[dtgriscom]

Hello, all. I'm at my computer all day, and love to listen to music while I type. I also take and make a lot of phonecalls, and don't want to deal with headset cables, or switching headsets. So, I need a single headset that can do both functions wirelessly.
 
I've been a Turtle Beach customer for a while, using an XP300 for a year and a half (the battery died and the headband fell apart), and an XP400 for another two years (the unit no longer pairs with its base station). Each unit came with a base station that takes 1/8" stereo audio in and wirelessly transmits it to the headset; each unit could also (and separately) pair to a Bluetooth phone to receive and make phonecalls. So, I could be listening to music playing from my PC, and when my phone rings I pause the music and hit the Bluetooth multifunction button and bingo: I'm talking to the caller. At the end of the day I plug the headset into a USB charger, and it's ready to go when I come in the next day. No wires, so I can pace around my office while thinking or talking. All in all, a pretty good setup. (For more info, you can see my Amazon review of the XP300.)
 
This type of product seems like such a no-brainer; there must be millions of people like me who would love it. However, Turtle Beach has discontinued both models, and as far as I can tell they don't make any Bluetooth-compatible headsets. I could get an old XP400, but I wasn't happy about the reliability, and frankly both units had design issues, so if I can find an alternative I'd be very interested.
 
So, are there alternate products out there that both a) play reasonable hi-fi audio wirelessly from a PC output, and b) pair with a Bluetooth phone? (I assume that the PC audio connection would be a cable to a base station, but it could also be Bluetooth as long as the headset could maintain two Bluetooth connections at the same time.)
 
 
Thanks,
Dan

 

[dtgriscom]

Hi, again. In case anyone else was interested, I ended up buying a Plantronics Voyager Focus UC headset. Instead of the two separate connections the XP400 used (Bluetooth for cell, and a proprietary wireless for audio) the Plantronics can connect to two separate Bluetooth devices. You can only listen/talk to one at a time, but it automatically switches at need.
 
My current setup:
 
- Listen to (decent quality stereo) music from my OS X desktop, using the included BT600 USB Bluetooth dongle (this may not be necessary, but the built-in Bluetooth might not give as good audio)
 
- Do phonecalls through a Bluetooth connection to my Yealink VOIP phone.
 
If I'm listening to music, and a call comes in, the music is paused and the Plantronics switches to the phone. When the call ends, the Plantronics switches back to the desktop and resumes the music.
 
 
Nano-review: audio is pretty good, controls are great, comfort is good, but it can be a bit of a pain to pair with different devices.
 
 
Works for me,
and FYI,
Dan