Sometimes PCI/USB power saving options are not your friend - beginning of call audio suffers from low volume with OCS

Very interesting thread about a problem I haven't run into both others might if they have USB powered headsets with OCS. It looks like two possible models that it can occur with are the Polycom CX300 and some other handsets/headsets.

Basically, due to some of the 'green options' on some PCs, the USB power to the connected devices can be lowered when idle. If the OS/BIOS detects that the device has become active, it will fire up the juice. Unfortunately, at the start of a call, the voltage might not be high enough yet to experience full volume.

This explains the audio problem described here.

If at all possible, try not to disable ACPI and just try to disable the USB power-disabling green features in the BIOS or OS. If that is not an option, you could always use a powered (complete with wall-wart power adapter) USB hub to keep the phones/headsets powered up while your other devices can sleep normally on the 'green' USB ports.

I'm curious how widespread this problem is, because I think the Polycom CX300 is a fantastic little OCS handset.