Octopus Overlords

I used to have a very nice Sennheiser set of headphones with a built in boom mic. Wife could watch tv behind me while I gamed and talked. But now all I need is a mic. I need to hear the world around me. My dog, the phone, the door. I have an old 90s lapel mic that the clip broke off and I used to use a clothes pin to stick it to my shirt. Lol. I bet it sounded horrid.

So Ive got my eye on a Hyper X SoloCast for gaming. It would let me keep my speakers and yet still talk online to my buddies or throw shade at my enemies hehe. It seems a quality mic and at a low price point of around $40 - $50. When I get one Id get that mic.

Amazon has it at two different price points and different Amazon naming. One Is like $42 and from Amazon and Amazon Warehouse. The other is $50 and from Amazon. com.

Is it the same place and same mic just the price is diff? Ones not a scam / sham seller is it?

https://www.amazon.com/HyperX-SoloCast- ... 175&sr=1-4

https://www.amazon.com/HyperX-SoloCast- ... 175&sr=1-3

The warehouse version is renewed (aka, used refurbished.)

I hope you are planning to use Push-to-talk. Though even then...

My best friend uses speakers and a separate mic. I hate it. Every time we play a game, I basically have to turn off my sound when NPCs are talking. Or I hear everything twice. Usually his is louder, even.

Be aware that your friends will not appreciate this move.

No kidding. Or even worse, you hear your own voice echoed back to you, which makes it almost impossible to talk (literally - it's been used by police and the military to disperse crowds - you echo speaker's words back at them with a split second delay.)

Those are generally intended for either recording audio (like a podcast) or for use with headphones as an upgrade over a headset mic. And they're generally intended to be used in a quiet environment.

We almost weren't able to play Dead Space 3 co-op because everything I said was echo'd back a second later. Luckily we were able to find the bizarre place that the developers put a mute option.

You can use a mic or speakers, but not both.

I always use push to talk.

Just don't talk if there is anything going on in the game, then.

Either get a cheap headset with mic or get Blue Yeti for $90 if your really want to do the speaker thing. It will have hardware adjustable input volume/gain and a headphone jack for when your friends demand it.

Don't get that knockoff mic at $50.

If you do get a mic, get an arm as well. You'll wonder how you'd ever gone without it.

I have both my webcam and my mic on separate arms.

On these mic, you do have to choose. Basic, portable, or multi-purpose. The multi-purpose ones, like Blue Yeti, have multiple pick-up patterns which results in different sound. You can make it only pickup yourself, pickup 360 surround, pickup you and your guest (say, interview) and use single mic to generate stereo signal. The basic ones don't have all that. The portable ones are meant to be mounted on a portable platform (such as modern digital camera) or boom, not really for indoor use.

If you don't need fancy patterns, then the cheaper Snowball model will do.

Keep in mind, you really do not require a dedicated 'gaming headset' with a boom mic, flashing lights, and go-faster decals.

To keep costs to a minimum, just grab some Koss KSC75 on-ear headphones ($19.69) along with a Movo PM10 lavalier mic ($14.95). For just shy of $35, these provide for a perfectly functional gaming set-up, with a quality of staging, imaging, and clarity that will easily outperform the vast majority of flimflam Chinese 'gaming headsets' with boom mics and such.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 1:25 am Keep in mind, you really do not require a dedicated 'gaming headset' with a boom mic, flashing lights, and go-faster decals.

To keep costs to a minimum, just grab some Koss KSC75 on-ear headphones ($19.69) along with a Movo PM10 lavalier mic ($14.95). For just shy of $35, these provide for a perfectly functional gaming set-up, with a quality of staging, imaging, and clarity that will easily outperform the vast majority of flimflam Chinese 'gaming headsets' with boom mics and such.

Yeah, this.

I use these as backup for phone calls and laptop zoom/chats. Work great.

Since its in the future Ill probably go for that higher cost Yeti one then. I just dont really need it much so that price will hurt. And also remember I dont want to wear headphones anymore.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:40 pm Since its in the future Ill probably go for that higher cost Yeti one then. I just dont really need it much so that price will hurt. And also remember I dont want to wear headphones anymore.

We get that. But for the most part, microphones plus speakers just doesn't work.

I had a cool mic that came with my Sound Blaster Z. Its some type of focused mic. Its supposed to sit on the monitor and have a cone of hearing to it right in front of you . Wont pick up the speakers or anything. But I cant get it to mount on my thin LED monitor bezel and to be fair it is a cheap mic. Its like a cone of voice pickup thingy.

Daehawk wrote: ↑Wed Aug 10, 2022 6:25 pm I had a cool mic that came with my Sound Blaster Z. Its some type of focused mic. Its supposed to sit on the monitor and have a cone of hearing to it right in front of you . Wont pick up the speakers or anything. But I cant get it to mount on my thin LED monitor bezel and to be fair it is a cheap mic. Its like a cone of voice pickup thingy.

Use a clamp to pin it on a microphone / webcam arm if you don't care about making it look good. Arms are under $20 each even new. Or just velcro it to your LED monitor.

Dae,

I make no comment on performance, but Woot has a "gaming" microphone today: https://computers.woot.com/offers/altec ... microphone

Thanks mix thats nice of you to think of me but Im dead out of money again until next month. The well pump wiped out all of it but the little food and gas I got today. Then next month is car exhaust. So mic will have to wait longer. Im used to that np.

I think I have an older mic with "tripod" stand that should still be usable, should be USB port. Let me look in my closet again.

Keep in mind Daehawk, if you are bound and determined to use speakers and a microphone for gaming (not headphones), you ought to aim for a cardioid microphone to minimise echo, feedback, and reverb.

Because if/when your speakers are too close or loud, your microphone will pick up the audio from your game and play it through your speakers. This makes it possible for others to hear your regurgitated game audio in mic or hear an echo to your voice whenever you talk, which becomes exasperating for those you play with for the reasons TheMix & Blackhawk aptly observed earlier. Omnidirectional microphones are designed to pick up sound from all around, which tends to only accentuate this issue. But cardioid microphones are designed to only pick up noise from directly in front of 'em, so are better suited for cancelling out the audio from your speakers. But alas, desktop cardioids of decent quality do tend to be pricier (hence my suggestion above, considering your significant budgetary constraints).

For microphone review, this channel has a lot of them from very cheap ones to super expensive ones:

https://www.youtube.com/c/Podcastage

Thanks all. Seems I got time to read while I save.

FWIW, Amazon has marked down the SoloCast to $35 for Labor Day. If you buy it, I'll ship you a practically new mic arm. Just beware, it's the "unscrew the joint to pose" instead of the "spring tension just push/pull to pose" kind. However, it does come with a trumbone arm (can be pushed / pulled to extend/retract) so it's not as bad as it sounds. I thought it was a different one, and I don't like to return things on Amazon when it's my own fault. (It may not come with all the accessories, as I'm horrible at unpacking and keeping everything together)

Thanks Kasey but due to life and its problems a mic is now out of the picture probably for good ..along with anything else id planned..cant even get a haircut now.