Man it must be a ‘designer’ think I thought to myself when Martin started setting himself up in the office. He had just started work with us, a web design and marketing company, when, on day two of his employment he appeared with a pair of Sennheiser headsets in his hand, plugged them in to his Mac and got on with his work.

Now, Sennheiser have a rare market position in the headset world. There is little doubt that Plantronics are not only the market leaders, but like Microsoft for so many years, have their name synonymous with the industry. Sennheiser have somehow claimed the “Apple” foot on the headset market. they have that “Je ne sais quoi”, their appeal is to the consumer rather than to the business purchaser. A look through some of their designs emphasises their commitment to form as well as function ( maybe this the appeal to the designers ) and the range of headsets they supply further pushes the company’s image into the realms of cooldom . For example it is hard to imagine any other of the major headsets manufacturers coming up with the stylish: PC111 VoIP Headset ( shown above) or the Sennheiser SH310 headset. Sennheiser manufacture headsets not only for the office communications markets but for online gaming, VoIP, personal audio and Call Centres.

At Best4Headsets there is a large range of Sennheiser Headsets as well as a useful interface on connectivity, their range encompasses Sennheiser Headsets for Aviation use as well as corded telephone headsets . Many of these are available in bulk purchase for call centres or large offices.

Martin is off today, his Sennheisers sit on his desk, unproductive as he. Funnily enough the developer sitting opposite him has adopted a pair of cordless ( DECT?) Sennheiser Headsets also.

It is a plague of headset wearing. We are not only willing to subjugate our visual input to the CRT/ LCD by staring at a monitor all day, but we are willing to allow our most delicate audio receptors to be engulfed in an artificial soundwall. What next, will our olfactories be plugged into the www? A year ago everyone was trying to find the most subtle, ipod like, small and unobtrusive headphones possible to use with their mp3 players. Now they waltz along the street, neck muscles straining with a large speaker strapped to each ear…

Suffice it to say that Sennheiser produce the most beautiful headsets known to man. They deliver a superb sound quality across the range and look funky.

Now, I work all day, in an office, like many people, sitting at my desk with a keyboard, mouse and monitor for company. I have a telephone also - a Toshiba System Phone with lots of buttons; I tend not to make many outgoing calls, usually it is our clients who call me with requests or support queries. I am lucky enough to have been supplied with the most wonderful headset ever invented - well so it appears to me. In my old job, one which required me to be both on the phone and accessing online databases simultaneously. I had to juggle handset and mouse, often adopting that ’semi-shrug’ which jams the phone to your neck painfully and precariously. My new telephone headset is a Plantronics CS60 Headset.

The headset is superb, it is powered by DECT Technology, meaning that it is connected to the phone on a 2.4Ghz signal which allows me to wander about the office whilst on a call, the manual boasts that it can achieve a 300m range in ideal conditions. That would be ideal as there is a nice public house just over the road from our office, but I have tried and the headset cuts out just as I cross the road.

So I sit at my desk and strap on the headset. If the office telephone rings I have a small beep in my ear and can press a button on the headset and the handset lifter picks up the handset in a smooth operation and the call is immediately transferred to the Plantronics headset. When the call is over I press the button again and the handset goes down and all is peaceful again.

The Plantronics CS60 Headset is lightweight ( I rarely notice its presence) and the battery life is great - it must have a talk time of several hours after an overnight charge as I have never had a problem and do, sometimes get forced into laborious conversations lasting all day it seems. The headset also has a built in acoustic shock protector which means that if a sharp load noise is transmitted to the earpiece it will cut out in order to save my eardrums - very thoughtful.

So as a person who is involved with customer support and client liaison all day in an office, on the telephone and at my PC I can heartily recommend the Plantronics CS60, it makes your whole desk and office environment more ergonomic and enjoyable. Plantronics Headsets are available on line at a retailer like Best4Headsets. Plantronics are the market leaders in headsets and even supplied headsets for the first trip to the moon.

Blimey and bloody nora I could do with some ear defenders today.

I get to work and the fire alarm is blaring, Martins lunchbox placed carefully over the siren takes out some of the harshness, some of the more piercing higher notes are muted slightly, but it is still killing me.

Yesterday the fire engines came and spent a few hours not putting out a fire but turning off this errant alarm.

From 8 till 9am I have sat here and tried to work throughout the vicious noise, dreaming of some of those Gwyneth Paltrow type pink ear defender headsets from Peltor, and then the drilling starts. Downstairs they are refurbishing the club - probably pole dancing, who cares, all I know is that I have surround sound now - ear splitting shrieks from the fire alarm and a dull but totally hardcore drumming from the drills downstairs which I can even feel in my feet.

It is not fair, it really is not…

Succumbing to temptation and due to an act of generosity from a friend I availed myself of a Plantronics 340 explorer Bluetooth Headset, the cockroach type item fits neatly on my ear when I am driving and the mobile automatically diverts calls to it - even answering for me.

The device has a habit of stealing calls when left unattended around the house though so I must remember to disable bluetooth when not wearing it.

This was kind of gotten hold of in order to placate my need for a Bluetooth GPS device.

The talk time/ battery life is fantastic, it is comfortable and lightweight, easy to use and looks pretty stupid.

I am still in battle with the M600i which feigns disfunctionality from time to time so it is synched up to a Sony Ericsson W810i, which is surely a lovely machine - more about that later.