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Wired Headset Happiness: The Return Of ETY.COM

Despite the fact that I have a couple of very good wireless headsets I still find that a wired headset can be handy. This is true both in the office and on the road. While lately I’ve been traveling with a Plantronics Voyager Pro UC cordless headset I also keep an Etymotic ETY.COM wired headset in a my laptop bag.

I’ve mentioned the Etymotic ETY.COM wired headset previously. It remains my favorite wired headset for mobile use. It sounds great and has a boom that reaches around to the corner of my mouth, which is ideal for use in a noisy environment.

However, since I changed cell phones back in November 2009 I’ve not been able to use the ETY.COM with my cell phones. Whereas the Blackberry Pearl has a four conductor 2.5mm jack for the wired headset, the newer Blackberry Bold2 (9700) has a larger 3.5 mm headset jack. The ETY.COM doesn’t fit the 9700 without an adapter.

For almost the past year this simple, mechanical issue has lead me to make greater use of Bluetooth headsets like the Voyager Pro. Even so, the ETY.COM lived in my computer bag along with the little adapter that lets me use it with a soft phone on my laptop or netbook.

A couple of weeks ago someone, I can’t remember who, tweeted that they had just bought a little wired headset adapter on Amazon.com for what seemed a trivial sum. Recalling how much I liked the ETY.COM headset, I caved in and ordered the adapter cable for myself. It cost less than $9 delivered. Amazon’s “One-Click” ordering and Prime service can be dangerous in the hands of the compulsive…like me!

The adapter arrived a few days ago. It works about as expected. I’ll be taking it with me on my next trip. If there’s anything worth noting about it I’ll certainly report back.

There’s a little moral to this tale that’s not entirely obvious; don’t give up on gear you like just because it’s not trendy and new. I originally liked the ETY.COM headset for a range of good and sensible reasons. It was silly to allow its use be restricted to a lesser role just because I didn’t have the little adapter cable. At very least I should have purchased the adapter in order to have a backup plan if the battery in my latest Bluetooth headset went flat.

This Post Has 3 Comments
  1. Thank you. I bought this and tried it. The quality is excellent, but my ears get sore from in-the-ear headsets.

    Can you recommend a wideband, over-the-ear, wired headset that will work with the Gigaset S79H?

    thank you,
    Brian

    1. I have no specific experience with over-the-ear headsets that are both widebansd-capable and use a wired connection. I would have thought that just about any decent wired headset should work. My last wired analog headset was from Panasonic, but it died of old age some time back.

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