- 26
- May
- 2010
Dear Plantronics: Fix your headsets
Posted in : Life, Luck??, News & Media, WarcraftAfter reading several reviews of the various plantronics headsets, I decided to purchase their .Audio 655 headset. It wasn’t my first choice, as I wanted to continue to use my cheap microsoft lifechat headset which had earpads big enough to fit comfortably, but Futureshop didn’t have any in stock.
There are pros to this headset. It’s pretty. It feels sturdy. The headband is padded. The cable is long. My friends reported my voice quality went up drastically (You don’t sound like a grandmother anymore) over ventrilo.
But the pros are very frustrating. First off, the ear pads are too small, so my ears hurt. I figured this would happen, and usually I can tolerate it. Usually, in time, it goes away as the headset loosens up and my ears get used to it. So I was ignoring this frustration.
But the one thing I couldn’t stand was the crackling. CONSTANT crackling. This headset comes with no drivers, so when I contacted Plantronics, and advised them of the issue, they “kindly” informed me that it was my computer, not the headset, despite the evidence I found elsewhere online.
For those who care, I am running 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium on an i7 920 hyper-threaded quadcore with 6gb memory. My power source is adequate. I have tried four different usb slots on my computer, and all result in the crackling and the sound cutting out.
I can repeat this issue on other systems running 64-bit headsets, but the problem does not exist on 32-bit systems.
This echoes another plantronics headset, the GameCom 777. It uses the same C4 chipset as my headset. Coincidence?
Needless to say, if you are running a 64-bit headset, Plantronics earns a fail.
Their headsets seem nice enough, but unless you want lame customer service and a headset that crackles and cuts out worse than a blown car stereo system, give it a pass.
