Microphone Link Wanted

[tedathome]

Hello, I'm looking for a good quality usb headset w/microphone and earphone. Can anyone recomend some links for me and others? Was thinking about wireless but that seems to add about $200 or more to the price tag. There are so many links out there, in all price ranges I would like to find out what others are using and how you rate them, promise not to hold you responsible if not satisfied.[]

[Bill819]

quote:Originally posted by tedathome

Hello, I'm looking for a good quality usb headset w/microphone and earphone. Can anyone recomend some links for me and others? Was thinking about wireless but that seems to add about $200 or more to the price tag. There are so many links out there, in all price ranges I would like to find out what others are using and how you rate them, promise not to hold you responsible if not satisfied.[]

 
Just locate a good Blue Tooth head set and it should work just fine.

[Duskrider]

Back when I first purchased Hal, I purchased the headset w/mic and earphone from zabaware.  (Just $15. but not wireless)
http://www.zabaware.com/products/store/comersus_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7
I've used off and on over the years and am pleased with it.
However never purchased any others so I can't do comparison.

[tedathome]

Thanks for replying guys. Just after posting I read Datahopas post on the matter. According to him if I don't plug in to a sound card with a regular connection, I will pick up a lot of interference and noise from my computer. I have the Zabaware mic and a cheap desktop mic. I get poor results from both and now I understand why. I have a sound card leftover from my old computer. This one has nice sound already, but no card. I think  I will start with what I have first. If that is not enough, I will either go with a Microsoft cetified usb mic or a regular to usb converter with built in noise suppresion as both the converter and the certified mic are about the same price. Bluetooth sounds good too, havn't checked price yet on that.[]

[jasondude7116]

I recommend using usb or another digital source. better for voice software than analog. i use a logitech headset that is usb. (didn't want to pay for the wireless, but that would be cool!) it works good. haven't used any others but analog, so i can't compare to any other brand. i can only comment on the logitech which cost me about 40/50 bucks or so. it works great for me. it does very good with dragon10. the thing i like about it is that it has good range. what i mean by that is that it has a small range which lets me play my music and stuff in the background and still get good input into the voice software. for the price, i like it. i know there are much better setups out there though. i guess it really depends on what you want to spend.

[tedathome]

Thank you for your reply jasondude. I find that I don't still have a good quality sound card just laying around in the closet so I will have to go with usb. Two computers ago I was getting decent results with sound card. According to Datahopa, a standard mic pics up too much noise from the computer if it doesn't have a sound card. Digital sounds good to me for better results. Logitech is a name I trust and "works good for me" is even better coming from you. Bill says Bluetooth and I just did a search on them. Very inexpensive for wireless but very confusing to find a made for pc voice recognition model and not a cellphone.[]

[Bill819]

One more little suggestion about your new mic. I would advise you to find one that is directional. Regular mics tend to pick up all the surrounding sounds, ie. fans, airconditioners, etc. When I recommended a blue tooth mic I did not necessarily mean a wireless one, I just remember reading somewhere that a USB mic seems to work pretty good.
Good luck with you quest.

[tedathome]

Thank you Bill819. I value the insight given from all who have replyed. Now that I finaly have a quiet place to train, I'm looking forward to voice training.
 I found a good noise reducing usb mic with stereo headset at a good price so I'm going to give it a try.[]

[DrFaraday]

I've got a Logitech stereo USB headset 250, that I bought at Amazon.com for $25.00:

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Stereo-USB-Headset-250/dp/B0007ZFM38/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1278521243&sr=8-1

I've been very happy with it, it's better than the analog headsets I've used before.

- Chaz

[tedathome]

I went with the Logitech clearchat comfort with stereo headset. It has -60db noise cancelation ratio. With MS voice recogniser 8 it wasn't quite good enough. I also have Dragon 7.3 and it passed my test. I spent all day yesterday trying it out under some very trying conditions. The wife watching TV, lawn being mowed, ac running and various other apartment noises it was almost 100% acurate. Just a few words need more training. I am very happy with it and will talk rather than type to Hal from now on.[8D]

[One]

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2259600
I called too lat ,,don't know if they are still USB but recommended by me if they still are
Hi Tedathome

[Carl2]

  Thought I'd add this, possibly it could help anyone intrested in mics or Dragon.
Dragon is releasing Dragon 11, thay are changing from prefered to premium. The price at this time is $99.
The plantronics bluetooth price has been lowered to $149.
Carl2

[Will and Mr Data :) :]]

Hi from Will,
all interesting i'm sure, usb over analog ay, ,,    "ponders man using mic found in bin". 
 "its interesting when words are plucked from air" .
I had in the past with dragon 8 trained it to know sorry Mr Data to know sounds of back ground noise, , drill, cat whistle. all noise.  "didn't have dragon backed up right and bam"

All i'm interested in dragon 11 is how easy is it to make a back up.
if i can't format my pc and reinstall windows and have hal up and running in minutes and Dragon
can continue on with a five second upload from my usb storage device, well lets just say that to me is how good it is. once you've lost all you're work no amount of features or great performance is worth anything. i've got dragon 10 but can't run it with 1.6gig cpu, i'll get to that.
It all hinges on that ease of save my work so far or who ever makes the reliable product wins.
So i'll try my dragon 10 one of these days and try to do a back up at some point and perhaps Mr Data falls on his head again and my pc needs formating and if my back up of dragon won't work.
well thats how other companies just walk past big corps.
To Mr Tedathome     its so interesting to actually talk rather than type, so spontainious 

must stop typing, Good on  Duskrider for supporting Zabaware mic.
bye for now and be well from Will and Mr Data

[tedathome]

 Thank you for your thoughs Will. Yes Zabaware mic worked well when I had a good sound card.
Scientist say that we use a different part of our brain for typing as opposed to talking. When I talk to Hal, we have a good conversation. When I type to Hal, well... boring!, but that's just my brain on Hal.
 As for backups, as often as possible. I've had years of hard work evaporate. I use an external hard drive now. I back up C drive completely.

[Carl2]

  Nice to hear from you Will, in the past I had been able to make a copy of my user file.  At this time I am using Dragon 10.1 which had been upgraded from Dragon version 10 by downloading from the Dragon website.  After reading what you had posted I tried to find my user file in this computer but I was unable to find it.  Backing up Dragon should be as easy as making a copy of the user file which could be loaded into a reinstall version of Dragon.  Also Windows can make a backup of everything in the computer.
  I believe the majority of the training in the past few installs of Dragon has been done by letting Dragon read the text files which I have made for Dragon.  Using this method I can get Dragon up and running in no time with very good accuracy. 
    I have also found I speak more naturally when I use Dragon both in writing in this forum and when speaking to Hal.
 Carl 2