Thursday, September 4, 2014

Headset replacement

So my Plantronics 655 headset recently stopped working. This is annoying but it does gives me a good excuse to get a better one. While I was impressed with the decent microphone and lack of any background hiss, the Plantronics headset had some issues. The biggest problem was that it became very uncomfortable over time.

Note to self: supra-aural headphones are not good for wearing long term.

For my headset, I've been looking at gaming gear because I've come to learn that, for some things, gamers are the most demanding. Best audio quality, best microphones, best comfort, rugged etc.. Gaming headsets need to do all these things.

I'm also determined to get a USB headset because I'm addicted to the quiet. To quote myself:
Usually a headset plugged into the stereo mini jack on the computer will create a tiny background hum or hiss all the time. This is typically because the audio card on the machine isn't perfectly isolated from all the electrical noise coming from inside the computer. Because this is a USB headset, however, there is none of that. It sounds as if the headphones are not plugged in, as if the computer is not playing any sound.

So, to re-cap, I'm looking for a circumaural set with good audio, good microphone (ideally one that doesn't pick up room noise), and is USB.

My current lead contender is the Razer Kraken USB. Razor has many headsets available. Most of the seem to be named the Kraken. Razer has a web page so you can wade through the morass of Kraken models. Want to know the difference between the Razer Kraken 7.1 (which is USB) and the Razer Kraken USB (which also does 7.1 audio!)? Heavy sigh. The Razer Kraken USB is relatively inexpensive too so I won't feel to bad next time I sit on them and they break.

There are many other contenders though and I'll be looking through the online reviews and checking them out. Until next time...

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