Plantronics Foldable USB Stereo Headset (Optimized for Laptop Use) (Audio 470 USB)
by Plantronics
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Our Price: $129.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Plantronics Foldable USB Stereo Headset (Optimized for Laptop Use) (Audio 470 USB)
Customer Review: Dragon Speech recognition
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to say this product is great! I love it and I think it is a fantastic purchase. Plantronics really seems to have it figured out when it comes to speech recognition. I use this product with Dragon Naturally Speaking. The level of accuracy I was able to achieve after 3 training sessions is about the same level I achieved after 10 training sessions with the microphone which came with Naturally Speaking. Unlike the Dragon microphone it is far less sensitive to microphone position even though optimal positioning does help (corner of mouth, slight above upper lip -- in my case). I found with the Dragon microphone that you had to tweak the position quite a bit and because the boom was so flexible it hardly stayed in place where as this one does, especially since the length is just right for reaching the corner of your mouth. And what is great is that because the boom-length is just right, once you twist the boom into the position that works for you, you don't have to adjust it for storage. So you only ever have to rotate it into place when you are ready to use it.
I find that the microphone picks up really well and I almost only get speech recognition errors when I (admittedly) pronounce the word phonetically incorrect. I am learning through use of speech recognition that I do run my words into each other sometimes. But, I am still able to dictate much faster than with the Dragon microphone and unlike the Dragon microphone there are only a handful of words that when repeated by themselves are still not picked up properly by the microphone. The other way in which this microphone is much better than the dragon microphone is that it doesn't pick up stray sounds as words -- the way the dragon microphone does.
You can tell the sound quality is much, different. Because when you do a playback, the voice recording is much, much better than with the Dragon microphone (and my voice is deeper than most so this helps :o). Clearly the USB connection makes a big difference in cutting down the noise. The first time you startup Windows wearing the headset you will be amazed at the clarity of sound which comes out of it as compared to other headphones. The bass is not the greatest, especially compared to ear buds. But I mainly listen to Jazz and instruments like guitars and saxophones sound fantastic through the headphones.
It is extremely comfortable -- almost like wearing nothing, (while doing initial training I wore it for eight hours with a few 15 minute breaks and it was almost like I had nothing on my head). This is due to the swivel mounting of the headphones. This is markedly different from the dragon headset. Every time I used it, the Temple of my ear would hurt quite a bit after two or so hours of use.
But I must agree with a few little quibbles made by other reviewers. In making the headset comfortable, Plantronics seems to have made it a little bit too loose. Somehow it stays in place though, even if you shake your head fairly vigorously. And the cord does seem a little bit flimsy. I worry a little bit about that in terms of the longevity of the headphone, but then I tend to treat my cords very well. As someone else also said, especially with the foldable design, a carrying case would really be nice.
So anyway, here's the proof of the pudding. I wrote this review three days after receiving the microphone and doing about 10 training sessions (plus training some specific words since I pronounce them differently). I used Dragon to write this review. I've corrected about 10 spelling errors. And here's the kicker -- I'm from Jamaica so my accent and pronunciations are much different from the North American accent. This microphone is great I love it so much I think I might get a spare!
Customer Review: Surprisingly good results with DNS 9 Preferred
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay,
I'll be honest and reveal that I bought these on a lark. After moving to a new home, I found that my Telex Digital USB microphone that I'd been using for DNS 9 Preferred and had been training for so long had been smashed inside a packing box. This was disconcerting because that microphone is no longer made.
Coming to Amazon.com, I specifically looked for USB headsets that reviewers said worked well with DNS 9 Preferred, and I was amazed that so few people had reviewed microphones for use with this program. Just about the only USB headset that anyone had mentioned at the time as being good with voice recognition software was this one. At about 30 bucks, I thought it was worth a try.
So I plug it into the USB port and do the shortest training I can find, creating a new user for use with this microphone. To my shock, dictation on this microphone after such short training was even better than I had achieved in many months of training on the Telex USB Digital microphone! This fact was made all the more bizarre because DNS 9 Preferred's user set up did not appear to like this microphone at all: this microphone only achieves a signal-to-noise rating of 18-19, while the Telex was easily up into the mid-20s consistently and easily. Go figure. But I sure am NOT complaining.
True, the build is a bit fragile feeling, so I'm not sure just how "optimized for laptop use" these truly are. Yes they fold up very small, but they don't do so without resistance, and I'm not quite sure how much folding and unfolding they will take before breaking into tiny pieces. But, for a desktop where I can simply hang them up when I'm not using them, I think their build quality will not be such a big issue.
I didn't think I'd use it, but the shirt-pocket volume control and mic mute have come in quite handy when watching streaming video, catching up on some TV shows I've missed during the move.
I'm not quite sure how significant the Dragon/Nuance/ScanSoft/whoever-owns-them-this-week rating of the low signal to noise ratio for these is. It might not be great for all programs, but it seems to work well for DNS 9, and that's all I use them for.
The one star negative I added in, making this a four-star rating, comes from what so many of us have come to experience as the "Chinese Build-Quality Syndrome." (Don't try to make an acronym out of that) I hope these are sturdier than they appear, and I hate to have to handle them with kid gloves -- o.k. I don't own any kid-gloves (it's a metaphor!) -- but it's solid tech, and for 30 bucks I don't think one can do much better. IIRC, I think the Telex was in the $90 neighborhood some years ago.
Lastly, I don't think that the Plantronics stereo headphone-component of these will replace my Grados or AKGs any time soon, but the sound quality is much better than expected, and it definitely is useful for speech playback. If you want to listen to Strauss, Mahler, Tchaik, or Branford, well, refer to the above models....
Customer Review: Good headset for Skype and Teamspeak gaming
Summary: 5 Stars
An absolutely great headset for online voice applications such as Skype and Teamspeak gaming. Incoming and outgoing audio are very clear for voice/chat applications. I have not used it for music and doubt I would.
POSITIVES:
I. The headset is very comfortable. I've purchased and returned a few other types of headsets for a variety of reasons; i.e., too much pressure on my ears, too heavy, makes my ears too hot, etc. The Plantronics 470 is very lightweight, doesn't press hard against my ears, and can be worn for hours very comfortably. Also, the over-the-head design allows me to attach a TrackClip Pro for TrackIR head-tracking in flight simulators.
II. The USB connection. While it has the two mini-plugs for the old mic and headset connections, the included USB converter allows you to convert these plugs into a connection for a USB port. The USB connection acts as its own "sound card" separate from the other main computer audio. Therefore, I can have Skype audio in the headset-only while simultaneously playing music and/or normal system sounds through my normal computer sound card and speakers. For gaming purposes, I can designate the headset to only transmit/receive voice communications while the game's audio is played through my normal sound card and large computer speakers for full effect.
POTENTIAL NEGATIVES:
1. A potential positive/negative depending on your perspective: this headset does not isolate sound. The headphones sit lightly against your ears instead of covering them, so I wouldn't use this if you are bothered by talking in a consistently noisy environment. However, I specifically bought this headset because I wanted to still be able to hear other sounds in the room. Specifically, this works great in terms of using the headset for Teamspeak comms for gaming while still being able to hear my normal computer speakers very well.
2. Long cord, especially when marketed as a headset "optimized for laptop use." I have at least 3 feet or cord I keep coiled and bound together with a twist-tie near the USB connection. However, I use this headset with a desktop PC and plug it into a USB port on my keyboard. If I had to plug it into a USB port on my main computer chassis, the long cord would be a bonus. Personally, I believe what has been "optimized" for "laptop use" with this headset is the clip on the cord that controls headset volume and allows you to mute the mic. It is very small and lightweight compared to the larger bulky looking in-line controller on the Plantronics 400 foldable headset.
Overall, great headset. Great price with free super saver shipping. I highly recommend this product.
Customer Review: Disappointing.
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought these headphones because they are recommended by MacSpeech for use with their Dictate speech recognition software (well, this is actually the successor to the one they recommend. Amazon apparently ships this one in place of the Audio 400)
First off, the build quality on these headphones is rather poor. I can't see the headband staying intact for more than a few months and looks like it might snap at any minute just by putting them on my head. The foam ear pads are flimsy and uncomfortable and the cord is also very flimsy and tangle prone. Overall, they remind me of the free headphones that airlines give out with an added microphone (which is no gem to look at itself)
Sound quality, both microphone and headphone, was subpar (or worse). The sound was clear, but had a very quiet maximum volume as far as maximum volumes go. It got distorted at max volume too, forcing me to keep it at about medium. I suppose this would be fine for conversation as long as the other party spoke loudly enough, but don't expect to use them for music (very poor bass and mid range).
And finally, the purpose I bought this headset for: speech recognition. I use a Macbook Pro, and I originally tried the Dictate software out with the built in microphone. Sitting about 3-4 feet away from my computer and talking at a normal conversational volume and pace with no particular regard for where the microphone was relative to myself, I was able to get a 2/5 star rating from the Dictate software. In actual use, I managed to speak about a page worth of text (after the software had calibrated everything and I was speaking into a text editor). I averaged about 8 misspelled or misunderstood words per paragraph.
Again, that was with my built in mic 3-4 feet away. So I figured with a proper, certified, headset I could get that inaccuracy down to nearly zero words per paragraph. Well, the audio 470 certainly did not perform. In fact, I couldn't even get the software to advance past the calibration stage. It asks you to read several lines of text and the software checks to see if it can understand you. After about an hour of trying and frequently having to repeat words and sentences up to 8 times before they were recognized (something I never had to do when using the computer's built in mic), I gave up and decided to return the headset.
Others gave this headset good reviews, which makes me wonder if I just got a lemon. Regardless, the build quality and performance combined don't even warrant giving this product a 1. Buy at your own caution.
Customer Review: A must add for speech recognition programs
Summary: 4 Stars
This headset is to be used for DNS [Dragon Naturally Speaking]speech recognition program version 10.1 on Vista.
Pros: easy to install on Vista, plug 'n play, excellent speech recognition, nice long cord, portable
Cons: the wires are very flimsy, the headset is not made to last, no carry case, no lighted on /off switch
As an owner of a much older Plantronics USB headset, I have read where this headset may be used in speech recognition and I am comparing my older headset with this one. Unfortunately the quality has dropped in the last few years and I do not think that this headset will put up to continuous use as compared to the older headset.
With that said, there is an interesting feature that makes this headset unique. As you can see from the picture the headset plugs into a USB dongle which plugs into your computer. I tried the dongle with a different brand headset [Adria] and it worked flawlessly.
All computers today whether they are desktop or lap top have built-in sound cards. The sound cards are usually of low quality especially on laptops. When you plug directly into your built-in sound card the quality is not good. Speech recognition suffers tremendously. That is why I started using USB headsets years ago for speech recognition and found them to be an excellent investment.
If you are having trouble with your speech recognition program, the 1st thing I would suspect is your built-in sound card. Bypassing your built-in sound card using this USB headset should have superior results.
Even though the headset is flimsy I know I can easily replace it and use the USB dongle. It would be nice to purchase the USB dongle by itself. I would suspect that the quality of ANY headset (that plugs directly into your computer) would be improved using the USB dongle.
My older Plantronics USB headset had thicker wires, a better on /off switch which had a light. This one does fold nicely and is portable however is lacking a carry case which is no problem as I had purchased an inexpensive case. Currently I am using this headset on both my laptop and desktop computer and will purchase another one.