Spec me a desk microphone

bazzabear · 29 Sep 2020 at 18:16

I only use a microphone for Discord while gaming. At the moment I use a cheapo desk mike. But it's a bit flimsy, tries to fall over, doesn't give good sound quality and is prone to getting interference if a phone goes anywhere near it.

Having proved the concept of having a desk mike to allow me to multiplayer game without always having to have a headset on, I'd like to invest in ~~waste some money on~~ something better.

I had intended to go 3.5mm so could still use it through my GSX1000. But finding a decent 3.5mm jack mike with a mute control is impossible, so I'm accepting going with USB.

Price point is around £100 maximum. If I can convince myself to spend so much.

I was initially looking at the Samson Meteor at about £70. But concerned whether that Chrome finish looks a bit plastic.

The two more expensive possibilities (both around £100) are the Blue Yeti for understated good looks, or the HyperX Quadcast for very much not understated good looks, along with both being well reviewed for their quality.

Does any one have any of these or alternatives, and can offer suggestions? I'm planning to wait for the 13th to buy anything, in case there are any sales for Prime Day or elsewhere.

Gray2233 · 29 Sep 2020 at 18:19

You could get a Blue Yeti Snowball for around £60 which is an excellent option at the price point.

There's some Chinese 'kits' which are worth looking at, but they can be hit and miss and would require a little research. The kits tend to give you the mic + mic arm, pop filters and some other stuff.

You might be able to get a Samson G-Track Pro second hand or open box for close to £100, in which case I'd say it's by far your best option for around that price range.

I personally found the Hyper X Quadcast to look a bit cheap in person, the build quality just wasn't there compared to similarly priced microphones from the likes of Blue Yeti and Samson imo.

bazzabear · 29 Sep 2020 at 18:22

Sorry, should have said I need a mute button, which I think the Snowball doesn't have. I think it's the Yeti Nano I was looking at as apossibility.

Also want it to be relatively small form factor - don't want a great cantilevered arm sticking over my desk.

bazzabear · 29 Sep 2020 at 18:23

Interesting thought on the HyperX though, thanks - I've only seen it in pictures!

Gray2233 · 29 Sep 2020 at 18:27

bazzabear said:
Interesting thought on the HyperX though, thanks - I've only seen it in pictures!

A friend of mine uses one, the sound quality is pretty good but I personally found it a little cheap. It could be that his had some duff quality control and he seemed to think it looked great in fairness.

Definitely measure these mics up though, I know some like the Meteor and Snowball look small in images, but they tend to be much larger than most people expect.

As for the mute, you could easily set up a mute function/macro via software if it's important.

I almost forgot, but the Trust Gaming TXT 252 could be worth checking out, it looks the part and has very good sound quality from my albeit brief experience with it. That said, my time with it was a good 3-4 years ago and I'm unsure if the manufacturing quality is the same now as it was then.

southernorth · 29 Sep 2020 at 19:59

Samson Q2U is reviewed very well. Only £59.99 too. USB powered, rejects background noise very well, good sound quality.

niko · 30 Sep 2020 at 14:57

bazzabear said:
Sorry, should have said I need a mute button, which I think the Snowball doesn't have. I think it's the Yeti Nano I was looking at as apossibility.

Also want it to be relatively small form factor - don't want a great cantilevered arm sticking over my desk.

the nano works well just sat in front of my keyboard on the provided stand, mind you i have returned mine but the mic worked very well for both speech and speech to text. I got feedback+echo using Microsoft your-phone but i get that with other mics as well.
its a lovely bit of kit that looks great as well.

JasonM · 30 Sep 2020 at 21:30

I have 2 Blue Yeti's, old microphones but still perform very well, listen to following video on the Yeti.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFHwp7e7lH4&t=614s

bazzabear · 8 Jan 2021 at 16:15

I should report back on this. I finally hit buy over Christmas, and went with the Quadcast in the end.

Very pleased with it. People at the other end of my connection are reporting great clarity, it works very easily, and looks good. It's a bit bigger than I expected, but not a problem.

The mute button, which I was worried about because so many 'touch' buttons are flaky, works perfectly. And it being very obviously lit up when on is handy.