Xbox One Headset 2.5 Mm Plug Adapter

In all of Microsoft’s grand wisdom they found it necessary to make the new Xbox One headset adapter without a standard 2.5 mm headset jack. People have invested great amounts of money in quality headsets for previous game platforms that now cannot jack into the Xbox One controllers. This may seem like a déjà vu hack from a week ago but it is different and adds more solutions for the annoying Xbox One headset compatibility problem.

[Jon Senkiw] A.K.A [Xandrel] wasn’t having any of this Microsoft nonsense so he cracked open the headset adapter case that plugs into the Xbox One controller. He photographed the PCB and wiring and realized he could fit a 2.5 mm headset jack from an old donor cellphone into the case. A dap of hot glue, some AWG 30 jumper wires and a bit of plastic trimming was all it took to get a jack inside the headset adapter just the way Microsoft should have done from the factory.

Previously when [octanechicken] added a 2.5 mm female phone adapter at the end of the cable he did not connect the black wire to anything being it was the 2nd side of a push-pull speaker. However, from looking at [Jon’s] photos he connected the speaker output wire to a solder pad on the PCB where the black wire originally connected, marked HPL, and he had nothing connected to the HPR pad. This seemed to work for [Jon] just fine, but is the opposite of what [octanechicken] did last week when he connected the blue wire to the speaker output which would have traced back to the HPR pad on the PCB.

This hack makes these controllers backwards compatible without too much issue being reported. If you have issues please report here or on [Jon’s] SE7ENSINS thread. He has also made comments on the thread that he is willing to help mod headsets, so if you’re not able to hack this yourself [Jon] might be willing to help.

20 thoughts on “Xbox One Headset 2.5 Mm Plug Adapter

  1. i don’t own one . but if the pcb said gnd,mic,hpl,hpr
    i would assume it would be Ground, Microphone, Left speaker and Right speaker
    or is stereo sound not common in headphones anymore?

  2. The problem with standard 2.5 and 3.5mm jacks is that they wear out quickly and are easily damaged. The contacts in the socket start to to crackle, and eventually the springs give in and only make contact when you pull the cable to one side. This has been a problem with portable music gear since the 80’s because these things really aren’t designed to be moved around – they’re just scaled down versions of the bigger 6.5mm studio plugs.

    It would be high time to replace these things with something more reliable, but alas people are set in their ways.

    1. It’s not just that people are set in their ways. There’s also the cost of retooling the widget factories that churn existing connectors out, the legion of existing items that anything with a new connector will be competing against, and the fact that it’s actually non trivial to come up with a plug that’s better without some downside.

      1. XLR, or mini-XLR, or even DIN would do the job better, none of them rely on the springiness of a contact so much. There’s plenty of all these plugs in the world. Although admittedly not many headphones.

        Perhaps the mobile phone companies, or somebody like Sony, who are used to occasionally breaking standards for elitist, over-priced audio products, could bring in the new type of headphone connector. Or Apple, along the same lines. Headphones would come with the new plug, plus an adaptor for 3.5mm jacks. Or possibly the other way, Ipods and whatever Sony are calling “Walkman” nowadays, could come with it, plus a 3.5mm socket adaptor.

        3.5mm sockets are made in factories and soldered onto PCBs, wouldn’t be hard to replace them. Shouldn’t be hard for headphone manufacturers to make the change either.

        Since it started off as a smaller version of the professional 6.5mm jack, it can’t just be a planned obsolescence thing.

        Maybe before Bluetooth and inductive charging take over completely, and nobody uses wires anymore.

    2. Another solution would be to design those things more professionally, with quality materials.

      But just out of curiosity: What kind of connector would you suggest as an alternative. I’m actually rather curious. And frankly I can’t think of something really, especially since it of course has to be able to easily unplug and it must be possible to produce it at low cost. Cinch maybe?

  3. microsoft should stick to software! why is it that when new products come out NOBODY takes into consideration that if you introduce new hardware interface, its off putting to the buyer that their hardware that worked on the previous model, of which they probably have invested alot of money in, won’t work on the new hardware! for the price of an extra 35p, 2.5mm headphone jack as well as the new interface, you can remove that doubt and clinch that sale!

    1. Nobody buys consoles based on headset support. This stuff is pretty much always something people discover and then bitch about after buying the console, usually while biting the bullet and buying replacement. Even people who find out beforehand aren’t going to let that be the determining factor. MS has no real incentive to make hardware compatible with other stuff, especially if that would make it compatible with competitors.

      Sidenote: goddamn I hate the name “Xbox One.” Every time I see it I think I’m reading about the original xbox. You just know they were hoping folks would call it “the one” like people call its predecessor “the 360” but that was never going to happen for so many reasons.

  4. I agree with the previous comment on the headphone jacks wearing out. It has to do with the fact that you apply sideways pressure to the jack and it’s usually affixed to something and does not yield. An effective way to alleviate this is to use a 6-8″ pigtail. That way the stress is radically reduced as the plug and jack are “floating” and no sideways load is present. Also, you don’t have to crack the case open to replace the jack as all you have to do it cut it off and install a new one.

    1. Yeah I have seen a couple of posts on various sites and they all refer to the “2.5mm standard”. As you say 2.5mm is more of an outlier compared to 3.5mm (or even 1/4 inch).

      That being said, I suspect they chose 2.5mm either because 1) they had a lot of 2.5mm headsets around, 2) 2.5mm is more common in gaming (early onset arthritis ended my gaming days, alas), or 3) they had space concerns and it was easier to fit the 2.5mm jack.

      My gut is that it is either #2 or #3…

      1. Actually I’ve seen plenty of 2.5 headsets. They’re mostly designed for phones, but I’d be willing to bet that factored into the decision.

        Therefore my guess would be #1 or #3

        1. 2.5mm isn’t really popular with phones anymore, and hasn’t been for at least a couple of years. The last time I saw one personally on a phone was 3 years ago. I am sure there may be some still out there, but I wouldn’t call it popular

  5. I have to ask because I think I miss something: Why not leave the controller intact and just make a rigid adapter from 2.5 o 3.5 on the cables end? This way you can switch between your old accessories and the ones that will come to the shelf soon and need the 2.5. I must be missing something, because this would make much more sense…

  6. How about a mod for the kinect of the xbox one? Like a switch to turn on and off the kinect cameras, and most importantly, a switch to turn off the microphone too. The microphone should be splitted so that it enables you to connect the original xbox one micrpohone headset to the kinect microphone, while having the kinect microphone turn off. What is the benifit you will ask? The problem is when you connect the original headset to the controller, you cant hear your friends throught the speakers of the tv. Means you cant hear from the left ear if you have normal headphones connected to an amp(connected to xbox) because you have to keep an ear open for the headset to hear what people are saying. And also when you have a chronus device connected to the controller, the microphone port on the controller does not work. I wonder if you disconnect the microsoft headset speaker if you do hear your friends throught the tv… It would be an intresting finding to understand how it works!

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