Things You Need to Know about Microphone Splitter

A microphone splitter is an adapter that allows you to connect more than one microphone to your sound card or mixer. 

What does a microphone splitter do? 

Everyone likes to listen to music, and the entertainment industry is developing its business day by day. There are different kinds of products in the market available for the customers. Most of us like to live alone and enjoy our personal space, so we need headphones or earphones for that reason.

If you want to connect your headphone with your mobile phone, you will need an audio splitter. You might be thinking about what is an audio splitter? Here you will know the answer to your question.

An audio splitter, also known as a headphone jack splitter or headphone adapter, does precisely what its name implies—it splits one audio signal into two signals. It’s a wired or wireless device with a 3.5mm audio jack input and two 3.5mm audio jacks for output. Audio splitters can be used with a portable media player, smartphone, tablet, or MP3 player, as well as other devices that have the headphone jack.

It is an electronic device that passes a signal from one input to multiple outputs. They are beneficial when more than one person wants to listen to the same audio source at the same time. The splitter can be used for headphones, speakers, or other devices with separate inputs for multiple listeners.

What are the different types of microphone splitters? 

There are three types of microphone splitters, which can be identified by how many inputs they have on the device. First, many mics will use a splitter to send sound from their output to multiple destinations. For example, an electric guitar uses a splitter to send signals from a single output into a tuner and directly into the mixing board for amplification.

Microphone splitters range from 2-way, 3-way, and 4-way. 

• 2-WAY splitter: This is used when you have two outputs to connect one input on your mixer or soundcard.
• 3-WAY splitter: This is used when you have three outputs to connect two inputs on your mixer or soundcard. 
• 4-WAY splitter: This is not necessarily required as most mixers and soundcards only offer the option of connecting one input, but this will split your output into four different feeds. 

What is a passive mic splitter? 

Passive splitters are more cost-effective and do not require any power supply to run but won’t allow for the equal division of the signal, resulting in an imbalanced output. 

What is an active mic splitter? 

Active splitters are more expensive but allow for the equal division of the signal. This means that any sound played through one microphone will be divided evenly across all outputs while maintaining a good quality signal.

Active splitters will require a power supply to run but offer many additional benefits from added signal amplification and noise cancellation. 

Do microphone splitters reduce quality?   

YES! As long as you’re splitting the mic up, it will be doing its job as intended. It’s better to go directly into a microphone with balanced connections or through an interface with one mic input and multiple output ports (so you can record each mic onto its track).

Microphone splitters (also known as mic splitter boxes) will only affect your signal if something is wrong with the connection. So if you’re splitting up a microphone and plugging each one directly into its channel, or if you have an interface that splits the microphones up for you. This will not be a problem. 

However, if your splitters are splitting the mic up and you’re plugging into channels that have to go through a mixer or pre-amp, then yes, you will have to deal with impedance mismatches. This is an issue of cheap splitter boxes in particular. Impedance matching happens when two items are plugged together (like speakers) when they have different impedances.

Now, when it comes to cheap mic splitters. You’ll notice the problem is less with interfacing anything and more about how splitting up a signal can add noise/interference into the chain. Most of this will be low-grade hiss that can easily be remedied with a gate or even just turning mic levels down. First, however, you will get what’s known as “phase cancellation.” 

That means that when two channels are combined, it will sound like the signal is decreasing in volume — and not because the levels were turned down. So what happens here is that specific frequencies won’t be played back in their entirety, and the tone of the sound will be changed.

What’s important to note here is that this happens with virtually anything you split a signal with – not just mic splitters. So, for example, suppose you have a guitar amp and run two different outputs from it.

In that case, they may both sound fine alone, but when combined through a single speaker, one of the frequencies might not be entirely played back – or it could be inaudible at all, depending on the frequency. 

This is very much something to look out for when splitting signals, but if this isn’t an issue you’re working with, then there’s no reason not to split up a signal. Otherwise, you’ll need some multi-channel recording equipment that can capture each microphone sound in its entirety.

Essential Things To Consider Before Buying Audio Splitter For Headphones

If you want to buy an audio splitter, you will get them at different prices in different stores or markets. Therefore, it would help if you consider some crucial things before buying it. Consequently, we have highlighted some tips for you so that you can buy an audio splitter easily.

First of all, check the quality of the product because there are different types of splitters available in the market with a diverse price range. If you want a cheap and low-quality splitter, you should buy it from a local market or store. On the other hand, if you want a high-quality splitter, then you have to pay more for it.

Another essential thing is cable length. Cable length defines the distance between your audio device and headphone/speaker. The longer cable would be better if you use an audio splitter frequently.There are different types of audio splitters in the market. Choose the one that fulfills your requirement. You will get many other splitters like a 2-way splitter, 3-way splitter, or 4-way splitter. So consider this point before buying it.

You should always check the return policy of a store before buying anything. If you find any defect in your audio splitter, then you can return it to get your money back or change your product.

Before buying an audio splitter, you should always check its reviews on the website where you will buy it from. It will help you get more information about that particular product so that you can easily decide which one to choose. You can also find out whether other customers recommend this splitter or not.

These are some essential things that you should consider before buying an audio splitter for headphones. So, please check all of your requirements before purchasing an audio splitter.

Also, you can take advice from others who have already bought a splitter before. That’s why it is always recommended to ask the opinion of others.

Conclusion

Microphone splitters are a great way to minimize the number of cables going from your microphone to your computer. Using a splitter cable can allow you to connect more devices than just using a single standard 3.5mm jack. In addition, many sound cards and mixers lack multiple inputs, which makes adding or replacing appliances hard without purchasing another.

For example, If you are using two microphones on stage to capture vocals, each microphone should be connected to a separate channel on the mixer. On the other hand, if you have a single microphone input on your mixing board, you will need a splitter so that two microphones may be routed independently from the mixing console to their separate mixer channels. 

If you consider buying a microphone splitter, consider reading this entire post as your buying guideline.