Gaming PC Mic/Audio Help

[Linkzz]

Hey everyone, I’m needing some PC audio help/advice. In my current office situation, my wife and I both have our gaming rigs and desks side by side, around 5 feet apart on the same wall. The room is large (about 20ftx10ft) but we choose to be side by side to save space for VR room. I have a voice that carries and when we game together you can always hear me twice in discord (once coming from my mic and again hearing me through hers). I know push to talk is an option but I’d rather invest in some better hardware to fix this issue.

I have tried a few software based fixes

    1. Messing with the voice activation levels in discord

    2. NVIDIA Broadcast App to help with noise gating

Neither fixed the issue.

We both are using the Logitech G935 headset and the only pro is the wireless. I’m also not a huge fan of it since it has its own issues (randomly disconnecting, etc). But I would be fine with a nice pair of headphones and a boom mic. I’ve heard about DACs, cloudgates, and uni-directional mics, but I know nothing about audio so please keep that in mind when answering since I’m a total noob in that regard.

Budget wise I’d say I could spend around $1000 on hardware. ($500 for each PC)

So what hardware/software do I need for us to be able to have nice audio and good mic quality, and most importantly not hearing my echo when we do voice comms with friends? Thanks!

[ShearMe]

Could you get away with both your microphones playing through one discord account? That would be the easiest way - an audio interface with two microphones connected to a single PC.

 

Getting good mics configured to the perfect gain can only take you so far. How loud you get and the distance involved is going to be your biggest physical limitation. In commercial video conferencing setups we use DSPs with AEC processing which gets expensive fast.

[Linkzz]

8 hours ago, ShearMe said:

Could you get away with both your microphones playing through one discord account? That would be the easiest way - an audio interface with two microphones connected to a single PC.

 

Getting good mics configured to the perfect gain can only take you so far. How loud you get and the distance involved is going to be your biggest physical limitation. In commercial video conferencing setups we use DSPs with AEC processing which gets expensive fast.

We did think about this, but let's say we have the mic set up on my machine and my wife wants to play games with friends, now she would have to login to discord on my machine and then play on hers or move the mic connection to her computer, it just seems more complicated.

[ShearMe]

12 hours ago, Linkzz said:

 it just seems more complicated.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Selector-Bi-Directional-MLEEDA-Computers-Controller/dp/B09KWNY4WB/

 

The only complicated part is figuring out how long a cable you need for the further PC. 

[Linkzz]

Well if this is the direction I wanna go, what is the best hardware for this? Please list anything I'd need, ie (Mic, boom arm, cables, DAC, etc)

[ShearMe]

1 hour ago, Linkzz said:

Well if this is the direction I wanna go, what is the best hardware for this? Please list anything I'd need, ie (Mic, boom arm, cables, DAC, etc)

Quick and easy option is the Samson Podcast Pack which contains most of what you need for each system. Add an audio interface to combine the two mic signals, and one long cable for PC 2 and yer done. $400 total setup

 

This is was I was typing up before I found the pack. Gives you a few more options if you wanna get nitpicky:

Spoiler

Headphone Options - open back recommended so you can hear each other in the room

• HD 58X - $190 - best bang for the buck nowadays, imo
• SHP 9500 - $75 - great entry level set 

Microphones

• ATR2100X-USB - $100 - has USB and XLR, so no need for that switch idea I had above. PC 2 must have one of these
• M8000 - $30 - If you wanna save some cash, pick up a non-usb+xlr mic for PC 1
• <insert generic boom arm option here>

Audio Interface Options - only need one

• Scarlet 2i2 - $170 - premium option for dat build quality
• UM2 - $45 - budget option. unremarkable but reliable

The audio Interface will serve as a DAC for PC 1 and the microphone has a headphone port for PC 2.

If you need help with setup, I can either draw a picture or join yall on a weekend call after the parts come in.