INDEX

• Prelude
• Taking it to a
  (much) higher level
• Bone Conduction
• Robert G. "Bob" DeFeo,
  Colonel, USAF (Ret)
• Robert E. Haston,
  Major, USAF (Reserve)

PRELUDE:

As a tech writer / journalist for over 25 years, I’ve had my hands on a truckload of computer and cell phone / communications peripherals, accessories, and hardware. I’ve put hundreds of gadgets and gizmos through their paces and with years of experience writing reviews comes the ability to tell the treasure from the trash. It’s a rare treat to discover products that not only live up to their mfrs.’ claims, but actually out-perform expectations.

UmeVoice makes a wide range of headsets.. most targeted towards consumers looking for solid, reliable, thoughtfully-engineered gear that lives up to the company’s motto: “Whisper and be heard.”

I’ve extensively used and reviewed pretty much every consumer-level product they make (here are some examples) including the original TheBoom, TheBoom “O”, the nearly-invisible-when-worn TheBoom “E”, and the spectacular TheBoom Quiet stereo headphones with active noise cancellation, and I didn’t just give these products a short gloss-over before pounding my impressions onto a keyboard.

I USED them with my personal cell phones, landline phones, and HiFi gear for dozens, perhaps hundreds of hours, and continue to use them to this day.

While their ergonomics (and prices) differ to suit the varied tastes and budgets of different people, UmeVoice’s remarkable products all have two things in common: they all make a hard-wire connection to your gear (no flakey, static-laden Bluetooth here!).. and they all feature the same, remarkable noise-Canceling mic, engineered and developed in UmeVoice’s in-house anechoic chamber, a room so quiet and sound-deadened, that you can literally stand inside it, and hear your own heart beating! You’d expect an ultra high-end mfr. of uber-expensive loudspeakers to make use of an anechoic chamber.. even have their own, but a headset company?

I mentioned Bluetooth, because I’ve tested and reviewed a lot of noise-reduction and noise-Canceling Bluetooth headsets over the past few years.. I won’t name names, but they’d be familiar to most of you who relish being the first kid on the block with the latest tech toy. Some of them work fairly well, some not so well; unfortunately, many are more style than substance.

You’ll just have to trust me when I say that I’ve NEVER met a Bluetooth headset with claimed voice noise cancellation that can hold a candle to UmeVoice’s products. Never.

I know this all sounds like the typical tech hyperbole.. just more self-serving advertising hype to wade through in your search for the ultimate headset.

UmeVoice certainly isn’t a household name. They don’t spend millions bombarding you with advertising on every cable network you watch, every billboard you pass, and every magazine you flip through. Instead, those dollars go into solid, intelligent, truly innovative engineering, and my hunch is they’ve sold a lot of products have through word-of-mouth, thanks to satisfied owners who simply slap one of their headsets on a friend’s noggin, and say “Here, try this, you won’t believe it.”

In fact, my first experience with an UmeVoice headset happened a few years ago. They sent me TheBoom “O” for review. To find out just how well it lived up to their “whisper and be heard” claim, I drove to my Brother’s house. He had never heard of UmeVoice’s products, never used one, and never touched one.

As we had pre-arranged, he came out and met me at my car, with his cell phone in hand. With the engine running, air conditioning blowing on high, and Stereo playing full blast, I asked him to stand across the street from the car while I called him from my cell phone to his.

Donning TheBoom “O”, I rolled up my car’s windows, dialed his number, positioned the mic on its flexible Magnesium stalk near the corner of my mouth, and literally whispered into it. With the combination of engine, air conditioning, and Stereo noise, I literally could not hear my own voice, but he could hear my every whispered word, NONE of the background noise and thanks to the supremely comfortable earpiece, I could hear him clearly.

To say he was beside himself in disbelief would be an understatement. “What is that? Who makes it? How much is it? Where can I get one?” I’ve heard those same questions time after time, as I’ve demoed the different UmeVoice headsets for friends and relatives.

When you’re in a noisy environment, whether it’s in your car, where “hands-free” is now the law in most States, a crowded store, an echo-filled mall, an amusement park, out for a walk on a windy day, you name it.. UmeVoice’s unbelievably clever noise-cancellation engineering just plain works, without fancy electronics, but instead, through the use of VERY intelligent acoustical engineering, and it works better than any other noise-Canceling products I have EVER used. Period.

That’s my take on their consumer-grade gear. Try their product yourself. You don’t have to believe me. You be the judge.