Headphone jack on controller mod?

[Martoon]

I've always thought it would be nice to have a headphone jack and volume control on the gamepad. I'm actually surprised that none of the consoles include this on their controllers.

Has anyone done a mod like this? You'd need to run an extra two wires along the controller cord for left and right audio (and possibly a ground wire - I don't know if grounding to the serial ground would result in audio buzzing). The line-level audio out from the PS2 provides a plenty strong enough signal to drive headphones directly, but I don't know if you'd need a circuit for the volume control. Could you just put a pot inline on the audio wires? How do those inline volume dials work that some headphone cables have? I'm a software engineer, not a hardware engineer.

[retro]

thats a good idea, if im not totaly wrong i think xbox360 or the ps3 will have this future...
anyhow runnig two wires along the cable looks realy stupid.
i did that with a resetbutton.
Another way of doing this is to totaly replace the whole cable with more wires in it.
but you are still stucked with having some kind of connector between the ps2 and the two wires, otherwise you wont be able to remove the controller.

about the volume control.. i found some old headfones with volume control that i opened up.
and the ground is just passed thru as suspected, even soldered together.
the left and the right line must be keept seperated so you need a dial that have two paralell lines, if you get a single line dial you will end up mono.
If you want to keep it simple, just get some old headfones with volumecontrol.
i think you actualy can take the audio from some pins in the ps2 that goes to the tv. just track them to i nice solderpoint in the ps2.
you can find out witch pins by using a "beeper" and test you way to the pins thru the ps2 <-> tv cable.

[Martoon]

Shortly after posting I found this:
http://www.gamesarefun.com/gamesdb/p...perireviewid=2

I was tempted to get one here:
http://www.allbrandselectronics.com/...tml/icOid/5184
until I clicked the calculate shipping button on the shopping cart, and was told $12.99 for UPS Ground! I think not.

[retro]

"They make this headphone jack work through use of an easily plugged in wire passing the audio from the A/V port in the back to the controller port in front."

that confirmes that it would work great to take the audio that way.

[105854804]

if i were u i wont go with 3rd party controllers besides the Logitech one... they just feel so cheap. anyways, i would say that either you get a RF Module an modify it as a "audio sender", and get a RF receiver module and use it as a "audio receiver", which greatly degreases the quality, or you can change the wire, which is what i'll do.

[Martoon]

if i were u i wont go with 3rd party controllers besides the Logitech one... they just feel so cheap.

Usually, that's the case. But that review I linked to says:

Overall Rating: 10

...

Many gamers are skeptical of the value of third party controllers. They view them as cheaper alternatives to the first party controllers and thus purchase said first party controllers. However, the "rules" don't apply to Pelican's Stealth Controller.

The Stealth Controller was specifically designed to be different from normal third party controllers. Normally, they tend to have gimmicks, cheaper quality controls, or a few other problems. Pelican wanted this controller to be an enhancement of the controller packaged with the system. Hence, the controller's regular functions are all in perfect working order, as you'd expect from a first party controller.

The Stealth also has numerous enhancements. First off, it feels great! ... Another improvement for its feel is that the R2 and L2 buttons have been repositioned. They are now a bit lower and this makes the controller fit much nicer (read: why didn't Sony make them this way?) in your hand. It also makes those two buttons a bit easier to use, which can come in handy for games requiring frequent use of them. The last comfort change is one that is easily done, yet almost always a problem with first party controllers: the cable is 12 feet long.

...

The controls feel perfect.

I saw a couple other reviews that also gave it a very high rating. It sounds like this might actually be better than the original Sony controller.

[harmon]

that controller was the shit i had it about 2 weeks and loved it till my dog tore it ta pieces and couldnt find another get it

[Martoon]

that controller was the shit i had it about 2 weeks and loved it till my dog tore it ta pieces and couldnt find another get it

Well, I actually bought a used one after posting this.

The pros:
Headphone jack with volume control (obviously).
Rubberized plastic case (better grip).
The L2 and R2 buttons are lower down and further in, so you can keep your middle fingers on them (easier to have fingers on all 4 shoulder buttons).

The cons:
The d-pad is absolutely atrocious. You have to press fairly hard for it to work, and diagonals are almost impossible.

The other buttons are slightly less responsive than the original Dual Shock, and the shoulder buttons can occasionally stick.

The analog sticks aren't too bad, but still don't feel quite as nice as the Dual Shock.

I really wanted to love this controller (the headphone jack is great), but the buttons and especially d-pad just don't make it worth it. Right now, I just have it plugged into control port 2, and use it just for the headphones.