CAD Audio U2 USB Stereo Headphones with Cardioid Condenser Microphone

I used this headset for my last job, and we had RingCentral that we used with laptops. It was great for hearing the caller - volume at the lowest was enough most of the time. Call quality was good, even on conference calls. Other people said they could hear me very well. At my new job we have Cisco 8800 phones, with option for USB headset. I tried a Logitech one, and the cord connections gave out in a few months. Decided to see if the headset I liked at the last place would be compaitible and work and IT DOES! It's great, because I'm in a rather noisy school guidance office now, and I can turn the volume up quite high. Callers can hear me great, so it does a really good job at cancelling out the background noise. These held up to a lot of abuse by my colleagues at the former position. They were also good for listening to music - it wasn't tinny like you'd expect. CAD makes great products, and I'd recommend this for narrating, conference calls, making videos, and noisy environments.

My previous headphones were an ultra-cheap set from the local generic box store. They started to irritate my ears after only a few minutes of use, so they had to go! I do a lot of gaming, and using Skype to call family members long-distance. I bought the CAD U2 headphones a year and a half ago, and still use them daily. Pro: *Sound quality. NOT 5.1 surround sound, but very good stereo sound. Crisp high, mid, and balanced bass. Plenty loud enough to cause hearing loss(it's Bob Cramer, from Artillery!), and as quiet as you like. *Microphone. I've compared Skype voice test with these versus the cheap set I had previously, and there is a huge positive difference with the CAD U2's. One other reviewer mentions muffled sound, and I wonder if they had the foam on the end of the microphone backwards (opening in the foam should be facing your mouth). Con: *Ear Comfort. It took me a while to find a comfortable position to wear these. The ear pieces just barely cover my ears {which are small). They are not large enough to go around your ears. *Head Comfort. There is no padding on the top of the headphone band. I have the headband size maxed out and position it somewhat forward so it lays as flat as possible. Other: *Noise blocking. While not noise-canceling, they diminish background noises enough to make it impossible to understand my wife speaking from 10 feet away. At least as far as she knows. :} *USB connection. If you use a sound card, you will probably not be looking at these instead of surround-sound headphones. On the other hand, it's a good thing in case your headphone or microphone jack is already occupied or doesn't work. Not the most comfortable headphones out there, and not surround sound. Good quality, durable, does the job. I can't justify spending 3 times the money for something else, and I would buy these again today.

For those of you considering purchasing the newest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking, try these headphones before you invest more money. You may find that the voice recognition software in Microsoft Office will work just fine with this headphone. I have Microsoft Office 2003 and I'm using Windows 8. Over the years, I purchased Dragon versions 6, 7, 8 and 9....generally with a fair bit of frustration...hoping the accuracy would improve with each version. I also purchased various microphones, but experienced only nominal improvement. I intended to try the most current version of Dragon Naturally Speaking, but decided to try these headphones first. I had not yet trained the Microsoft Word voice recognition program, so I expected some errors for the first dozen hours of dictation while it became familiar with my voice and the terms I use. These headphones are amazing! I would say the accuracy was about 99%....which is unreal. Once you train the program to understand what you're saying, it always improves remarkably over time. I have to say, I didn't expect such perfection right out of the box like that. Bottom line? If you're having difficulty with your voice recognition program, it's probably the microphone. With these headphones? Problem solved. The USB connection works much better than the standard microphone jack. BTW...although I didn't purchase them for the earphones, I'm pretty impressed with the sound. Although I don't use headphones for much other than my iPhone to save on my poor little eardrums, the sound produced is very clear with a very balanced stereo output and they pick up even the tiniest tinkling sounds and guitar picks. I had to reduce the volume to almost nothing or it would have blasted my head off! If you're getting less than stellar results from the headphones, I'd say you probably need to take a look at your sound card. I doubt your problem is the headphone! I couldn't be more impressed with this headphone. Best purchase I've made in awhile. It's only beat by my recent purchase of the Klipsch RC-52 center speaker. Not THAT'S music!!!

I hated this microphone. It doesn't pick up my voice at all, all I hear is static. I rated it one star.

Excellent en reconnaissance vocale sur Dragon Naturallyspeaking. Matériel solide. Livraison rapide. J'aurais préféré un diamètre plus grand pour englober les oreilles.

The recording sound seems quite soothing, although the ear pads make the ears pain after sometime. The best mic I've found so far for screencasting. Good noise cancellation.

Superb sound

The only drawback, it's not a full over the ear cup...other than that they are great,, good sound and the mic works very well also...I would give it a 4 and a half if I could... :) Geeeez I just about forgot, these have metal sliders as opposed to plastic for adjusting head and ear fit.

TLDR: AVOID THESE!! What to know: 1. The ear cups are so small that they will crush you ears and leave you with a headache in minutes. 2. I tried using these for recording audio and they left a noticeable e amount of feedback leaving me to question what everyone else had been hearing when I was using them for video conferences. While I can't speak to the broader brand, after living with these for almost two months I can recommend that you AVOID these at all costs.