Recently, I've been looking for a good, high-quality pc headset and after a bit of searching, I came across the Plantronics .Audio 500. Having all the features I need and looking pretty rugged from the picture I saw of it, I decided to purchase it. 2 days later it arrived at my door. I have to say, I'm mightily impressed by pretty much every aspect of it. The build, the sound quality, the functionality - I can't really fault it. It seems that while the people at Plantronics decided to design the headset purely for comfort and practicality, they managed to incorporate some incredible technology into the compact shell of the Audio 500.
The headset is a USB device which makes for convenient use with my PC (and with a Mac I guess). Plantronics describe it as "plug-and-play" but that's their language, not mine. All you need to know is that you plug it into the USB socket of your computer and off you go.
The sound quality of the Audio 500 is outstanding. The clear, resonant tones coming through the ear pieces were offset by a microphone set-up that, according to one of my friends, made me sound like I was in the next room (I was actually at the other end of the country when we were conversing). Apparently this is all down to Plantronics' own noise-cancelling technology. Not wanting to get into the details of how noise cancelling circuits work, I'll just say it makes everything clearer and crisper by cutting out background sounds.
In addition the high quality sound, the microphone on the audio 500 is easily adjustable and is accompanied by a flexible headband and movable ear cushions so that you can achieve a snug fit - I used this for an online gaming session recently and totally forgot I had the headset on, it was that comfortable.
The volume and mute functions of the headset are built into a unit in the middle of the headset cord for convenience and control over the listening and speaking experience.
I use this headset primarily for chatting and gaming but I could easily see this used in an office environment (my colleague actually uses a Plantronics headset himself). I guess the only downside in that respect is that it's not cordless but if you spend the majority of your working day at a desk and don't need that option, then you could go far worse than choose the audio 500.
| I should give a shout out to Best4Headset.co.uk who sold me the headset. They have a range of Plantronics Headsets available including my own Audio 500 Rob Camp is a Freelance Writer. |
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