I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

I'd like to not have to have two separate headsets.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine Sometimes I even put it in the food

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:09:01 -0600, flipper wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:47:59 -0700, Jim Thompson
wrote:

I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

I'd like to not have to have two separate headsets.

...Jim Thompson

The problem is the phone line is analog and USB is digital.

Yep, I know... I designed the original USB port driver and receiver
chips... see my patent list.

Could be
done, of course, but I'm not aware of anyone who makes it.

[snip]

Yet I find it odd that a headset (mike + earphones), so cheap,
actually digitizes the audio to run thru a USB port.

Sounds hokey to me. I suspect that USB ports may actually now be
configurable as "pass-throughs".

I note there are really cheap 2.5mm-to-USB adapters. Maybe the way to
go is to get an "analog" headset plus adapter ?:-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine Sometimes I even put it in the food

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:13:56 -0700, Jim Thompson
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:09:01 -0600, flipper wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:47:59 -0700, Jim Thompson
wrote:

I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

I'd like to not have to have two separate headsets.

...Jim Thompson

The problem is the phone line is analog and USB is digital.

Yep, I know... I designed the original USB port driver and receiver
chips... see my patent list.

Could be
done, of course, but I'm not aware of anyone who makes it.

[snip]

Yet I find it odd that a headset (mike + earphones), so cheap,
actually digitizes the audio to run thru a USB port.

Sounds hokey to me. I suspect that USB ports may actually now be
configurable as "pass-throughs".

I note there are really cheap 2.5mm-to-USB adapters. Maybe the way to
go is to get an "analog" headset plus adapter ?:-)

...Jim Thompson

I got a Plantronics one with a USB stick plus 3.5mm (not telephone
2.5mm) plug on it. Only thing is the microphone levels are very low so
that it's not really useful in the analog "mode", at least on my Dell
or MSI laptops.

"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ...
Yet I find it odd that a headset (mike + earphones), so cheap,
actually digitizes the audio to run thru a USB port.

You might not find it so odd if you examined the quality of the audio that
many computers provide in analog: In many cases the SNR isn't even 30dB
(telephone quality!). By making it all digital the headset companies -- who
presumably have at least a little bit of analog experience -- can work on
audio fidelity, rather than letting the laptop manufacturers -- often with no
analog experience -- do so... which makes sense given that most people are
going to blame the headset manufacturer if the audio is poor, even if it's the
PC manufacturer's fault.

Dell shipped many, many thousands of Inspiron 700m's with pretty much unusable
microphone inputs -- they were completely trashed with digital noise on them,
all due to someone at Dell forgetting a tiny filter capacitor. See:
http://www.jumboprawn.net/jesse/proj...mic/index.html "The
microphone input circuit in the Dell Inspiron 700m has no filtering on the
microphone phantom power injector. This was an oversight of the motherboard's
designer. The Inspiron's raw 5V rail is driven directly to the mic power lead,
which brings with it all the noise of the disk drive and other parts of the
700m motherboard."

I note there are really cheap 2.5mm-to-USB adapters. Maybe the way to
go is to get an "analog" headset plus adapter ?:-)

Definitely a reasonable approach.

If you particularly like your headsets, could you tell us their
manufacturer/model numbers?

---Joel

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:42:33 -0500, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:13:56 -0700, Jim Thompson
wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:09:01 -0600, flipper wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:47:59 -0700, Jim Thompson
wrote:

I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

I'd like to not have to have two separate headsets.

...Jim Thompson

The problem is the phone line is analog and USB is digital.

Yep, I know... I designed the original USB port driver and receiver
chips... see my patent list.

Could be
done, of course, but I'm not aware of anyone who makes it.

[snip]

Yet I find it odd that a headset (mike + earphones), so cheap,
actually digitizes the audio to run thru a USB port.

Sounds hokey to me. I suspect that USB ports may actually now be
configurable as "pass-throughs".

I note there are really cheap 2.5mm-to-USB adapters. Maybe the way to
go is to get an "analog" headset plus adapter ?:-)

...Jim Thompson

I got a Plantronics one with a USB stick plus 3.5mm (not telephone
2.5mm) plug on it. Only thing is the microphone levels are very low so
that it's not really useful in the analog "mode", at least on my Dell
or MSI laptops.

I gave up and bought a Panasonic analog headset w/2.5mm plug.

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine Sometimes I even put it in the food

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:08:16 -0800, "Joel Koltner"
wrote:

"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ...
Yet I find it odd that a headset (mike + earphones), so cheap,
actually digitizes the audio to run thru a USB port.

You might not find it so odd if you examined the quality of the audio that
many computers provide in analog: In many cases the SNR isn't even 30dB
(telephone quality!). By making it all digital the headset companies -- who
presumably have at least a little bit of analog experience -- can work on
audio fidelity, rather than letting the laptop manufacturers -- often with no
analog experience -- do so... which makes sense given that most people are
going to blame the headset manufacturer if the audio is poor, even if it's the
PC manufacturer's fault.

Interesting point. I find Skype calls from Australia are eminently
more intelligible than via "land" lines.


Dell shipped many, many thousands of Inspiron 700m's with pretty much unusable
microphone inputs -- they were completely trashed with digital noise on them,
all due to someone at Dell forgetting a tiny filter capacitor. See:
http://www.jumboprawn.net/jesse/proj...mic/index.html "The
microphone input circuit in the Dell Inspiron 700m has no filtering on the
microphone phantom power injector. This was an oversight of the motherboard's
designer. The Inspiron's raw 5V rail is driven directly to the mic power lead,
which brings with it all the noise of the disk drive and other parts of the
700m motherboard."

I note there are really cheap 2.5mm-to-USB adapters. Maybe the way to
go is to get an "analog" headset plus adapter ?:-)

Definitely a reasonable approach.

If you particularly like your headsets, could you tell us their
manufacturer/model numbers?

---Joel


For Skype I use: Logitech ClearChat Comfort USB Headset

For land-line I just ordered: Panasonic KX-TCA92 Comfort Fit
Hands-Free Headset with Fold Design

(These long-winded conference calls get tiring... plus I like
hands-free so I can get some real work done during those interminable
boring moments where chip "failure" is discussed ad nauseam... leading
up to their finally admitting that I was right... they laid out their
PCB wrong ;-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine Sometimes I even put it in the food

"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ...
I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

I'd like to not have to have two separate headsets.


How bout a phone with Bluetooth?

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?Redir=1&description=Uniden%2D+5%2E8GHz+ Digital+Expandable+System+with+Bluetooth+Capabilit y%2DAnalog+Telephones&dpno=200598

Cheers

"Martin Riddle" wrote in message
...


"Jim Thompson" wrote
in message ...
I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

I'd like to not have to have two separate headsets.


How bout a phone with Bluetooth?

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?Redir=1&description=Uniden%2D+5%2E8GHz+ Digital+Expandable+System+with+Bluetooth+Capabilit y%2DAnalog+Telephones&dpno=200598

Cheers

Spoke too soon, is this what you are looking for?
http://www.jabra.com/Sites/Jabra/NA-US/Headsets/Pages/JabraJX10withBluetoothHub.aspx?productfamilytab=De tails

Cheers

"Martin Riddle" wrote in message
...


"Jim Thompson" wrote
in message ...
I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

I'd like to not have to have two separate headsets.


How bout a phone with Bluetooth?

http://www.macmall.com/macmall/shop/detail.asp?Redir=1&description=Uniden%2D+5%2E8GHz+ Digital+Expandable+System+with+Bluetooth+Capabilit y%2DAnalog+Telephones&dpno=200598

Cheers

Spoke too soon, is this what you are looking for?
http://www.jabra.com/Sites/Jabra/NA-US/Headsets/Pages/JabraJX10withBluetoothHub.aspx?productfamilytab=De tails

Cheers

On 2009-01-16, Jim Thompson wrote:
On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:09:01 -0600, flipper wrote:

On Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:47:59 -0700, Jim Thompson
wrote:

I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

I'd like to not have to have two separate headsets.

...Jim Thompson

The problem is the phone line is analog and USB is digital.

Yep, I know... I designed the original USB port driver and receiver
chips... see my patent list.

Could be
done, of course, but I'm not aware of anyone who makes it.

[snip]

Yet I find it odd that a headset (mike + earphones), so cheap,
actually digitizes the audio to run thru a USB port.

the one have at work does, it shows up as a new sound adaptor
that's not present until it's connected.

Sounds hokey to me. I suspect that USB ports may actually now be
configurable as "pass-throughs".

the closest to pass-through in usb is an autochronous bitstream.

I note there are really cheap 2.5mm-to-USB adapters. Maybe the way to
go is to get an "analog" headset plus adapter ?:-)

that'd work.

Jim Thompson wrote:

I have a nice Logitech USB headset that I use for Skype.

Does there exist an adapter that would allow this headset to be used
with a regular land-line phone? (It has a standard jack.)

What do you refer to a 'standard jack'. One of those telecom RJ type
thingies ?

I suspect you won't be able to use both function simultaneously since
the phone line needs to be isolated.

Graham

"Jim Thompson" wrote in
message ...
(These long-winded conference calls get tiring... plus I like
hands-free so I can get some real work done during those interminable
boring moments where chip "failure" is discussed ad nauseam... leading
up to their finally admitting that I was right... they laid out their
PCB wrong ;-)

It'd be nice if more manufacturers provided examples of bad layouts (rather
than just "recommended" layouts)... Linear Tech has a good example application
note on CCFL inverter design, including a bunch of photos of boards that just
didn't work... many now sporting scorch marks across the PCB where the high
voltage arced over. :-)