So, I love my X-41s. They work great with my 360, and have been working great with my PS3....that is, until I installed the latest firmware update. Now I get no sound from the blu-ray player (i.e. no sound from games). Sound works great in the dashboard & demos installed on the HD, but as soon as a game title screen pops up, they go silent. Everything was working great before, so I think it has something to do with all the sound codecs they added in the update. Anyone else experience this? I'm not finding any reference to it on the intarwebs, much less any workaround. Help me goodjers!
I have to flip between HDMI for audio and the toslink depending on if I want the X-41s or to use my surround sound receiver. The HDMI from the PS3 is also providing video, so I have to leave my receiver on HDMI 2 to get a picture even if I'm pumping sound out optical. I fired up Uncharted 2 and lost all sound. I noticed I had to change the audio setting in game in order to get it to work on the X-41s. I believe I had to tell it i was using 5.1 Dolby, I can check when I get home.
Edited to elaborate.
If you are using an A/V receiver, you should connect the X41 to the optical output of your receiver. Then you won't have to switch all the time. Also, the A/V receiver will probably (or at least it should) down sample the signal from the PS3 by default.
PS3 ->HDMI ) ->Receiver
XBOX -> Component/Optical or HDMI ->Receiver
Receiver -> Optical Out -> X41
This is assuming the 360 and PS3 are both hooked up to the A/V receiver. Are you manually switching because they are using different displays in different rooms?
Thanks for the input, everyone. Will let you know what happens.
I'm not switching anything. Here's the setup:
360 video out to TV via the big "HD component" cable that came with it (I've tried & don't see the difference between this & HDMI). Optical audio out to splitter, then on to the X41 unit. X41 acts as passthru for both 360 & PS3, via optical cable out to receiver.
PS3 video out to TV via HDMI cable. Optical audio out to the same splitter, then on to the X41 unit, and again X41 is a passthru to receiver.
Everything was working flawlessly until the last PS3 update. Speakers still pump sound just fine. Headsets work for both 360 & PS3, until sound starts coming from the Blu Ray drive (the netflix disc doesn't cause a problem, b/c the sound isn't actually coming from the disc).
It must be a setting. The moment the receiver detects the output & switches to DTS mode, the headsets go silent. But if I unmute the speakers, it still sounds great.
I don't think most (any?) receivers will pass an HDMI signal to a S/PDIF, because of the DRM.
I don't think most (any?) receivers will pass an HDMI signal to a S/PDIF, because of the DRM.
They should downsample to PCM, but I cannot comfirm.
OK, fixed! I had to disable DTS 5.1 output. No idea what they could have done in the last update to cause it, but whatever....I'll re-enable it for watching blu-ray movies with the wife. Thanks everyone!
There must be a way to set it up so you do not have to switch it around all the time. If your sound and video are going through a receiver, there might be a way to specify the output format to the optical outputs. Well, it working, at least.
I just ordered these on Amazon and they should be here any day.
Sorry for the dumb question... I currently have a regular HDMI cable connected from my Xbox to my Surround Sound receiver... Am I going to have to buy the $50 Microsoft HDMI cable to get these to work??
I can't just attach the Microsoft Component/RCA cable/ Digital Audio cable in addition to the regular HDMI cable I have?
I was hoping I could just leave my current HDMI cable attached and then add the other cable (which has toslink) to which I would attach the X41's toslink cable.
Thanks, Dolf
If your a/v receiver has an optical output (probably does) use that to to get the Dolby signal to the transmitter. You might have to mess with your receiver settings to get it to output correctly.
Heavy,
thanks for the info!
I have got an Onkyo TX-SR705... Just looked at the manual at it does have an optical out.
However, will hooking it up like this effect the microphone/chat function?
PS I saw your earlier posts. Are you still loving your X41's? I'll be using them for MW2 online.
The X41's are great. I have been using them to play Mass Effect 2 recently and it just amplifies the cinematic experience of the game. You will be very happy.
The microphone actually uses a cable that runs from the headset to the 360 controller, so you will be golden. It is unfortunate that it is not totally wireless, but MS keeps the wireless voice chat locked away from third parties.
Heavy,
thanks for the info!
I have got an Onkyo TX-SR705... Just looked at the manual at it does have an optical out.
However, will hooking it up like this effect the microphone/chat function?
PS I saw your earlier posts. Are you still loving your X41's? I'll be using them for MW2 online.
My Onkyo 805 doesn't allow optical out except for recording non 5.1 content. So pretty much worthless in this case.
If you figure it out, let me know. But the manual seems to back up what I saw.
Mannish, unfortunately I think you are right! ;( I read that stupid blurb too...
So did you break down and buy the XBox HDMI cable?
So to be clear, there is no way to leave my regular HDMI cable plugged in for video and then attach the XBox Component/RCA cable to attach the X41's toslink cable?
Mannish, unfortunately I think you are right! ;( I read that stupid blurb too...
So did you break down and buy the XBox HDMI cable?
So to be clear, there is no way to leave my regular HDMI cable plugged in for video and then attach the XBox Component/RCA cable to attach the X41's toslink cable?
I have my 360 hooked to my TV with HDMI and I am using the Component/RCA attachment that comes with the Xbox to run the optical to the X41's; works great you will love them.
I just ordered the Tritton AX 720 for the living room and I am going to try them out with my Onkyo receiver. It might be a deal breaker if I can't pass the surround signal via the optical out.
Tigerbill,
that is *excellent* news! I wasn't looking forward to shelling out $50 bucks for a cable! I was hoping that I would be able to have both cables hooked up simultaneously and it looks like I can. I assume that you have confirmed that you are getting true dolby digital into the phones right? 
Heavy, which Onkyo do you have? If it's in the same class as mine, there is a blurb in the manual about what the optical out is used for. It doesn't mention being able to pass dolby digital... Another poster claims it doesn't. You might want to check out AVSForums for your particular model of receiver and see if anyone else has experimented with this output.
Thanks for all the help.
Later,
Dolf
PS I will post my impressions on the X41's soon. They should be arriving today or tomorrow.
Crap! Looks like I'll have to shell out for the cable after all... ;0 There's no way to have both cables plugged in at the same time! The Xbox cable is HUGE. Stupid microsoft!
Of course, there are workarounds...
$50 saved!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FptCB...
Had no idea that there were so many X41 (and related) videos on YouTube.
Of course, there are workarounds...
$50 saved!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FptCB...
Had no idea that there were so many X41 (and related) videos on YouTube.
This is exactly what I did and it works perfectly. I was hoping to avoid having to use the VGA cable at all but I don't see any other option to plug in the digital out on the X41s. It seems strange that the audio cable that shipped with my Elite doesn't have the same digital out port that my old VGA does, especially since it's strictly audio connectors.
Considering the expense of these headphones, it would have been a nice touch if TB could have simply included the audio adapter dongle. I have seen generic ones out there for $4. Just a thought...
I am now in possession of my X41's. I hacked my VGA cable and hopefully I will be rocking tonight...
I am now in possession of my X41's. I hacked my VGA cable and hopefully I will be rocking tonight...
Nice!
My Tritton AX 720's arrive today and I will be test driving those tonight. Unfortunately my receiver, despite having a crap ton of inputs, has no digital output whatsoever. I am hanging my hope on the optical out from the TV. Hopefully both the receiver and the TV will pass the 5.1 audio on down the line (crossing fingers!).
Mannish, unfortunately I think you are right! ;( I read that stupid blurb too...
So did you break down and buy the XBox HDMI cable?
So to be clear, there is no way to leave my regular HDMI cable plugged in for video and then attach the XBox Component/RCA cable to attach the X41's toslink cable?
Justed used the audio out dongle that came with one of my xboxes in conjunction with HDMI for AVR sound and vid. It has TOSLINK and RCA audio plugs like the component dongle does.
The audio out dongle doesn't have the big housing like the component does, so there are no space issues.
This:
Mannish, this is what I was talking about in my last post... It would have been nice if TB could have included this dongle with the X41's!
At the very least Microsoft should sell this thing separately from the HDMI cable it sells... There are generic dongles out there for this who want to risk it. They are probably fine. I have seen them for $4-5...
Mannish, this is what I was talking about in my last post... It would have been nice if TB could have included this dongle with the X41's!
At the very least Microsoft should sell this thing separately from the HDMI cable it sells... There are generic dongles out there for this who want to risk it. They are probably fine. I have seen them for $4-5...
Yeah, I saw your post after I'd already quote-posted 
(I have a problem about not reading down the rest of the thread after somebody says something I want to respond to...) I think that came with my Elite a couple of years ago. I don't remember what came with the Arcade I picked up on the Amazon $100 gift card deal after Christmas this year.
You're right, there are ton of those on ebay that appear to be knock offs. I'd have no qualms about picking one of those up if I didn't have one as long as the seller had decent reviews.
I am not professing to be an audiophile by any means... But I was blown away by the X41 experience. Using these headphones are a major improvement over listening to an always-turned-down-surround-sound-system-because-my-wife-hates-noise-and-my-son-is-sleeping type of set up!
I played a couple of quick games of MW2 online and was very impressed. I actually came in second and third! This is more the exception than the rule with me. Hopefully the X41's will give me a leg up on some of these kids. Although by the looks of YouTube it seems plenty of *kids* have these headphones.
I watched the Bioshock 2 trailer (which looked awesome) and the sound was truly frightening! I don't even want to imagine what a late night session of this game would be like with the X41's.
The only negatives I can give are: 1) Not including the audio dongle 2) The cursed plastic casing these things were entombed in. It took me longer to (safely) remove them from their plastic prison than to set them up. 3) Cheapest.Toslink.Cable.Ever (Luckily I had a high quality one on hand)
I will post some more details as I spend more time with the unit.
Thanks to everyone who helped with my questions. Hopefully I can do the same now that I have some hands-on experience.
Glad you like the X41's. I am a big fan myself.
I just got the Tritton AX 720's and with no optical out on my receiver and a gimped optical out on my TV I can't run the set-it-and-forget-it setup I hoped to. To use the device with the 360 and PS3 I need to make some annoying trade offs.
1. I will need an optical splitter to avoid switching between the PS3 and 360 optical feeds manually.
2. I cannot send the surround signal from the 360 to both my receiver and AX 720 at the same time, since I am using an older 360 without HDMI. Maybe adding another splitter to the chain would work, but splitting the signal twice has got to degrade it, even over those short distances; don't know?
3. If I use both HDMI and the optical out on the PS3 it will downsample all of the HD codecs, so no Dolby True HD, etc. when watching a blu-ray, unless I turn off the optical out in the PS3's sound settings first.
So, not a huge deal, but it is not the set-it-and-forget-it setup I wanted. 
I was wrestling with connections and testing feeds, so I really didn't have a chance to use the AX 720's for any significant game play sessions, so thoughts on performance will have to wait. I have a feeling the X41's will come out on top in the audio department, but I need to give them a real test. Five minutes of playing Borderland (360) is the only quality time I had with them so far.
Sounds like we need to start an "AX720 Love" thread; lets just see how many headphone threads we can create, maybe they should have their own section of the forums.
I don't have any love for it yet, It still needs to prove itself. One thing it is missing is a bass boost. Having that little (even if artificial) boost in the low end helps fill out the sound and make it more enjoyable to listen too. But, again, I only gave it a few minutes, so...we'll see.
Aside: I'm not sure how it works, but I heard that bass boost often times is just the headphone or speakers adding physical vibrations. It does not truly extend the frequency range, but it somehow tricks the ear into thinking it is actually hearing those lower frequency sounds.
Sorry if I'm captain obvious here but I just realized that the PS3 has a digital out port so I can rock the X41s on there too! Sweet!
So far so good... After a couple weeks with my X41's, I am extremely happy that I made the plunge. For anyone who is on the fence, I say "Go for it!" Especially if you are in a situation like mine in which you have a wife and young child and really can't blast your surround sound system at night.
I am particularly impressed with the volume! I am also able to hear subtle details in the audio mix that I never heard before like the car horns in Skidrow map of MW2. Before I never had my system up loudly enough to hear everything that was going on. I agree with the criticism that the build quality is not top notch, but overall I really like the product.
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