How To Use Usb Headphones ?

[Trevor]

Previously I used headphones with separate jack plugs for mike and earpiece. They cut out the speaker on my laptop automatically and worked OK. I bought on eBay (UK) from Ireland, reconditioned, at one-third the retail price.

I thought it would be a good idea to get USB headphones for simplicity of plugging-in. But when trying to make a phone call on VOIPStunt the speaker doesn't cut out and mike/phones are dead, unless I change the audio device settings to use these Logitech USB 350 Headphones instead of the Solicall Audio Device (a program I downloaded for enhanced VOIP quality). The third option is the built-in Realtek HD Audio Output. Does this mean I can't get Solicall enhancement if Logitech is selected?

Do you favour USB phones over the jack-plug type and, if so, why? Thanks.

Edited June 6, 2007 by Trevor

[Maestro]

...USB headphones...Do I have ... configure the USB headset in some way?

I usually configure it within the application for which I use the USB headset, eg in Skype click on Tool, Options..., Sound Devices. Then select from the drop down lists the correct device.

I believe it can also be configured for the system as a whole. In the bottom right of the screen, you should have a little loudspeaker icon. Double click it, then click on Options, Properties, and continue from there. The menu items may vary depending on the sound card in your computer, or perhaps this configuration function is not related directly to the sound card but is part of Windows.

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Maestro

[mac.wheeler]

Previously I used headphones with separate jack plugs for mike and earpiece. They cut out the speaker on my laptop automatically and worked OK. I bought on eBay (UK) from Ireland, reconditioned, at one-third the retail price.

I thought it would be a good idea to get USB headphones for simplicity of plugging-in. But when trying to make a phone call on VOIPStunt the speaker doesn't cut out and mike/phones are dead, unless I change the audio device settings to use these Logitech USB 350 Headphones instead of the Solicall Audio Device (a program I downloaded for enhanced VOIP quality). The third option is the built-in Realtek HD Audio Output. Does this mean I can't get Solicall enhancement if Logitech is selected?

Do you favour USB phones over the jack-plug type and, if so, why? Thanks.

You have 3 audio devices installed.

1. Realtek HD

2. USB headset

3. Solicall (guessing it's some kind of driver emulator?)

You can only have one of these devices selected for input and output per application (unless the application is written to use multiple devices, such as audio editing software). You are usually free to mix input and output a acroos devices but that's as far as it goes. So to answer your question, no you cannot use Solicall when using the USB headphones unless you can configure which raw audio devices Solicall is using.

Why do I prefer USB headphones? Real simple, I can set my headphones as the sound device for my VOIP/Audio collaboration applications and still leave my system soundcard free to play music or anything else I might want to do with it whilst using the headphones for something else.

Just found this in the Solicall FAQ:

Question: I've configured my VoIP program but now my micrphone or my speakers don't work. What's wrong?

Answer: This can happen if you have more than one microphone/pair of speakers. You need to make sure you have configured SoliCall to the mic/speakers you want SoliCall to work with. Go to Tools --> Options, and under the subsection Sound Devices choose the right device.

This would lead me to beleive you can specify which real device to use Solicall with, not 100% sure as I don't use it but I'm guessing right now it's set to use you system sound device, you can probably switch it over to use the USB headset/