I’m starting college in a couple of weeks. I’m wondering what would be a good USB headset for lectures and gaming. My budget is $80 CAD.
We are currently using Jabra 20 or 40 headsets at work. Due to the current situation, deliveries of headsets can take a while - I ordered 20 headsets in 2 batches this week and the first batch, ordered on Tuesday had not been dispatched by Amazon yet.
I’d get my order in quickly.
We use Jabra DECT headsets with our telephones and they are generally very good, so we went with the Jabra 20 SE USB and Jabra 40 MS USB (the MS means that they are certified for Skype for Business use.
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You’ll be able to get a decent headset for that, but it probably won’t be the best. I’d look at Jabra or Plantronics. I’ve also been happy with Logitech.
Just keep big_D’s advice in mind. Things like webcams and headsets are commodity items right now.
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Plantronics headsets tend to be more expensive than that. At this point I have the Razer Electra V2 on order should I order the Jabra instead?
I’ve never heard of the Razer.
I’ve always bought Logitech myself. Nowadays, I use a Jabra speakerphone unit. When I don’t use that, I use my Bose QC headphones. But, I’m not a gamer.
Decent gamer headsets can be costly.
This is not in your pricing request, but I find you need a good mic more than anything, so I use Blue Yeti as a USB microphone and plug in a pair of HyperX Cloud headphones into it. The headphones are analog, but I like them, they’re sturdy and they’re pretty comfortable to wear for a good duration. They have a removable analog microphone, but I have never used it, because it can’t compare to the quality of the Yeti. Also, this is for a stationary configuration, at a desk… the Yeti is way too heavy and the headphones way too bulky for a portable situation. As anything, opinions are like… well you know the rest… and your mileage will certainly vary.
I agree. I’ll be getting a mic at some point. Just don’t have the money right now. But I’d most likely be getting the AT 2020
Do you have the means to interface it with a computer? That appears to be an XLR microphone requiring 48V phantom power… it’s needs to be plugged into pro level hardware to interface to a computer.
Might be an idea to look at the ATR2100-USB as well if considering a separate mic - that’s a very well-regarded dynamic unit with both USB and XLR outputs and a headphone socket + volume control at a very competitive price.
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Just an update, after 3 weeks, they were still undeliverable. We switched to Calleez, a Chinese no-name product and they turned up after a further week of waiting (33 headsets). They are all gone now, so I’m back to square one, trying to find anything (USB cable headset) that is deliverable.
Ended up getting an at2020 and Senheiser HD 559
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Starting a new Job this coming Sunday that is work from home. I have an over the ear headset that uses 3.5MM headphone jack works well for what I’ve used it for now as it is a gaming headset, but curious from you all if you saw a major advantage of using USB headset over this?
Thanks in advance. -Phil
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If you need a mic, you can plug the analog headphones to the bottom of a Yeti mic and turn them into USB headphones. (You definitely need headphones with the mic to prevent feedback.)
My gaming headset has a built in Mic, I just wasn’t sure if there would be an advantage to getting USB over 3.5mm which is what I currently own. When I interviewed with this headset they said it sounded perfect.
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I’ve only had USB, but the quality was always good.
But I mainly use the microphone in the camera and the speakers on the monitor. The microphone is much better, it gives a fuller sound on the other end, and the monitor speakers also have more bass and a fuller sound than the headphones.
They are also more comfortable in long meetings.
I habe a set of Jabra USB headphones, die the record.
I spend most of my working day on video calls using a usb plantronics headset. The people I talk to who sound the best are using the same company supplied headset but others who use laptop mics or earbuds are much more difficult to hear.
I think the proximity of the mic to their mouth is probably the main differentiator, plus the quality and direction of the mic will help, but your gaming headset is probably similar.
Benefits of USB are that the mute and hang up/answer buttons on the cable are useful and all of my USB devices plug into a hub so less things to plug/unplug when taking laptop away from the desk.
Agreed, the headset is better than the built in microphone on the laptop, but a good conference webcam with proper microphone sounds even better.
I was in a conference yesterday and 3 were using a decent webcam and speakers, 2 with headsets, the 3 with camera microphone sounded much better than the headsets.
I notice that people with speakers (whether its laptop or VC unit etc) rather than headset are more likely to talk over other people than people with headsets.
I think that’s a good enough endorsement.
We just got new headsets at work, Jabra Evolve 65 wireless headsets. Very nice, something like 14 hour battery life, but ours came with a desktop charging dock. A colleague took his home with him for home office and he hasn’t had to recharge in over a week of normal daily telephone calls and the odd Teams meeting.
I am looking at getting the Evolve2 65, which has noise cancelling and 3 microphones for better noise cancelling and echo reduction.
The Jabra wireless can either connect with the Jabra USB connector or via Bluetooth, they use USB for charging only. For phoning in the home/office, that makes them very flexible. I can get up and go and make something to drink and the connection remains stable, for example.