Headset for IP telephony and music playback
 

I need to buy a computer headset that meets the following spec:

• Good quality speakers for music playback
• Good quality microphone for I.P. telephony and soundtrack recording
• Light and comfortable for wearing up to a couple of hours at a time
• Plug and play without needing driver installation
• USB connector not 3.5mm jacks
• Max price £30 or so
• Probably wired because of the price point, though wireless via USB dongle would be nice (I don't want to touch Bluetooth)

The best I appear to have found so far is the Plantronics DSP-650 headset at about £27 via Amazon even though it comes with a USB-2x3.5mm converter instead of terminating directly with a USB plug (so is more bulky and has one more thing to break).

Experience with this headset or others I should consider?

TVM
XV105

Plantronics headset
 

I have the headset you describe. Its very good and the noise cancelling mic has improved the quality of my Skype conversations enormously. My friend in New Zealand says that it's much clearer than the desktop one I used previously. HTH
The Ancient Mariner

TVM. Your comments are aligned with the great User reviews the headset gets on Amazon, so I won't spend time looking any further.

Cheers,
XV105

XV105,

I have a few friends who use various models of the DSP series and swear by them. I've only ever gone through three headsets in my time, one old 3.5mm jack one, a decent Logitech USB one that last 4 or 5 years and now replaced with a newer model Logitech one, albeit just my preference.

The only downfall with it is is the ear pieces are quite muffy and over prolonged periods you'll come away with hot ears, though the DSP series seems a lighter model.

I just wandered into PCW*rld and picked one of the shelf for about £20 usb said it was Skype compatible, been working fine now for 18 months.

Cheers for that.

For anyone interested, this is what I have ordered from Amazon. I didn't shop around on this occasion and other sources may be a little cheaper, but it seems good value for money on the back of what's been said about it, so let's see. I'll post what I find in due course.

Plantronics DSP-650 review
 

Pros

• Cheap
• Decent build quality
• Light
• Comfortable
• Open and clear music playback with decent bass extension and good tonal response; audible differentiation between original CD source and compressed .mp3 copy (128 Kbps)
• Clear speech
• Microphone adjusts for length as well as angle, the latter permitting vertical storage when the headphone are being used for playback only
• Within the USB constraints listed below, works fine through my KVM switch (two computers sharing one set of peripherals)

Cons

• Warm ears after extended use; hardly a surprise
• Hot plugging or unplugging of the USB connector results in a delay of 5 to 10 seconds before the computer senses it and switches between headphone and loudspeaker or vice-versa
• Hot plugging or unplugging of the USB connector results in computer volume being reset to 100% rather than remaining at whatever level was set; annoying to me on headphone and the whole household on loudspeakers!
• Inconsistent volume operation with Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard and XP; works perfectly with XP Pro SP2 on my laptop but the volume graphic doesn't represent reality with XP SP2 Media Center Edition 2005 on my home computer; it will display correctly up to 75% whereupon it becomes locked and won't go up or down even though the actual volume *does* go up or down according to +/- keystroke. Unplug the USB connector to use loudspeakers and volume display is correct.

Conclusion

• 8/10

Reply from Plantronics regarding the volume issue on hot plugging:

The reason that this is happening is every time you plug in the USB adapter, effectively windows is then using a completely different 'sound card'. The USB adapter in itself is an actual 'audio device' and every time you plug it in, I believe that windows will simply start using it as if it was a brand new hardware installation.

If you are wishing to be using both the headset and your desk top speakers I would advise another way around. What ever programs you are using the headset for (presumably voice programs?) you can manually tell them to use the USB device, and leave the Windows defaults as your sound card ergo you'll be able to leave your headset plugged in all the time, and hence the volume settings on both items should always remain the same.

Unfortunately doesn't help me because headset usage is driven by consideration for others in the house, not by application type