The update is at the end. This is the original review:I purchased a pair of these almost two years ago and the mic is perfect. There's no buzzing, there's no background noise, your voice doesn't distort if you get a little loud (like I can while gaming), so I was very pleased. The sound, on the other hand, isn't that great. I would have to shove the volume level all the way up on my PC as well as whatever video or game or other software I was using at the time, and I still had a hard time hearing. Also, I'm not so thrilled about their bass as others have said. The bass isn't that great.I used these to game a lot, but then summer came and my neighbors decided that 8am was a great time to start blasting their music after opening all of the windows to their house, or, even better, having a friend come over with their truck, opening all of the doors, and blasting the stereo in the truck for the entire neighborhood to hear. So I wore these headphones all. the. time! just to block out the jerk neighbor's racket.What happened is that I would fall asleep while wearing these, and after a few months of sleeping on them, they did finally lose the battle. The first thing that happened was the cord came out of the center control (for mute and volume control), and whenever I tried to use the mic, there was static. Then the left side went out on the headphones. That was not the fault of the headphones, it's because I slept on them for months.I decided to upgrade to a high end gaming headset. The gaming headset is spectacular for sound. The bass is great, it has software that comes with an equalizer, and it is truly surround sound. The problem with the gaming headset is that what it make up for in amazing sound, it sorely lacks in the mic area. The mic area can only seem to handle so much noise. It does pick up a bit of background noise, if I get excited playing a game, the voice will distort. Adjusting the mic sensitivity never completely got rid of the slight hissing sound, either.Well. I get excited while gaming. I don't need voice distortion while making videos, and my guild members don't need it either on TeamSpeak. So, after giving the gaming headset a chance - fiddling with every possible setting that it has (which is a lot), I've decided that when I'm gaming, I'm going back to the LiveChat. I just ordered another pair because the mic is THAT good. It sounds better than many gaming headsets unless you start throwing out over a hundred dollars or more.For sound, listening to music, listening to videos, I'll stick with my gaming headset because the LiveChat can not even compare. For gaming and speaking, LiveChat excels over even the expensive gaming headsets. For the price that you pay for the LiveChat, you get an incredible mic that equals or excels the quality of high end gaming headsets. Use these for recording or talking, don't expect much when listening to music or watching videos if you like even just a little bass and to actually hear what you're listening to or watching.**************Update 02/09/2017**************** (This is not the latest update, there's more.)My new pair just arrived, one day early, and it could not have been any easier to set up. I did not uninstall the gaming headset that I have, fyi. I simply plugged in the LiveChat into an available USB slot, the drivers automatically started updating without me having to do a thing, went to my volume control, right clicked, set the LiveChat as the "default", went to the "recording tab", made sure LiveChat was selected, clicked "properties", clicked on the "Levels" tab, pushed the volume for recording up from 0 (where it was set upon plugging in), clicked "OK", opened up "Sound Recorder", recorded, and the mic, again, works fabulously. And, again, sound isn't that great, but it is better than the last pair that I had. Still, I will use the gaming headset to listen to music and watch videos/movies, use the LiveChat for recording. There was no need for me to uninstall anything or unplug my gaming headset, I simply go to the volume control icon on my task bar on the bottom of the screen, right click, open up "playback" and switch the default device depending on which headset I want to use at the time. Could not be any easier.*********************************Update June 18, 2017***********************************Please note the date of the previous update. See that? February 09, 2017 is when I physically received the headphones. It is now June 18, 2017...just over 4 months later.Four.Months.A whopping 4 months.Since I've had a pair in the past, I babied this headset. I took extra care to store it safely any time I was done using it. When I first got the headset, I used these for only about 2 hours a week. That went on until my other headset's headphones stopped working. (Seriously, can anyone make a decent pair of headphones that doesn't cost $200? Is it really that difficult?) I then started using the headset daily, but I still was very careful with them. I knew that the volume control center could cause problems because it's heavier than the cords and connections to and from the control center and the earpieces. I made sure never to let it dangle around or snag on something or even get knocked into anything.I mean it, I treated these headphones like they were made of delicate glass.Yesterday, out of nowhere, static. Any time I moved I got static from the mic. I was doing recordings, they were all ruined because of the static and the mic cutting in/out. I tested on another laptop. It's not my laptop. I tested all USB ports. It's not my USB ports. I went to as many pages as I could stand on the web to look for answers, and what I've come away with is this:When these work, which is for a very short while no matter what kind of care you give them, the mic is fantastic. The sound is not that wonderful, but it will do.However, for years people have complained about these online. For years Microsoft has seen the complaints and given the lame, useless responses of "did you check the driver", "is it on mute", and the old classic "uninstall and then reinstall"...all of which never fix anything on any question ever asked of Microsoft about any product.Here's the reality: It's a design flaw. That volume control button in the center of the cords causes problems. Even if you don't let it swing around or get smacked around, it will bend in strange ways while you use the headphones like a normal human being. The volume control might sit on your desk, it might sit in your lap, it might sit on the bed beside you...no matter where it sits, (because you do NOT want to allow it to just hang there), it's going to crink up the cord no matter what. And the wires inside are apparently so delicate that even the thought of them causes them to disintegrate in to dust. (Slight exaggeration.)And it does not appear that Microsoft is in any way interested in fixing this design flaw. They would rather regurgiate their insulting "answers" online by telling you to check the driver (it auto installs, how can you get it wrong), uninstall and reinstall, or check the volume control on your computer.So. Mic quality is one of the best out there...beats even the expensive gaming headsets. But at the rate that you will go through these headsets, you might as well just save your money up and buy a $300 gaming headset and be done with it, once and for all.I will never buy these again. That's a bummer because the mic really was that good....if only Microsoft would care even one iota and FIX THE DESIGN FLAW with the volume control halfway down the cord.I brought the rating from 4 star down to 2 star because you've got to be kidding me that they can't last longer than 4 fricken months, all of which they were treated better than the Hope diamond.I use this product to work remote. It’s perfect! The volume is adjustable, you have the ability to mute and it’s comfortable.The sound quality is good, but the headband is built in such a way that there are sharp edges that dig into your scalp if you are bald or shave your head. Very uncomfortable. Other than that, it's a good and decently priced headset.It works fine, but I have to replace it every year. They only last my wife a year.But she uses it every day. I took off one star because they only last a year.But works find during that year.In the beginning, the sound and quality looks good. It doesn't last long. It became chopping and breaking up in less than 3 monthsThese are the headphones I used a few years ago, but stopped once the microphone stopped working. The old pair lasted about 3 years before I got rid of them. So if you aren't too rough with them, they'll work fine for longer, assuming the microphone holds out.I replaced my old set with some Monoprice headphones. The microphone didn't work at all on those, and even after having them replaced the microphone still didn't work. After using those for a few months, I went back to these. But now I notice a problem. High frequencies don't come through on these, while the audio on the Monoprice headphones was crisp and clear. So just beware that you get what you pay for with these, and the audio quality on the speakers could be better.The audio quality on the microphone, however, is superb. I don't think I've ever had a headset with a better microphone. It's possibly too good, it can clearly pick up my mouse clicking and any background noises that may exist. It may be going months without a microphone that works, but this microphone is definitely good enough for whatever use you might put it to.Something they changed from the old headphones is the in-line volume controller no longer has the large center button that opened Skype (I think). For me, it's definitely a plus since I never used that button on purpose, but was constantly hitting it accidentally. The Amazon images currently show a picture of the volume controller WITH that button, but the one I received doesn't have that button there anymore. Also, the buttons are now black, but that's not really an issue for anyone.Other than these, the cord is long enough, since I'm sitting right next to my laptop where I'm using it and the cord really only needs to be 2 feet long for me. The 180 degree pivoting mic is nice, but it only really needed to be 90 degrees since I doubt you'll be recording the back of your head, or want your audio channels swapped (although for Skype chatting, I guess it doesn't matter). The size is right for my head, and I can wear the headphones for hours without discomfort. I have a relatively large head, and need to extend every set of headphones I have to their largest size, and these are no exception.So in total, this headset is good for the price. The microphone is good quality, and they've made some improvements from the last time I used them. But the audio quality is definitely a step down from what I've been used to for the past few months. Hopefully that doesn't wear on my nerves because otherwise I might have to return them. If you're currently using a pair of headphones that has a good range with crisp highs, you might want to think about passing over these if you're looking to replace your current ones. And if you don't think you'll notice, neither did I but here I am writing a review saying that I did.