Review of the VXI TalkPro Xpress
By James Richards, Attorney at Law
Materials and Appearance:
The VXI TalkPro Express is a pleasure to use. The design is elegantly simple, comfortable and durable. The low mass, low-profile headband is made of lightweight, medium gauge spring steel. It is lightweight, yet stronger than that used by most other manufacturers. The headband terminates on one end with a plastic "T" pad, which rests gently against the temple. The other end holds a single, foam-covered earphone. The headset stays firmly in place, but does not pinch or hurt the ear. The gooseneck microphone boom pivots nearly 200 degrees, allowing use on either the left or right side of the head. The microphone arm is flexible, but remains stiff enough to retain its position under normal use. It is long enough and flexible enough to fit anyone. All plastic parts and cable connections are of higher quality, more durable materials than most other headsets I have used. It looks appropriately professional in my law office.
Overall Performance:
The VXI TalkPro incorporates a high quality Gentex microphone that produces a clear, clean, uncolored (almost "thin") sound, which distinguishes it from other microphones that color or embellish the sound. The highly efficient single earphone receiver produces a full, rich sound, which is clear and distinct. One does not need to set the sound card volume all the way up to listen effectively, in contrast to many other headsets, such as Plantronics sets I have tested. Playback of my speaking voice is clear, distinct, and precise. This high quality microphone proved itself under fire right away. I produced a four-page single-spaced legal document containing 1568 words using Dragon NaturallySpeaking and a set of user files created with another microphone. Dictation accuracy was amazingly accurate, consistent, and reliable. The VXI TalkPro performed with 99% accuracy, generating no more than three recognition errors per page. I later dictated another legal document, realizing only four recognition errors out of 1093 words! Under the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Audio Setup Wizard the microphone achieved a low score of 29 and a high score of 38 and my test bed of 4 different sound cards. Based on my testing, I predict most users could expect a score between 25 and 30, which coincides with the optimal range for that program, as indicated by Dragon Systems engineers.
Pairing the VXI TalkPro with my Sound Blaster Audigy sound card, I ran the specialized version of the ASW (accessed by pressing Alt-1). Testing with my regular speaking voice, produced a noise level of 2-3 and a speech level of 34, for a combined overall score of 25 signal-to-noise, which is downright fabulous. Speaking loudly produced a score of 7-9 background noise, and 53 speech, for a combined score of 38 signal-to-noise.