Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

tips.ariyh.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 510 posts

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#11

Post by ruph123 »

A cheap and usable condenser mic costs 30 bucks (e.g. Fifine), a lavalier mic costs between 2 bucks on aliexpress and 50 for e.g. from Rode. (I found that the ultra cheap aliexpress are the exact same like the no-brand 10 bucks on amazon, like so many things)

I got both but mostly use the condenser mic and it is an absolute game changer. If you want to explain something it is so noticeable in the eyes of your conference participants how good they can hear you. And it makes a huge difference if you finally feel like what you are saying is not painful for others to endure.

Check out this very lovely video series on how to pimp up your conferencing setup. Especially this episode about mics:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKOx4hZKmOs

Edit: And this is the mic I can recommend using on Linux:

https://www.amazon.com/Microphone-FIFINE-Computers-Podcastin...

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#13

Post by benkuhn »

It's also really easy to have high quality audio! The author recommends a "podcasting" microphone, but a $35 standalone headset mic[1] is almost as good and much easier to use. If you want to hear a comparison, I got kind of obsessed with this problem at one point and took some comparison recordings here[2].

(You need a standalone mic since most headsets, even really nice ones, have really bad mics because most headset buyers don't care about or even know how good their mic sounds. The one I linked is wired because wireless is evil[3] and in particular, Bluetooth will silently degrade your audio quality. If you want a pair of wired headphones, I like these[4] which are "open back" and therefore sound more natural + cool your ears better, although the open back also means they "leak" sound and are only suitable for working without people next to you. But you shouldn't be having calls with people next to you anyway!)

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/V-MODA-BoomPro-Microphone-Gaming-Comm...

[2]: https://www.benkuhn.net/vc/#get-a-better-microphone

[3]: https://www.benkuhn.net/wireless/

[4]: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-SHP9500S-Precision-Over-ear-H...

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#14

Post by dsr_ »

greenwich26 wrote: post #4

The audio quality of the inbuilt microphone on my laptop is much worse in Linux, than on Windows. I've tried some fixes on StackExchange but it doesn't really help. Has anyone encountered this? And if I buy an external microphone: how do I know it won't have the same problem? Has anyone had good experiences with microphones on Linux (specifically Ubuntu 20.10?) Is it some sort of driver/firmware problem? Nowadays I h…

Virtually all microphones are USB, and USB Audio is very, very standard. This is likely to be a mixer settings issue.

I've been using a Blue Yeti with Debian for several years now and have no problems at all with that. (It is annoying how often video conferencing problems are solved by reloading a web page or restarting the browser, though.)

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#15

Post by GuB-42 »

It doesn't surprise me the least. The media industry is extremely careful about that. And when sometimes, successful streamers/youtubers/... talk about their setup, it is clear that audio is given a lot of attention.

But I'm sure the simplest thing you can do before getting better equipment, soundproofing, acoustics and hiring a sound engineer is simply to get louder. Just up the volume, and if you are feeling fancy, use a compressor. It is well known that louder sounds higher quality, and for ABX tests, great care is taken so that the levels are equal since the bias appears even when the difference is minor. Extreme compression is also the secret behind the booming voice of radio presenter, and that effect also started what is known as the loudness war.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#16

Post by ghaff »

diarrhea wrote: post #2

People vastly undervalue good audio quality. It also often makes the difference (given equal visuals) between great amateur and pro in e.g. the YouTube scene. I didn't have data to back this up before, but I bought a good microphone specifically for this purpose. People will simply like the audio, and by extension what I am saying and also me as a person, better. Meanwhile, my ears will continue to bleed from the awf…

I think a lot of people get wrapped around the axle of having the "right" $500 microphone whereas there are a ton of decent USB mics under $100 that will make a big difference.

Also consider a good external webcam and doing something about lighting if you can. I realize that not everyone has a great physical environment to work with. But I'm struck by how many people who seemingly haven't made any real effort after a year+.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#17

Post by enragedcacti »

diarrhea wrote: post #2

People vastly undervalue good audio quality. It also often makes the difference (given equal visuals) between great amateur and pro in e.g. the YouTube scene. I didn't have data to back this up before, but I bought a good microphone specifically for this purpose. People will simply like the audio, and by extension what I am saying and also me as a person, better. Meanwhile, my ears will continue to bleed from the awf…

In my discord calls we have effectively resorted to shaming people into accepting a gifted clip-on amazon mic if they have an awful microphone. $10 every couple of months and no ear bleeding.

That said, I really think some people are just immune to it. My mom for instance prefers to use the standard definition channels because the channel numbers are easier to remember and type. She says she can't tell the difference between that and full HD so :shrug:

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#18

Post by hmfrh »

greenwich26 wrote: post #4

The audio quality of the inbuilt microphone on my laptop is much worse in Linux, than on Windows. I've tried some fixes on StackExchange but it doesn't really help. Has anyone encountered this? And if I buy an external microphone: how do I know it won't have the same problem? Has anyone had good experiences with microphones on Linux (specifically Ubuntu 20.10?) Is it some sort of driver/firmware problem? Nowadays I h…

I've had issues on PopOs 20.04 and 20.10 with microphones connected through the audio jack. Connecting through a cheap jack-to-USB converter eliminated the background noise. There were proposed fixes although none of them worked. Jack-to-USB converters are apparently not recommended[1] due to wildly varying quality though.

On PopOs 20.10 I'm currently getting good audio from a ModMic USB. This[2] review is what made me buy the ModMic USB, although I know next to nothing about audio and audio quality.

The Audio Technica ATGM2[3] was also considered, but the mounting options for the ModMic USB as well as lower cost in my area won me over.

For me a headset mounted mic was a requirement due to space considerations and slightly lower cost, although next time I'm probably buying a very high quality free standing microphone.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1v1jtHz4C0 [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qquo2GpSQo4 [3]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIeJMdv5jxs

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#19

Post by hutzlibu »

ryankrage77 wrote: post #6
greenwich26 wrote: post #4

The audio quality of the inbuilt microphone on my laptop is much worse in Linux, than on Windows. I've tried some fixes on StackExchange but it doesn't really help. Has anyone encountered this? And if I buy an external microphone: how do I know it won't have the same problem? Has anyone had good experiences with microphones on Linux (specifically Ubuntu 20.10?) Is it some sort of driver/firmware problem? Nowadays I h…

Likely just a driver issue. I actually had the opposite situation with Ubuntu 20.04 on my desktop, got a lot less noise from my mic port under Ubuntu for some reason.

"just a driver issue"

Oh. Just a driver issue on Linux. Well then, problem solved.

Re: Higher quality audio makes people sound smarter

#20

Post by ruph123 »

jarenmf wrote: post #10

I'm struggling with audio quality over zoom on Linux. Anyone could recommend a good microphone that sounds reasonably fine. Preferable something below 100$.

I bought the fifine condenser microphone and it is really nice. I use it on Linux and it only costs about 30 bucks, depending on which version. I got the slightly more expensive version for 40 dollars which has a detachable cable and a backchannel for headphones (so you hear directly what comes from the mic). The benefit: Linux uses the mic as a audio interface and also gives you sound through the port of the mic:

https://www.amazon.com/Microphone-FIFINE-Computers-Podcastin...

Post reply on HN