While headsets are not always the sexiest bit of kit, having a good one is a very important thing. If a headset sounds great, makes you sound great, and is comfortable to wear for a long time, it can make you much more pleasant to speak with. OK, perhaps that's stretching it a bit, but if you have a headset you like, I think it is fair to say that you'll wear it more and it will be easier to make and receive Skype calls, which is certainly a good thing.

Has the FREETALK Everyman headset made me a more pleasant person to speak with? You'd have to ask all the people I've spoken to while I've been testing it out, but I think they'd say the answer is yes. The Everyman headset is a great performer at a great price -- read on for my full review.

First Impressions

The Everyman headset has an attractive, sturdy plastic design. It's very adjustable -- the headband adjusts to the size of your head and the flexible boom mic easily adjusts to the right place in front of your mouth. The mic folds up out of the way when you don't need it, and the earpieces fold inward when you aren't wearing the headset, taking up less space for travel and storage.

The headset connects to your computer via USB, and fortunately the USB jack is quite small -- you shouldn't have a problem plugging into a Mac or other computer where your USB ports are close together. In addition to the USB connection, the headset also has a regular 3.5 mm headphone jack, giving you extra flexibility to use the headset with your MP3 player or other device when you're away from your computer. I think this is great--I've definitely had times where I've had a USB headset with me and have wished I could use it without a computer.

It might seem slightly counterintuitive though--why bother having a USB connection if you're going to have a 3.5mm connection as well -- why not add a 3.5mm microphone jack and not use USB? There actually is a good reason: When you use a 'regular' headset with 3.5mm headphone and microphone jacks, you depend on your system's soundcard to process the audio coming in and out of Skype. Often the soundcards included on computers are low quality, and while they get the job done, they might interfere with the audio somehow, and Skype can't guarantee the quality of the audio coming out of the soundcard and going into the Skype client.

With a Skype Certified USB headset (like the Everyman), the soundcard is built into the headset. During the certification process Skype tests the digital USB connection and can verify its quality. The audio bypasses your computer's built-in soundcard and reaches the Skype client in the same state as it was when it went into the mic, and you hear audio without distortion as comes out of the Skype client. All in all it ensures a better user experience for you.

Functionality

The Everyman was easy to set up for use with Skype -- I just plugged it in and Skype immediately recognized it. I tested the mic for a week in my office on all sorts of Skype-to-Skype calls, calls to regular phones, and conference calls. It was effortless to wear -- quite light and unobtrusive. The sound quality was really good -- the speakers are neodymium and have a wide frequency response range (20Hz-20KHz). The Everyman also supports Skype's recently introduced Super Wideband Audio codec. Like the Plantronics .Audio 655 before it, I could hear the difference. I also listened to a lot of music with the Everyman, and it sounded very good, both on the USB connection with my computer and on the 3.5mm connection with my MP3 player. The one thing that the Everyman is missing is an inline volume control--it's not a huge deal, but would be nice to have for quick volume adjustments.

Conclusion

The FREETALK Everyman is a very good headset. Lightweight, comfortable, great-sounding -- but perhaps the best part is the price. The Everyman is available in the Skype Shop for £18.51 in the UK, €19,88 in continental Europe and $22.88 in the US. You can find it in your local Skype Shop by clicking here and then choosing your country in the dropdown box at the bottom of the page.