Headphones

Hi,

What headset do you recommend for Rocket Languages? I have a Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 and it doesn't seem to do a very good job of recording my voice. When I play it back, it's either low volume or I don't hear my voice at all.

I'm using a TekNMotion TM-YB100P Yapster Plus Headset that someone let me borrow, and it works OK with Rocket Languages. TekNMotion does make other headsets if you want to look into those, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like they sell the headset I'm using anymore. For whatever it's worth, there doesn't seem to be anything special or ultra high quality about the headset I am using (in fact, it's kind of falling apart), so I suspect it doesn't usually matter which headset you use (though there is obviously something weird going on when you're using yours, so I don't know).

I have ordered a headset of my own, and it should arrive within a couple of days, so I can update you on whether that one works, too, if no one else responds by the time it arrives.

I use a Jabra Evolve 40 headset on one of my laptops. It uses a USB connection and the headphones sit on-the-ear. I wouldn't use it for music or anything other than what I bought it for because the fidelity isn't the greatest, but speaking voices are very clear and distinct. On-the-ear headphones work well if you're not concerned about hearing noise around you, and maybe you need to hear the kids playing in the next room, but it wouldn't be my choice for anything other than what I intended. There's a slight delay when you hit the record button before you can start to record that is clearly associated with the USB connection. It's not the laptop or the platform and it doesn't do it if I use the jack connection rather than the USB, but I did that only once and the result was something akin to what you describe with your Microsoft headset - unusable. The microphone is very adjustable up and down, but is fixed in terms of length, so, I personally, have to wear the headphones a little lopsided to keep the mic off to the side of my nose and mouth to avoid recording my breathing. There's a well-known occasional glitch in that the you hear your machine's fan speed running much higher than normal and it's caused by the headphone's software. You can see it gobbling your processor on Task Manager. You simply unplug the headset, reboot the machine and then plug the headset back in. It's done it only a few times in several months of use, but was pretty dramatic the first time I used the headset. I'm on the platform 5 hrs a day, 7 days a week, and I use that laptop at least half the time and am very satisfied with the performance of the headset, although on-the-ear headphones would never be my choice for comfort or fidelity under any other circumstances.

Robert

Hi again!

My headphones arrived a little early, and I figured I might as well give an update.

I bought the Kensington Hi-Fi Headphones with Microphone K97603WW, and it works pretty well with Rocket Languages. The microphone quality seems to be about equal to the quality of the one I borrowed, and the voice recognition software can understand me fairly well. I haven't had any issues with faint or absent sounds when trying to record my voice. The sound quality from the headphones' speakers is OK, nothing special but not super terrible either.

Thank you both very much!

About 6 weeks ago I bought a “MICROSOFT LifeChat LX-3000 headset” from Currys PCWorld and it works fine for me. I paid £29.99 but it appears to have dropped to £24.99 (drat!) and delivery was free (if you're in the UK I suppose).

I actually bought it for playing Bridge via a “Zoom”-type interface (RealBridge) but have used it for Rocket Languages and it definitely seems to be more accurate when it comes to recording the voice (still not 100%, but better than the PC in-built mike).

Anyway, viel Glück!