USB headset and Maverick

[J]

Hrmmm... so something I've not used before today...

Ok, so I have Maverick installed on an Alienware M15x.  Using the
internal Mic array and either external speakers or the internal
speakers,  I get great audio quality on both playback and record.

However, when trying to set up my new Plantronics 626 USB headset, I'm
having ... mixed results.

In Mumble, I was able to somehow get the mic to start working, thought
that required me hitting alsamixer and turning up the sensitivity (the
Sound Preferences tool did absolutely nothing in this regard) and I
was able to get that working... kinda.

But then shut down Mumble and fired up Audacity, and no sound on the
USB headset microphone at all.  Tried Skype test calling service and
also no audio at all.  Then fired mumble up again and sound seems to
work...

So I'm about to reboot and see if Pulse is just stuck, but I thought
I'd check her and see if anyone had any suggestions for
troubleshooting a USB headset.

Cheers,

Jeff