Logitech USB Desktop Microphone (Black/Silver)
by Logitech
|
List Price: Our Price: $17.08 You Save: $12.91 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $6.48 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Logitech USB Desktop Microphone (Black/Silver)
Customer Review: Logitech USB Microphone
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this microphone for my Apple Laptop because I got tired of using the built in mic, having to stick my face right next to the tiny little hole next to the screen. I do a lot of spoken recording using the Garageband program and thought the mic would be perfect for this. It worked beautifully right out of the box--at least after I figured out the strangeness of the Garageband program. It is strange, as if you have the Garageband program open, and, in Preferences you select the mic (by the way, the computer had no problem recognizing the mic and loading the drivers) at that point there is no mic working--neither the built in mic or the Logictech. What you have to do is select the mic, then close the program, then open it up again. I don't know if it is a quirk with Apple's operating system or the mic or what. When you unhook the mic while the program is going, Garageband will ask you if you want to use the built-in mic or close the program. Choose close the program because if you don't you will have to go through the whole opening, selecting the mic, closing then opening the program hassle.
As far as the quality of the mic I am very happy. It is much better than the built-in mic, and I have actually done some multitrack recording with it. I have finally gone over the Garageband learning curve and now know how the program works (more or less). I wouldn't go so far as to saying the mic is at the level of a recording studio mic, but it ain't bad--especially for $30.00, which is basically peanuts.
Customer Review: You will not be disappointed
Summary: 5 Stars
The big concern with USB microphones is whether they get the gain right. Since USB is a digital signal, the audio digitizer has to be built into the microphone itself. If the gain is too high, and you get digital distortion, which is horrible. If it is too low, you get lots of noise.
The designers of this mic picked just the right amount of input gain.
This mic is perfect for voice. No, you won't get the nice, bassy proximity effect that you might get from many microphones, but you will get perfect clarity, excellent sensitivity (it easily picks up ambient sound when nobody is talking), and extremely low self-noise.
This mic works perfectly with Skype, with your mouth about 12 to 18 inches from the mic (though using earphones is recommended, since this mic WILL pick up sound coming through your speakers.)
Again, a very quiet (un-noisy), very clear mic, and since it is USB, the sound quality is totally independent of your computer's sound card (most of which are not very good). These qualities also make this mic ideal for voice recognition applications.
The only drawback is that you don't get a lot of bass sound. So don't expect to sound like an FM DJ through this mic. But you will be heard loud and clear.
Also good to know is that this mic is NOT meant for hand-held use. Handling noise will be very audible.
The built-in MUTE button is a nice feature.
Customer Review: Excellent for use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this microphone for use with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Before purchasing it, I used the headset included with the software. If you're unfamiliar with Dragon NaturallySpeaking, it is a fantastic product. However it is rather inflexible when it comes to the audio quality of your dictation. When using the included headset, I often found errors in Dragon's transcriptions of what it thought I said. Switching to this microphone however, eliminated almost all of those errors. Whether it is the noise canceling feature, the sensitivity of the microphone itself or both, the end result is nothing short of exceptional. I can't speak to using this microphone for recording musical performances or other types of sound capture, but when it comes to Dragon NaturallySpeaking, I recommend it without hesitation.
In the pictures on line it looks a little flimsy, and getting it out of the box, I confess it's not quite as solid as a Cadillac, but taking into account the fact that you're not spending Cadillac prices its fine quality for what you're spending. When I handle it, it is neither flimsy nor cheap and I have put it in my laptop bag on multiple occasions without any adverse results. If this were a microphone of lower quality, I'm certain that it would have been damaged long before now.
The bottom line is I am more than satisfied with this product both in quality of build and quality of performance for the affordable price I paid.
Customer Review: Excellent for online games
Summary: 5 Stars
I started playing DDO with an RL friend recently, and he wanted to use the integrated voice comm in the game. I've got a 5.1 surround setup in my bedroom and play wirelessly on my HDTV, and I didn't want to mess around with using a headset for sound. So I took the mic portion of the headset and was using that, but apparently my audio was kind of atrocious, and they'd hear a lot of the game sounds and even ambient music in the game.
So I purchased this for that situation, because it purports to have noise canceling. My friend immediately noticed the difference and even asked if I'd turned off the music, but the audio quality on this mic really struck home when another party member was trying to adjust his microphone and I asked him to contrast my friend and myself. He said my friend sounded good if a little loud, and I "sounded like I was in the room with him". That was a pretty huge compliment on my audio quality, and it the allocates rest solely with this microphone.
I was concerned that the mic wouldn't be able to cut it in the realm of online gaming with sound coming out of speakers rather than headphone, but experience tells me that it'll work just fine. And if it works in that kind of environment, then it'll work for the 80% of you who just want to Skype.
Customer Review: Decent quality sound for the money
Summary: 4 Stars
I've had this microphone for a number of years, and having just used it for another project, realized I was delinquent in writing a review. I've used everything from free microphones and integral laptop mic's to professional studio mic's while doing various recordings for podcasts and voice overs. Now, to be clear, the sound produced by this little Logitech is far from pro quality...howEVER, for what you pay, you'll be amazed how well it works for simple things like podcasts, narration for PowerPoint presentations, etc.
For the recent project I just finished, I only had access to this Logitech microphone, so I put it inside a Porta-Booth from Harlan Hogan (http://www.amazon.com/Harlan-Hogan-Signature-Series-Porta-Booth/dp/B00151YP18/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1299785825&sr=8-4), and after editing and post processing, realized the quality was not that bad.
I have used it in Mac OS 10.3, 10.4, 10.5 and currently with 10.6 and it has been totally plug and play. Used it with PowerPoint, iMovie and Garageband without any issues.
I don't imagine this mic would be very good for music, or even any remotely serious voice work, because you get what you pay for, but in this case, what you get is pretty good for not paying very much.