In fact, this past week they were named in a press release from Telstra in Australia. In this release Telstra announced the launch of the Polycom VVX-1500 video phone, a device that I’ve written about previously. However, along side the VVX-1500 they were also launching the Sennheiser DV Office, a DECT wireless headset.
The Sennheiser DV Office is a good match for the VVX-1500 in that it supports wideband audio and the electronic hook-switch connection (EHS) to Polycom phones.
The VVX-1500 supports very high quality audio using G.722, Siren 7 (G.722.1) and Siren 14 (G.722.1C) codecs. Looking into the literature I see that the frequency response of the device is 150 Hz – 6.8 KHz in wideband mode, which seems at least appropriate for Siren 7 or baseline G.722.
It always seems paradoxical to me that we have these high-tech desk phones that require often require a mechanical handset lifter to toggle hook state when used with a cordless headset. There just something so wrong about that arrangement.
The Sennheiser DV Office looks like a real player in the space:
- Intuitive user interface – Mute microphone and adjust volume up or down
- Sennheiser HD Voice Clarity – Wideband sound for a more natural experience
- Full workday Talk Time – 8 hours in wideband sound mode and 12 hours in narrowband sound mode
- Intelligent fast charging – 50% in 20 minutes gives you 4 hours talk time
- Long Distance Wireless Range – In typical office building: Up to 55 m and in line of sight: Up to 180 m.
- Protected hearing – ActiveGard™ technology protects against acoustic shock and sudden sound surges
- Boosted productivity – Noise-canceling microphone filters out unwanted background noise
- Desk phone & softphone – Switch from one communication channel to the other. One touch on the base station to select the channel you wish to call from
A quick look around on-line shows them offered At $300 USD. Plus you’ll pay extra for the aforementioned handset lifter ($89) or the EHS cable ($85)
While that seems a bit pricey, there simply aren’t that many wideband-capable cordless headsets being offered yet, so every new model is worth mentioning.