Earset Sound Quality Test

See Also: • 6 shopping questions • Smallest Phones Around • 5 steps to buying a phone • The Cellular Wedding humor

When buying a cell phone earset handsfree system, one must take into account comfort, design and price, but nothing is as important as sound quality. Particularly the sound that will be heard on the other end when the user talks through the microphone.

I recently reviewed 7 popular Earset systems manufactured by 3 different companies and, in order to asses each earset's sound quality, I decided to compare a short audio clip recorded with each one, so we could tell which earset's microphone produces the best results. I asked 3 of my friends that are known for having a good hearing to tell me how they ranked, out of 10, each earset. Plus, I added my own opinion. Here are the results:

(You can listen to the sample* that was used by the jury and me and you are inveted give us your own opinion on which sounds better using the poll at your right. If you think that you hear a strange accent, don't blame it on the earset! I'm a french speaker so I speak english with a certain accent!)

6,7  Jabra Earwrap Earset Over-the-ear Earset with stick-mounted boom and hook Listen   Read Review   6,5  Plantronics m175 Convertible Headset Convertible headset that converts to over-the-ear Earset with stick-mounted boom and a hook. Listen   Read Review   6,1  Plantronics m130 Earset Over-the-ear Earset with stick-mounted boom and a hook Listen    5,5  Sybersay Earlite 540 Listen   Read Review   5,2  Plantronics m205 Earset Standard earpiece with no hook and a hanging boom and volume control Listen    3,9  Jabra Earset Standard earpiece with no hook and a hanging boom Listen    3,7  Jabra Earboom Winder Earset Earpiece with ear-mounted boom, no hook, and a rewindable wire Listen

* The samples included here have been recorded from exactly the same place while trying to talk at the same volume and saying more or less the same sentence.