DescentBB

My logitech clearchat pro has been a pain since the day I got it. No real good support for Ubuntu and once working the speakers started to buzz just after I past the last day to return them. And the biggest problem is anything that's played in the speakers is recorded by the mic... I can use echo cancellation but this causes audio to be cut off completely at times.

Solution: Not buying a crappy headset.

I'll get anything working in Ubuntu so my real concern is the quality of sound. No buzzing and good soundproofing. And a high quality mic. My birthday is almost here and I'd really like to find something new before then.

I have Koss (the $30 ones) headphones and a Labtec microphone. It's not USB, it's not fancy, but it does the job fine. Yes, I'm cheap when it comes to chat gear because I don't use it often enough to justify $50 for headphones and $20 for a microphone.

Try a Turtle Beach or other quality headset. Browse Newegg and shelves at OfficeMax (a friend of mine got a nice Turtle Beach at OfficeMax).

I have a microphone that clips on to my shirt which I use in conjunction with a decent pair of headphones.

I generally just buy crappy earbuds or headphones, then throw them away once they go bad. Of course, I wouldn't really recomend this option. It tends to bring a lot of frustration.

Sennheiser HD 575

Built in mic in notebook.

Yup!

got them last year for my birthday and they're still going strong.

The Turtle Beach Ear Force HPA2

Built in surround sound and a very good mic. Worth the money imho.

The really nice thing is that these have jacks that let you plug in your speakers as well as the headphones.

Yeah, I'm fairly happy with my headset (Sennheiser PC350). Does have very good sound quality and soundproofing, and the mic is the best I've found as well. The big ... contraindication ... is the price.

I haven't really determined whether it is better than \"surround\" headphones or those with more powerful bass (e.g. subs) though. Haven't tried that variety...

Those are nice Sirius. Price is all over the place though.

I like these I bought 3 years ago.

http://www.cyberacoustics.com/index.cfm ... ent_id=320

Got a Razer Barracuda 5.1 set (Woot.com sale, like $40) a couple years back. They're fairly comfortable, mic is mediocre but workable, 5.1-channel audio is great.