Is umi voice coming out with a new headset? I thought I read somewhere that the boom O is being replaced. Will there be any improvements to the microphone element?

wheels,

Possibly, but unlikely. Simply put, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". On the other hand, it might be a completely different microphone design, in which case anything goes. Regardless, there is generally very little that microphone manufacturers can do as far as microphone elements are concerned other than change types. Close talk microphones generally use either cardioid or hypercardioid microphone elements depending upon how they implement noise suppression. I would have to see the microphone technical specifications, but I doubt there's going to be a significant change in the microphone element itself. Umevoice already has a patented noise canceling/noise suppression technology that is technically one of the best in the industry. Why would they change it? They use the same microphone element and technology in all of their microphones. R&D costs being what they are, if they're coming out with the new microphone, it's more likely a design change rather than any kind of technical specification change.

However, I'll eat my words if I'm wrong.

Chuck Runquist
Technical Project Manager
VoiceTeach LLC
Home of VoicePower®: We don't make Dragon NaturallySpeaking, we make it better!

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is." - Yogi Berra

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Chuck
unfortunately, that's what I was thinking. Especially since like you mentioned they have the same microphone element on all of their headsets.

Although, if memory serves me correctly and it may not, the Boom "O" was released around 2005. I suppose it was wishful thinking that because I like the product I was hoping they would make some technical improvements.

I know speech recognition is not a huge market, but I was also thinking since the Audio Technica headset has taken over the position as the number one wired headset, the makers of the boom might be inclined to update their product. Again, it's probably just wishful thinking.

We just spoke with UmeVoice today and they didn't mention anything about a new model coming out or even how long it was going to take to get theBoom "O" back into circulation as it has been MIA for several months, although most other models will be arriving within a few days.

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It's very curious that one model would be MIA. Although that could be their number one selling model so that is where they choose to start with the remodeling process. Once again, probably just wishful thinking on my behalf.

I suppose hope springs eternal. Would there even be room for substantial improvements in performance over the current model? In my opinion the improvements would probably be minimal but I am not an expert like you guys are.

There is always room for improvements. In our opinion, we now rate theBoom line of microphones in 2nd place to the Audio-Technica Pro 8HEmW which doesn't feature playback speakers but does offer higher accuracy and better noise filtering.

If you need something right away, you might also consider the VXI line of microphones which we feel is evenly matched with theBoom line of microphones.

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You are absolutely correct. There is always room for improvement. I have noticed that the Audio Technica headset is more accurate. But I find the boom to be more comfortable and so that's what I wear in most cases.

I suppose if they were to come up with a microphone element that would rival Audio Technica in accuracy and noise canceling ability they would really have something.

Any word on when they will come back into circulation? I suppose I'm just curious to see what will be changed.

All we can tell you, with absolute certainty, is that theBoom "O" microphone has been out of stock for several months. We haven't heard about any new design changes and doubt there will be any because theBoom "O" was revamped just a few years ago, to strengthen the design which had a tendency to break a little too easily.

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Thanks for the update.