Microphone advice

[159th_Viper]

Largely related to, and as a direct consequence of the sudden demise of my TrackIr and an unfortunate 'accident' involving my Headset and a pair of Scissors......don't ask.........I have decided to trade my reliance on a headset for sound to a 5.1 Surround Speaker setup. Should give the new Sound Engine the justice it deserves :thumbup:

 

That said - a consequence of the departure from Headset to Speakers is the attendant loss of Microphone - an obvious neccessity for TS and the like. A free-standing mic is less than desirable for reasons obvious.

 

Are there any members at present in the same circumstance that can offer advice as to a suitable, cheap Microphone sans Headphones, preferably Bluetooth/Wireless? Been searching, but cannot seem to find any suitable candidates at present.

 

Advice appreciated :)

[Vault]

You're not having alot of luck lately are you Viper...

[159th_Viper]

You're not having alot of luck lately are you Viper...

 

Aye - Tell me about it.......At least all my Limbs are accounted for, which is more than I can say for my Sanity :D

[Icarus2]

Largely related to, and as a direct consequence of the sudden demise of my TrackIr and an unfortunate 'accident' involving my Headset and a pair of Scissors......don't ask.........I have decided to trade my reliance on a headset for sound to a 5.1 Surround Speaker setup. Should give the new Sound Engine the justice it deserves :thumbup:

Advice appreciated :)

 

I have both 5.1 surround speakers and 5.1 surround headset. I never use the speakers except when I have a friend over to show them my rig. My advice, get a surround headset. Many say they don't/can't work, but they do. At least mine does. Turtle Beach Earforce HPA2.

 

Nothing is better than a speaker subwoofer, but the 5.1 headset is not that bad. Besides, there is a realism/immersion factor to a headset for sims.

 

My 2 cents.

[Pyroflash]

Well, if you have a sound card in addition to an onboard audio chipset, one option is to buy a full headset, plug your 5.1 system into your sound card, and plug your headset into your motherboard audio.

 

Since your motherboard audio runs on a separate channel from your accelerated audio, you can run the two in parallel.

[Icarus2]

Well, if you have a sound card in addition to an onboard audio chipset, one option is to buy a full headset, plug your 5.1 system into your sound card, and plug your headset into your motherboard audio.

 

Since your motherboard audio runs on a separate channel from your accelerated audio, you can run the two in parallel.

 

Or just use in-line splitters and run both off the soundcard, which is what I do.

[159th_Viper]

Ta for the replies.

 

Having an additional headset will negate the effect of having the Surround Sound Speaker setup in the first instance, ie will have to crank the volume etc to overcome the dampening effect of the earpieces, hence the query looking for an earpiece microphone.

[coder1024]

using a stand-alone mic with voice comms and speakers is usually a bad idea from my experience. it results in the game sound being transmitted to everyone along with your voice.

[CyBerkut]

I have a headband mounted boom mic (no earphones/speakers) that came included with an old tank sim (Armored Fist, IIRC). It sat unused for a long time, but I eventually decided to try it in combination with using PC speakers, instead of a typical headset.

 

The headband wasn't particularly comfortable, and I eventually tried just putting the headband down around my neck, with the mic positioned upward in front of my mouth. It actually worked quite well.

 

The reason I'm conveying this, is to simply illustrate that you could do something similar with a conventional lightweight boom mic headset that has earphones. Just put the earphones down around your neck (don't even plug the earphones in if you don't want feint noise coming out of them) and just angle the mic up in front of your mouth.

 

If it's a decent directional / noise cancelling mic, it should do a decent job of not picking up the speakers.

 

I mention this alternative, since a quick look on Google didn't turn up a mic-only PC headset. A more in-depth search might.

 

Good luck!

[joey45]

What I do is have a headset [free gift from a PC mag years ago] and only plug in the mic.. have the headset round my neck and move the mic closer...

Edited April 9, 2010 by joey45

[CyBerkut]

The mic-only headset I mentioned earlier, is a Labtec LVA-7330. Apparently, they can still be found for sale:

 

http://www.google.com/products?q=Labtec+LVA-7330&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=MOi_S7TfJYT68Aaf-PTzCA&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQrQQwAA

[159th_Viper]

The mic-only headset I mentioned earlier, is a Labtec LVA-7330. Apparently, they can still be found for sale:

 

http://www.google.com/products?q=Labtec+LVA-7330&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=MOi_S7TfJYT68Aaf-PTzCA&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBoQrQQwAA

 

Perfect, M8 - Exactly what I'm after :thumbup:

 

Seller in Germany to boot - Jolly Good! Order away :)

[CyBerkut]

Glad to help. It's a pretty obscure item, but you'd think there would be a bit more demand for that, with as many people gaming with speakers as there are.

 

Enjoy!