The Plantronics is a product essentially designed for use in the office environment. In terms of audiovisual conferencing, speech recognition or Internet telephony, the HS-1 is a great product. Its high-sensitivity adjustable microphone lets you place it for optimal sound quality, and the noise-cancelling system in place on the microphone means that speech-recognition systems are more accurate than with other cheaper headsets. However, it's also good for music, having 40mm speakers with excellent dynamic bass response. The microphone, of course, folds up out of the way when not in use.
The inbuilt volume control on the device's cable is surprisingly useful, being rather more accurate than some other models. However, it does produce one problem, which is that when sitting at a desk typing, as I am now, the volume control is placed on the cable just at the point where it hits the desk, so that it's sandwiched between my wrist and the keyboard rest. I often find that if I make sudden movements, like stabbing the Escape key, I'll accidentally trap the control against something and turn the sound down... or up. A few such accidents are more than enough. The designers apparently foresaw this problem and placed a little crocodile clip on the cable just above the volume control so, one assumes, one can clip it somewhere so that such problems no longer occur. Unfortunately, I simply can't be bothered to clip my headset to myself every time I sit down...
This headset is light enough that you can wear it during your entire working day without discomfort. Being an open headset, it also does not exert too much pressure on your ears. It is comfortably padded in very soft hypoallergenic material, which is also a factor in the all-day wearer's comfort level. Those who use Skype or other internet telephony at work or at home will be used to keeping headphones on all day in case a call comes in, and this it seems is really the crowd that Plantronics had in mind when designing this product.
The HS-1 used to be a fairly expensive piece of kit, going for perhaps 80 dollars (40 pounds).
Note that the Plantronics HS-1 Headset has been discontinued, replaced by the Plantronics Audio 90, which usually costs in the region of £25-30.
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Left: 2 x 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style) - female, 1 x 4 PIN USB Type A - male - Right: 1 x 4 PIN USB Type A - male, 2 x 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style) - female, 1 x 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style) - female
helpful stuff. I use a USB headset for Skype as it means I can still have music coming out of my speakers but hand a batter quality skype-call through the headphones. Sam.
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