Why are headset mics so bad?

[docskalski]

I recently got a $50 live presentation mic which sounds way better than the mics on my high-end headsets ($200+). What's up with that? Even my basic lavalier mic, which is smaller than my headset mics, sounds better. 

[docskalski]

I made a short video comparing: 

 

[da na]

Welcome to the forums!

Same as why bigger speakers generally are better. Mics pick up by vibrating a flexible piece of material and transmitting that sound as electromagnetic impulses. The smaller that material is, the less it vibrates, the less it vibrates the worse it sounds. That's down to size and material of the actual microphone. In a headset the mic is very cheap, since it's just an addon. In a dedicated mic, you're buying the mic because you want a good mic so they're made good on purpose.

[Bismut]

I think it was something about compression, and also how most gamers just need the mic to be good enough for voice chat? It's also cheaper, that's probably the biggest reason since, again, people don't care too much with headsets.

[Vishera]

4 minutes ago, docskalski said:

high-end headsets

What headsets?

[docskalski]

3 minutes ago, Mel0n. said:

Welcome to the forums!

Same as why bigger speakers generally are better. Mics pick up by vibrating a flexible piece of material and transmitting that sound as electromagnetic impulses. The smaller that material is, the less it vibrates, the less it vibrates the worse it sounds. That's down to size and material of the actual microphone. In a headset the mic is very cheap, since it's just an addon. In a dedicated mic, you're buying the mic because you want a good mic so they're made good on purpose.

See the video I posted. I compare it to an even smaller mic that sounds much better. It was just under $50, So for a $250 headset, I'd expect to have a similar quality mic. 

[docskalski]

4 minutes ago, Bismut said:

I think it was something about compression, and also how most gamers just need the mic to be good enough for voice chat? It's also cheaper, that's probably the biggest reason since, again, people don't care too much with headsets.

For higher end headsets I'd say the mic quality is the #1 or #2 thing people care about, and at their price points should compete with $30-50 dedicated microphones of the same size and application. 

[docskalski]

41 minutes ago, Vishera said:

What headsets?

All of them that I've heard and tried. In the video I posted above I compare to my Razer man'o'war. 

[Bismut]

47 minutes ago, docskalski said:

For higher end headsets I'd say the mic quality is the #1 or #2 thing people care about, and at their price points should compete with $30-50 dedicated microphones of the same size and application. 

Really? I feel like it's more so the audio quality of the headphone part, at least it is for me (I am a cheapskate though, so price is even more important). Most people that really care tend to go for seperate mics in my experience, sometimes even for VC.

I feel like you can't be all that wrong though, given that the ModMic exists.

[Spuriae]

Rtings measures headset microphone frequency responses and has voice samples of each. https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/table/88100. The MH751 microphone is particularly good.

 

The characteristically congested sound of headsets largely comes down to the aggressive low pass effect most of them use. It can be good for intelligibility, especially in settings with high background noise, but isn't subjectively pleasing.

[docskalski]

7 minutes ago, Nimrodor said:

Rtings measures headset microphone frequency responses and has voice samples of each. https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/table/88100. The MH751 microphone is particularly good.

 

The characteristically congested sound of headsets largely comes down to the aggressive low pass effect most of them use. It can be good for intelligibility, especially in settings with high background noise, but isn't subjectively pleasing.

This is the answer I was looking for, thank you!!