Tritton AX 720-Help me with my Cords!

[Whirly]

So I just bought one of these off Craigslist for $45, pretty decent deal considering prices I'm seeing thrown around, and I was looking to upgrade from the duct taped, battle tested X1's.

Now the thing has awesome sounds, and is in some pretty arousing shape for the price, but the cords are driving me nuts.

1. The 3.5mm to 2.5mm cord that came with it is pretty terrible, if I turn it a bit, my buddies in my party hear terrible static. A little bit more turning, and I've gone silent.

OPTIONS:
I could buy a standard cable like this. I'm not sure if this cable will be any sturdier however.

I could buy an official "puck" cord that *ideally* wouldn't be quite so flimsy like this. It says it's free, but it wants $9 shipping. Does anybody have a free shipping code or something of the like?

2. The TOSLINK is superb off the TV output, but for dorm use, I'd like this headset to be compatible out of my laptop. Unfortunately, the laptop doesn't have a TOSLINK output, just the standard 3.5mm out, so I would have to purchase an adapter...

Something along the lines of this should suffice, right?

3. I'd need to buy two more TOSLINK cables at the minimum for this to work. These should work I hope?

4. To merge my TOSLINK cables into the controller box I have a few choices...

I could get a switcher like this, which is a bit pricier, but provides me with a few more options. I don't know how much I would need it though, I can't see myself, say, game with music off the computer playing, or something along those lines too much.

The other option is the just turn a simple splitter like this around, and use it as a merger. This is the cheap solution, but I don't know if I'm making some terrible mistake here or not.

Is there some sort of added distortion when you overlap TOSLINK sounds or something? I really have no idea.

Any suggestions, comments, tips, tricks, or new ideas on how to approach these issues are greatly appreciated!

 

[Whirly]

Does anybody have experience with TOSLINK?

 

[sendme]

I have been reading up on the switch box and splitter you posted for my Ear Force PX5 headset. From what I have read the splitter should work fine for me because all I need it for is to run the TOSLINK from my PS3 and 360 to the transmitter for the headphones. I will not be running both the PS3 and the 360 at the same time so I don't need to worry about some of the things people complained about in some of the reviews for it. All the switch box is going to do is stop the signal from going through the one set till you switch it over. So it is going to act as an on/off switch. If you will be having both the devices you have plugged up to the box going at the same time, but don't want to hear both at the same time get the switch box otherwise I would think the splitter should be fine.

As for the mini to TOSLINK you can do that two ways from what I have seen. You can buy the adapter that you posted or buy a cable that is mini at one end and TOSLINK at the other. They have some at the bottom of the page you linked to.

For the mic I think you should just get the puck adapter. It sounds like to me that the wiring in the cord has snapped. I had this issue with the cable that came with my 360 and everyone was getting really bad feedback. I suggest just paying the 9 bucks or seeing if the cable from your x-1 will work with it.

 

[dirtyvu]

i actually own that optical switch. when it works, it's great. but it's really finicky. you will have to twist that dial a lot to get it to work. like I'd spend 5-10 minutes turning it back and forth and massaging it into place to get it to work. when it's set just right, it's great. But if you're switching between multiple devices on a regular basis, it's kind of a nightmare.

I don't use it anymore. I'd rather unplug one optical cable and plug in the next cable manually.

 

[Whirly]

Considering how cheap the splitter can be, I think I'll probably give it a go first and see if it pans out...

I wonder if the puck connector will actually be any better than the cord. All seems like a crapshoot to me...