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Astro's "special" 2.55mm cable hell

post #1 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:45pm
Thread Starter 
First off let me tell you I don't know a lot about this particular area of the tech world. So I ask, why is this 2.55mm cable special? What is that little thing-a-ma-bob called and why does it keep it from making a distortion/white noise/buzzing (or whatever you want to call it) sound. I have all the extra info you could want but, I figure this is a start.
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post #2 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:47pm
its not special really... unless by "special" you mean it's guaranteed to fail.

they gave me a new one free at pax, but i'm still just using the turtle beach talkback cable instead.
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post #3 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:50pm
Are you talking about the mic cable? Mine went bad too and I had to replace it. Seems ridiculous that a cable should fail like that.
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post #4 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:54pm
ah the mic cable.... the only thing with the astros I'm not pleased with. mine is at the best, erratic
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post #5 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:59pm
Thread Starter 
Yup, I have gone through 4 of them to date. I'm out of warranty and using a 2.55 cable that I purchased online. The problem is that there is distortion when not using their first party "xbox controller cable." I need to find out what I can do to rig up a regular 2.55 cable and not have it sound like there's a swarm of bee's flying around in my Astro's.
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post #6 of 14
11/5/10 at 1:02pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by formulanerd View Post

its not special really... unless by "special" you mean it's guaranteed to fail.

they gave me a new one free at pax, but i'm still just using the turtle beach talkback cable instead.

I have considered buying a "Talkback cable" but tell me, how does it sound?
Is there even a notable difference?
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post #7 of 14
11/5/10 at 1:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by truck-a-sauras View Post

ah the mic cable.... the only thing with the astros I'm not pleased with. mine is at the best, erratic

What kind of problems have you had?
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post #8 of 14
11/5/10 at 3:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkstarKoP View Post

I have considered buying a "Talkback cable" but tell me, how does it sound?
Is there even a notable difference?

i've noticed ZERO difference... i actually like it better because it has mute and chat volume on it.... if you want we can fire up an xbl party and you can hear it... there is zero static/noise/distortion on my end.

i'd recommend getting one, especially if you're out of warranty and astro wont help you.


When i was at pax, the astro rep there said he knows they're all bad, and that they will replace them all regardless of warranty status, but a friend of mine tried to get one out of warranty and they wouldn't do it.... so someone is lying.
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post #9 of 14
11/5/10 at 6:39pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by formulanerd View Post

i've noticed ZERO difference... i actually like it better because it has mute and chat volume on it.... if you want we can fire up an xbl party and you can hear it... there is zero static/noise/distortion on my end.

i'd recommend getting one, especially if you're out of warranty and astro wont help you.


When i was at pax, the astro rep there said he knows they're all bad, and that they will replace them all regardless of warranty status, but a friend of mine tried to get one out of warranty and they wouldn't do it.... so someone is lying.

Your friend is right, I'm in the same situation and they have been
out of stock for 3+ weeks. I would love to buy one but Jesus I've heard
they have been out of stock since September. If I would have to
guess I'd say they are updating it or they jut suck at keeping any
kind of stock because they constantly break. If in another week
they still don't have any I'm going to try ol turtle beaches equivalent.
But, I swear if they aren't crystal clear I'll track you down n
Make you buy Kinect!
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post #10 of 14
11/6/10 at 5:53am
Mine still works... probably from all the 'use' it's been getting, lol.
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post #11 of 14
11/6/10 at 11:45am
I have had the Astro's for about 2 years, and every once in a while, no one can hear me. If I fiddle with the cable at the controller for a while, it seems to come back on. Maybe I should get a new one based on what I'm reading here. I guess I just thought it was the connection getting loose at the controller, but maybe its the cable.

Is it preferred to get the Astro cable (when they have them in stock) or is the Turtle beach option better.

I love the headphones, but my first pair went back because the toggle voice switch did not work. Customer service was very fast to replace with not questions asked.
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post #12 of 14
11/6/10 at 12:07pm
it's probably the cable and not your controller.

as far as to which cable to get.... your call, they both work the same, the TB cable has chat volume and a mute switch, but other than that there isn't any difference.
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post #13 of 14
11/6/10 at 5:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkstarKoP View Post
First off let me tell you I don't know a lot about this particular area of the tech world. So I ask, why is this 2.55mm cable special? What is that little thing-a-ma-bob called and why does it keep it from making a distortion/white noise/buzzing (or whatever you want to call it) sound. I have all the extra info you could want but, I figure this is a start.
Those are two transformers. It's used to decouple the physical electrical connection so you don't get a ground loop and an audible buzz/hum sound.

Looked at it some more. I'm not entirely sure, but they might actually just be a couple of large surface mount inductors. Still used for noise suppression, but a different type. In this case it's to reject high frequency noise that would be picked up by the cable acting as an antenna.
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post #14 of 14
11/8/10 at 5:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cidsou View Post

I have had the Astro's for about 2 years, and every once in a while, no one can hear me. If I fiddle with the cable at the controller for a while, it seems to come back on. Maybe I should get a new one based on what I'm reading here. I guess I just thought it was the connection getting loose at the controller, but maybe its the cable.

Is it preferred to get the Astro cable (when they have them in stock) or is the Turtle beach option better.

I love the headphones, but my first pair went back because the toggle voice switch did not work. Customer service was very fast to replace with not questions asked.

Dark asked my issues and pretty much the same as above. and I've had the astros about the same length of time. I'm often glad the party chat and some games have the flashing mic icon when you are making noise as I use that as my test to see if it is working if I jiggle it this way or that.

I probably should replace the cable, but haven't been in any hurry to do so.
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