Headphone help - No volume control

[Sobek]

Hey guys...bit of a quick simple question today.

I just grabbed myself a set of Sennheiser HD-202 headphones, and like a complete moron, I totally didn't acknowledge the fact that they don't have a Volume Control on the cord (uh...can you say lame?). One just naturally assumes all headphones come with volume controllers after having used them as such for a long time.

Needless to say, these absolutely shit all over my Philips HP-250's in terms of Bass and overall quality (115db SNR/TPL compared to the 102-103 or so on the 250's), and my god...do they block noise or what. I can't hear a damn thing outside of the game while wearing these, and I LOVE that. I really don't want to return them, I love them dearly allready. Which comes to my question.

Is ther any way to add a volume control to my headphones? Something I can rig up myself perhaps...I've been searching everywhere locally for a 3.5mm extension cord WITH volume control, but they just don't seem to exist here, either that, or they're called something else and i'm just missing it completely (is there any EASY way to control volume without a controller on the headphone cable? Because alt-tabbing from my game every time I want to change the volume is a terrible, pathetic idea ). For your information, I live in QLD, Australia (duh, just to the left), just north of Brisbane. I'd prefer to either find a solution before the end of the day here (1:30pm allready), or return these so I can guaranteed get my money back, before searching for more Sennheisers WITH a volume control.

Your input greatly appreciated..thanks.

 

[digitalwanderer]

I was going to say Radio Shack carries cord extenders with built-in volume controls.

 

[Sobek]

I was going to say Radio Shack carries cord extenders with built-in volume controls.

Oh, the irony!

 

[Skrying]

LMAO!

No decent sounding headphone has a inline volume control. You'll have to "suffer."

What makes you constantly changing the volume in the first place, set it and forget it. If you're changing it so much then you're probably listening to loud and should consider keeping it low in order to protect your ears. You always listen to headphone much louder than speakers for example, so you're more likely to damage them, so you should be very careful.

The Sennheiser PC150 have inline volume control plus a microphone, I dont think they sound good at all (well, you think the 202 do so they might just do the trick).

Sennheiser also sells a adjuster that actually even allows channel volume control indepedently if you want.

 

[IgnorancePersonified]

like a hose just pinch the line to vary the flow...


I had the same problem at one time though my logitech wirless keyboard with big volume control built onto it solved the problem 4 me.

 

[Sobek]

Understood Skrying...I've just always enjoyed the comfort of a volume control system on my headphones, so going from that to nothing is a bit distressing. The main reason i'd be changing volume often is because, while games are generally pretty standard in their volume levels, movies and such vary constantly, dimming or going over-loud (happens so very often), and exiting fullscreen, clicking Volume, adjusting it, playing the movie to see if it's the right level, and adjusting again if needed, is all a bit stupid.

But that's ok! Like a complete idiot I overlooked something. About a week ago I grabbed some new Creative P5800 5.1 sorround sound speakers, and the volume controller (stuck to the desk between my mouse and keyboard) has a HEADPHONE JACK!

So i'm going to go home tonight and plug them into that, allowing me to use the speaker controller as the volume control for the headphones. Even better, by using that port, I can tell the Creative Console to automatically activate headphone settings when it detects that I plug them in (never did that with my old ones because they were a lot more efficient to use by running them secluded behind my desk). I'm happy with this, just have to wait 'till I get home to see if the headphone jack passthrough has any negative effect on quality (didn't on my old headphones when I tested, so i'm optimistic :smile:

I had the same problem at one time though my logitech wirless keyboard with big volume control built onto it solved the problem 4 me.

Hah! What a perfectly timed response

 

[Skrying]

The headphones you'll be using wouldnt revel it even if it did hurt the single a bit.

I'm personaly waiting on a pair of Sennheiser HD580, a headphone amp (PA2V2), and hopefully will be picking up a E-mu 0404 sound card. Yeah, I'm pretty serious about my headphone listening, though I have a strict budget.