Turtle Beach Elite Pro Tac, setup help

t103Ninja · 18 Apr 2017 at 04:00

so i bought the TB elite pro tac and it arrived today and i have been having some setup issues
first of all i should mention i am trying to connect it to a PS4 and xbox one at the same time, the tac requires optical so i got a cheap 2 way optical switch optical out from the ps4 optical out from the xbox one into the switch and then the switch into the tac and that works just fine the problem i'm having is with USB

another thing i should mention is that i'm positioned pretty far away from my consoles, my consoles are all hooked up the TV and my chair is on the other side of the room and i want the tac to sit on the side table i have next to me so i'm using long cables which isn't an issue for the optical cables but it certainly is an issue for the USB, the tac simply isn't getting any power and it pulls it's power from USB so that's kind of a problem

a possible solution would be a cable that's micro USB on one end and then splits into three female USB a ports on the other, that way i would be able to connect the PS4, xbox one and be able to connect the third to an adapter so it can pull power from the wall but after scouring the internet for hours i can't find any such cable

so here i am with a half done setup that doesn't work and a nice pair of headphones with a modmic that i can't use, it's 4am right now and i'm tired and frustrated
does anybody have any possible solutions that might be able to make this work? seriously i'll take anything at this point

Marsman · 18 Apr 2017 at 10:00

Yeah there's quite a drop in signal when using longer USB cable runs. USB repeater/power booster should solve the problem.

t103Ninja · 18 Apr 2017 at 17:37

Marsman said:
Yeah there's quite a drop in signal when using longer USB cable runs. USB repeater/power booster should solve the problem.

i found some active USB extensions cables that repeat the signal on amazon but all the reviews say they don't work well for devices that require power, what can i use as a power booster?

t103Ninja · 18 Apr 2017 at 18:01

i just had an idea, not sure why i didn't think about it in the first place
i can run a usb connection from the ps4 and the xbox one into a powered USB hub and then from the hub into the tac, i'm not sure if USB hubs work on the consoles but they are cheap enough that it's worth a try

Marsman · 18 Apr 2017 at 18:04

Is the USB connection for power only?

If it is, then using a USB mains adaptor closer to where you use the headphones might be the only way.

t103Ninja · 18 Apr 2017 at 18:11

Marsman said:
Is the USB connection for power only?

If it is, then using a USB mains adaptor closer to where you use the headphones might be the only way.

honestly i'm not sure if it's just for power or power and data, if you use it on the PC then it does everything over USB but the consoles require an optical connection so they get sound that way but i think it sends the mic back to the console over USB so it should be power and data but because i haven't been able to get it working work i don't know for sure and information for it online is hard to come by

according to a quick google search the xbox one and ps4 shouldn't have any issues using a USB hub so a powered USB hub should solve my problem

neil pettitt · 18 Apr 2017 at 18:49

Now I've got no real experience but have you tried setting it up with standard length cable close to your consoles. If this works then the extra long cables may be your problem after all.....it's just a thought...

t103Ninja · 18 Apr 2017 at 19:35

neil pettitt said:
Now I've got no real experience but have you tried setting it up with standard length cable close to your consoles. If this works then the extra long cables may be your problem after all.....it's just a thought...

yes i tried it with a short cable and it was working, when i introduced the longer cable it was no longer getting any power

i'm using a 4m USB cable, i tried a powered external hard drive and that was working fine so data over 4m is ok it's just a power issue
would a powered USB hub solve the issue? long run from the consoles to the hub and then a short run from the hub to the tac

Marsman · 18 Apr 2017 at 23:09

Worth trying. I don't know what other solution there is that doesn't involve moving closer to where the consoles/TV is, or getting something else that doesn't require USB for power.

t103Ninja · 18 Apr 2017 at 23:18

Marsman said:
Worth trying. I don't know what other solution there is that doesn't involve moving closer to where the consoles/TV is, or getting something else that doesn't require USB for power.

yeah i'll try it and if it still doesn't work then i'm pretty much stuck
moving closer wouldn't really work i'm using a 65'' TV i can't be right on top of it and the only other thing i know of that offers the same sort of functionality as the tac is the astro mixamp which is also USB powered and i would have to get two of them