H540 Wired Headset, Stereo Headphone with Noise-Cancelling Microphone, USB, On-Ear Controls, Mute Indicator Light, PC/Mac/Laptop - Black

Have used a couple of these now and they offer excellent value for money. Nice clear sound from the headphones with deep base, nice mids and clear highs. The microphone is a bit tinny and is not as good as a desktop microphone, but it's perfectly adequate for online gaming, voice chat, video voiceovers or speech recognition and the noise cancellation is reasonable too. The headphones are plug and play under Windows, Mac and Linux, and the controls on the side are an added bonus. Another excellent product from Logitech.

I brought these for Teams and Zoom calls in the office, I wanted something to cancel out the noise of co-workers talking and to block out ambient sounds I can here around me so I can focus on the call, (hence the big headphone cups). I went Logitech because I expected good quality I normally love Logitech products - To be honest - I am not that impressed with these... What's good - Ok they work fine, the volume and mute works fine, they are USB which is handy and they are light weight so if you have them on your head all day they are not going to give you a stiff neck.... so if you want a cheap(ish) headset that works then these are kind of fine..... The sound is "Meh", ok I guess, a bit brassy and empty - but its for teams and zoom calls so I'm not really expecting to loose myself in an audio book in these... lol - for chat and group meetings the midband for voices is everything it needs to be... average. x Why am I not so impressed ! They are loose, I don't want a vice on my head, but if you drop a pen these will fly off your head when you bend down to pick it up. They are comfy but they feel cheap, I want to sort of forget they are there, but they are weirdly cumbersome so they keep reminding you they are on your head... What I mean is, for instance, the cable is really rigid, it's like a wire for a lamp or a power lead. It is stiff and not very flexible, so when you move your head or lean in and out while you are taking (I can be quite animated so this is big issue) the headset will be pulled and tugged by the cable and you sort have to fight to keep it on. The Noise canceling is not very good at all. First, I wanted to block or just reduce the noise and "risk" of co-workers conversations being heard while I am on a call to someone else. These will not do that for you. They reduce it a bit, (I think by picking up local sound better than distant sound) but it does not feel very "active" when asking people on video calls if they can hear my background noise they say YES without hesitation, so I would give the Noise Reductions a low score (3 out of 10 at best). But there is something worse about the noise canceling mic, it makes its own noise ! - The hard cable (see previous rant about the cable) - scratches on the mic boom and creates a sound like a bird trying to access you earphones. it is so annoying that from time to time (usually when my caller on the other end is quite quiet and I need to concentrate), I just take them off and use my speakers because it sooo annoying.

I expected better from Logitech, especially at this price point - avoid. This headphone feels cheap and unpleasant to use. Pros - Sound quality is fine (nothing to write home about) Cons - Noise cancelling sucks - headset feels cheap, very loose - it falls off if I bend over to pick something up off the floor or lean back in my chair. - the microphone boom went loose after a couple of weeks and now does not stay at the adjusted position in front of my mouth - it just drops below my mouth so I no longer come through clearly on calls.

The H540 is made of a glossy black plastic that looks very nice, but it is a fingerprint magnet due to this. The plastic used and the build quality seems very good. The earcups have a leatherette material on them and are cushioned. I've worn the H540's for over 30 minutes whilst doing my Screencasts and I found them comfortable and didn't get sore ears. Also, along the headband is some cushioning and this too is comfortable. Some headsets either don't have any cushioning along this part or don't have much. This then results in the headband digging into your head and becoming uncomfortable, but this isn't the case with the H540. The earcups are nice and large and cover your ears for a comfy fit. Whilst on the subject of the earcups. The earcups have controls on the outside of them, for turning the volume up, down, muting the microphone. Now pressing these buttons you can hear the button presses through the earcup, but personally I don't find this an issue. I don't need to mute my mic when I'm recording Screencasts. And If I do need to do something else whilst doing my Sceencasts I usually just pause my recording and then that way I can just carry on again from that exact point. I do like the controls on the earcups rather than the cord, has sometimes the remote control fob on the cable can make the cable heavy and this can then transfer more sound through the cable as the remote is dragging over your desk. I also tried pressing one of the buttons on the earcup while I was recording (to see if the mic would pick the sound up) and I couldn't hear it on the recording. The cable on the H540's is 6.15 feet or 1.8 meters. The cable is thick and is of a good quality and in light of this should last. Unlike some of the thin cable that sometimes gets used on other headsets. Now the thing with the cable been thick is, it can make and transfer cable noise when it rubs against something (such as your desk). And yes you can hear the cable noise when listening to music, but when the volume level is high enough, you tend to not hear it. Also, the cable noise doesn't get picked up by the microphone when I'm recording my Screencasts. Part way down the cable, is a little module, which has a clear band running around it, this lights up red when you have the headset on Mute. I think this is a nice touch, has it provides instant notification that the headset is set on Mute. Another nice touch on the cable is a Velcro band, which is attached to it. This is used for to wrap around the cable and it keeps the cable neatly bundled up. Handy for when you store the headset a way somewhere, such as a desk draw or cupboard, On to the USB connecter. On some headsets I looked at. They had a rather long/large USB connecter and as such, I saw on some reviews for these headsets that the USB connecter was a little top heavy, and due to this it could in some instances, make the USB connecter pull down a little and become partially disconnected. But the USB connecter on the H540's is just a small connecter and the usually size you see on USB cables from any other device you may have. Now on to sound quality of the earcup speakers. I've listened to a bit of music with the H540's. And the sound is OK (when compared to a dedicated pair of headphones). The overall quality is good, but they are thin on bass. But in fairness, a headset is purchased for to use the microphone, such as what I'm using it for or for using it with Internet telephone calls such as Skype. If you want bass heavy sound, then perhaps purchasing a dedicated pair of headphones or spending a lot more on a headset to give you this extra bass. Now on to the microphone quality. I purchased this headset, specifically for using to record my commentary/voiceovers for my Screencasts and video guides that I make. And the quality of the microphone on the H540 is superb for this. I did try it along side the Plantronics C325 headset, but there was no comparison, the H540 was far, far better. With the Plantronics headset, the mic was difficult to place correctly, you either had it far enough away from your mouth to not pick up the plosives in your voice (plosives are when you are saying words that start with B and P and they make air blow into the microphone) but in doing that the audio recorded with the mic was low. Or have it closer to your mouth, but it then picked up the plosives and your breath and fed these into the mic. The pickup on the H540 mic was so much better, I needed to reduce the input level in my Sound Preferences, by 10 percent. Also, due to the positioning of the mic on the H540, it does not pick up the plosives in your voice or the breath coming out of your mouth. The mic is set back a bit, so this is why its better at not picking up plosives etc. Also, when the mic is not in use, it neatly folds away behind the earcup, so that its out of the way. Yes I'll be the first to admit that a dedicated microphone such as the Blue Microphone Blue Yeti, would give you better sound from the mic. But this mic is more than double the price, it stands on your desk (which isn't convenient when your needing to use your keyboard when recording Screencasts) and to get the best out of the Blur Yeti you also need a pop filter for it too, which makes the cost even higher. Another disadvantage of a mic like this is you have got to remain in the correct position so that the mic picks your voice up properly, whereas a headset mic like the H540, the mic is always in the correct position because you are wearing it. But different people have different uses for a microphone, so in some instances a headset mic might be a better choice than a microphone and vice versa. Now the thing I noticed with the majority of the reviews on You Tube for headsets, was that the reviewer had not bothered to include a test recording clip demonstrating the microphone quality, which in all honesty, microphone quality is an important factor when you are purchasing a headset. What I will try and do is, I'll either insert an audio clip into this review (if that's possible) or I'll provide a You Tube link to a clip I've recorded which shows the microphone quality. This is, providing its possible to do this. I have a Late 2012 iMac which I use this headset with and it works fine. With Mac's, there is sometimes a chance that products that work OK with Windows computers, will not work so good with Mac's. But this is less often the case nowadays with Mac's becoming ever more popular. The only little niggle I did notice with this headset is that at the beginning of a recording, the sound starts a little lower than the remainder of the recording, but in about 6 seconds the level goes up to a good loud and clear level for recording. I've noticed this too when I have used it on Windows through Parallels Desktop. But this isn't something that distracts away from the quality of the recorded audio I find. What I normally do at the start of my recordings, is just have a count in, one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, four thousand, five thousand, six thousand, and then start my commentary/audio. Like I said earlier, it's not an issue that makes the headset unsuitable. I got in touch with Logitech (just to see if they could shed some light), and they asked me to try the following: "Disable the built in mic on the iMac" But their knowledge seems pretty poor as the internal mic is automatically disabled when an external mic/headset is connected. They then went on to say: "It is possible that the issue is with the initializing of the mic driver related to Mac and the program, as it seems there is a delay. Another possibility is that this could be due to the latest Macs only coming with USB 3.0 ports, which are not supported by Logitech." They don't seem to realize that USB 3 ports are backwardly compatible with USB 2. I then got in touch with Logitech mentioning what the outcome was with what they had suggested, but it is some 7 days since and I have had no reply. I just thought I would mention about Logitech's customer/tech support, as it doesn't seem to be the best I've used if I'm honest. I must admit, when I was reading the mixed reviews on the H540, I was a little bit concerned on if it would be the best choice for me. But I'm glad to hear it ticks all the boxes for me, plus with Amazon's returns policy, you can always return it, providing the packaging isn't damaged and its in a new condition. I can highly recommend the H540 for doing voice over recordings, and although I've never tried it, I can't see why the H540 would not make an excellent headset for Skype use too. UPDATE: I've added an audio clip to this review, which demonstrates the microphone quality of this headset. I hope this is helpful for potential purchasers of this headset

Excellent, I use it for Skype calls and listening to music using my PC. A wee gripe is that the headset keeps slipping off my head (perhaps it is my head which is faulty!). A special well done to Logitech is in the quality of the headset cable, robust and well able for the job. I mention this as, sadly I have bought other makes, and had issues with their thin, flimsy cable, which inevitably broke, and annoying to think that some of these 'reputable' manufacturers had skimped on a vital component, like a cable, to save a few pence. My pc uses Linux Ubuntu, and the USB connections and access to programmes for the headset were effortless.

Recently the microphone on my Logitech H530 Headset stopped working, I'd had them a good time and was happy to buy from Logitech again. Sadly I picked up these as the "newer version" of the H530. Sadly Logitech seem to have realised they made too good a product and had to downgrade it, the 540 is comparatively awful. The audio is an exception and is exceptionally good. Overall it is rigid but comfortable, the earpieces take some getting used to and certainly aren't as comfortable as its predecessor, but they're hardly a problem. I now run out of compliments. The buttons on the ear are badly laid out, and you hear them, boy do you hear them! The 530 you heard them, but not like this. I find myself using the keyboard audio controls more and more. What is worse is that the person you're talking to hears them, he also hears every time the cable brushes against something, every time you touch any part of the headset - even the headband or the left ear which doesn't run near the microphone or the wire. And you will both here the scraping of your finger on the microphone, because did I mention? The microphone picks up every sound you make, every sound the earpieces emit, and relays back into your ears. It's very wierd holding a conversation with an echo of yourself. What truly makes these awful for me, however, is the wire. As I said, every touch of the wire is fed into both the microphone and into your own ears, on a bad day, it is agony. Nothing breaks up a beautiful piece of music like the loud knocking of your wire on some object on your desk. Sometimes, if you don't move much, it goes unnoticed, sadly, most of the time, it's painfully clear. Simply, do not buy. Now if only Amazon still sold the H530 . . . wouldn't mind a new pair of them. Why 2 stars? Well the audio is very nice. Don't listen to much bass mind so I'm no expert there, but for my tastes, perfect! I'm still sending them back of course . . .

Bought this for use doing online meetings with a computer with no microphone. Reasonably comfortable to wear and the headband is adjustable. Note that some of the cheaper models don't have an adjustable headband. Microphone on the right side which I prefer can be folded up out of the way for listening. Noise cancelling is not particularly effective and sound quality is average for e.g. listening to music [judged against my top end Sennheisers to be fair] . However, they are good for the price and have done what I needed.

This is a very comfortable headset with good sound. I haven't had many other headsets, so I have not had any comparative experiences with similar products. It connected easily and does everything I need it to do without feeling heavy on my head.