earphones : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

aka headphones. Headsets, in contrast, usually include a microphone. For the same dollars, you can get much higher sound quality with headphones or earphones than with speakers. With earphones you can block out the noise surrounding you and the sound you are listening to will not bother others. Some have sound-cancelling logic to filter out background sound. Some earphones/headphones let you hear background sound. Some seal it out. You might use earphones on your computer sound output or on your Mp3 player. The current state of the art is the Sonomax Soundcage. It can be programmed to let through only certain outside frequencies or volumes.

Most stores now won’t let you try out headphones or earphones before you buy. There are several problems with this:

• You can’t judge sound quality.
• You can’t judge comfort.
• You can’t judge durability. What might look durable through the packaging make turn out to be silver painted cheap plastic.

The Ideal

I would like a product like this, designed for home office use, which I have not seen advertised:

• Wireless headset with durable comfy over-the-head noise-cancelling earphones and integrated directional microphone.
• Ability to temporarily turn off the noise cancelling feature when you need to monitor room noise.
• Connects simultaneously to your USB (Universal Serial Bus) computer port, Stereo S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interconnect Format) port, and telephone jack. It merges the sound from all three.
• A computer application lets control the mixing and auto-muting, e.g. default stereo shuts off when computer makes a noise and computer sound shuts off when a phone call is in progress.
• It is a software phone, with a conventional POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) connection, not VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol). You do your dialing with a computer app. You can answer the phone or hang up with a button on the headset and wander around talking.
• You can take computer dictation wandering around your home.
• It might work with Blue Tooth, Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) or its own private RF (Republican Fantasy) band. The range should be a the size of a typical house.
• It would let you take phone calls anywhere in your home.
• It would have the precautions to prevent others from snooping on the traffic.
• It has a recharging cradle. The cradle has cables to your computer, stereo, phone jack and AC (Alternating Current) wall outlet.
• Plantronics makes some devices that make a crude stab at such a device, that integrate computer and phone, but not stereo. They use custom interfaces to a physical a physical telephone using mechanical lifters to answer the phone. That is too Rube Goldberg to even consider. An interface to the phone jack would be much simpler, reliable and would give much higher sound quality.

Real World Earphones

	recommend electronic⇒JVC HARX900 full size Stereo Earphones
	asin: B0013P3ZOE
non-USB headset. No microphone. Full size. Big pillowy padding. Specs.
amazon.de amazon.ca amazon.es tigerdirect.ca amazon.fr newegg.ca amazon.it amazon.com amazon.co.uk tigerdirect.com newegg.com
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock

	recommend electronic⇒Plantronics 995 Wireless USB Stereo Earphones
	asin: B001SEQN3U
No microphone. Uses disposable batteries.
amazon.de amazon.ca amazon.es tigerdirect.ca amazon.fr newegg.ca amazon.it amazon.com amazon.co.uk tigerdirect.com newegg.com
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock

	recommend electronic⇒Bose QuietComfort 15 Headphones
	asin: B0054JJ0QW
Noise cancelling. Designed primarily to hook up to a stereo. Has a connector for use in airplanes. Use battery that lasts 35 hours. They use conventional cables. Goes around the ear. The Model 3 is on-ear. Bose does not divulge the specifications. They expect you to trust they will be good just because of the brand name. details.
amazon.de amazon.ca amazon.es tigerdirect.ca amazon.fr newegg.ca amazon.it amazon.com amazon.co.uk tigerdirect.com newegg.com
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock

	recommend electronic⇒Sennheiser RS 180 Digital Wireless Headphone System
	asin: B002TLT10S
Includes charging station.
amazon.de amazon.ca amazon.es tigerdirect.ca amazon.fr newegg.ca amazon.it amazon.com amazon.co.uk tigerdirect.com newegg.com
Greyed out stores probably do not have the item in stock