Being pedantic the batteries are replaceable (in the event of failure) but only with difficulty and a screwdriver.

BlueParrott TalkPro hadsets and charger have also been available in the UK for the past week.
See:
http://www.itspeaking.co.uk/speech-producttype.asp...

Graham (Hendry)

Apart from also functioning as a charging unit, does the base station offer any advantage over the dongle?

Charles

Experienced users of speech recognition software like Dragon NaturallySpeaking, understand the audio setup wizard signal to noise ratio is tuned to give good results with inexpensive microphones which do little noise canceling. Good noise canceling microphones tend to score in the low twenties because their noise canceling technologies tend to muffle the sound slightly. Although the readings on the signal to noise ratio are lower, accuracy is always superior. Ergo, you cannot go by the signal to noise ratio readings excepting context of the type microphone and environments it is being tested (zero noise environment). When I say environment it is being tested, Dragon and other sellers of the Plantronics microphones do not do real-world testing. On the homepage of our http://www.eMicrophones.com is a link to, "Read How We Test Microphones"

Martin

I'm not familiar with this microphone or vendor. BTW, I wonder about the basis of your judgement that he is an expert? Prior purchases, familiarty with posts to on-line forums, or what?

SFAIK, Nuance is NOT bundling the Plantronics. The guy doesn't say that -- only that he tested it with DNS Medical 8. What else is there to test it with these days? For one thing, its too expensive for a vendor which is gaining a reputation of being pretty cheap.

Wherever you do buy, I would check out the return policy first in case the claims don't work out for you.

I'm not especially close to Martin -- we've had our differences over the years -- but I do buy microphones from him because I trust his judgement and am comfortable with his return and support policies. If he's not impressed by this microphone, I would be hesitant to buy it in the first place.

I also know and trust Graham Hendry and would feel comfortable buying something he recommends.

Both of these vendors are active and valued participants in this and other on-line SR communities, so they have to mind their P's and Q's or else the negative feedback would hurt their business. OTOH, I'm not sure the 21th Century guy contributes much here or other places I frequent.

One thing to be wary of is the fact that a mike can behave differently for different speakers. I don't like to be the first one to buy anything new because, well, because I'm that kind of guy. Often I find I get a positive first impression of something new based on the hype but later learn the product isn't all that well received by other users. I like to wait for that kind of feedback because I'm a little tight with my money.

This may be an OK mike at a good price, but I would suggest you'd be better served by a more skeptical approach to marketing claims not backed up by other sources. Shop around some more and check out some other venues, like knowbrainer.com/forum.

But if you do buy it, let us know how it works out -- both the pros and the cons.

Bruce

ignore the SNR from Dragon.. worthless, a nice parlor trick, that's about it.

I would love to have the wave file of this training session!
You achieved 99%, out_of_the_box, from a Plantronics CS-50 headset...?? Here, on planet Earth...?
[-G-]

And this was a brand new profile, or built/overlaid on top of previous training submitted from a normal/decent microphone..?

=================

Allow me to help a little w/ the Bluetooth discussion..?

It matters not what the microphone's Frequency Response is.. when it comes to digital wireless microphones. BT uses profiles, e.g "hands free", "headset", "modem", on and on. The BT.org SIG dictates what amount of datarate (read: voice bandwidth) can be transmitted under whichever profile.

There are *no* digital wireless microphones in production (and I say this from 9 months of research and about a zillion calls) that Tx past about 5.4khz voice bandwidth.

There are *no* BT devices that Tx past about 4khz voice bandwidth. the hands free profile demands a cap of 3.4khz and the headset profile, I think, is 4khz.

However:

The crucible is signal quality, for now. MS is going to/has raised the bandwidth bar here, but to **Dragon:... 8khz of voice bandwidth from a microphone with a washcloth over it vs. 3khz from a crisp, clear headset.. 'nuff said.

Until you get to the Sennheiser price range, the B 100 will outclass almost anything. Super mic element, super noise canceling, and the darn thing will pair to a lot of BT devices, so it's a multi-tasker, to boot.

PS: If one mentioned one was experiencing "dropouts" while using, say a B 100 to an application engineer at Broadcom or CSR they would most likely say something like.. "Well, you shouldn't be stuffing more than 50 or so active users into a small area, should you?"

** six months from now, I think, DNS CD's will be collecting dust on shelves everywhere.
. --> Get MS Speech Engine 6.1

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx
?FamilyId=5DAAE9C4-188C-4547-A9D6-1671132A39A1
&displaylang=en&EventType=getsdk
(admin: use http://tinyurl.com/dzy3n instead)

and train two sessions only, with a good (good defined as >6khz voice bandwidth microphone) microphone.. I'd wager a guess you'll begin wondering how to get your macros into your new speech recognition program.

.