ANDREA Communications NC-181VM USB On-Ear Monaural Computer Headset with Noise-canceling Microphone, in-line Volume/Mute Controls, and Built-in External Sound Card and USB Plug, Black, Grey, Silver

I use Dragon dictation regularly and find it very accurate but had worn out a microphone and therefore replaced it with this one. I find it just as accurate as the previous ones but at half the cost. The quality of the audio seems excellent and on replay has little background noise. This is a product I will enjoy using and would recommend as an alternative to the more expensive models. It also appears well constructed very sturdy metal components for choir and a wire rubber strain protection on the USB input which is always a weakness with wired products and good to see that they thought about protecting damage in the wire at junctions both the USB and the microphone. This review was done entirely and uncorrected DragonDictate.

Generally an all-round good experience. The headset worked well for both of my requirements - Dragon voice-recogntion, and Skype. The voice-recognition performance was particularly encouraging when compared to my previous two headsets, one of them being a Plantronics DSP 400. Positive features include the mute and volume control - the mute is especially useful with Dragon as the often the sleep/wake-up commands can be mis-recognised and/or take too much time when consolidated over a session much to the users annoyance. Would recommend!

I bought these for use with Dragon software and the accuracy of my speech recognition has definitely improved with their use. They are highly adjustable, light weight and comfortable with a decently long wire giving better mobility than my old cheaper pair. My only criticism is that there is a flashy blue light that occurs whenever they are plugged in. I have had to tape over it because I found it so distracting.

Rather than the Gaming and/or Skype that the product title might suggest, I purchased the headset to use with Dragon Naturally Speaking. I had been using the headset supplied by Nuance but it was never a particularly good and recently finally gave up the ghost. In buying the Andrea Headset, I was hoping for a significant improvement in the accuracy of the dictation and it has achieved more than I expected. Although it produces much better accuracy in a quiet environment, it is in the normally noisy environment that it excels. The percentage accuracy has gone from perhaps low 70s to high 90s. Quite often I find that the only accuracy has in fact been caused by my poor diction. One minor point - somewhat tongue in cheek - remember to turn off the microphone! It is not unknown to turn back to your screen and find that your last conversation has been quite well transcribed even though you have taken off the headset! I had not realised quite how uncomfortable the previous headset was until I tried this one, which is just so much better. All in all, a very good product for how I was intending to use it.

Is it "lightweight" or "flimsy"? I use this with DNS 11 and it's not a great deal better than a generic gaming headset from Argos(a percent or two of accuracy? if that) For the price I was expecting it to be noticably better, at least in terms of dictation quality than a gaming headset, and it's really not. If you have a £10 set with a mic on and USB interface, then you might as well stick with it. If not and you want a lightweight/flimsy piece of kit for dictation only (only one ear remembr) then this is as good as any, but sadly not any better.

I use this at work with Dragon software, its a comfortable headset. Easy to install, great sound quality (I use it as the telephone headset too) I prefer the one ear piece type headset and this was the only one I could find. Replaced like for like but was not impressed in the double cost when I bought my first one a couple of years ago.

I brought this headset after reading lots of positive reviews for using it with Dragon Naturally Speaking. Unfortunately, I haven't found it as good as I hoped it would be. Firstly, due to my own error, I didn't notice it only has one ear piece - on the other side, is a small bit that holds the headset in place. Personally, I would have preferred double earphones. My mistake anyway. What I did notice is feedback from the microphone and voice recognition was not as clear as I hoped. I think any breathing and light background noise feeds in, even though I was the only one around, with music etc etc etc on. On the plus side, this head set DOES allow you to control volume and choose which side you want the earset. I think it would be perfect for applications like skype, maybe gaming (I have no experience there) but I didn't feel it had the precision required for Dragon.

This is not a usable headset for Microsoft speech recognition. It reliably fails to recognise the vitally important commands as "correct" and "select" in spite of my having completed the entire Microsoft speech recognition tutorial. It also has a much higher failure rate for recognising dictated words compared to my cheaper Logitech headset. Definitely not recommended.

This prodcut delivers high-qulaity performance, allowing for easy and enhanced operation of vocal recognition applicatioins. Has USB plug-in (so one might need to go to Radio Shack for a USB "multi-port cluster," if your computer has limited USB sockets). Works very well with my Drangon 12 (Nuance product).voice recognition with my writing on Microsoft Word Overall, price is quite reasonable for the expectatoins of the device with voice recogntion software. Highly recommended as a peripheral device which enhances the software package one is using.

comfortable and quick to adjust to my needs. Unlike my other headsets, it has only one ear covered, which lets me hear more of what's going on around me. I generally have difficulty getting a good fit from headphones but these are snug but not tight.

I will say it is the best headset for Dragon Speaking Software. I curse Dragon 15 Legal India version. Errors are minimal Build quality is good. Nice product for affordable price

I've been using voice recognition software for several years with the microphone headset that came with the software. It gave acceptable but not great results. I purchased this headset when it became necessary to replace the original one. It has consistently given substantially better results, increasing my productivity and user satisfaction.

Performs flawlessly. It's comfortable on my head, the audio is clear and I haven't had one issue with the mic or the speakers. (Word to the wise - if you use this, or any other headset, with Skype or a similar app, you may want to set the microphone volume to a static setting instead of letting the application control the volume automatically. If you cough, or even sniffle for example, the app may compensate by dropping the mic volume low for several seconds and your callers can't hear your immediate subsequent speech.)