about USB headsets and they're often trashed because somebody had a problem with $10 model. You generally get what you pay for, but certainly the digital signal processor in a Plantronics DSP headset will give many computer soundcards a run for their money. They are designed for gaming, and listening to music, whereas a 3.5" adapter headset will only be as good as your sound card - which might be excellent, or quite the opposite - assuming the speakers in the ear-pieces aren't poor.

It's my opinion that USB headsets have clear advantages, particularly when you want audio output of different applications to go through different devices, but there are disadvantages too...which Dnali possibly touches on....

You can't have all audio output through both speakers and a USB headset because Windows won't allow you to output through two soundcards (Windows sees the USB headset as a second soundcard).

With a regular soundcard and a 3.5" adapter headset, a splitter would allow you to output through both, but of course, you don't get the application specific separation I was talking about earlier.

You *can* however (with USB), set the default soundcard to be your regular soundcard, and tell certain applications (ie. VOIP, Second Life, etc.) to output through the USB headset instead. To do that with Second Life, you must change the audio device on the preferences screen.

To switch between speakers and headset without unplugging the headset, just right click the systray 'speaker' icon and change the default sound device. No need to go through Control Panel. There is software available at the Plantronics website which allows even quicker switching (via a systray icon) but I can't find it for the life of me now. :/

Thanks again for replying Object. What I am looking for is this situation:

- When I just work on my pc I want the sound to go through my speakers.
- When I want to play sl I want to plug in the usb-headset and hear the sound through the headset.
- When I quit sl I want to plug out the usb-headset and hear the sound through my speakers again.

Is this scenario possible with a usb-headset? This means that I just want to be able to switch easily, not use both 'soundcards' at the same time.

[EDIT:]

Oh hell, I am stupid. Just now I see two 3.5 inputs on the front of my pc (pink = mike, green = sound). I never looked at them, never noticed them... pfff. So it seems that I can plugin a regular 3.5 headset here after all, right? Omg, this is embarrassing. Is the sound from the speakers automatically disabled when I plug in the headset here? Or do I still have to manually take out the plug from my speakers in the sound card at the back of my pc?

You are awesome Object..thank you so much.


Later...

I fiddled much and finally got voice through headset only (Planatronics DSP 400) and music through speakers only (SoundMax built on Asus..really sucks). Exactly what I wanted.

I had to disable the SoundMax Wizard to do it and after 4 million restarts and uninstalls and reinstalls, it worked! for now.

It seems that SL was borked anyway so I didn't miss anything.