Logitech ClearChat Pro USB Headset: Can you hear me now?

Logitech ClearChat Pro USB Headset: Can you hear me now?

I like to do crossword puzzles. My aging Aunt in the UK also likes to do crossword puzzles. It seems only natural that we work on them together. I bought several books of crosswords, two copies of each edition, and I sent one of each to her (minus the answers... she cheats!) Every Sunday we would spend and hour or two to work our way through one of the NY Times hardest puzzles... Hey, I said she was old. I didn't say she wasn't sharp. We were in crossword heaven. However, at the end of the month when my first phone bill came due, it was Wulfette that had the cross words. Obviously, some form of VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) was necessary. After some... er... discussion we settled on Skype.

While I did have some old headphones, and a microphone of questionable heritage lying around, it seemed like getting a new unit was a better idea. The newer equipment comes with a noise canceling microphone that could greatly help me communicate with this 80-something lady and her twin nuclear-powered hearing aids.

Since my personal survival relied on quick action, I headed down to the local Staples. I might not get the best price, I reasoned, but I will recoup the entire cost on the first phone call. After looking at several models, I settled on the most expensive one they stocked, which by pure luck was on sale that day, about $25 off. I bought the Logitech ClearChat Pro USB Headset and paid about $50 for it. 

Once I got it home, I set about opening the hard clear plastic cover. After only 30 minutes or so of hard work with a utility knife, carpet clippers, hacksaw, blowtorch and the home version of the jaws-of-life, I managed to get the headphones out of their packaging.

The headset comes complete with no additional software or gizmos. The package contains just the sleek plastic headphones and their permanently-attached 8-foot long USB cord. The plug and play software is built into the RAM on the unit. It's compatible with Windows XP, and Vista, and Mac. All you need is a free USB port.

The cord enters the headset through the right earpiece. While both earpieces look alike to a casual observer, the controls are cunningly built into this side. The outer rim of the earpiece serves as the volume control, pushing the top raises the volume, pushing the bottom lowers it. Pushing the center mutes the microphone, while a second push switches the microphone on again. Immediately behind the right earpiece is a small, easy to miss, 3-position slider switch. It allows you to set the headset for music, for game play, or for VOIP. I cannot say that I notice a lot of difference. The boom microphone is attached to the left earpiece. It can swivel up and down through about 140 degrees. A small red light is built into the end of the microphone which lights up when it is muted.

The earpieces themselves are large and heavily padded. They fit on the ear, not over it, but provide plenty of comfort, and prevent noise getting in or out. They are mounted on a curved over-the-head bar, which also has copious padding. The headphones adjust by sliding the sides in and out of the top bar. The 1-1/4 adjustment at each side is adequate to fit me comfortably both when I start a puzzle, and when my head swells up after I finish one. The headphones are clearly marked with an R and an L on the bar just above the earpieces, not that there is much chance of getting right and left mixed up when using the microphone.

Using the headphones is mindlessly easy. You simply plug the standard plug into any available USB port. You get a nice two-note tone to tell you they are connected. Any software opened after this simply uses these headphones, and mutes any other output devices, like the bookshelf speakers.

On my XP system, if a piece of software is already in use, the behavior varies. Windows Media Player, for example, will not detect the change unless you stop and restart the current video. This is purely because of how WMP is coded and has nothing to do with the headphones. Some of the free software on my PC actually has to be shut down and restarted to detect the headphones. Hey, it was free!

Disconnecting the headphones also has its quirks. Some of the free software freezes up. Real Player starts sticking (like a vinyl LP with a scratch) if a title is playing. Once again either restart the title or restart the software to fix the problem. This is nothing to do with the headphones... just Windows quirks... Any USB headset would do the same.

No matter, once the software spots the change, everything works perfectly.

In use, the headphones are light and comfortable. The sound quality is first rate. Listening to music from CD, from Internet Radio, from a music download service, or from youtube are all perfect, or at least, as perfect as they can be. (Some youtube stuff can be of low quality.) 

In talking to my Aunt over Skype, the set works flawlessly, I can hear her, she can hear me. The reception is great. It is also nice to have my hands free so I can use an online dictionary or thesaurus. Hey! That is NOT cheating, right?

For quality, clarity and comfort I cannot fault this headset, and would heartily recommend it, but I probably would not buy it again.

The volume and mute control on the right earpiece covers most of the outside, and is very easy to change by accident when you reach up to reposition the phones on your head. Since my PC (a Dell) comes with a dedicated sound control gizmo on the keyboard, I already had volume and mute controls at my fingertips. However, these controls mute the entire headphone, not just the microphone, so some form of mute control on the headset is still necessary. Since it is easy to un-mute and to adjust the volume, this is a minor annoyance at worst.

The main reason I would not repurchase this unit is the cord. It is long enough to reach the floor when I am sitting, and it is constantly getting under the wheels of my desk chair. Sooner or later I am going to have a problem. Constantly running over it cannot be good for the cable. Getting it caught up can pull the headset off my head, or worse!! When I went to look up the technical specs for this headset, I noticed that it had a sister unit which looks exactly like this one, except that it is cordless. I think the USP connector is wireless. Unless you really enjoy having long cords snaked across your workspace, you might want to give that one a try.    



Specifications:

System Requirements:
    Windows 2000, XP, Vista,
    Mac OSx (10.02 or later)
    USB Port
Frequency Response:
    Headset: 20Hz--20kHz.
    Microphone: 100Hz--10kHz
Cable Length: 8 feet