What's a good model of headset with microphone?
October 5, 2011 5:47 PM   Subscribe

Can anyone recommend a headset with a good microphone for a webinar I'm running?

I'm running a webinar in a few weeks, and need a good headset with microphone that I can plug into the computer. In a previous audio conference I did a few years ago, the people in the conference couldn't hear me well, so I'd really like something with an ace microphone, rather than something with superior audio in the ear pieces. That's the problem I'm seeing in poking around the web -- everything's focused on the audio for gamers and music listeners, rather than a good strong mic for speakers. It looks like the Plantronics have gone downhill pretty badly in recent months, but it's always hard to tell with online reviews. I'm willing to spend a little more for a good one, but not above $70, I think, because I'm only using this for webinars and audior conferencing. Any recs? (I'm on a Mac, so I'll need something that can plug and play in a USB)
posted by emcat8 to Technology (3 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
I would look into a USB-capable large diaphragm condenser, and a separate set of headphones. You're going to be hard pressed to get a decent headphone/mic headset that performs adequately.

Something like this is going to work way better than any headset mic. Then, just use your headphones of choice to hear with.
posted by chrisfromthelc at 5:56 PM on October 5, 2011


I had the same problem for the past several weeks (using a headset / mic combination with poor audio results recording presentations on the PC for an ongoing work project).

Recently purchased a Blue Microphone 'Snowball' and was amazed at the difference in sound quality. It's slightly more expensive (on the order of $65) and was well worth the cost.
posted by scooterdog at 4:22 AM on October 6, 2011 [1 favorite]


I agree that a "real" mic like a Snowball is best. But I'm posting to point out that, on a Mac, you can just plug in an iPhone-type headset to the audio jack, and it works as a headset. I usually use my iPhone headphones for online conference calls, and a Snowball + regular headphones for podcasts, interviews, etc.
posted by yesno at 7:22 AM on October 6, 2011


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