I have a Acer 4530 laptop with built in realtek high definition audio and I am using Dragon naturally speaking of 11.5 home the original headset works just fine. I purchased Andrea NC 95 headset, and the microphone is virtually useless.

I was looking at the sound cards on the KnowBrainer store site. Does anybody have any recommendations which soundcard I should get to work with that headset. Should I get a different headset and soundcard altogether?

Thank you

Jerry

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Sager 9170

 

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

 

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 home & KnowBrainer 2011

Jerry,

Forget about the Andrea NC 95 headset. No matter what soundcard you go with it is not any distinct advantage over the one that came out of the box with DNS 11.5 Home. In fact, it's likely to be worse. Andrea is no longer one of the top-tier players in the microphone business as regards speech recognition, even though they do provide excellent USB Soundpods (i.e., among the best). There are many other manufacturers who are now producing significantly better microphones designed specifically for speech recognition. Besides, your microphone/soundcard combination is the most significant link in the ability to provide good accuracy with DNS.

Regardless, and I would definitely consider looking at all the high quality speech recognition microphones that Lunis provides in his store. Most of the best microphones are reasonably priced, but are significantly more expensive than anything Andrea offers, as well as being much more suitable for use with DNS 11.5. I could make several recommendations but, for the time being, the best sound card that you can purchase at this point would be the Andrea PureAudio USB-SA1 second generation USB SoundPod. 

Chuck

"Aiming for the moon and missing it is better than aiming for the ditch and hitting it." - Author Unknown

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Some time back the Buddy 7G sound pod came out but it had some issues... Does anyone know about the successor to that model and when that might be available?

 

Best,

Alan

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DNS 12.0 Pro (KnowBrainer + VoiceComputer  - latest versions) Buddy 7G (2nd gen) USB + Sennheiser MD 431 II - Toshiba Satellite Core™ i7 2670QM laptop 4 cores/8 threads 6 MB L3 cache 6 GB DDR3 RAM (1333 MHz) + MacBook Pro with Retina display (i7 2.7 Ghz); 16 GB RAM; 8 MB of L3 chache; 751 GB Solid State Drive (using Parallels 8 with Boot Camp).

Alan,

The vendor for the Buddy USB 7G vehemently claims that there is no problem with that USB SoundPod. However, it does have problems and it does not work with all microphones. If you buy the Buddy USB 7G, you're taking a big risk because out-of-the-box it may work perfectly for about an hour or two, after that, it goes to hell in a handbasket and doesn't work at all depending on the microphone that you're using. Since the vendor seems to be blind to their own product, your gambling. I for one would not recommend the Buddy USB 7G. On the other hand, the Buddy USB 6G works just fine.

Until the vendor decides to acknowledge the problems with the Buddy USB 7G and provide a working solution, the best advice is to stay as far away from it as you possibly can.

Chuck

"Life's Rule #1: Once you pull the pin, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend."  (Variant of Murphy's Law  -  Edward A. Murphy, Jr)

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Just to update this post after using this headset/microphone for a couple days now I can't believe the difference in the accuracy is so much better.

Thank you all for your input.

Jerry

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Sager 9170

 

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

 

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 home & KnowBrainer 2011

If you decide to upgrade your microphone, the Microphone Comparison Matrix may help you pair down the choices. Also note that not every microphone will work with every USB soundcard and some microphones include a built-in USB soundcard but no matter what microphone you choose, you'll find additional this information when you click the Customize button.

We noted, by your avatar, it would appear that you probably qualify for a complementary copy of our KnowBrainer 2011

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Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012
Click SpeechStart+ to Download a 15 Day Evaluation of SpeechStart+

Thank you Chuck and Lunis for your reply, I will definitely be looking at some of the other microphones at Lunis store. Lunis IAM a quadriplegic so I will be filling out that form for a complimentary copy of KnowBrainer 2011 Thank you.
May I come back to this thread or should I start a new one if I have any questions about the microphone and sound cards?
Jerry

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Sager 9170

 

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

 

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 home & KnowBrainer 2011

It's best to keep information like this in the same collection of threads (post). If you ask related questions in a different post, it gets confusing because very often no one will know to what you are referring. Therefore, keep your questions here.


Chuck

"If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside." -- Robert X. Cringely

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At the risk of oversimplifying things, currently most USB sound cards are identical in performance. Therefore, pick a reputable vendor (like this one) and get the one that meets other criteria like cost, form factor, or secondary bells and whistles. I have an Andrea half-duplex card (the cheapest on this site), and a Buddy 6G card (because it has a mute button on the card). The cards perform exactly the same. Don't get the Buddy 7G because, as Alan alluded to, Lunis found some issues with the card and doesn't recommend it. I understand that SpeechWare (makers of the superb 3-in-1 desktop microphone) are making a sound card that will purportedly influence your performance for the better, but until I see it you can't go wrong with most Andrea, Buddy, VXI etc. cards sold by reputable vendors.

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Eric Wright At work: DNS 12 Pro. At home: DNS 11.5 Pro,  KnowBrainer 2011, and Utter Command by RedStart Systems; Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac

 

Appetite for Dictation - My Blog

What are your thoughts on this VXI TalkPro UC2 Headset Microphone http://www.knowbrainer.com/NewStore/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=318 I see it comes with the sound card. I am looking for something that I can use for stereo headphones and a microphone.
Jerry

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Sager 9170

 

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

 

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 home & KnowBrainer 2011

Jerry,

 

That seems like a capable, affordable package if you want to keep everything together. Another thing to keep in mind would be buying all of these components piecemeal. For instance, you could buy an open-ear headset like the KnowBrainer hands-free headset, and then any USB sound card. Then you could use any set of stereo headsets in combination with your open-ear headset, from cheap (but surprisingly good!) ones like the JVC flats, to more expensive brands like Sennheiser, Klipsch, Shure, Bose, B&W, or Audio Technica.

 

All that said, the microphone you've listed above should do the trick if you want an all-in-one solution.

Best,

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Eric Wright At work: DNS 12 Pro. At home: DNS 11.5 Pro,  KnowBrainer 2011, and Utter Command by RedStart Systems; Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac

 

Appetite for Dictation - My Blog

I ordered the VXI TalkPro UC2 Headset Microphone from Lunis store should be here on Monday.
Thanks all
Jerry

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Sager 9170

 

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

 

Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11.5 home & KnowBrainer 2011