Tag: headset

Sometimes you may be stuck for technological gifts to give Mum on her special day. Here, I have assembled a list of ideas to get you going, especially when it comes to high-value gifts where you can pool resources together to fund these gifts rather than buying many low-value gifts.

Tablets

Small size for the purse

Toshiba AT1S0 7″ Android tablet

The small 7” tablet computers come in to their own if the main goal is to have it on hand in your coat pocket. They can also fit comfortably even it to mid-sized handbags to use as an electronic notebook or electronic reference book.

• Google Nexus 7 Series
• Toshiba AT1So (review)
• Apple iPad Mini

To keep in the handbag, at home or the office

A 10” tablet may come in to its own if the main goal is to read or view online content while relaxing in that armchair or in bed. Similarly, they could come in to their own with a larger handbag or shoulder bag.

• Samsung Galaxy Note 8
• Toshiba AT300 Series tablets (review)
• Apple iPad

No tablet computer is complete without a matching accessory cover or wrap that suits Mum’s taste. If she owns a tablet computer, you may offer her a newer cover or wrap, perhaps to replace that tired old one that she has on that tablet.

Computers

Small ultraportables

HP Envy X2 detachable-screen hybrid tablet-notebook computer

Small ultraportable computers that range from 11” to 14” can earn their keep for “on-the-go” computing tasks. This is more so if Mum wants to create a lot of content like typing up many email letters, writing memoirs or simply working a blog.

• HP Envy X2 detachable (review)
• Dell XPS 12 flip-head convertible
• Sony VAIO Duo 11 slide-out convertible
• Acer Aspire S7 Ultrabook
• Asus Zenbook UX31A
• HP Envy 4 Touchsmart Ultrabook (review)
• Toshiba Satellite P840
• Apple MacBook Air

Larger laptops

On the other hand, a standard-size laptop or “desktop tablet” computer may come in handy if the goal is a computer that is mainly used at home and the desire is to store it away neatly when not in use.

• Acer Aspire 5733
• Dell Inspiron 15
• Sony VAIO E Series 15” (review –high-end)
• Toshiba Satellite P870 desktop-replacement (review)
• Sony VAIO Tap 20
• Dell XPS 18
• Apple MacBook Pro

All-in-one

The “all-in-one” desktop computer, with the computing power, screen and storage in one slender box, can become an alternative computer option if you want an elegant desktop computer. They are also becoming increasingly capable rather than glorified “kitchen kiosks”.

• Sony VAIO J Series (review)
• HP Touchsmart all-in-ones
• Apple iMac series

Printers

HP Photosmart 7510 multifunction inkjet printer – predecessor to the Photosmart 7520

As for printers, it may be worth looking towards a durable network printer that is cost-effective to run. Be careful of the printers that are cheap to buy because these units will be expensive to run due to short-capacity inks and toners, with situations where the cost of replacing ink or toner is as much as buying a printer of the same standard.

HP Photosmart 6520 or Photosmart 7520 desktop printers

HP Envy 120 – a neat aesthetically-pleasing printer for low-demand applications such as being a secondary printer

Brother MFC-J825DW or DCP-J725DW / DCP-J925DW

Small music system

1-piece including speaker docks and wireless speakers

Marantz Audio Consolette speaker dock

These single-piece systems, including speaker docks and wireless speaker systems, typically have a small footprint and can fit well on the kitchen bench or on the sideboard. Some of these may offer a “full” sound that encompasses te bass notes and the treble notes properly.

• Denon Cocoon series
• Marantz Audio Consolette network speaker
• Pioneer XW-SMA3 network speaker
• Pure Sensia 200D Connect (review)
• Roberts Stream 63i internet radio with CD
• Bose SoundDock 10 Bluetooth speaker system

3-piece

Sony CMT-MX750Ni – an example of a DLNA-compliant music system for a hotel room or serviced apartment

A three-piece system with separate speakers has increased flexibility. Here, you can keep the main unit on the sideboard and position the speakers further away, including mounting them on the wall or having them flank a fireplace or feature window.

• Sony CMT-MX750Ni (review)
• Denon CEOL (review)
• Denon CEOL Piccolo (without CD player) (review)
• Marantz CR603 CD receiver or Rotel RCX-1500 CD receiver (review) with small good-quality speakers

Earphones and headphones

Creative Labs MA930 in-ear headset

I would suggest that you look towards a few sets of headphones that suit different activities. For example, a pair of lightweight supra-aural headphones can work well for jogging or walking with good examples being provided by B&O (Form 2 – review), Bose, Denon, Sennheiser and Sony.

Earphones can also work well for public transport and other noisy environments especially where discreet use is required. Similarly a pair of good circum-aural headphones can go a long way for detailed music listening at home or in noisy environments.

It is worth having a look at this buying guide to be sure that the headphones fit yours and Mum’s desires.

Gaining the most out of the Internet experience

Internet setup

If there isn’t a broadband Internet service at Mum’s home, it could be a good gift idea to set up one there and install a good-quality router for the network as in the article that I had done about the “family house”.

To the same extent, optimising the home network with at least 802.11n dual stream coverage everywhere, preferably simultaneous dual-band 802.11n dual-stream Wi-Fi. As well, I would make sure that there is a HomePlug AV powerline segment in that network even if there is Ethernet in the house. This is to cater for ad-hoc wired-network setups.

The reason I would think of this is that you may be dealing with increased use of multimedia from online sources at the TV, laptop or mobile devices and you want reliable operation from these services.

Education

Similarly, you may pool resources together to give Mum access to IT education and support programs/ This is more so if she hasn’t got much in the way of computer skills.

Online content

As well, pooling resources to an online content service such as Spotify, Netflix, Hulu or QuickFlix may be a way to give her access to the music and movies that these services provide. In the case of Spotify, this may be about using it as an online music library or as a “music tryout” service that can be part of her complete music experience.

These services are not about replacing the existing content library but about hunting for new content that may be of interest.

Conclusion

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous Mother’s Day with lots of fun, with you using this as a way to choose the right gift that will be value for money.

Introduction

I haven’t reviewed any headphones or headsets for this site in a long time but had bought the Voyetra Turtle Beach M3 gaming headset as a “ring-in” when I left my headphones behind before heading out. Here, I thought that it would be an opportunity to review this headset and assess its prowess as a computer accessory for gaming, laptop and mobile use.

This is a headset that has an in-line microphone for use with smartphones and tablets using a four-conductor 3.5mm plug; or can be connected to a computer or other device using a break-out cable that plugs in to the headphones and microphone jack on the device.

Price

I had purchased this headset from EB Games for AUD$48.

Type

The headset itself

Connectivity

As far as connectivity goes, the Turtle Beach M3 headset doesn’t work well as a headset with my Samsung Galaxy S Android phone and I had to use the jack adaptor to run the headset as headphones. It may work well with iPhones and does work well with laptops that have 3.5mm audio I/O jack like the Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook that I am reviewing.

In-line microphone rather than a boom microphone

The headset uses a single-sided cable that has an advantage of being less likely to have the sound cut off to one earpiece due to a cord being pulled out. It also has the advantage of having the cord easier to manage as you use or store the headphones.

Comfort

The Turtle Beach headset’s vinyl earcups do feel sweaty after a significant amount of time wearing them and the headset does feel tight and less likely to slip off your head.

Earpieces with vinyl earcups as if supra-aural, closed-back design

The earcups appear to be supra-aural due to a speaker grille flat across the front but work like the circum-aural design. They also sit effectively on the ear rather than wrap around the ear

Sound

One key factor I have noticed with the Turtle Beach M3 headset is that they shine on bass response. This does come through with some recently-recorded funk and soul music where the bass line comes out clear.

As for games and movies with the sound effects, the headset does perform with them. The Turtle Beach headset has shone with the effects at the start of “Kurt Wallander: The Sniper” which I was watching as on-demand video using a review-sample laptop. This is where there was some gunfire from the sniper’s weapon followed by the snarl of a “scrambler” motorcycle’s engine as the sniper escaped. The gunfire had the full “punch” and you could hear the bike’s engine’s distinctive noise was as if you were near one of those trail-bikes.

Here, this represented the kind of effects that are often encountered in video games with the gunfire being part of “shooter” and warfare games; and the motorcycle engine noise being part of what would be heard in racing games.

But I have noticed at times that the higher frequencies can sound a bit coloured without any distinct clarity. This can cause some fatiguing after a while of listening.

I have used the Turtle Beach M3 headset with my phone on a bus, mainly to test for its useability on transport environments. The headset had reduced the engine noise significantly in a way that I was able to distinctly hear the music on my phone easily. This would make it work well when travelling on buses and diesel railcars and may be of use when flying. Even telecommunications voices have come through very clearly as I was able to use the headset as headphones using the break-out adaptor and the phone was running Android 2.3 Gingerbriead and allowing me to use its microphone to speak to the caller.

Conclusion

I would recommend that one purchases the Voyetra Turtle Beach M3 gaming headsets primarily for gaming or watching video content in a relatively noisy environment such as while travelling on public transport. For music, you could use this headset when listening to popular music where it is critical to hear that bass-line, again especially in a noisy environment. If you intend to buy them for use as a headset for your smartphone, make sure you can try them out with the phone before you buy them.