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Searching For The Perfect Cordless Headset

Let there be no doubt, I’m manic. I find myself on something of a quest to find the perfect cordless headset. Over the past year or two I’ve tried a number of different makes & models. Some have been very good indeed, but none have been ideal.

As I transition my desktop phone from a Polycom Soundpoint IP650 to a VVX-1500 I find myself wanting something more. To be more specific, I would like support for very high-quality wideband audio, even beyond G.722. The VVX-1500 supports Siren14 and G.719 so let’s actually hear the difference, right?

To be fair, nothing that I’ve tried thus far was designed to support use with a hard phone. In using the headset with the VVX-1500 I need support for an “electronic hook switch” (a.k.a. EHS) connection. That allows the phone to go off-hook from the headset so that I could answer or hand up a call while distant from my desk.

Oh, and by the way, by “distant” I mean to achieve some serious range, ok? I suspect that means DECT over Bluetooth, but class 1 Bluetooth might work, too. Remember, the coffee machine is some 70 feet away…and my personal productivity is definitely influenced by my coffee intake.

So, a while ago I began asking around, speaking to people that I know use of this type of hardware. I asked for specific recommendations.

While some of the names being offered were well known to me, one was not…well, not exactly in this context. It happens that Sennheiser makes a range of headsets for telephony applications, including both wired and wireless models.

Sennheiser is no stranger to me. In studio situations I’ve used their professional microphones and monitoring products for years. In fact, my wife just purchased a sweet little Sennheiser wireless microphone system to accompany her new Canon camcorder. Their activities related to telephony are not nearly as well known, at least not in North America.

With a little help from a well placed friend an introduction has now been made. I’m hoping to get a chance to try some Sennheiser hardware over the next few months. That should be fun. More to follow….

Incidentally, this is post #750 for me. I think that must be some kind of milestone.

This Post Has 4 Comments
  1. I have a 9300 and 9400 series g.722 (?) EHS compatible DECT headset from GN Netcom aka Jabra. Very impressed with performance and audio of both including via USB in Skype. I have to say the 9300 is a better product than the 9400. The 9400 lacks dedicated buttons on the headset and has PC software… Simply answering the phone takes half a second longer. Anyway, my vote is on the 9300 series from GN.

  2. By the way: About 10 years ago Sennheiser received the German innovation price for “AudioBeam” (directed sound using ultra-sound) and for the “optical microphone” (no metal inside the microphone).

    1. Sounds like very cool stuff. I’ve read about the audio beam idea, intersecting beams of differentially modulated ultrasound. Very smart.

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