Not that long ago I found myself stranded on an island with just my PC, my earbuds and my DualShock 4. In theory, this combination is enough to provide me enough comfort for a long time: I can do lots of things on my PC, these earbuds are comfortable enough and DualShock 4 is currently my favorite gamepad.
However, after a couple of fun weeks I’ve finally realized that something was missing: there was no way for me to talk to other people.
There is no one else on this island, so I can only communicate with people on the other side of this endless sea around me. This requires an Internet connection and a microphone. Luckily, I’ve got both.
This cable sticking out of the sand has been providing me with enough Internet to consume all kinds of digital product so I’m covered on that front.
My earbuds actually do have a microphone built into them so you’d think I can cross that off the list too, but no. These earbuds only have a single 3.5mm jack, and my PC needs two: one for the sound input and another for sound output. You probably know how that works.
I knew there were adapters that could split a single jack into two, exactly what was needed here. And yet, after hours of searching under each and every palm tree and digging deep into the ground wherever an X mark could be found, I failed to find such a device.
And then I noticed something interesting: my PC registered my gamepad as a sound device. Interesting. I knew the 3.5mm port wasn’t just for show: this feature was very helpful when I still had my PS4, but it never occurred to me it could be used with PCs. I plugged my earbuds into the gamepad and it worked. My fellow dwarves could finally hear my toasts when we drank our beer at the station.
I’m happy to be finally reconnected with my friends and family, and yet there is still something for me to wish for: the sound is only passed through when the gamepad is connected via USB. There is nothing to hear and no way to be heard if you use Bluetooth.
It could be an issue with my software setup, maybe I will look into it later. For now, I am satisfied.