The art of online computer gaming has progressed over the years and matured into a strategic affair for the masses. From the early years where gamers were just frag happy and content with playing for the sheer enjoyment of killing others in the virtual world. Now it has transformed into a mental sport filled with strategic battles and essential element of teamplay. Teamplay to be achieved by understanding strategy, knowing your team's strengths and weaknesses and most of all being able to communicate. Online gaming is fiercely competitive and people strive to be the best. Seeing as the best have earned over $1,000,000 playing computer games I don't see why not. Most games on the internet require an aspect of communication and awareness from teammates and what better way to showcase that by using headphones with top quality microphones.

I decided to purchase these plantronic audio 90 headphones 2 years ago because my usual computer headphones had broke after a little foot stomping accident. I was also in need of a working microphone because the microphone I received with my computer was lacking in sound quality and they snapped after the instance of them being used. This meant that I was set on purchasing a headset because they saved me the effort of buying a microphone and headset plus they would be more efficient when I was gaming. As I was unsure of what headset to buy I was sure that the overpriced sennheiser brand were the ones for me but since I went to argos to purchase a headset they were over £80. After much dedicated flipping through the saliva enduced catalogue of argos I found the computer headset section which featured a range of generic brand headsets and a page especially for plantronics. I had heard from word of mouth that plantronics were a good brand so I had no hesitation in going through my options for a plantronics headset. After much deliberation I decided on the audio 90 headset because they were larger than the cheaper alternatives and the microphone on small headsets seem slightly filmsy. I purchased the headset for £35 in argos 2 years ago.

The first impressions I had of the headset were that they seemed more advanced than alot of the generic brand headsets on the market at the time. The headset just seemed ergomically friendly and was designed to suit everyone. The first problem I had was that they used vacuum packaging for the headset. This was very difficult to tear apart and required a sharp object to slice it open and get the headset out. The first noticeable thing is that the cable that leads from the headset to the input and output jack is very long. I would say they are around 2meters long, this is very inadequate has not everyone will have such a distance between the pc connection and the headphones. But to cater for people who have annoying cable problems there is a crocodile type clip that will hold the cables together if you roll them into the clip. This is very nice as sometimes the cable can get trapped in some very awkward positions. The headset has soft felt like ear coverings which make your ears feel very comfortable and won't cause any ache unlike some headphones. The microphone on the headset can be moved up or down so you only use it when you need to. The microphone initially had a cover on but after usage seems to fall off and very hard to place it back onto the microphone. The top of the headset which rests on your head is designed with rubber and has 2 layers, 1 for resting on your head an the other with the cable running through. The headset can be adjusted to fit various sizes of the head. On the cable of the headphones there is a control which has a mute button and a volume control. The control is too far away because if you're on a seat you will have to pull the cable up before you can reach the control. The end of the cable features 2 jacks one for microphone which is input coloured pink, and the other is an output jack to receive sound which is adequately coloured green. The colours correspond with the colours on the back of your pc or soundcard which makes operation easier.

The sound quality of these headphones are very good and easily beat the quality of sony headphones etc. The headset usually works quite well with decent sound quality from what i've been told and from what i've heard on windows sound recorder. Be aware that if the microphone is too close then your voice will sound very loud so keep it a fair distance away from yourself. No installation is required with these, it is simply plug and play. Be sure to configure your microphone in the properties in the volume control in windows.

Finally after 2 years of use the sound input on the headset screwed up completely and the sound on the headset was messed up. The only sounds I was able to hear were the bass line of a song, no vocals. Initially I thought it was my soundcard but then I plugged this into the new soundcard and it still gave the same troublesome sound. Alot of people I've spoken to who have this have usually had it kicking in after a year or 2 for the microphone but not for the headphones. Thankfully the microphone on this still works and I continue to use it as I'm not interested in shelling out another £20 for a headset.

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