Bluetooth Headset With Microphone

[yeti]

Hi,

I am looking for a Bluetooth headset with microphone for my computer to use for:

- Skype phone calls

- Listening to music or movies played on the computer

I want it wireless to be able to move around while on Skype, and comfortable enough to wear it few hours/day.

I've looked all over Panthip, and in few other places, so far found 2 models:

- Nokia BH-501 priced 3900 THB at Jaymart, but I read some bad reviews (audio quality not good enough to listen to music, and decreasing sharply when more than 2 meters away from the comp, eventhough it's suposed to work up to 10 meters, microphone making you sound distant, ...)

- An unknown (to me) brand priced at more than 6000 THB in IT City (the IT shopping center last floor of Panthip), and unavailable the day I went looking for this.

I also heard of a Sennheiser model, but I have not seen it anywhere, not even on their website.

Any advice or review on this?

[esprit]

yeti,

Try the Plantronics 590 available from IT City ( also have outlet top floor Pantip ) . 6300 THB but get best write ups in T3 etc. Had mine for almost a year now no problems. Well I say no problems there is one, although you can hear either Skype conversation or music in high quality , I have still not figured out how to get the microphone to work so as a consequence I have to shout like hel_l to the mic on my PC when I'm wondering around.

Edited February 16, 2007 by daveupson

[yeti]

At least reviews for it are a lot better than the ones for the Nokia, so I may go for it.

Your microphone problem worries me a bit though (don't feel like shouting for hours when on Skype ) but it's probably related to your dongle, no?

[esprit]

At least reviews for it are a lot better than the ones for the Nokia, so I may go for it.

Your microphone problem worries me a bit though (don't feel like shouting for hours when on Skype ) but it's probably related to your dongle, no?

Well you plug the transmitter into your headphone jack socket and hence as that is the only connection I have'n't found a way of geting the sound from the headset's mic back to the pc. They tell me that XP does not have whatever it takes to receive a bluetooth audio input. However apparantly Vista does but then that is a further expense.

[yeti]

yeti,

Try the Plantronics 590 available from IT City ( also have outlet top floor Pantip ) . 6300 THB but get best write ups in T3 etc. Had mine for almost a year now no problems. Well I say no problems there is one, although you can hear either Skype conversation or music in high quality , I have still not figured out how to get the microphone to work so as a consequence I have to shout like hel_l to the mic on my PC when I'm wondering around.

Bought it (Plantronics Pulsar 590A) today at IT City, 6700 THB though. Will tell later about it, especially if the microphone works with Skype.

[Crossy]

Bought it (Plantronics Pulsar 590A) today at IT City, 6700 THB though. Will tell later about it, especially if the microphone works with Skype.

The Plantronics looks a nice headset.

I have a Sitecom CN-532 bluetooth stereo headset (70 Euros in Rotterdam last year), works OK. A couple of points which may well apply to the Plantronics and gave me some headaches:-

You need a Bluetooth manager, it probably came with your bluetooth adapter and is likely the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack (it displays a little blue icon on the taskbar when active). When you associate the headset with your PC if you use the 'automatic' setting it will install as a 'stereo audio sink', this works very nicely for music but the mic does NOT work

If you use the manual association then you get a choice, 'stereo audio sink' or 'bluetooth headset', choosing 'bluetooth headset' gets you a mic that works Unfortunately it only gets you mono audio

You CAN install both 'stereo audio sink' and 'bluetooth headset' (just run the wizard twice) unfortunately you CANNOT have them active together

I've not (yet) found a way to have the mic AND stereo audio, in hindsight I should have got the CN 530 which comes with a dongle to plug into your audio output (meant for use with mp3 players), I'm quite sure that would have worked as I wish.

[Lynsan123]

Try the Latest Polycom Voicestation 500 by Skype. It has a 7ft. microphone pickup range. You can get the product details from Skype site. I use it for my conferences and I like the product. It has made life easy for me.

[Crossy]

Try the Latest Polycom Voicestation 500 by Skype. It has a 7ft. microphone pickup range. You can get the product details from Skype site. I use it for my conferences and I like the product. It has made life easy for me.

For US$700 I expect it to make toast too

[yeti]

Ok, now it works, and it works fine .

The stereo audio quality is amazingly good, and when using it for phone calls it seems people can't know that I am using a headset.

As Crossy predicted I had to install it twice, once with the headset profile, and once with the audio sink profile. And I have to disconnect it to change profile, which means I can't listen music in stereo, and press a button to answer Skype. But it's ok with me.

To Daveupson: for the microphone to work you need to use the headset with Bluetooth, the adapter provided (that you plug in the audio output of your computer, mp3 player or whatever) can only be used to listen (in stereo).

[Crossy]

I've not (yet) found a way to have the mic AND stereo audio, in hindsight I should have got the CN 530 which comes with a dongle to plug into your audio output (meant for use with mp3 players), I'm quite sure that would have worked as I wish.

I'm going to re-vitalise this thread because I have a solution, it's not free but it works very nicely.

Try this http://www.bluesoleil.com/products/index.a...main_bluesoleil (you need the VOIP version). I found that if you register an old version it's cheaper (10Euro IIRC) as there is no free upgrade, I used version 2.3.0.0 still have the installation file if anyone wants it.

If you're listening to music and a Skype call comes in the headset rings, touching the headset button pauses Winamp and connects the call, talk, when the call terminates you get re-connected to Winamp (I have to touch the play button on the headset to resume playback).

If you initiate a Skype call from your desktop the headset will ring so you must press the button to connect to Skype, apparently this is a 'feature' of the Bluetooth implementation and cannot be circumvented It's only a minor distraction anyway. Hanging up after the call automatically re-connects to Winamp (have to press play).