Microphone for video conferencing

i just bought a Logitech c920 for video conferencing. but now i am thinking about audio.
i mostly do video conferring, telephone calls on my computer and sometimes teamspeak.
is the integrated mic of the Logitech good enough, should i use a headset? i took a look the the blue snowball, but this mic is way to big to carry it in the notebook backpack. any thoughts?

I’ll preface my remarks with the warning that I’m no expert.

Regarding the mic on the Logitech camera, you should set up a test call with someone who can give you feed back on what you sound like, to know whether it’s going to be acceptable or not.

I’ve done a lot of conference calls / videoconferences, and in business circles the headset with boom microphone is pretty common for this.

My own preference has been for a Plantronics headset with two earpieces (they refer to that as “binaural” to distinguish from the one-earpiece units for support desk use), completely utilitarian but easy to obtain and easy to pack. I prefer a wired headset as Bluetooth can sometimes introduce a time delay or connection problems, and you don’t have time for that in a business environment.

Most of the mics touted for podcasting on sites like Amazon, including the Blue range, are condenser mics. What I’ve heard is that this type can produce good sound, but will tend to pick up unwanted sounds from some distance away, and may emphasise room reverberation and sound “echoey” unless a room has lots of soft furnishings. I don’t have any experience with that, but I do notice that although TWiT uses a very high quality condenser mic as their standard (Heil PR-40 I think?) there are lots of sound-absorbing drapes in the studio corners, and I’m guessing the sound goes through a very sophisticated system that can compensate for sound oddities in guest connections from outside.

My concern is that if a decent quality business headset would actually meet your needs, you might be getting a less than optimal result by going for a freestanding mic, if you make calls from different locations and can’t control the sound environment in them.

Better yet use Skype’s echo/sound test service so you can hear for yourself.

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Most video conferencing services have either a local test or a remote test, where you can make a test call and then they call you back and play the audio and video back, so you can check your own settings.

I’d start there and see if the audio is acceptable. It also depends on how often you make such calls. For one-to-one, we use Jabra Pro DECT headsets - more reliable than Bluetooth - which plug into the desktop telephone and the PC.

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I have a HyperX Cloud headset that is quite comfortable and comes with a detachable mic that has worked well for me on Mumble. It seems sturdy and the headband is well built out of metal, but I think it is probably too big of a headset for portability. The headset is also not very discreet for being on camera :wink:

If you trust the Wirecutter, maybe this will help:

Although I read a review somewhere about a Sennheiser MB 660 UC MS that sounded promising.

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The UC40 Mono seems to be the corded variant of what we used to use at a previous company. We had the DECT version of that, which provided flexibility and the cable doesn’t get in the way.

At my current company, we use:

They are very comfortable, you can use the in/over ear hook or the metal band that goes over the head - I find the latter is more comfortable.

But they are a professional solution, with a professional price. But I have still to find a better headset for real, business telephone and video conference use. The nice thing is, they have adapters for most VOIP and System telephones to allow them to be used to receive and end calls.

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thanks for the input … i will do some research on all recommendations :slight_smile:

I video conference for work daily on various machines, as such I mainly stick to a wired USB headset. Specifically I use the Plantronics Blackwire 3220.

I have access to the wireless Savi 8200 UC headsets in the office however even they are prone to issues due to their wireless connectivity, so I only use them if I need to.

There have been other great options listed in this thread but the one thing I would recommend is to get a headset with an easy, physical mute button with a visible mute indicator. I rely on my mute button during longer calls :slight_smile:

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I work for a company that does VOIP and conference calls, so I’m making calls on my soft phone and conference platform(s) all day. I personally recommend Plantronics devices. I’m currently using a Plantronics Blackwire 5220 - it comes in both USB-A/C options, and one or both ear configurations. I prefer the 2 ear option, myself.
There are also several wireless/bluetooth options out there, but I personally prefer the reliability of a wired connection. This particular model comes with a nice carrying case, and I travel with it to a remote office at least once a week.

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Exactly this one I ordered today, because of all connection types :slightly_smiling_face:
I ordered the usb c one with and a usb a to usb c adapter so I can use it with my dell pro book and also with my MacBook

Thanks a lot for all recommendations.

I will keep you informed how

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Since you were worried about mic quality, I would be worried about what the Wirecutter review said:

maybe the 5220 is better than the tested 5200?
we will see

My own Plantronics headset is out of production (it’s old enough that I’ve probably had ten years’ use out of it), which is why I didn’t cite its model number. It has the noise-cancelling version of the boom mic, which I recall was supposed to give much better sound quality. If the same distinction exists in the current range, I would always go for the noise-cancelling version.

i had the Plantronics Blackwire 5220 for some days now and i am really happy with it.
I made some test calls with Skype, Xphone, Cisco webex and some phone calls with my colleagues. The comfort of the headset is amazing and the sound quality is really good. Thanks for all the help and suggestions :slight_smile:

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Great to hear that you like what others hear :wink: