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How to Use Headphones on a PS3

Late-night gaming sessions can be a lot of fun, but you can run the risk of angering your housemates with noisy games. Using a set of headphones can help you keep the noise down. Unfortunately, the PlayStation 3 doesn&'t have a built-in option to output audio through headphones connected to it, but most stereo systems have an audio output you can use your headphones with.

Things You'll Need

Stereo with headphone jack
Fiber-optic Digital Audio cable

Instructions

- 1
  
  Fiber-topic digital audio cables.
  
  Connect your PS3 to a stereo system. Different stereos will support different types of audio inputs. Most stereos released since 2008 have a dedicated port for fiber-optic digital audio cables. They&'re square ports with two beveled edges. The digital audio port on your PS3 is on the rear face beside the HDMI connection.
- 2
  Configure your PS3 to output audio over the digital audio cable. Select "Audio Settings" from under the "Settings" tab of the PS3 main menu. Then select "Audio Output Settings" and pick "Digital Out (Optical)" from the menu that comes up. Select an audio output format from the following menu that is compatible with your stereo system. For example, 2 channel, Dolby 51 or Dolby 7.1.
- 3
  Connect your headphones to your stereo system and configure it to output audio only through the headphone jack. Some stereo systems do this automatically when headphones are plugged in. Others will have to be configured to mute the external speakers. The process should be described in the stereo owner&'s manual. The headphone jack is on the front face of most stereos.

PlayStation 3