Sennheiser earbuds with inline microphone
Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
41–50 of 54 posts
Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#42I'm not currently remote, but I do have a 6+ hour remote D&D game about twice a month. I have this cheap bluetooth headset [1], and have honestly found it to be just fine. I use it with Skype on my laptop. The battery lasts a good long time, it sounds perfectly fine, and it's not noise-isolating, so I don't get that weird voice echo in my own head like I do with my earbud headset. Plus it can pair with 2 devices at once, and sounds surprisingly decent when I'm listening to music.
[1] https://smile.amazon.com/MEE-audio-Bluetooth-Headphones-Micr...
Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#43Full disclosure: I'm not a full-time remote worker, but my team has VoIP conference calls if someone's working from home on a particular day (so whenever someone's sick, or if the weather's too bad for someone to make a distant commute). I've been on both sides of these calls.
My personal preference is a combination of the Blue Yeti[0] and a pair of Sony MDR-7506[1] phones. This is a really comfortable setup since I can have the Yeti a bit off to the side (not blocking my monitor) while still picking up good quality sound, and I can also step away from my desk (e.g. to look for some files) without worrying that the headphone cable's going to be too short.
I've also got the headphones plugged directly into the mic's 3.5mm jack, which means I can control output volume from the microphone (which I find more comfortable than a keyboard).
[0] http://www.bluemic.com/products/yeti/
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_MDR-V6Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#44Decent quality earbuds for hearing, and the built-in stereo mic on my Logitech webcam (I'm usually docked when conferencing). Never heard any complaints about clarity of my voice.
* Used this for 4 years a a remote developer with multiple meetings per day. The conferencing software is where everything usually falls apart.
Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#45I use a Samson C01U condenser mic for calls. Not cheap but it also gets used for professional voice recording, and it's also not that expensive.
I tend to use speakers and rely on echo cancellation. It appears to work pretty well as I rarely get complaints. My current speakers are Harmon/Kardon ones, but I got them as a gift.
Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#46When having more than one person in the room, I'm using the Samson Go Mic¹. When I'm alone, for calls and everything else really: listening to music or just cancelling the noise (AC, on flights etc.), I'm using BOSE QC35². Both products I would highly recommend. But the headphones in particular are probably the best investment I've made to boost my productivity. 1. http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/microphone…
Wow, +1 on the Bose. I completely forgot there was an inline microphone on the Bose QC25 cable. I just tested it with my MacBook Pro, it detects it as an External Microphone, and the quality is good enough for work calls. This is going to reduce my luggage while travelling!
Prior to that I've been using a pair of Logitech USB 250s, which have a surprisingly clear microphone (better than the Bose), but aren't very comfortable for extended use.
Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#47Sennheiser Momentum Wireless 2 - the first near-audiophile quality Bluetooth headphones I've ever heard, and they also have decent mic quality.
Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#48When having more than one person in the room, I'm using the Samson Go Mic¹. When I'm alone, for calls and everything else really: listening to music or just cancelling the noise (AC, on flights etc.), I'm using BOSE QC35². Both products I would highly recommend. But the headphones in particular are probably the best investment I've made to boost my productivity. 1. http://www.samsontech.com/samson/products/microphone…
I had a great experience with another Samson Mic until it broke. By chance we found that an old Microsoft webcam (looks like NX-3000) with mic was great to handle multiple people in the room.
Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#49For intensive use I'd recommend against use of headsets.
We've found the Jabra Speak 410 (USB) and Jabra 510 (Bluetooth) speakerphones to be much more comfortable and microphone and noise cancelling are excellent.
IMO speakerphones are much more natural to use than headsets for a daily use.
Jabra 410: http://www.jabra.com/business/speakerphones/jabra-speak-seri...
Jabra 510: http://www.jabra.com/business/speakerphones/jabra-speak-seri...
Re: Ask HN: Remote workers, what headphone/mic combo do you use for video calls?
#50Apple headphones that comes with iPhone, the sound quality is really good and portable to carry.
Wanted to say the same.
Mic in earpods combined with Skype's background noise cancellation makes it so that you can be heard clearly by your peers even if you're in a noisy restaurant.
It's already in my reflexes to just shove earpods into a small pocket in my jeans/shorts whenever I put them on or stand up from my desk so that they're always with me.
As an added plus, they work like a charm with every windows/androind laptop or phone out there.