Reviews : Hardware : Headphones : PC/Gaming Headphones

Hi-Fi Headphones Buying Guide: Not only do Hi-Fi headphones provide an excellent sound experience, they also keep your neighbours and family members happy. Read more...

PC/Gaming Headphones

Plantronics .Audio 480 Virtual Phone Booth

Print review and specs for shopping

Click to open full size image in new window

Click images to select and enlarge

Plantronics .Audio 480 Virtual Phone Booth 3.50

Explain star rating

RRP

$119.00

Review Date

Thursday, 25th of October, 2007

What's Hot

Great design, excellent sound quality, noise-cancelling earphones and microphone

What's Not

Cable is so short that it restricts the usefulness of the device for some people

The Final Word

The Plantronics .Audio 480 Virtual Phone Booth is an excellent product that is hampered by one poor design decision. If the cable had been longer we would have been much happier with this headset.

Plantronics .Audio 480 Virtual Phone Booth

Dave Jansen 25/10/2007 10:40:55

More by Dave Jansen

Additional Resources

Newsletter Subscription

GoodGearGuide GearDaily Newsletter [Daily]

Each day the GearDaily Newsletter covers the latest from the last week in a specific category. Monday is "Computing, Small Office and Home Office", Tuesday is "On the Move", Wednesday is "Digital Cameras, Video and Imaging", Thursday is "Mobile Phones and Communications" and Friday is "Home Entertainment".

GoodGearGuide GearShop Newsletter [Weekly]

See the latest products and comparison prices added to GearShop each week.

GoodGearGuide Pre-Register

The GoodGearGuide portfolio of services is rapidly expanding. By joining this list you will be pre-registered for any new email services we launch so you won't miss out on any of our independent product guidance and purchasing information. You will be automatically subscribed and receive the new service(s) but dont worry, should you wish to unsubscribe you can do so with only one click.

The Plantronics .Audio 480 Virtual Phone Booth is a discrete and lightweight headset designed for VoIP calls using a notebook. Both its ear buds have a canal headphone design which blocks out all exterior noise (as though you were in a virtual phone booth). The sound quality of the unit is excellent and the microphone picks up excellent voice while also cancelling quite a bit of background noise. The only complaint we have with these headphones is that the cable is extremely short.

The .Audio 480 is designed to be portable and as such doesn't have an over the head band. Each speaker sits in the ear with the earpiece creating a seal so as to block out unwanted noise. The earpiece has a small curved flap which is placed under the folds of the pinna to keep it in place.

The unit is extremely comfortable to use and the microphone is so light you tend to forget it is perched on the corner of your mouth. We ran tests to check the sound quality and were more than pleased with the results. The microphone picked up voice extremely well and the headphones produced clear sound without error. Since they are noise-cancelling headphones, they may take some getting used to as the loss of exterior sound also means a loss of awareness to exterior events.

We were very happy with the performance of the 480 which is all the more reason why we were disappointed with them on the whole. The cable on this model is extremely short. It is so short that it will not be able to reach to the back of your PC and is only designed for people who are using a notebook. Even then, they greatly restrict your movements because there is not enough leeway to allow you to move around at your desk while hooked up. With a longer cable we would have no problems recommending these headphones to all users but as they stand they are really only good for a limited demographic.

The .Audio 480 Virtual Phone Booth comes in USB or non-USB editions. The USB edition is the same as this version but comes with a USB converter dongle.