Microsoft JUG-00014 LifeChat LX 3000 Headset – Black
Microsoft JUG-00014 LifeChat LX 3000 Headset – Black
| Weight: | 235 g |
| Dimensions: | 16.2 x 17.8 x 17.8 cm; 235.3 Grams |
| Model: | JUG-00014 |
| Colour: | Black |
| Batteries Included: | 1 A batteries required. |
| Manufacture: | Microsoft |
| Department: | Default Category |
| Dimensions: | 16.2 x 17.8 x 17.8 cm; 235.3 Grams |
bought from seller as this is not available anywhere else.The product is one of very few gems from MS. The ear cups are soft and comfortable even for all day usage . This is my second one as the first wore out in time.
Would love MS to relaunch/refresh the line of headset.
I don’t use for gaming but for work, the sound isn’t as clear as I hoped, but it does the job and that’s all I need. Comfortable to wear and the sturdy volume controller is really handy.
I have been using these headsets for 10+ years since the lockdowns for 8 hours a day for Teams calls. When my old lX-3000 broke (cable worked out), I invested in two very expensive gaming headsets but the microphone on both was terrible. So I bought two more lX-3000 headsets and never looked back. The sound quality is fantastic and the background noise cancelling is superb.
I have just noticed the leather ear padding starting to crack and wondered how long I had these for. 4 years and 5 months! They still work fine, the mute button gets used every day but I don’t use the inline volume control. Sure, every aspect could be improved some way but for the budget price and great performance, long durability if you treat them well, you can’t fault these for the price. I would recommend them for occassional voice calls, up to an hour at a time. The comfort wears off and there is little ventilation for the ears. I don’t know why it asked me to rate these for gaming… don’t buy these for gaming due to comfort after prolonged use.
The downsides – The humungously over-sized volume/mute control, which hangs down not quite far enough so it always seems to tug on one ear. A clip on the reverse might have been a useful feature. You may also find your ears get a bit sweaty after a couple of hours encased in those airtight headphone cups. Another gripe was the volume control buttons. They never seems to get loud enough. Instead of going all the way up to 11, they only seem to manage a 7. Ticking the ‘volume boost’ tickbox in Windows sound settings fixes that issue however.
While I’m happy I got good use out of this headset for what I paid, I haven’t rushed out to buy another. I have instead recently bought the Mpow USB Headset to replace these ones, at a similar price. While it’s always sad to say goodbye to a headset that has lasted me so long, I must say I’m very happy with my new Mpow headset. I would even go as far as to say the Mpow headset is superior to this one, even if the volume/mute control is even bigger on that headset than it is on this one.
The volume control is a bit bulky which can make dealing with the cable slightly awkward sometimes, but apart from that it works nicely. Comfortable to wear for say two or three hours at least – I’ve never tried longer than that. The mic button and LED are extremely useful for conference calls when you’re in a noisy environment. The microphone’s pickup of background noise (instead of your voice) is probably average, I’m no expert but I’ve heard a lot worse. Apart from that the sound quality on the microphone and the earphones seems fine to me. The position of the microphone boom is easy to adjust.
I purchased these headphones for use with Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking dictation software (version 12) and they work extremely well. I have owned many different microphone headsets over the years and I find that they don’t last for very long, usually either falling apart or developing a loose connection after a few months. I’ve been using these daily for the last three months, often for extended periods of time. The quality of sound capture is producing highly accurate results with the dictation software. I’m finding them very comfortable to wear, even for up to 2 hours at a time. Although I purchased mainly for dictation use, and additional bonus is that I found the sound quality when listening to music is really very good. In fact it compares remarkably well to my Bose active noise reducing headphones which are far, far more expensive. I’m very happy so far and I hope they will prove to be durable but for less than 20 I’m not going to be too disappointed if they break in six months time. I’ll update later with my longer term usage experience.
A friend recommended getting a Microsoft headset as he had found them better quality all round, so I bit the bullet and chose these, which were under 20 which was really my price sealing point…
I am not a fan of the larger ear dome style, however these are pretty comfortable and although they have a bit of weight they are not too heavy that they feel cumbersome… Sound quality is excellent, in both ears and through mic – everyone has commented on how clear my voice is on mic now, which is saying something lol
Obviously I cannot comment on longevity, but these are a more solid construction, the cable is sturdy, and was generally plug and play although I use a broadcast software that required a little tweaking, but nothing too difficult.
Prior to buying these I did a lot of research and comparisons online, and for this price I am not sure you could do much better even compared to higher priced like-for-like headsets… I would highly recommend these on what I have experienced so far!
Bought this along with Logitech C270 HD Webcam – Black as my built in laptop microphone was rubbish and i needed one for an online distance language course where having a clear microphone was really important!
The microphone is really really good, much better than a build in one or the one on a pair of in ear headphones, and for not much more ! The sound quality is really clear too which is a must, of course! I didn’t find them THE most noise cancelling things, but for the price, they are still very good!
The ear pads are very comfortable, which to me is important when i had long lessons where i had to wear them. Since the pads are big, the ear fits inside comfortably instead of them pressing on the ear which i find irritating.
The microphone is nice and adjustable and fold up which is good when travelling just to make them that much more compact.
I don’t think they are the best looking headset out there, but to me that didn’t matter, plus the quality more than made up for that.
Also, I found that the inline controls are a nice size and are easy to find when needed, however, it is pretty low down the wire which makes it easy to occasionally mute (as i did a couple of times) with your leg/arm.
Overall, I’m very pleased with this product as it is good comfy, good quality and good value for money!
I use skype audio for skype-to-skype and for skype-to-landlines for teaching purposes. Recently I have been using a cheap mic and some of my students were complaining about poor reception of my voice due either to background noise or the fact that my voice was faint. The mic on this headset is very good – the sound received by the recipient of your call is very clear with no background noise. A number of my student’s commented on the excellent sound without being prompted or being aware that I was using a different headset to the previous week – they noted it instantly.
As I have tinnitus, I need a reasonably high volume and I was disappointed to note that the sound volume from the headphones when I first used them on my Windows 7 laptop appeared only medium on max volume (lower than the cheap ones I had been using). I suppose I could reconfigure the settings in Skype to increase the volume when using this with my windows 7 machine. I didn’t bother doing this however, because I was intending to use it in future with my new machine (running windows 10) , and strangely, when I connected it to my windows 10 laptop, if seemed to configure correctly with a much higher max speaker volume, without me changing any settings on skype (other than selecting the correct mic and speaker device using the drop down menu, on ‘audio settings’). The max volume was automatically very good indeed on the windows 10 toshiba. I can not comment on durability as I have only had it a week, but it looks and feels adequate.
In summary, a good device, especially the quality of the sound received at the other end of the call. A good price-quality ratio.
extremely high quality headset
Up until now I have been buying poor quality very cheap headsets for only 2-3 pounds each, however these would break over time, genereally weren’t very comfortable and didn’t sound very good
I was a little apprehensive about buying this due to the price difference, however I have no regrets. The sound quality seems to match that of much more expensive headsets, so much so that when I first played some music through the headset, I thought it wasn’t working and the sound was coming out of my PC because it sounded so clear and surrounding (it was coming out of the headset BTW)
My friends say the mic sounds great on Skype/Teamspeak etc. and the mute function is very useful, however it is quite easy to accidentally turn it on, leading to a little frustration at my friends not replying until I realized. Luckily there is an LED to tell you when mute is enabled so I haven’t had any further problems.
Anyone looking for either a PC gaming/Skype/conference call headset should definitely take a good look at this excellent headset which is extremely high quality, and very competitively priced for such a good product 9I assume it is only 20 due to the vast quantity sold – (microsoft product)
I really like this headset which I use for work, it cuts out background sound nicely and the quality of received sound is excellent, I have had no complaints about how easily I can be heard so assume that is OK too.
Nice and easy to plug in and use.
My only quibble and it is just a small one…..I just wish these things would have a slight amount of “sidetone” in them (this is like on a normal landline phone where you hear a low level version of your own voice. With the soundproofing nature of these headsets it just seems like you are in a bit of cave with regard to your own voice but they all seem to be like this so I assume there is a technical reason for it.
I’ve had a pair of these for a number of years until suddenly the leatherette covering on the earpads disintegrated- as if they were exposed to some chemical or being eaten by tiny insects! Bizarre and I suspect not a build fault so I bought another pair as spare pads aren’t available. Perfect for skype. Clear sound, both on the mic and the headphones. Comfortable for long periods of wear (hours at a time in my case). Dropping a star because the mute button is too easily pressed when the remote knocks against the side of the desk- would be better if it was recessed. Also there’s a main button that used to activate Livechat (or whatever it was called) but it can’t be used to activate Skype which is a shame.
I use these predominantly with Windows 7 and Skype.
In Windows 7 these can be set as the “Default communications Device” which means I can have my music coming out of the PC speakers but the headphones still plugged in (to a USB socket). When a skype call comes in the ringtone comes over the speakers but when I pick up the call is transferred to the headset. If I’m using a compatible music player (spotify and windows music player are the only two I know to work) then the music is automatically paused (or maybe muted…) whilst the call is taking place.
I find the headset reasonably comfortable – I wouldn’t want to wear it for more than an hour or so but it’s got quite a soft grip and the cans fit completely over my ears (normal man sized ones!). There’s a mute and volume control box built into the headphone cord about half-way along – it’s a bit bulky but, for me, the mute button is handy.
All in all i’m happy with it and would recommend it.
It feels very comfortable on the head (in the short-term for about 2 hours) and, due to the nice soft thick padding to rest on the ears (depends on the size of each person’s head though lol) it can be adjusted via sliding sections on the top of the head but I find if the headset is worn for several hours (more than 2) your ears hurt a little even though it’s gentle pressure from the padded ear sections, so if you only plan on wearing it for an hour or two then it’s ok.
As a music-lover, I thought ‘Hmmm, let’s listen to some songs to test how good the sound quality really is’ and was pleased to hear crystal-clear sound. The volume can be adjusted to a higher or lower setting via a function on the headset lead which was easy to use, also, there is a button to click to reduce noise problems (crackling, hissing etc) to enhance the quality of sound when using the microphone feature.
If you have Windows 8 as the operating system on your computer, and have any problems with getting the headset to work (it can work or not, depending on the computer), go to Microsoft’s official site, download a compatibility file, and it will work fine on Windows 7 and on other operating systems. Brilliant I thought!
I recommend this product to others as it’s pretty good and not too expensive either as I’ve seen it priced a lot higher elsewhere.
Oh and if you fancy a quiet day and need some peace (noisy kids, neighbours, workmen digging up the road outside your house etc etc), it’ll save you buying earplugs too if you just slip on your headset and relax. 😉 Bliss.
my mic recently wore out, frayed cables, and while fixing it (butt splice) I pulled off the earphone wires, now instead of soldering them back on I decided it would be quicker to buy new 1’s (need to borrow an iron from work).
when I started browsing this pair came up and Amazon helpfully informed me I bought these on mar 6 2010 very nearly 3.5 years and I’m replacing them now.
I use them mostly for co-op games, the USB is a massive bonus allowing your sound card to do more things, I like to play game sounds thru my speakers and comms over the headset, 1 ear only half covered. they are a good size for me, the sound quality has never troubled me and I am softly spoken but rarely do my friends have to turn up my gain on their end so I have to give a good score there.
I do find the in line controls annoying sometimes, I always use PTT so the mute button is unnecessary and occasionally gets inadvertently operated, tho easy to tell with the ‘mute’ LED and the Skype button if inadvertently operated can open Skype causing alt-tabbing but i managed to disable it.
so close to 3.5 years and hundreds of hours use later (by small children too)….. maybe 1k+ hours, there’s no telling really. they have only just died, the padding started peeling about 6 months ago. real value for money, 4.5 stars due to the minor annoyance but I can’t give 4.5 so rounded up to 5.
that being said I haven’t bought them yet they are in a shortlist of 2 with HP Premium Digital Headset – Sliver
I think I will go with these, the microphone position is highly adjustable and my computer is already set up for them.
Advantages:
This is a high-quality item at a bargain basement price, for me the sound is as near quality as to those for which have been digitally tuned and you would pay top dollar price, the base is slightly above average. I would have probably added a louder level to further volume or an base boost button.
The Disadvantages:
The ear cup should be about 1cm or 2 cm bigger for me as I have irregular ears, I would have personally preferred the controls to be on the ear cup as opposed to be wired further down the cabling and a little longer cable as it is just about adequate.
Summary:
this is an excellent item for the asking price and and the performance is near to those high-end headsets however there is still room for a little improvement.
I love these headphones, they are perfect sound quality in the ears and noise cancelling too, i can’t hardly hear people shout for me when I am using these headphones. The microphone is very clear, does not have any fuzz or distracting sound. Easy to install I did not have to use any software just plugged it in and it was working.
I have given it 4 stars because even though these headphones has not let me down there is a few flaws, firstly if you’re not careful with them and I mean if you keep throwing them about the ear piece can come off and if it does, it’s a pain to put it back on because the wire comes out with it. Secondly not comfortable for people with big ears, my ears are not small so when I wear them for a long time the top lobes can be painful a little.
The Microphone can pick up anything in the room as well sadly.
Over the years I’ve come to expect a certain level of build quality from Microsoft branded hardware and this headset doesn’t disappoint on that front. They were a little tight on my head at first causing a bit of discomfort when wearing them for a prolonged period but after a month’s worth of regular use they have loosened enough that that isn’t a problem any more. The sound is good and loud and the microphone excellent, as is usually the case with USB headsets. But unfortunately this headset’s sound is skewed toward the bassy side by a wide margin. This means I have to alter graphic equalizers to dramatically increase the treble and lower the bass for it to sound right. That’s the first of the two niggles I have found. The second is the mic mute button. It’s far too easy to depress it by accident and the question “Are you muted?” has become all to familiar as a result.
Like the title says i purchased my mainly for talking on Skype and YouTube recording. You can check my quality out on DeanGetYourWings youtube channel.
So i’ve had them for a year now and they look as brand new as the day i got them, they keep well, have survived a few high drops and brushes with an angry cat and general use yet they still record strong and are really easy to use.
It comes with a very handy device on the wire that lets you increase the volume of the earphones dynamically and a instant mute button so anyone on the other end can’t here you calling them a bell-end.
Sound quality is perfect for the price, i was amazed when i got it, getting them to fit comfortably was an issues but after a year to get use to them i can wear them at hours at a time, maybe in warm weather my ears get uncomfortable but beyond that i have had to issues with quality, sound or usability. Simply plug it in and its read to use.
If the ones i have now, happen to break i would not think a second about not going with these, or if i upgraded to something i’d keep a pair of these on back-up just encase, loved them.
I put off writing a review for these for quite a while, so here goes one now!
They work, which is always a good start. When using for conversations, to my knowledge, the microphone works very well and, I am told, is quite sensitive.
If you’re like me, and you love music, these work for that purpose too! The music is clear, but unfortunately sometimes the bass or drums sometimes ‘upset’ the headphones, and sometimes the bass or drums will go a bit fuzzy, but usually not for long.
It’s USB connected, which is handy for me because currently the headphone jack on my laptop isn’t working very well, so USB connected headphones helped resolve that problem. However, USB connected headphones also have their downfall, I’ve noticed that if you unplug them whilst still on the browser no sound will come out of the laptop speakers, I presume it’s because the browser still thinks the headphones are plugged it. It’s an easy issue to resolve, close and open the browser after taking them out.
Finally, I do think they’re a great pair of headphones. They’re great for listening to music and chatting to other people with. They’re fine indeed.:)
I got this headset as I need to participate in online chats and tutorials for university. The headset is well made and easy to setup with a long lead and adjustable microphone, however there are a couple of niggles. The headset does attempt to block out some background noise but its not that good at it. Not really an issue for me as I use it in a quiet environment, but maybe worth knowing. Also the ear pads, although they are soft and reasonably comfortable, do sit rather too tight over your ears and are thus not very comfortable for long term usage. I have not had to use them for more than 1hr 30 mins but was very glad to get them off afterwards. I think this is because the headband is made of a hard semi-flexible plastic. I think a wire type would have more give and therefore be a little more comfortable. In summary though I do rate them, just be aware if you intend to use them for long gaming sessions.
An excellent headset for the price. I have used these for a few years now and am very happy with the quality of sound and mic performance, using them for skype calls, and gaming.
Earpieces are all-enclosing which minimises the background sounds well. Mic stem is flexible and sturdy. Only drawback is that they can be a little hot in hot weather. Firm head band fits well and stays in place on the head.
In-line switch turns mic off and on and controls volume of sound.
Cable could be a little longer but it’s adequate for the average desk setup with pc tower on the desk next to you.
Comes complete with cd to install drivers.
Cable is thicker than cheaper version and therefore lasts well. My average durability for a set of headphones is about 8 months, these tend to last longer, and since they come with a 12 month guarantee, I will, (and have in the past) claim a replacement if they go down within that time.
Happy to award 5 stars. Have recommended to friends, who are also happy with the product.
First the good parts.
The headphones are sturdy, reasonably comfortable, and the headband is stiff but not too bulky. The little wires connecting the headphone cans are tucked away in the hinges, removing one common failure point. The boom microphone rotates smoothly instead of in discrete “clicks”, which is both handier and quieter for the person at the far end of a call.
The USB cable is generously long and thicker than that of your average USB peripheral. This does make the cable a bit “stiffer” and “heavier” than usual, but it gives the impression that it’ll last for a while.
The microphone quality is as good as it gets for headsets: clear and crisp, with (as you would expect) not a hint of mains interference and a low noise floor. It’s never going to be usable as a studio mic, but then again, that’s not the aim.
The device worked out of the box under Linux (64-bit Ubuntu 11.10); even the little “up” and “down” volume buttons on the control panel mid-wire worked. No drivers needed, nothing, just open the audio preferences and select the device as the input and output device. The USB id, for anyone interested, is 045e:070f.
Now the bad part: the headphones overemphasise the bass. I know that this is a bit of a “selling point” for some, but it does mean that whereas VOIP is OK, listening to music is something of a hit and miss affair. Certain tracks become almost unbearable because of this, especially music that has a crisp bass line to start with (for example, “Radio Ga-Ga”), and even my old cheapo Trust headset has flatter bass response than these.
(I know what the music “should” sound like because I’m using a pair of 300 studio-grade Sennheisers driven by a studio-grade USB-enabled Behringer audio interface as reference).
So in short, unless you’re going to be using these to listen to music for hours and hours, they’re a lot of headset for an incredibly low price.
Having open plan rooms and my wife watching the television or using her laptop and myself using the PC at the same time doesn’t always work. The headset I was using was not very good so needing a new one I read a lot of reviews and decided the Microsoft Lifechat sounded pretty good.
Although I haven’t used the microphone yet, I am very happy with the actual headset.I have used it quite a lot watching sport and listening to music and I have to say the sound quality is very good, especially taking the price into consideration. When watching sports I wear it for a couple of hours or more and never find it uncomfortable, sometimes forgetting I am wearing it. The volume control is good and at just the right place on the wire to sit in your lap and not cause extra weight to pull at your ears.
To set it up it is very simple, even for someone with very little knowledge of PCs. Just plug it into a USB point and away you go, no need to download the CD to programme it in. If I ever needed another headset I would not hesitate to buy this one again.
All in all a good headset with good sound and comfort.
Jim.
Great item, i’ve brought many headsets mainly for mmorpgs, I use them in programs such as ventrilo, Team Speak, Skype i recently brought this one after “borrowing” a set from my sister who had not used them in years, as my 80 gaming headset broke, didn’t think they would be any good, but they was better quality sound, and people could hear me better though them, brought myself a new set, and they are perfect, makes me mad i brought expensive sets in the past and they have never been as good as this cheap little item, I definaly am going to buy another set, my Fiance sits a few meters away from me in the gaming room, and the “mute” button/light works great when we want to mute ourselfs without forgetting were muted (come on gamers, you know you do it “crap i was talking to myself i forgot to unmute you” it’s always happening, so perfect, cheap, would recommend, am buying a few more of this item too.
Works wonders in Windows 7 x64 and x84, alot of headsets in the released windows 7 ultimate don’t work, for example, the headset works, but not the microphone, but this one does without any drivers.
I had broken my previous chepo headset which gave me all sorts of issues with my VOIP connection. I looked up and down the internet and decided that a USB headset was the way to go. most USB headsets provide much better audio quality than a headset using the onboard audio chips in most machines.
The ear pads are very nice though I would not wear it for hours and hours. The audio quality is good and microphone is sensitive and works a charm for VOIP. My x-lite softphone immediately recognized it and set itself up without any intervention from me.
My only gripe is that the inline audio control is quite large. Another is that the incoming audio on VOIP is low, but this could be the softphone. I’m still tracking down that issue. But otherwise I have no problems with it.
I got these to replace an old pair of headphones and an old microphone, for use with Skype which is a Voice Over IP (VOIP) system (it lets you make and receive telephone calls over the Internet). They work really well, although to be honest I find it hard to hear my own voice when speaking – perhaps because of the noise-cancelling facility which they have. However, the other party can hear me very clearly indeed, and I can hear them very clearly, so they work very well. I originally used them on Windows 7 and they worked fine, however I could not get them to work under Windows XP, so beware if you use that. I didn’t try using them under Linux, but I would doubt that they would work, as they require software to work, which will be Windows software. They also come bundled with various chat programs and other software, which I didn’t try. I did try using them to listen to music, and I felt that the sound quality was not as good as some high-quality Sony earphones – but overall, for the money which I paid, and given that they are intended for use with VOIP, I feel that they represent brilliant value for money.
I bought 2 sets of these headphones. My first was bought from a local High Street chain at way more than the price Amazon were charging. Got them home, used them, then my son decided he liked them so he pinched them. Bought myself a pair from Amazon and they were delivered very quickly. This headset is so simple to install, literally plug it in and away you go.
I use them for Skype, MSN and gaming and they are very comfortable to wear. I wear glasses and have found that with other headsets, my glasses dig into the side of my head after about 30 minutes wear making them very uncomfortable/sore to wear. These fitted round my head perfectly and no problems with my glasses, and I have worn these for hours at a time. The sound quality was very good, whether I was listening to music or game playing. No problems with the mic quality either, it’s just a case of messing around with your mic settings until you get it to a quality that you like.
I have recommended this headset to friends and family and I’m going to buy another pair due to the fact that my son has managed to break the mic on both my set and his. Not a fault with the headset, just a very heavy handed teenage boy.