Could anybody suggest a good quality headset for around $100-150 ?

If you run all of your sound through it then maybe a higher end headset is fine. But if you use if for voice comms only, then you should consider that the quality of audio on something like VATSIM is reduced to limit bandwidth usage, and in this case running a high quality headset is a bit of a waste. I've used $25, $50 and $150 headsets and I run all my audio through the headset. And based on that, I would suggest you save the $100 for something else.

 

And with that said, Sennheiser makes great headsets and you can get into those at the $100-$150 price point. Again, if its just voice comms, I would just buy any old $25-$50 headset.

After trying out a few headsets and doing some research I settled on the Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Wrath. The padding on top is not the best; however, I do not get that annoying "hot spot" on the top of my head unless I have worn them for many hours, five or more hours. I do many long hauls when I make flights though. I greatly appreciate the wireless capability and the price is acceptable too. I have gone to the kitchen and grabbed water and snacks as well as gone to the bedroom to grab a book and still picked up sound. That would mean they were working through one wall and about 40 feet away. I have the transmitter placed on the front of my computer. It also comes with a flexible and detachable microphone. I plug it in when I am using TeamSpeak to chat with the other members of my VA and unplug it when I am going to snack so I avoid getting salsa on the microphone. A very nice feature. It comes with a button to mute the mic located on the front right speaker and on the back of the same speaker is a power button and raised increase/decrease volume buttons which makes it very quick and easy to change the volume level. Additionally the power button requires you to hold it down for about one second which avoids an accidental powering off of the headset. The battery life on it is acceptable although I plug it in every night before bed and do not unplug it until ready to use so I cannot tell you how long the charge lasts. It uses any standard USB cable to charge and even though the one it comes with was plenty long I picked up a more flexible longer one just in case I do need to plug it in while flying. Finally the software was very easy to install and configure and I have not had any issues with the software or the unit yet. I have owned it for about three months now.

 

I hope that helps,

Ed

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I'd also like to know of any recommendations, as I've seen mentioned a few times around the place that USB headsets are best avoided, but pretty much every headset seems to be USB?

 

I was looking at the Saitek Cyborg 5, but the creative one looks great as its wireless.

After trying out a few headsets and doing some research I settled on the Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Wrath.

Hey Ed

 

Have you come across any issues using that Creative headset in trying to get ATC sound via the headset and normal aircraft sound to go via your speakers?

Not at all. I normally have all sound running through the headset, though, there have been a few occasions when I ran the sound through the speakers on the Toshiba TV I use for my display and TeamSpeak through the headset. Again the same for VatSim and Radar Contact, no problems. Now, if you are asking specifically about default ATC in Flight Sim than I cannot answer your question. I do not use the default ATC and so have not tested it that way, my apologies for not being able to answer that.

Hi Edward

 

I'm not too sure, I guess I'm kind of asking if you can have normal aircraft sounds via speakers and anything voice, be it ATC, co-pilot etc go via the headset.

I have been looking at some £15 headsets these last few days on amazon, and rather like the look of these Plantronics mono headset

 

Simple, very lightweight and cheap to use just for ATC/Voice in FSX, so am wondering how easy it would be to get ATC to go via the HD audio out on my PC and normal aircraft sounds via the speakers.

 

As its for voice audio, anything over this will probably be wasted, yet these look surprisingly comfortable, light enough that it might be easy to forget your wearing them, yet cheap enough to replace them when you do forget you have them on and try to walk around ha ha ha ha..

 

I know plantronics gear is good quality stuff, and as these are 3.5m headsets, shouldnt interefere with my USB setup or require any power..

 

Anybody else tried telephone headsets like these and is it possible to seperate out the FSX sound from ATC/Voice?

To the best of my knowledge it is possible to setup ATC sounds through headsets and all other sounds through speakers; yes. What are you using for default flight sim, online, or an add-on program?

Well, I'm starting out with FS2Crew for the PMDG NGX, using all other default FSX sounds and ATC, but hope to be good enough one day to join a virtual airline, that would be awesome, so a long way to go yet I think.. Maybe then, it will be VATsim I guess..

 

I would like to eventually have the Bose companion 5 for normal flight sounds and day to day music etc... Awesome sound quality from those, so only want a lightweight headset for voice comms.

You should have no problem running FS2Crew through the headset although I do not own the software.

 

You are already good enough to join a VA. Trust me, the VA I am a member of cares about people more than your flying ability. If you are interested you should check us out, Phoenix Virtual Airways. We also provide guidence for anything you want to learn. Mind you, there are many great VA's out there. I happen to like Phoenix the most because I can fly a C208 for a bush run one flight and an MD11 for a long cargo haul the next. We simulate real world and older schedules of over 700 airlines. Right now, for example I'm flying with SouthWest but a few weeks ago I was flying KLM.

 

Yes, Bose is an amazing product. We have one of their older home systems, headset, CD player, and earbuds. Not to mention their customer quality is superb. We are a military family so I do not have a "man cave", if you will, at this house. When we retire out of the system I would like to pick up those same speakers, or whatever they have out at the time, and get my sound through them. Right now, I am relegated to the headsets. :wacko: