Plantronics CS70N Test Results for January 1, 2008
I have been using the new Hybrid Plantronics CS70N microphone for the last couple of weeks. Several of us have collaborated on testing this microphone and we are in agreement over the following:
We found the CS70N to be exceptionally good with NaturallySpeaking after adding the specialized PC Switch/Cabling device that we use to convert the Hybrid Plantronics CS55 and the Hybrid Senneheiser BW 900 microphones into speech recognition mics. This microphone exhibits exceptionally high accuracy and noise cancellation. From an accuracy point of view we found the CS70N equivalent to the CS55 and BW 900. From a noise cancelation point of view the CS70N falls just shy of the Hybrid Samson Airline 77 but doubles as a wireless telephone headset; like the CS55.
Unfortunately the optional hydraulic telephone handset lifter, isn’t practical for use with dictation because every time you turn on the microphone, the lifter will pick up your telephone headset so we recommend against purchasing the lifter.
Bottom Line: Although we found the unique headset to be very comfortable it may not be for everyone because the headset isn’t worn in a traditional headset manner. It is worn around your ear, like the Plantronics Voyager 510 (which we don’t recommend for speech recognition usage). The CS70N also inserts the headset speaker slightly into your ear cannel. We found this microphone to be very comfortable and it works great with most land line phones. If you want a more traditional headset we recommend the CS55 but if you don’t want to mess your hair (ladies) and you need excellent noise cancellation (which is the CS55’s Achilles Heal) the CS70N would be our recommendation.