12 November 2003 9:39 GMT / By Stuart Miles

With your PC becoming more and more like your mobile phone every day, there are now plenty of services that offer unlimited voice calls through your PC for a flat rate. Microsoft's latest MSN Instant Messenger service has built-in audio connectivity and if that isn't enough, most multiplayer games such as Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament 2004 are turning to audio commands to allow you to talk to your team mates.

Logitech, famous now it seems for most PC input devices, hopes its range of headset/microphones will be first choice when you need a headset. The Premium Stereo USB headset 30's currently at the top of this range and at £55 we would hope so.

So what do you get for your cash? For starters you get a banded-style (conventional) headset that features two soft plush ear pads making for a very comfortable wear. None of the small buds aggravating you and in the long run this is welcomed whether you are planning on wearing them for gaming or business.

Attached to the headset is a microphone that wraps around the side of your face. While this is adjustable in rotation, it's not adjustable in length and so whatever the shape of your face it's going to be in one place only. This sounds worse than it actually is though and overall the performance is just like a mobile phone where the microphone doesn't have to be in front of your mouth to make yourself heard.

A wire then dangles down to a clipped remote that controls a mute function and volume control. Black buttons on a black background won't help those not sure which one to press and once too often we ended up muting our conversation instead of turning up the volume.

The whole device is then connected to your PC via USB and installation amounts to plugging the headset it and letting the computer do the rest. In fact it was so fast that we were at first unsure whether anything had happened, which is a very nice touch.

Verdict

Overall the sound was very good both in conversations, music and gaming even when the volume was turned up to the max with the headphones giving little distortion. There used to be a time when you had to be wary of USB sound products but this headset seems to the first of the new breed for consumers. Better still with the plush ear pads you won't suffer from the ear irritation that you sometimes get with wrap around behind-the-head designed headphones.

Score

Review Recap

Made by

Logitech

Price as reviewed

£55

The good

Good sound in both coversations and gaming, souncard included in headphones

The bad

Black buttons on a black background make controls diffcult to use

Quick verdict

There used to be a time when you had to be wary of USB sound products, but not here

Score

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