Skullcandy PLYR 2 Gaming Headset User Manual

Skullcandy PLYR 2 Gaming Headset

About Skullcandy

Skullcandy Inc., an American business with headquarters in Park City, Utah, sells a variety of items including headphones, earphones, hands-free gadgets, audio backpacks, MP3 players, and more.

Introduction

Congratulations on your purchase of the SKULLCANDY Gaming PLYR 2! Whether you’re a casual player or a pro gamer, we’d like to welcome you into the SKULLCANDY family of gaming accessories.
The PLYR 2 is the result of countless hours of research and development by the foremost experts in the audio industry, extremely talented industrial designers, and SKULLCANDY’s own internal team of gamers. Plus, it’s tweaked with SKULLCANDY Supreme Sound, so you know your games and other media are going to sound their best.

The PLYR 2 contains a complex electronics package, so check out the rest of this instruction booklet if you have a minute. If you’re too smart for PLYR USER GUIDE, save it anyway for later reference: it contains important warranty information and a handy troubleshooting guide. The PLYR 2 is a wireless headset system. Whether you’re gaming or watching movies at home alone or with your friends, on a console or a PC, the PLYR 2 has something to offer.

For Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users, the PLYR 2 wirelessly combines voice communication and game surround sound. Connect the wireless transmitter to your console, and you’re good to go. For Home Theater setups, it’s easy to get crystal-clear wireless sound for your favorite movies and TV shows. Simply run the 3.5mm to RCA connection from your TV, media playback device, or stereo receiver to the GMX Stereo Transmitter wireless transmitter, sit back, and enjoy. You can adjust the master volume and the EQs from the headset and keep your neighbors off your back.

For PC and Mac gamers whose sound card has a 3.5mm jack, the GMX Stereo Transmitter can be used to listen to your favorite games, music, videos, and movies. Same deal as above, connect via a 3.5mm cable or USB cable and you’re good to go.
Voice communication is supported by running our USB Chat Cable (sold separately) into the USB connection on your computer.

The PLYR 2 enables your computer to offload surround sound decoding and will combine multiple audio streams thanks to its built-in USB audio input. By setting your VoIP program to use the PLYR 2 (called SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter in your audio profiles) as the USB input/output device, full hardware mixing is enabled between voice communication, game sound, and music.

CONTROLS

With the SKULLCANDY Gaming PLYR 2, it’s easy to control your gaming or home theater audio experience.

The MASTER VOLUME control on the headset raises and lowers the volume of all incoming audio feeds together. It will not raise or lower the volume of your outgoing voice communication. (The distance between your microphone and your mouth is the best way to adjust this). The BALANCE control on the headset enables you to dial in the perfect mix of game-to-voice communication.

Important: It is possible to bring either the GAME or the VOICE volume down to 0% volume, at either end of the BALANCE control dial spectrum.

The EQ3 switch on the Headset switches between the three EQ modes: Bass Mode (best for movies and games with a lot of action), Supreme Mode (neutral tuning for no enhancements and good for music), and Precision Mode (for accurate sound in FPS games).

Mic mute can be achieved by flipping the mic to the up position and unmuted by bringing it to the down position. The MASTER POWER buttons on the Headset and GMX Stereo Transmitter do exactly what you might expect, but also are used for pairing by first holding down the GMX Stereo Transmitter button until it blinks white and then doing the same with the Headset

Important: When the headset is idle (no signal detected for 5 minutes), the Headset will automatically shut down. This feature is to prevent draining the battery when no headset is connected. If you reconnect your headset within a short period of time, the unit will automatically return to the state you had it in before it was disconnected.

If you reconnect after this short time, you’ll need to restart it manually When your Headset’s batteries are low, the amber power indicator will flash ON and OFF intermittently. There is also an audio beep/alarm for when your batteries are low, giving you approximately 15% of the power left depending on the battery’s chemistry. A SOLID AMBER button indicates adequate power.

PACKAGE CONTENTS

• PLYR 2 Headset
• Headset with mic, controls, wireless receiver, and embedded rechargeable battery.

GMX Stereo Transmitter
Wireless Transmitter and all connections

GMX Stereo Transmitter USB Power Cable
The PLYR 2 GMX Stereo Transmitter needs juice, so plug one end into the USB port on your console and the other into the input marked PWR on the rear of the GMX Stereo Transmitter.

3.5mm to RCA Cable
The PLYR 2 GMX Stereo Transmitter also needs an audio input, so run this from your gaming console, TV, home theater receiver or computer to the input marked input on the back.

2.5mm-to-2.5mm Xbox Live Controller cable
This cable handles the Xbox Live communication between your controller and the PLYR 2 Headset. Just connect it from the bottom of the controller to the 2.5mm input on the bottom of the Headset with a small icon of a game controller.

USB-to-USB Mini ‘B’ cable
This cable powers the PLYR 2 Headset when you want to conserve battery power or need to recharge your rechargeable battery kit (available separately). Connect it to any USB port on your PC or gaming console and the other end to the PLYR 2 headset.

SETUP

The Package Contents list should have already given you a good idea of how each cable included with the PLYR 2 fits into your system before you get started. You probably already have your PLYR 2 up and running, but just in case here are a few scenarios you may encounter.

The Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 come with an A/V cable with Analog connections outputs for audio. Just hook up the RCAs from the 3.5mm to the RCA cable that is included in this A/V cable and you’re set. If you discarded this cable, replacements can be bought at many retailers and online retailers. Plug the USB cable from the GMX to an available USB port on your Xbox 360 or Sony Playstation 3 to power the unit.

CONNECTING AND PAIRING THE PLYR 2 GMX Stereo Transmitter AND Headset

The PLYR 2 headset and GMX Stereo Transmitter come “paired” out of the box. If the two somehow become disconnected, you can re-pair using the following instructions:

• Step 1 – Make sure the GMX Stereo Transmitter and PLYR 2 headset are powered on.
• Step 2 – Press and hold the Power/Pairing buttons on both Transmitter and Headset for 3 seconds until LEDs begin to flash white.
• Step 3 – Once pairing is successful, Power/Pairing LEDs will stop flashing and turn solid white.

CONNECTING A GAMING CONSOLE DIRECTLY TO A PLYR 2

• XBOX (Original) XBOX Slim, PS3, PS3 Slim
• Connect Voice Communication

Xbox Live
You can easily mix in voice communication from Xbox Live and balance it with your game audio. For Xbox 360 users, connect the 2.5 mm-to-2.5 mm cable to the bottom of the 360 controller. Then connect the other end of the 2.5mm cable to the CONTROLLER port on the bottom of the PLYR 2 Headset. Ensure that the Xbox 360 Voice Preferences are set to “Play Through Headset”. This can be checked by hitting the Guide button on your Xbox 360 controller, and navigating to Settings > Preferences > Voice.

PlayStation Network

Mixing in voice communication on PlayStation 3 is also possible. In the PlayStation 3 Cross Media Bar (XMB), navigate to Settings > Accessory Settings > Audio Device Settings, and make sure that the ‘SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter’ is recognized and selected for both the microphone input and output.

You’ll also be able to set your voice level in this menu screen. Set the level so that the bar graph on the top just hits the red when you speak loudly. You can hear how you’ll sound to others if you go back to the Accessory Settings menu and enter the Voice Changer. Once you are connected, an incoming voice from the PS3 can now be balanced with game audio by using the BALANCE control on the PLYR headset.

PC Setup

Computer

• Step 1 – Connect the Main (Game) Audio
  Use either the USB or 3.5mm cable to connect to your PC. 3.5mm connection will only give audio and no voice support.
• Step 2 – Connect the Microphone
  Setting up the PLYR 2 as a USB Input/Output Device

The second step in connecting your new PLYR 2 is to attach the USB Chat Cable to an available USB port on your PC. This will act as a conduit for your voice communications channel. Upon connection, your computer will indicate that the ‘SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter’ has been found, installed, and is ready for use. The PLYR 2 is driverless and installation is automatic.

Using Windows XP
After installation, right-click on the Volume icon in your system tray and open the ‘Adjust Audio Properties’ box on your desktop. Navigate to the Voice tab, and confirm that both Voice Playback and Voice Recording are set to the ‘SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter’. If not, change this using the drop-down menu on each of these categories.

Next, click on the Playback tab, and confirm that your ‘Default Device’ is either set to your soundcard or onboard audio solution for Sound Playback. This will enable the Skullcandy GMX Stereo Transmitter to be the default device for voice in/ out and your soundcard for game audio and give you full hardware mixing control via the BALANCE dial.

Using Windows Vista/Windows 7

Upon installation, right-click on the Volume icon in your system tray and open the Audio Devices (for Vista) or Playback Devices (for Win 7) sub-menu.

Under the Playback Tab, set your soundcard or onboard audio solution as the default playback device by right-clicking on the icon and selecting ‘Use this as my Default Playback Device’ in the pop-up menu
If there is a green checkmark next to the currently selected default device, you will not be able to select it, since it is already selected.

Important: Windows Vista will set the SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter as the default playback device when the PLYR 2 is first installed, which will combine voice and game sound at your PC. Follow the above instructions to reset your default playback device to a sound card or onboard audio output. Alternatively, you may leave the default playback device set to the SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter if you DON’T want to connect an extra audio cable and DON’T want to use the mixing feature of the MixAmp™. A single USB cable is all you’ll need for this type of configuration. Simply mix game and voice volumes using the levels in the software for your audio and voice programs.

Next, click on the Recording Tab and confirm that the SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter is set as the default device (should display a green check mark) — this should be automatic upon installation. If not, right-click on the microphone icon that is associated with the SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter and select ‘Set as Default Device’ in the pop-up menu. You can also set your microphone recording level through this menu. Be sure to click ‘Apply’ to change the settings before you exit.

The SKULLCANDY PLYR 2 will also work with many other operating systems including Mac OSX and Unix/Linux variants. Visit us at: www.SKULLCANDYgaming.com/support and navigate to the knowledgebase for more information.

TroubleSHOOTING GUIDE

Game audio and voice communication is heard from the PC, but the BALANCE control doesn’t seem to have any effect.

• Remember that in order to mix between two different signals, you’ll need to have TWO separate audio connections connected to the Mix- Amp™. If only the USB cable is connected, attach an audio cable from your PC’s soundcard or motherboard audio output to the 3.5mm connector. Follow the setup instructions contained in this guide (Connecting the PLYR 2 to a PC at Home).
• If two cables are already connected, make sure that the Voice Recording/Playback audio device is set to the SKULLCANDY GMX Stereo Transmitter, and the Audio default device is set to your sound card or motherboard audio hardware. Check the aforementioned setup section for specific information about your operating system. If the mic output seems to be spotty, full of static, or accompanied by a background hum or other interference on Xbox Live when you talk, check your connections to make sure they are in snugly. Also…
• There are a few possibilities as to why this may be occurring. The most likely culprit is the 2.5mm cable connected to your controller. Please make sure the connectors are wiped clean of any dust or residue many of these connectors might have residue left on them from the molding process and this will create a poor connection. If you are playing on Xbox Live and your controller misfires and twitches randomly, check…
• This glitch isn’t due to the PLYR 2 itself, but an anomaly related to the wired controller for the Xbox 360 (this can occur using the standard Xbox Communicator as well). An overvoltage occurs when the mic is blown into or gets a *very* loud signal from another player on Xbox Live (such as the sounds that occur during a rhinoceros attack), which may cause the player to aim to adjust slightly without input. Sometimes guns fire and grenades are thrown on their own – usually at inopportune moments, causing teammates to shun and ridicule you.
• There are a couple of workarounds to this. The first is to switch to a wireless controller, or a wireless controller with a Play and Charge cable attached if you wish. The voice comm is now wireless (even with the Play and Charge kit) alleviating the problem.
• If you’d like to continue to use a wired controller, you’ll have to lower your incoming voice level — this prevents overvoltage from reaching the controller through the Xbox 360 software layer. To do this, hit the Guide Button > Personal Settings > Voice, and lower the incoming voice “Volume” from 10 (default) down to at least 4. At level 4, you’ll still get a few anomalies with the loudest incoming sounds, but it’s really very rare (see rhinoceros attack, above). At level 3, the problems go away 100%.
• Recheck this setting every once in a while – there seems to be some kind of bug where it’ll get reset to the default 10 every so often.
  • Fortunately for users of the PLYR 2, you can simply dial back more voice by using the Balance control on the headset and you’ll probably need to raise the overall Volume to get back to where you were at before.
  • If the PLYR 2 turns on briefly when switched on, but then turns off again, check…
  • Battery level, according to the section earlier in this PLYR USER GUIDE
  • If the game sound is very low, check…
• Is the BALANCE control all the way to the VOICE side? If so, turn it back to the middle position and adjust from there.
• Is the BALANCE control shifted all the way to GAME? Dial it back to the middle position, and fine-tune it from there.
• Is the Xbox Controller connected with the 2.5mm-to-2.5mm cable? Make sure that it is properly (and fully) inserted at both ends.

Support

If you have an issue and you need further help to resolve it, please contact us at http://www.SKULLCANDYgaming.com/support/

All product purchased directly from SKULLCANDY Gaming comes with an automatic 1-year warranty on defective parts or faulty workmanship. No registration is required. That being said, if you register your product with us, we will be able to provide you with even better customer service and we’ll cover your shipping in both directions if a repair is needed for domestic customers. Furthermore, if you purchased one of our products from a retailer other than SKULLCANDY Gaming, you’ll need to register it with us otherwise we’ll have no idea who you are when you call.

Register SKULLCANDY products here: http://www.SKULLCANDYgaming.com/register

What is covered
All defective parts or faulty workmanship.

What is not covered
The warranty does not cover damage caused by accident, misuse, abuse, neglect, lightning, sharks, power surges, other acts of nature/god(s), unauthorized product modification or repairs, or failure to follow the instructions outlined in this Setup Guide.

What we will do
We will repair or replace any defective parts within a reasonable amount of time and free of charge at any time within the warranty period. After service, we will ship your product back to you at our expense. You will be responsible for shipping or transportation charges to us. We recommend that you keep the original shipping materials, as it is important that the product will not be damaged during shipping. SKULLCANDY Gaming cannot be responsible for damages incurred during shipping due to poor packing, but should this occur we hope that we can still be friends.

How to obtain SKULLCANDY Gaming warranty service
If you have any questions about your warranty coverage, need help, or think you may need service, email the SKULLCANDY Gaming Authorized Service Center at: support@SKULLCANDYgaming.com. We will do everything we can to answer your questions and resolve any issues within 24 hours.

Exclusive Remedy
This Limited Warranty is fully transferable provided that the current owner furnishes the original proof of purchase. THE MAXIMUM LIABILITY OF SKULLCANDY GAMING SHALL NOT EXCEED THE ACTUAL PURCHASE PRICE PAID BY YOU FOR THE PRODUCT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SKULLCANDY GAMING BE LIABLE FOR SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Statement
You are cautioned that changes or modifications not expressly approved by the part responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment. 15.105(b)

This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications.

However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver.
• Connect the equipment to an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:

1. This device may not cause harmful interference, and
2. This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation of the device.

FAQS About Skullcandy PLYR 2 Gaming Headset

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