I have just finished testing the Shokz OpenComm UC Bluetooth headset microphone. The following is my test results:

• Most Accurate: I dictated 200 words 5 times in various environments. Note that I read text rather than free-form dictate. This literally doubles accuracy but not necessarily realistic in the real world where you dictate off the top of your head. There were literally no dictation errors. Every other microphone I have tested produced no more than 99% reading acucuracy, in relatively noise free environments and typically 98% free-form dictation.

• Most Comfortable: Because this is a bone conduction microphone, you can still listen to high fidelity stereo (not phenomenally high fidelity) with no sweaty speakers on your ears. The OpenComm UC headset doesn't weigh much more than a postage stamp and can be worn with eyeglasses. However, we found it easier to remove our eyeglasses, put on the microphone and then put our eyeglasses back on. Since this unit includes a 16 hour battery, you can just leave it on. You can even use this microphone while it is charging but turning your microphone into a wired headset kind of defeats the purpose. It includes a Bluetooth dongle.

• Most Noise Filtering: I was very Shokz (pun intended) by the noise filtering. I began read dictating in a quiet environment. After the 1st 200 words I introduced noise; otherwise referred to as the Big Haired Lady running on about something like getting her hair caught in the ceiling fan and having to shoot the fan down with her 44 nickel plated dirty Harry Magnum. But I regress… In Level II I introduce background music. In Level III I increased the volume to moderate levels. Level IV was loud enough to make the Big Haired Lady threatened me. Level V was so loud that I “mercifully” could not hear the Big Haired Lady yelling at me or my own voice. Even at 85 dB, Dragon does not even produce question marks to signify that it is beginning to suffer. Note that noise surpassing 90 dB is considered unhealthy. The only microphone that can match the OpenComm UC's noise filtering is the Audio-Technica Pro 8HEmW which isn't wireless, not quite as accurate or comfortable.

• You can use the OpenComm UC on any cell phone and even listen to HD stereo music; making it a little safer to use while driving

PS: I still prefer using my SpeechWare 3-in-1 in my relatively quiet office environment because no matter how comfortable a headset is, not having to wear a headset is even more comfortable. However, when I need mobility, the OpenComm UC is now my 1st choice

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Thanks for the introduction, Lunis!

I am wondering if you might be able to comment on the following:

1. Latency, which could be an Achilles' heel of Bluetooth devices - especially for PTT use. Latency probably doesn't matter too much with an always-on style of dictation. My 2016 MB Pro 2 UC from Knowbrainer isn't terrible in PTT (much better than the WH-1000XM5 that doesn't have a dongle), but still not as "swift" as a wired USB mic. I can appreciate this is a YMMV type of situation. DMO itself is already prone to intermittent "cold-start" (? network-related) issues to begin with ...

2. "Hotness", which might be hard to define. But play-back would give some idea, especially compared to MB Pro. It has been mentioned in the past that you are blessed with a "booming voice". I have a husky voice. MB Pro doesn't serve my type of voice as well by my subjective reckoning, while the relatively "high-gain" SpeechMike or PowerMic does much better, even though recordings from the latter may sound "too hot" to some. I recall that the AT Pro 8HEmW is also labelled as a "quiet" or "low-gain" mic, which makes it easier to reject noise apparently.

3. Warranty. Do we deal with Shockz directly if running into issues such as battery life down the road?

1. Latency is a sure sign of substandard accuracy, even if your microphone seems fairly accurate. This can be caused by a mismatched driver or Dragon's internal volume control. If your microphone has the initials UC, at the end of the name (universal communications), it should perform quickly. Many Bluetooth microphones, that utilize your computer's built-in Bluetooth, often produce slower speed and substandard Dragon accuracy; while working acceptably in VoIP applications. We only recommend microphones that include a dongle. We believe your MB Pro1 will work with your computer's built-in USB soundcard but work considerably better with the included dongle


2. Dragon normally loves a husky voice. We used to say that other than slurring words, if you smoked 4 packs of cigarettes and drank a pint of whiskey every day for 40 years, Dragon would probably love that voice; especially with the Jersey shore accent  Our Dragon Professional 12 accuracy improved slightly when we got laryngitis; after rerunning the Microphone Check. Before purchasing a new microphone, consider disabling Dragon's auto-gain (requires Dragon 15.61 or higher) and then running the Microphone Check. If it doesn't seem hot enough, rerun the Microphone Check but speak at a lower volume level than you normally would. This will artificially bump up the microphone input level

3. The Shokz OpenComm UC includes a 2 year warranty and of course we would prefer to sell it to you from our website. Just click the previous embedded hyperlink or the same embedded hyperlink in our previous post. If you run into a battery issue, which is covered under the two-year warranty, it will be handled by our distributor. You do not want to deal directly with China. It took us 3 years to obtain an OpenComm UC to test

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Thoughts on using this in a Pathology Gross room?

The OpenComm UC should be an excellent choice. Even your bone saw noise won't be an issue because of its extreme noise filtering. Since your patients are DOA, you won't have to worry about looking like a cyborg either   

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"Since this unit includes a 16 hour battery, you can just leave it on. You can even use this microphone while it is charging but turning your microphone into a wired headset kind of defeats the purpose."

To me this is a possible advantage since I wear my headset all day and leave the microphone and all the time because of my disability. I've been fearful of any wireless headset. It would run out of battery power before I was done for the day. The ability to charge while using it seemed like a big for me.

Looking down the road are the batteries consumer replaceable when replacement is Req?

Any thoughts about using this on an airplane? I.e. is the noise cancellation good enough? I might have to combine it with the Phasma gaming mask or the equivalent so as not to disturb people sitting near me.

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DPG15.6 (also DPI 15.3) + KB, Sennheiser MB Pro 1 UC ML, BTD 800 dongle, Windows 10 Pro, MS Surface Book 3, Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.3/1.5GHz (4 cores, 8 logical, GPU=NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 with Max-Q Design.

It looks like this SHOKZ OpenComm UC headset has a rigid microphone arm, correct?

Given
Dragon hangs When furnace turns on - the heating system has begun (again)

I am interested in
Any recommendations for headsets with FLEXIBLE microphone?

 

Although  of course in an ideal world the SHOKZ  headset noise cancellation would be so darn good that I won't need the mask  just to deal with the furnace noise.  Although I probably would still want it  if there were any possibility it could work on an airplane.

 

 

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DPG15.6 (also DPI 15.3) + KB, Sennheiser MB Pro 1 UC ML, BTD 800 dongle, Windows 10 Pro, MS Surface Book 3, Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU @ 1.3/1.5GHz (4 cores, 8 logical, GPU=NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 with Max-Q Design.

After the Big Haired Lady's baby Black Mamba snake got loose, from her Thunderbird bottle on our last flight, we are no longer able to test microphones on airlines but we believe the OpenComm UC is noise filtering enough to dictate on a jet. However, it might not be noise filtering enough for a prop plane where you have to yell to be heard. Of course this is how the Big Haired Lady communicates anyway.

 

The 3 inch boom can only be adjusted up and down but because it is only 3 inches, you wouldn't be able to align the microphone element to your mouth anyway. This is actually an advantage because the boom is behind your mouth and you don't have to worry about windage. Mouth positioning hasn't been important since Dragon Ver. 12  because of the way Dragon now works. You no longer need a gooseneck to position the microphone .5 inches from the corner of your mouth etc. etc.. You can forget all that...

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After reading this thread and needing a new headset myself I broke down and bought the SHOKZ OpenComm UC headset. It arrived this morning and I started using it this afternoon and so far, it's as good as Lunis said it was! I was a little worried about it filling my head because they were such a large hat size, but it fits well and is extremely comfortable. Speech recognition accuracy also seems to be fantastic. The sound quality is a little different than what you hear from a headset but certainly not bad and I'm sure once I get used to it will be great! The only thing that I'm going to have to get used to is having a stereo headset. I've always used a mono headset so I could hear what was going on around me.

Anyone who's thinking about getting a new headset should definitely consider this 1!

Lunis...would you recommend having dragon automatically adjust the microphone levels as I speak or not. thanks

If you have a checkmark in Automatically adjust the volume level as I speak, you shouldn't have a problem with the OpenComm UC or any other microphone. However, if you have had to remove this checkmark, as many doctors do, you will need to run the Microphone Check. 

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I took delivery of the OpenComm from its Canadian distributor. My main intention was to test it, and only keep it if it "shoked my soks off". Thus I didn't source it from Knowbrainer. Otherwise we wouldn't be doing anyone (except FedEx) any favour with the 2-way trans-border shipping.

Briefly, accuracy is as good as can be expected for my husky voice. The mic indeed is not as warm (hot?/amplified) as the SMP or PowerMic when played back on Windows 10 voice recorder. But that was what I'd expected. The amplitude is more constant than my long-in-the-tooth MB Pro 2. I briefly tested it side-by-side against my SMP by reading some medical text outside of my specialty. Unlike the testing with Sonly WH-1000XM5, the OpenComm and the SMP each made errors in different places. I did not do "broadcast quality read" but more simulated how I slur in real life, especially when tired, by reading quickly and with some hiccups. That's what we call "intention-to-treat" testing. The overall impression is that OpenComm indeed held its own. Quite well.

Latency: even with the UC dongle, it has appreciable PTT latency on DMO (greater than that from any wired USB mike I have used). That's again entirely expected since it's still Bluetooth. Subjectively, latency is probably on par with MB Pro 2. The WH-1000XM5 is definitely worse than either since it doesn't have a dongle.

Comfort: its "sitting comfort" is superb. The rubbery material both holds the mike in place, and is comfortable on the skin (see caveat below, however). Unlike my very old, early gen SpeechWare FlexyMike SEC, head shake or movement doesn't cause any slippage. And the rubbery material generally dampens vibration.

However, the "walking comfort" is problematic. One of the benefits of wearing a wireless is that one should be able to stroll around with it. But as soon as I take steps, it starts to rub on the temporal bone. That, after a day or so, I determined I could not get used to.

Therefore it went back. It's interesting to note that others run with its sister models that similarly sit on the lower temple. I guess it comes down to what PG would say, "YMMV".

The MB Pro 2 is of course prone to slipping off with any sort of ambulation. The Shokz is at least stable. The WH-1000XM5 type of "cans" are just not comfortable in any position, AFAIAC.

I'd tend to agree that if one just wants the convenience of a wireless mic, the Shokz OpenComm is probably close to a top pick right now.

I didn't test its noise-cancelling oomph in any way, although I wouldn't be surprised that it lives up to its billing in this regard.

After about a week of testing the opencomm UC I find it to be a tad less accurate than the MB pro1. Working in the busy pathology lab that can be quite loud at times the noise canceling is excellent. I will have to do further testing. Funny thing is the best microphone for accuracy and noise canceling is the Samson CR77 which I can no longer get to work with Windows 10.

It truly is a "YMMV" situation when it comes to wireless mics. For me there is no contest between MB Pro 2 and the OpenComm UC (or with the WH-1000XM5), when it comes to raw accuracy. My MB Pro 2's playback on Windows Voice Recorder sounds even "sinusoidal".

Are you using PTT? The OpenComm UC is definitely latent in PTT. Moreover, even if you are dictating in "always-on" mode through mic toggle, I could perceive that it may take OpenComm UC just a "split second" to "get online" after a long pause. This could impact accuracy in intermittent dictation even while the mic remains on at Windows level. It probably has to with the nitty-gritty of Bluetooth power-saving implementation. I am purely speculating.

Anyway, in your signature, kernman, you mentioned that you were also using the Philips SpeechOne. Care to give a bit of feedback on the SpeechOne?

In our opinion, the Philips SpeechOne was very accurate, comfortable and featured decent noise cancellation. It was slightly more accurate than the MB Pro1 but also twice the price. However, the main reason we stopped carrying it was because nearly half of our customers had difficulty setting it up and would return it. Unfortunately, Philips unique box design makes it impossible to put back into the box so we had to sell it for 25% off as out-of-the-box. This eliminated our profit and simply isn't worth supporting. We sold our last unit for 50% off to unload it

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Hi, I have a couple quick questions about this headset.

1. How does music sound on these compared to the MB Pro 2?

2. Do you think the behind the head band is going to give me problems with my wheelchair headrest? I'm thinking it might be pretty uncomfortable when I'm tilting back to do pressure relief.

3. How's the Bluetooth range?

Thanks,
Chad

1. The MB Pro2 does not even include high fidelity speakers and not designed for music playback. We don't believe the MB Pro2 is even stereo. It is designed more for VoIP use. The OpenComm UC features high fidelity stereo but don't get too excited. The bass response falls a little short of the mark

2. We think this will be OK and have tested on our high back office chair

3. Bluetooth range is 100 feet

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The Phillips speech one was extremely accurate and very comfortable. Unfortunately the earpiece stiching started to come undone after about 10 months. The whole unit crapped out after about 2 years. I could not justify the expense to replace it. I need to do more testing. I am not completely sure what you mean if I use pushed to talk (PTT).

Physicians often use Push-to-Talk with programmable keys on handheld microphones. Headsets do not include this feature but it can be programmed into a keyboard.

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Thanks Lunis...

Microphone for about a week now I am finding is that I'm not getting 16 hours usage time like they advertise. I'm getting around 12 hours. Considering I have the headset on all day since I'm a quadriplegic independent to run my computer I'm going to have to do some more experimenting to see if I can figure out a way to make the battery life longer.

I could be wrong but I would speculate that perhaps Philips has not yet bothered to provide keyboard PTT through its own PDCC. Not even for the SpeechOne. DMPE gives users PTT (I think?) on its own, but not DMO. Can't expect users to be enthusiastic about having to implement their own PTT through AHK/Macro Express/QMK - after forking out half a grand or more US$!

Good to know, kernman. With all said, I am still interested in the SpeechOne. I had a flawless few months with the SMP4000 plus AirBridge. I could personally probably live with "break-down" after 3 years, especially as a daily driver for work usage, and possibly "mildly abused". Be interesting to see if they come out with a future iteration.

A solid 12 hours, although clearly falling short of advertised and is no doubt disappointing to you, objectively doesn't sound too bad as a raw statistic, given how small the package is. The WH-1000XM5, which I returned, claims 30 hours of battery life, which I never tested, but is about 10x the weight of the OpenComm.

The MB Pro 1/2 claims 8 hours I think? These days I'd be lucky to get 4 hours on mine from a full charge. But that's after many years.

Anyhow, I recall that the OpenComm is one of the few headsets that could be used while it is being charged. Its charger is also magnetic and "sticks". I wonder if a slim, light weight battery bank secured to somewhere conducive could be of help to you ... just speculating away.

The other option for your specific needs might be the WH-1000XM5. I can vouch that its microphone array is good for Dragon use. But I personally couldn't stand wearing these cans for more than 30 minutes, let alone 12 hours. Sitting comfort-wise, I find the OpenComm hard to beat.

Is the Philips speech one microphone element (and anything else that affects its accuracy) actually different to the Philips speechmike premium touch (i.e. the last wired handheld model that they produced)?

I could be wrong, but I thought the microphone and accuracy were functionally identical, but that they finally moved to a headset microphone because in their primary market (lawyers), they're getting close to reaching the end of the generation who learned their trade in the days where everything was drafted via handheld dictaphones in combination with "legal secretaries" as a genuine skilled trade - most lawyers are shockingly computer illiterate (worse, they don't realise it) and so until recently, a lot of lawyers simply wouldn't consider using a microphone that they couldn't hold in their hand like their old analogue dictaphone.

I can certainly vouch for the accuracy of the Philips speechmike premium touch - the only reason I wouldn't advocate for it is that it's handheld, which is fine for me, but a very specific and bizarre anachronism for most users.

I never bothered upgrading to the Speech One, because I assumed that it was simply a way to bring the accuracy of the handheld speechmike premium touch to a wireless headset.

I don't suppose whether anyone can advise whether the Speech One actually more accurate than the most recent Philips handhelds?

(Incidentally, this new microphone has piqued my interest enough that I'm waiting on receiving my own one to see whether it will replace the audio technica for noisy environments).

We are not certain what you mean by “SpeechMike Premium touch”. Are you referring to the wireless SpeechMike Premium handheld models like the SMP 4000 or the wired models like the SMP3700 or SMP4000? We are only mentioning this because Phillip's wireless microphones use 2.4 GHz ISM Band rather than Bluetooth. This is supposed to be more accurate but we've never been able to tell the difference.

We have never performed an AB comparison of the SpeechOne headset vs the SMP3700 handheld but suspect the accuracy is identical. The SpeechOne headset is very good and comfortable; when you use the included mini-memory foam pads. We only stopped carrying it because the Sennheiser MB Pro1 UC/ML Bluetooth headset features similar accuracy at half the price. We also received higher than usual SpeechOne returns. We recently introduced the Shokz OpenComm UC Bluetooth microphone which is more accurate and far more noise filtering than any Phillip's microphone. The OpenComm UC costs less and is our favorite.

You mentioned purchasing the Audio-Technica Pro 8HEmW for noisy environments. OpenComm UC noise filtering is even slightly more noise filtering than the Audio-Technica Pro 8HEmW which is already significantly more noise filtering than any Phillip's microphone.

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Okay.... After using this microphone for couple of weeks and making some adjustments it really is fantastic. The recognition and accuracy is unreal. The noise canceling is unbelievable. I highly recommend this microphone. This microphone surpasses my beloved Samson CR77.

 

 

 

Out of curiosity, what adjustments did you make?  If you wouldn't mind.

I'm also using this microphone and there are no adjustments on the microphone other than volume up and volume down. I'm guessing that the poster is talking about some adjustments he made on his computer either in the software or the control panel.

Yes..... Just on the computer predominantly allowing dragon to adjust the volume on its own and the speed of my macros.

Good to know kernman. Giving end-user the option on AGC (automatic gain control) is a good thing. Glad to know it's working well for you.

Hi Lunis,

Thanks for the great review! Do you think it would be possible to wear the OpenComm UC headset *and* a small set of over-ear headphones (like, say, the Koss Porta Pro) to listen to audio from a different source while dictating? Or would the OpenComm UC headset get in the way? If so, would earbuds work?

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DPI 16/Windows 11/Parallels Desktop 18 on a MacBook Air M2 (24GB RAM) 

I wear my Sennheiser HD 800s over my glasses and the OpenComm UC with no problem but don't forget that this is a Bone Conduction microphone which means you can listen to audio through your temples. Even though you can already listen to music, we recommend better headphones for music

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Ah, good to know! I think I might try a pair of these when I replace my Sennheiser MB Pro 2 UC.

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DPI 16/Windows 11/Parallels Desktop 18 on a MacBook Air M2 (24GB RAM) 

if wanting to use this with a laptop, do you also need a USB soundcard, or not?

"Bluetooth" doubles as your soundcard. Many Bluetooth microphones can work with built-in Bluetooth but it usually doesn't function as well. The OpenComm UC includes a Bluetooth USB dongle (your soundcard) but you will need to choose between USB-A & USB-C when making your purchase. Other than convenience, there is no advantage or disadvantage between USB-A and USB-C.

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Hello, All;

When Dragon first became available, I started using it in the practice of law, and I have continued to use it after changing careers to medicine (Version 15.61).  Recently, I started practicing at the VA as a psychiatrist.  A few days ago, I was issued a laptop and an account with Dragon Medical One (Cloud).

Though I find table mics most comfortable (3-in-1, Sampson Q1U) and will continue to use them for personal dictation at home, during work it’s just more practical for me to use a headset.    

I have had good results with Audio-Technica Pro 8HEmW, but I would like to try something more comfortable.  (The headset issued by the VA is more comfortable but seems less far less accurate). 

Wired or Bluetooth is immaterial, I simply would like a comfortable headset that facilitates good accuracy with DMO.  I welcome suggestions from the group, including Shokz OpenComm.

Apropos of nothing, I would have thought I’d find DMO easier to use than I have been, given that I’ve been using Dragon since the late 90’s.  Maybe it has something to do with voice profiles …

Thanks in advance.

James

                    Welcome (See Mission Statement)

 

Keep in mind that our advice should probably be taken with a grain of salt since we are resellers who also host this form. Having gotten that out of the way…

 

Our favorite microphones are still TableMikes but they are only practical in quiet stationary offices. They are not well suited to mobile or noisy environments. We found the Shokz OpenComm UC Bone Conduction Bluetooth headset microphone to be more comfortable, more accurate (even slightly more accurate than the best wired headsets) and more noise filtering than any other headset. That's why we put it on our site. You also have the added perk of being able to use the OpenComm UC with your cell phone

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Hi Lunis,

Thank you for testing out Shokz Opencomm UC. I had earlier tried the previous version of Shokz Opencomm that came without the dongle.

I am considering upgrading to Opencomm UC as it comes with the dongle and there are a couple of improvements that I am looking forward to.

Can you please advise if the following issues are resolved with the dongle:

1. When I use my headset (without the dongle), and then stop using it for a while (like 15mins) and then start dictating again, it misses the first couple of words. It feels like the headset has gone to sleep due to inactivity and hence misses a few words when it wakes up again. Is this still an issue with the dongle?

2. I see that they have a USB-C version of the dongle as well. Would it work with my Android phone? I often use the voice typing feature on Gboard. However, with regular bluetooth connection (i.e. without the dongle) it defaults to using the built-in phone microphone instead of the headset microphone. Is the dongle smart enough with Android to switch to Headset profile when the Gboard microphone is active and back to stereo profile when the microphone is not active? If that is the case, I would probably get the USB-C version so I can use with both my android phone and the laptop (with a USB-A to USB-C adapter).

1. When we turn on the OpenComm UC, it verbally acknowledges with a "welcome". 3 seconds later it verbally confirms that it is connected to Bluetooth dongle. However, you might have to wait another 5 or 6 seconds before dictating the 1st word. We haven't noticed the microphone going to sleep after 15 minutes of nonuse. However, we NEVER put Dragon into the Asleep state? Dragon seems to struggle a bit with the Asleep state so we always turn the Dragon microphone completely off and verbally turn it on via SpeechStart+'s Microphone On command.

 

2. We don't believe you can connect a Bluetooth dongle to any cell phone. Our OpenComm UC works very nicely with our iPhone but we haven't used it to dictate text

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Edit:

Sennheiser PRESENCE!

Looks like what I've always wanted (anything is possible). Probably an arm and a leg when first manufactured.

Watching reviews, notice the sound is muted when the reviewer is quiet. It is detecting the user's voice. Someone else noticed that, so there must be a micro pause. Any review, here or elsewhere complain about lost utterances?

Personally, cannot use the Shokz because I'm horizontal.

 

 

 

Looking at this thread, these are usable Bluetooth headsets?
MB Pro, Shokz OpenComm UC, WH-1000XM5
Any others?
Thanks.

A good word of the mouth has been uttered on this one:  https://www.knowbrainer.com/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=36890.  In terms of wearing comfort sitting down, I can't see it topping the OpenComm, however.

 

For non-Bluetooth headsets, apart from the eye-watering SpeechOne, the Arena Wireless Mic might be worth a look.  I can't in good conscience recommend the Arena Wireless over the OpenComm UC, despite having kept the former and returned the latter, for reasons discussed here.  Basically the 4-hour rated talk time, which inevitably deteriorates as battery wears down, is Arena Wireless's Achilles' heel.

Hello

I recently found this review. Suffering with the onset of arthritis in my hands I purchased the Shokz OpenComm Headset and DNS Professional Individual 15.61 in January 2022. I am using them primarily for voice input for record transcription into a Excel Spreadsheet. They all work very well together with occasional issues reported by others but have learned to live with the small inconveniences as they arise.

Anyway, after reading the review of Shokz OpenComm UC Headset I wondered whether I could improve the quality of my voice input. I purchased a USB-A Loop100 dongle ($au79.00 delivered) which initially I could not get the headset to connect to it. I followed the instructions in both the Shokz OpenComm and the Shokz OpenComm UC user guides to reset it but still no connection. On contacting them, the Shokz customer service quickly supplied the following instructions which did the trick.

"If you have purchased a separate Dongle, you will need to pair the Dongle with the headphone when connecting, i.e. both the Dongle and the headphone will need to be in pairing mode; please refer to the following steps for details; For a reset headphone or alone dongle:
a. Start with headphone powered off, then enter pairing mode by pressing and holding volume+ for 5-7 seconds.
b. Plug the dongle into your desk device, then press the button for 2 seconds until the LED will flash blue lights;
c. Headphone notify "Connected" or small vibration, the dongle LED keep blue light on, it shows connection done."

I thought I would save others experiencing similar issues.

After using the dongle for a couple of days I can say that I have NOT noticed any variation in the quality of voice transfer. Maybe my laptop computer provides a high quality Bluetooth connection itself. It was still a worthwhile exercise. I am looking to purchase a new desktop computer soon so the dongle will coming handy for that, as I was going to need to separately purchase a Bluetooth card for it anyway so problem solved there.

As I extend the use of voice to other task I am looking forward to looking a KnowBrainer 2023 and PCbyNumbers when they are released. Being retired and having outlaid $au619 for DNS Professional 15.61 only 15 months ago and being forced to soon upgrade to v16 (another $au495) I am going to wait for newer versions of KnowBrainer SpeechStart+ before I explore these further. They both look like definite investments for me.

Regards

Graham Wilkie

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Graham Wilkie

 

 

 

 

 

 

i9 13Gen, 64gb RAM Tower, Windows 11, Shokz OpenComm UC Headset, DPI 15.61, VoiceComputer 2021

I purchased the following headset for use with a mobile in the office.

AFTERSHOKZ OpenComm Stereo Wireless Headset, Noise-Canceling Boom Microphone Bone Conduction Bluetooth 5.0 Office Business, Black

Cables and electric wheelchairs DONT MIX!!

Then noticed the rave reviews for voice Recognition so tried it for voice dictation absolute garbage.

However then noticed Lunis comment about the need for USB dongle sound card or it would be garbage so i had a few questions.  

1/ Are we dealing with the same headset ?

2/Can the dongle be purchased on it's own.? Yes i think

3/Does it have more than just a clean bluetooth reciever element or is a sound card as well making it so good.

4/Can i use cheaper usb dongle or should i use this Shokz for best results?

Cheers Sean

Aftershokz is the original name of the company. We don't know if any changes were implemented to the company's original headsets but the name was changed to Shokz a couple of years ago.

 

1. It sounds like you purchased the OpenComm rather than the OpenComm UC; big difference. The OpenComm UC model includes the Loop110 USB dongle that is specifically manufactured for Shokz. You may be able to use your computer's internal Bluetooth for VoIP but not likely speech recognition.

2. Just Google. We do not sell the dongle separately because it would not be logical for us to sell any Shokz model other than the OpenComm UC, which includes it. We only sell microphones that can be used for speech recognition.

3. The Loop110 USB dongle is high fidelity for music. We mention this because Sennheiser dongles are not HD.

4. Don't take that chance. Just purchase the Loop110. Make certain you don't get stuck with the Loop100. 

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Thank you Lunis or I will call you the Oracle.

I suspected as much thank you for the clarification, it would've been just too easy to stumble upon the solution.

I have used the headset for recognition through Dragon and KB software and the results weren't too bad but nowhere near the 

Accuracy of the UC version I would imagine.

This headset is impossible to use on a Mac through Bluetooth every third word is incorrect and is comfortably beaten by a Logitech WebCam for accuracy although I suspect that is related to the lack lustre voice-to-text offering from Apple.

I have switched between Android and Mac handsets a few times now what is infuriating now is that Apple voice recognition is doing what Android was doing before I ditched it

correctly outputting what I wanted to say and then when you look away switching it up to a different word.

 

Many thanks for your communication so quickly as usual greetings from the UK to all.

 

Cheers Sean