If you are in the market for a set of high quality on-line headphones, you could do much worse than the Able Planet Stereo Telecom Headset, a great combination of utility and affordability.

The Able Planet TL-300 is a supra-aural headset, which are headphones that have pads that sit on the top of the ears, rather than fitting around them. This type of headphone generally tends to be more lightweight. In the case of the TL-300, these lightweight headphones are paired with a boom microphone, angled to sit in front of the lips.

The TL-300 may be used either plugged into a computer or a telephone. The telephone plug is built into the cord attached to the headset-microphone, descending from the left earpiece. The microphone is attached to the same earpiece. Also included in the package is an adapter which splits the single telephone feed into two plugs, one each for the microphone and headphones jacks on a personal computer.

The quality of the materials in the headset is excellent. The band which connects the two earpieces is plastic over a metal band. This arrangement allows adjustment for your head size by simply sliding the plastic on the metal band. This is both secure and provides a wide range of adjustment. The parts of the headset that rest against the ears have the feel of fine-grain kid leather, though it is a synthetic material. The earpieces are extremely soft and comfortable when in place.

The controls are conveniently located on a small pod about fifteen inches down the connection cable from the headset. This pod has a spring clip that can be used to attach it to your shirt. On one side is a small thumbwheel used to control the headset volume. On one face is a slider control that allows the user to mute the microphone. Both controls are intuitive and easy to use, though the volume thumbwheel would benefit from being slightly larger.

The headset worked well on a Motorola Razr phone, but did not work on an iPhone. Radio Shack sells an adapter that would work for the iPhone. The computer connections worked perfectly on Skype, providing excellent sound on both ends of the connection on both a PC and a Mac. The microphone produce clear speech, and the earphone sound quality is excellent, at least in the normal voice range. The TL-300 comes with a convenient drawstring carrying bag.  The manufacturers recommended price on their Web site is $59.99. This headset offers the user high value for its price.

Related:

Entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 5:43 pm under Cell phones, Internet, Reviews.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
Stumble It!