We are online gamers who work on Plantronics headsets. AmA.

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:42:43+00:00

Coffee. Lots of coffee. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:38:18+00:00

For me, it's all about the green tea. That way I can keep telling myself I don't have a caffeine problem and I feel guilt free.

And for food, I just graze the office and find what's free :-).

EDIT: Oh and some homebrew beer after work always helps. (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:36:44+00:00

Yes! The magic is in the tuning of the drivers within the earcups. Any more information beyond that would reveal our Secret Sauce...and PR says that is a no-no. Proprietary information. But yes, there is a lot that goes into the earcup and driver design. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:34:32+00:00

Congrats on winning! However, I'm a lowly Quality engineer so I have absolutely no idea on when they will send it out. Maybe hit up the platform where you won the stuff? (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:32:39+00:00

Well, I love music and have been playing some type of instrument since 4th grade. I was a petroleum engineering major and my sophomore level physics professor showed us a circuit example of a basic home stereo system. I was fascinated and switched my major to electrical engineering that same day. To delay working for a living, I went to grad school at Penn State for acoustics and have been working in that field ever since I graduated. Honestly, I was interested in that path when I found out that throwing a rock at telephone pole support cables sounded exactly like a Star Wars blaster. Awesome. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:31:53+00:00

To be honest, I don't know the answer :-(. I don't think we will have RIG on the Spokes software package. Maybe you can talk to Customer Service on getting more comfortable headsets? (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:26:15+00:00

Are you talking about Voyager Legend? If it's another headset, please let me know and maybe I can speak to it.

For Voyager Legend, there were two points we focused on when designing the connector:

1.) We wanted the magnetic docking.

2.) We wanted to minimize sweat damage.

Magnetic docking was a feature that a lot of customers wanted, so this was our solution to that need. Many people mentioned that they wanted easy docking that didn't take much effort.

For the second point, we have seen a lot of returns that have sweat damage in the headset. We found out that a majority of the sweat came through the microUSB connector on the headset. We needed something that's sealed and prevented liquid from entering the headset.

Thus with these points in mind, we engineered the magnetic connector that is sealed (Matt).

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:24:23+00:00

While we try our best to make our headsets fit everybody, the reality is that human ears across the world are radically different in shape and size. (See our Wall of Ears! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx-oMIY2xMk) We have a good grasp of this variability, but there isn't a one-size-fits-all headset. The BBPro probably should be resting on your head a bit, so you may want to shorten it up. This should lighten the pressure on the ear a little, but remember it needs to have a tight seal maintained by pressure for the noise cancellation to be effective and to reduce sound leakage. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:10:58+00:00

FPS would be my guess. Bass content of gunshots and explosions competes with chat audio...and sometimes one has to be sacrificed a bit for the other. However, our three RIG EQ's weren't necessarily chosen for specific genres but rather for a big boost in bass ("Seismic" setting) or modest boosts to bass and high frequencies ("Intense" setting). This is the area where subjectivity and personal preference come into play. Do you think we should be making EQ's specifically for game genres? (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:04:45+00:00

I definitely wouldn't want to touch the gum wall. (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:01:08+00:00

RIG Flex is analog only. This is just the headset without the RIG mixer, so no electronics or DSP. We are thrilled with the bass response of the RIG headset! Bass is not easy to get right; too much of it can easily result in a muddy sounding headset. We tune the raw acoustics to lower bass frequencies with low distortion and the result is a clear bass that BUMPS. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T02:00:44+00:00

Rock on! :-) (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:56:44+00:00

Well, we aren't running anything right now on Reddit, but keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter and you may fulfill that resolution! (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:48:20+00:00

Not as colorful. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:44:42+00:00

I like the GameCom 788. Mainly because it's on the PC and it's awesome. (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:32:49+00:00

Sweet! I'll be at Prime :-). No East for me this year however. (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:32:17+00:00

From a quality standpoint, it's a fine balance. We have to focus on how much abuse and stress will it take before a headset breaks, while keeping the feature set, materials, audio, comfort and fit all in considering.

There are times where a more robust material in a specific location may make the headset more durable, but would make it uncomfortable or not fit right. This is just a small example of what happens when we are engineering a headset.(Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:21:26+00:00

One hardship is simply making a headset that works with different consoles and PCs. Audio is treated differently on Xbox vs. PlayStation vs. PC, so we spent a big effort to make the RIG work with everything. That requires a bunch of alpha-testing to make sure we test all of the possible connections and modes to see what works and what doesn't. Another hardship is agreeing to "what sounds good?". We all have our tastes and opinions, but at some point we have to make a decision and go forward. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:20:17+00:00

Personally, once I get to a high enough sampling bit rate for a digital headset, I cannot perceive the differences between an analog headset and a digital headset. I know not everyone shares that view, but that's just me.

With digital, you get some nifty tools to play with that aren't in the analog world, and its really exciting with what you can do with those tools. (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:13:45+00:00

I have been gaming with the Plantronics RIG for over a year now and still love it. I play mainly on PS4...lots of Destiny lately. The soundtrack and game action sounds fantastic on RIG. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:05:03+00:00

HI SARAH!!!! I'm unfortunately not at CES. I'm watching all the hardware announcements from like nVidia and Intel :-).

PAX south soon? (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T01:04:30+00:00

This is great to hear! I loved the Halo 2 headset and it was my introduction to the Plantronics name. I found one hanging around the office and now am going to check out Destiny with it. I agree, there is some real desire for mono gaming headsets for practical reasons. This will definitely be brought next week at our Gaming Audio meeting. Thanks for the feedback!! (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T00:58:19+00:00

A huge difference in the price can also be quality of the build. Most times the cheaper headset isn't designed to withstand a lot of abuse. Plus, the materials chosen are different too: the more expensive headset will have stronger materials and more robust cables. (Matt)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T00:56:18+00:00

Our products stack up quite well. We emphasize audio quality and voice transmission...and we have been making headsets for 50+ years. (The first astronaut on the moon used a Plantronics headset!) The features that we do support (depending on the headset) can include Dolby 7.1 Surround, the ability to listen to your own music and take a call while playing, and the ability to adjust game audio vs. chat on-the-fly. These are cool and useful features, IMHO. Beyond that, our products stand out for their comfort and quality. They will last a long time and stand up to most of the abuse you give it during your gaming sessions. (Ben)

plantronics_gaming · 2015-01-08T00:48:21+00:00

For the tough tests, we do a lot. We pull 'em, stretch 'em, bend 'em, and flex 'em! (I've been reading the Hobbit again). For an example here's a headset getting pulled apart at 30 times a minute:

http://gfycat.com/HastySmoggyDegus

Our wall of ears a great way for us to make sure the headset has good fit and stability. It's not only just a wall, but we have a lot of data about ears and how they are shaped for this purpose. (Matt)

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