Introduction
Most of organizations across the world are seemingly adopting IP
technologies to cut their big bills on regular PSTN/Landline bills,
conferencing & travel. This led to booming IP Telephony industry around the
world. The Cisco™, Nortel™ & Huawei™
of the planet have invested heavily into R&D and new IP telephony devices. The
paradigm further shifted from IP Telephony to what we know as softphones like
Skype™ , Lync™ are leaders in this domain. Infact Microsoft® which owns both
the platform have integrated these services with their OS as OEM on the
computing device.
The organizations are extensively using Lync services provided
by Microsoft® , as innovative way for live Video conferences and telecons. The
voice and video quality became of paramount importance. Since more than video, it’s
the Audio which makes most of the impact, the IP audio devices and quality also
became pf paramount importance. One such device is Plantronics Blackwire (Model
C320-M), Lync Headset. In the review below we will equip you some of its
features and our verdict of this device.
Getting to know Plantronics Blackwire
The
Plantronics Blackwire C320-M is latest generation “Optimized for Microsoft Lync”
stereo (bi-aural) USB headset. The technical specifications are available on http://www.plantronics.com/in/product/blackwire-300?skuId=sku6080014
The Quality Guidance
The
device exhibits the excellent build quality that we always believed from
Plantronics. The USB connection to USB ports of the laptop/tablets is nice
and body-hugged – not all loose .The semi rotatable mic is firm and not loose
which gives the user a very good feeling. In nutshell, full marks on the build
quality.
The Key Features
The
headset has the traditional inbuilt buttons for call control, volume and muting
– which an added feature that these controls actually control Lync functions also.
The microphone is sturdy , elegant and you can bend it to fit whatever position of
your choice and it stays there.
Lync Integration
Plantronics
Blackwire is plug-&play device. You need not get into extensive
installation guidelines at all. We simply plugged it in our Windows Laptop and
it worked perfectly fine. The call button takes Lync off hook as expected
and terminates the call if you press it again. The mute button creates a climbing
beep when it mutes and a sliding beep when you unmute the device.
The
volume up/down makes loud and low tones
Cheat Sheet
GENERAL
|
|
In Sales Package
|
Headset
|
Brand
|
Plantronics
|
Model ID
|
Blackwire C320-M
|
Type of Headset
|
Supra-aural
|
Headset Design
|
Over-the-head
|
Wired/Wireless
|
Wired
|
Color
|
Black
|
WARRANTY
|
|
Warranty Summary
|
2 Years Replacement
Warranty from Plantronics India
|
Covered in Warranty
|
Manufacturing Defect
|
Not Covered in
Warranty
|
Damage
|
Warranty Service
Type
|
Carry-in
|
General Observations
I
have tested this headset for about two weeks now on four different
workstations; used it for Lync meetings, calls to cell phones meetings, regular
calls, and calls to other Lync users. In each case the audio output was of
high quality and free from noise & other interferences. The microphone is subtle,
and filters the background noise almost perfectly. I had also tested this
headset while using Skype, and to my surprise it worked seamlessly with it as
well.
This headset is available in Indian market on various
portals like Flipkart, Snapdeal at a starting price of INR 3,999 /- . If you
plan to purchase it from International market, it will cost you approximately
for $49.95 on wards as on date of 12 Jul’14. We feel price wise, its slightly costly
and price range of about INR3,000 /- should have been a deal stealer.
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