Reddit mentions of USB Power Meter

Get something like this https://www.amazon.com/Centech-USB-Power-Meter/dp/B00DAR4ITE and test the current and voltage of each one. Thickness and feel is OK for durability but many of those cables may not be delivering the right amount of power. If you have a fast charger, that is also another item as well. Lastly, make sure they are all charging and data cables, I accidentally added a charge only cable to my travel kit and was stuck with not being able to move files between devices. Hope it helps.

USB ports should be regulated to prevent too much power from being output, which is what sounds like happened. I'd be less worried about the headset and more worried about your motherboard. I bet the headset is the victim here.

I'd grab something like this to measure the port: http://www.amazon.com/Centech-USB-Power-Meter/dp/B00DAR4ITE - if it explodes, then you'll know. I have a hard time believing it would melt at a standard 500mW.

Conveniently, I have a USB current meter. No promises these figures are accurate.

• 290 mA for a R820T dongle (NooElec) in operation.
  80 mA if it's just plugged in.
  
  
• 110 mA for a E4000 dongle (ezcap) in operation.
  70 mA if it's just plugged in.
  
  I also have a "nano" dongle, but plugging it in makes the meter reset (!) so I can't get correct readings.
  
  The USB voltage was a bit low (dropped to 4.8V, on the end of an extension) so the current figures may be higher than ideal if there is any regulation in the dongle (likely).

Are you using a usb power meter like this to measure off of the wall plugs?

I don't use OEM cables/chargers except for home use, and the "why not?" is what happens when you have to deal with something like a Hurricane Sandy, where you have so many OEM chargers taking too much space on overpopulated power strips. The approaches taken by Samsung et al. re: USB charging do not help, either.

Here's the thing for Samsung. The cables supplied with their phones/tablets work best with only genuine Samsung chargers, and will charge slower with all other chargers. For my SGS4, the max amperage received during a charge cycle is 1.75A, measured at the charger with a USB power meter.

The best charger combos I've found for the SGS4 without going OEM:

chargers:

• Antec 4-port 25W (2x2A, 2x1A, 5A total output)
  
• Innergie 2-port 15W (2A per port, 3A total output)
  
• UE Boom's supplied 10W charger
  
  cables:
  
  
• Griffin mini cables pack (mini-USB, micro-USB, Apple 30-pin, all under 6")
  
• Nokia data cable (included with 5800XM featurephone, thin cable, under 6")
  
• UE Boom's supplied charge cable (2'+ flat)
  
• WD data cable (supplied with Passport USB2 portable HDDs, thick cable, about 1')
  
  I'm doing some traveling in a few weeks, but the Samsung OEM chargers/cables are staying stateside. I don't just have my SGS4 to 2A charge, there's also a rental hotspot, portable speakers, and a battery pack. Samsung OEM stuff do not charge full speed to non-Samsung devices, period.

There are two programs out there that may provide this info to you:

USBView and USBTreeView. Both are free and both show you more info about your usb ports than you ever needed to know. and/or get a new cable to narrow down the problem? or maybe this :

https://www.amazon.com/Centech-USB-Power-Meter/dp/B00DAR4ITE

or this:

https://www.amazon.com/Diymore-Charging-Detector-Voltmeter-Multimeter/