Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Usb Headset for Mac?

P

peteraigner

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 28, 2006
21
0
Hi there

Like the title might imply, I want to have a headset for my imac with Leopard.

Today I went to the store and a Gravis Gamer Headset around 30 euro caught my eye, I asked of of the customer assistants if he could plug it into one of the iMacs there, he did and we got the error

Keyboard not supported + the blabla it comes with

Same problem with USB Soundcards.

There would have been a headset from Logitech which would have supported mac, but its made for skype and co, and I really doubt I would feel comfy with that thing on my head for longer than 2 hours when playing (which I mostly gonna use it for)

So:

What Tips can you give me, are those logitech headsets usable for gaming?
Are there any, not too expensive headsets that would work as gaming headset?
The headset I am using on my windows PC is a PLantronics, non usb, I#d like to have a sond quality simirar or better
Best would be a detachable mic or mutable with big earparts, good for shooters and wow.


Hope you can help me :)
 
Any headset (non-usb) works fine with built in sound card.

You can use the headset you already have.
 
Consultant said:
Any headset (non-usb) works fine with built in sound card.

You can use the headset you already have.
Click to expand...

Wrong, Macs do not have a microphone in port, they have a line in port. There is a difference and this means the microphone won't work on non-USB headsets.

That said, most USB headsets should work out of the box and probably don't even need drivers. I have a Logitech Premium Notebook Headset that I really like and officially supports Mac OS X.
 
  • Like
Reactions: UmarOMC
I have a previous model of this USB headset and quite like it. The sound quality is stellar. The longest I've used it for is an hour, though, so I don't know how it would be for lengthier sessions. You could also check out the other 35 headsets from Plantronics that support OS X.
 
yippy said:
Wrong, Macs do not have a microphone in port, they have a line in port. There is a difference and this means the microphone won't work on non-USB headsets.

That said, most USB headsets should work out of the box and probably don't even need drivers. I have a Logitech Premium Notebook Headset that I really like and officially supports Mac OS X.
Click to expand...

Actually, you are the one who has mistaken. Non-amplified microphone works perfectly on my macs, from the iBook days to my current MacBook Pro 17".
 
Well that is news to me as it sure didn't work on my PowerBookG4 or PowerMac and at the time it was a well know issue that non-amplified mics did not work without a usb sound card like the iMic. It is the whole reason the iMic was invented.

The macrumors guides agrees with me that the Mac Audio-In does not handle mic level signal properly and requires line-in using a pre-amp.
 
Consultant said:
Actually, you are the one who has mistaken. Non-amplified microphone works perfectly on my macs, from the iBook days to my current MacBook Pro 17".
Click to expand...

if you tell me how to plug a microphone into a machine without a microphone in? :confused:

Ill have a look at those you guys posted (but srsly, I won't spent a whoppin 250 on a headset for playing xD)

Somebody can help me out and tell me, the problem I stated in my first post, was this just the iMac in the store, or will every iMac react like that? while googling I saw a form thread somewhere, where someone said his gravis is working fine on his mac .... exactly the one iI tryied today .. and I got this error :confused:
 
USB Headset for Macspeech

How peachy that you made this topic today, I was just thinking of the same question... :)

I'm looking for a headset for Macspeech, an overly-finnicky dictation program. Apparently not just any microphone will do, it has to be a USB-based one. Fantastic. Macspeech's recommended headset list is incredibly short, so I went off to search on my own.

I have no experience with USB headsets. It seems like the headsets I find are either horrifically ugly and are mediocre quality, or are made for gamers (and their compatibility with Mac OS X is uncertain). While the microphone quality is really all that matters, it wouldn't hurt if it were ergonomic and if it could double as a nice pair of headphones.

I figured that since they're all USB it shouldn't really make a difference whether it's Windows or not. Of course, all of the gamer-centered ones talk about Windows compatibility, but none seem to explicitly state it as a requirement. I found a seemingly decent set for use, the ABS AZ1, and gave them a call to inquire about Mac OS X compatibility. They said that they tested it out on a Mac and it didn't work.

So what gives? Do all USB headsets require drivers, or are some just more specialized than others? On that note, I'd also like recommendations for USB headsets. I'd prefer not to exceed $50, but I'm willing to go higher if necessary. Microphone quality is the #1 priority, comfort of wear is a close second. Style and quality audio output are desirable, but if I can't have it all then those two can be tossed.

I appreciate any advice or recommendations that you can offer.
 
The Plantronics and Logitech headsets do seem to be mostly OS-agnostic, but do you know anything about the headsets that target gamers? They're generally made to have better sound quality and the microphone seems to be more flexible on many of those models compared with the standard, general-purpose headsets. (I'm being a bit picky, I know.)
 
microphone and speech stuff MacSpeech

Logitech has worked well. I'm using a Plantronics Audio .400 now.
I've never needed no stinking drivers. LOL -- it's just USB, plug-and-play, baby!

Ledgem -- If you're still looking, MacSpeech Dictate comes with a generic looking but high quality headset mic but at MacWorld SF they were bundling the Plantronics Audio 400. On their website it's just $10 more to get this, and it has two stereo earpieces instead of one. It's still wired and a headset, so you are tethered to your Mac. I'd love one of them wireless ones.

I'm going to try it with Skype, next.

By the way, I just spoke everything here. Only two mistakes and it gave me choices in a floating window to correct this. Stoked.
 
Plantronics 995 headset freezes internet

I use a Plantronics .Audio 995 (cordless headset w/USB) with Skype and iTunes and it works great for those two things. Plugged it in but I had to manually pair the two. (trick: hold down power buttons on headset and dongle at the same time until dongle flashes blue) Got it working after it was fully charged. Works on our PC as well.

However, problem is, it freezes my internet connection. I definitely can't watch streaming video with it, which is a big downside. Skype works, which uses the internet connection, but I don't understand why it works for that but not browsing the web. Any ideas? Resolutions? I've tried to have my Bluetooth system find the headset but it would search and search, find nothing, then not stop. I've sent reports to Apple.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Kim Sawyer
MacBook Ver. 10.5.5
2GHz Intel Core Duo
2GB Ram
 
MacAndy74 said:
I can recommend the Logitech ClearChat PC Wireless - they're flawless with Mac; from my experience.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I think I'll try that one out next. It got good reviews. So did the Plantronics, I got it because it was on sale $20 off.

One more thing..... in case anyone is interested, the dongle doesn't work using my USB hub, it HAS to be plugged directly into the Mac.

Kim Sawyer
MacBook Ver. 10.5.5
 
Macspeech Microphone Issues

yippy said:
I have a Logitech Premium Notebook Headset that I really like and officially supports Mac OS X.
Click to expand...

I have a Logitech Premium Notebook Headset. It works fine with the included USB adapter in system settings, normal playback, and Skype--once designated as the desired imput/output device in the various preferences.

Macspeech is another issue. I can not get MacSpeech to recognize the microphone at all. A little help please?

(I am using a 2.4Ghz Intel dual-core MacBook Pro w/ OS 10.5.8)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back