Plantronics Voyager PRO

As the name suggests, the Voyager PRO is part of Plantronics' range of products aimed at professionals, the market in which this manufacturer specialises.

Design: comfort first

When you first take it out of the box, the Voyager PRO seems enormous.  Rather than the diminutive earpieces that we're now used to, it makes no bones about sitting right on top of your ear, with plenty of room for electronics and a long boom to bring the microphone down the side of your cheek.  As soon as you put it on, however, it's easy to forget you're wearing it.  The excellent design continues with a series of silicon ear buds in different sizes, as well as a choice of foam pads, to get a perfect fit with your ear.  Despite being bulky, this isn't an attention-seeking headset, and it relies instead on quality materials and discrete colours: black, brushed aluminium and steel are the order of the day here.

However, the picture isn't entirely rosy.  A battery life of 4 hours 30 minutes on a product which is designed for intensive use is a little disappointing.  Fortunately, though, Plantronics has provided several options for recharging it.  There's a standard charger as well as a cigarette-lighter adapter, and frequent travellers will appreciate the different adaptors for the power systems in different countries.

Audio Quality: AudioIQ2 shows us what it's made of

Plantronics' main speciality is making headsets for call centres, where hundreds of different callers--often in a single, open-plan room--need to be able to communicate without interfering with their neighbours.  Given that challenge, the noise-handling system it developed was always going to have to be pretty effective--and it is!  Thanks to the ingenious AudioiQ2 system (see inset), the people you call will be able to hear you in the very worst conditions: in traffic jams, on public transport or even next to a building site.  Your voice might be slightly altered, but it's a small price to pay for improved communications.

The same is true when it comes to listening, with an astonishingly precise sound that we have noting to complain about.

Without a doubt, the Voyager PRO is a model that other headset manufacturers should aim to beat.  Both the collection of accessories and the sound quality leave nothing to be desired, so our only criticism is the slightly weak battery life.