Nach 4 Jahren und diversen Malen vom Tisch Runtergefallen ist das Schutzgitter nun abgegangen, aber das Mikro geht immer noch.

I own my own consulting business that’s run out of my home. Many of my clients are based outside of the US and, as such, I use Skype and GoToMeeting quite a bit. Most, if not all, of everyone I talk to uses a headset, which I hate to use. I don’t like feeling of wearing one, plus I can’t stand going through the process of switching inputs every time I wanted to use it. I wanted something that could sit on my desk and would be there when I needed it.

My first shot was a boom-style microphone (think a fast food restaurant) that had a heavy base and could be turned and bent to get close to my mouth. While my voice was clear, people had a hard time hearing me if it wasn’t very close to my mouth. Plus, because it was big and had a long arm, it would get in the way when it wasn’t in use.

I then starting using my old Plantronics Bluetooth headset which worked ok and was smaller and lighter than a boom-style headset, but didn’t solve the issue of switching inputs every time I wanted to use it. Plus, because I have a beard, if it wasn’t positioned correctly, people on the other end would sometimes hear a scratching sound.

Then I found this mic. I was a little concerned because one of the biggest issues we have during our calls is echoing, especially when people use the built in mic and speakers on their laptops. Having this mic sitting on my desk about 18 inches in front of my computer’s speakers I could almost guarantee that it would be a problem. However, I was absolutely shocked when I did my first call and the people on the other end were not only impressed with how clear my voice sounded, but with the fact that there was no echo whatsoever. I’ve since done dozens of calls with no problems at all.

Because my voice was so clear when doing Skype and GoToMeeting calls, I decided to try it out with my Dragon NaturallySpeaking application that I had long since stopped using because I hated wearing a headset and it was a pain in the butt to change the inputs when I wanted to use it. To my disbelief, Dragon now works perfectly and I’m actually using it to write this review! Now this microphone just sits on my desk waiting for me to tell it to wake up and I can just start dictating to my computer any time I want. It’s really starting to change the way I work, for the better.

If you have a need to do online calls and, like me, don’t want to wear a headset, I wholeheartedly recommend this microphone. Even if you don’t do online calls, but want to use the dictation feature of your computer or of an application like Dragon, I recommend it very much as well.

I started with the Yeti Nano, naturally enough. It’s nice, sounds about as good as its bigger brother, and is much smaller (most mics are! The original Yeti is a beast). But the Nano still an obtrusive upright mic that I had to move into position each time and couldn’t not see. It also had design faults that its high price should have avoided. Every time I picked it up, I hit the mode pattern button on the back. And the cable needs to go through a tiny, open channel in the bottom or the mic stand sits on it. Every time you pick it up, you have to arrange the cable just so back into it.

So I wanted to try some puck-like boundary mics. There are hundreds of models of these now and at first I avoided the MXL due to a lack of a mute button and the fact that many with a button are far cheaper. Now I know why: sound quality. I find the sound quality of this to be equal to the Yeti Nano. Maybe not as detailed, but better in body and ‘weight’. For speech alone, at least to me, I think this is actually superior. (For music, the Yeti is probably better). Plus, the MXL’s boundary design avoids echoes off nearby walls that the Nano cannot help but pick up. And, this lies close to the desktop, out of my sightline, and doesn’t block my view of the screen. It’s very well-made and heavy – entirely metal. And I think it looks pretty cool – though don’t underestimate the size. It’s almost as big as my MX mouse.

I tried two other cheap Chinese brand conference mics and almost gave up on the format before trying this. They worked fine, don’t get me wrong. Much better than the Logitech webcam’s built-in mic. But the drop in sound quality (detail, tone, atmosphere) from the Yeti was substantial. (Of the two, I actually preferred the cheaper Ele-Giant to the nicer-looking Tonor).

Anyway, like the title says, THIS is what I was looking for all along. My thanks to Amazon for their liberal return policy on the rest!