You are weak to my dork side enabling powers
Don't get too wrapped up in your "abilities".... (I've had a foot in that shadow since I was 8 )
*Waves hand dismissivlely* "These are not the BM-800 studio unidirectional electret condenser microphone with pop filter and suspension boom scissor arm kits you are looking for..." Windoze10 finally has USB headset integration down pat; once installed for the first time, it switches over to the USB headset (and mic) every time quickly & reliably just as if you'd plugged in a regular analog headset. It even keeps track of volume, EQ, spatializing & gain settings for each headset independent of speakers, the table mic, and other headsets.
If I plug in my headphones before I launch Discord, it will ask if I want to use the gaming headset mic or the tabletop mic which is usually plugged in but muted. I dislike the attack delay (I have a pretty low timbre to my voice, and it just won't recognize it reliably on the auto-mute) for both hot mic and muted, so I just use the default [ESC] PTT hotkey; it ONLY works as the hotkey when Discord is my foreground window/active tab. I usually use the table mic whether on speakers or headset; sound quality is clearer, especially with my voice.
You can adjust all these Discord Voice Settings, and test your mic with Discord, by clicking the little SETTINGS gearstar symbol in your user applet when it pops up after you connect to voice-chat.
mnem
In the interests of preventing everyone's ears from having to endure the deafening sound of my 5.1 sound system howling pickup on the mic (because of speaker positioning and size of room, I find it also most impossible to avoid) I have dropped some cash on one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XX7SYP2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 which seems to have everything sown up as far compatibility with all of my PC's. Hope that these will work OK for this Sat's session.
Not sure about the sound quality from those; I expect they'll be a bit like these:
A lot of cheap Chinesium Dogespeak in that ad, for sure;
about them is patented...? The dongle/analog headset form factor is how ALL gaming headphones used to be made; the big heavy wart in the middle of the wire just sucks bunge.
I have a few "minimum" criteria for any headphones I use regularly:
1) NO "bump in the wire" wart-type dingus. FOR ANY reason.
2) MUST have oversized closed earcups big enough to go around my ears and seal against my head. All the active noise-canceling bundahoo in the world doesn't hold a candle to a nice, tightly-sealed closed earcup.
3) MUST have minimum 40mm drivers, preferably in a 2-way driver arrangement.
4) No boom mic, or one that by default folds up tight against the headband. I break those fuckers left and right because
klutz with Shrek-hands.5) Padded headband for my bald haid. Fellow eggheads will get this; normies can go... suck a egg.
These are what I'm using now. I got them because they were only $7 at the Thrift, and by feeling in the earcup, I could tell they had 35mm drivers. I ALMOST put them back, but tried them on and decided to keep them for the price and the excellent comfort; aside from the drivers, they ticked all the other boxes on my list very nicely.
Later online research showed they were SteelSeries' budget offering; MSRP $60 and street price of $40-ish when I got them. A few pleasant surprises found after-the fact are why I kept them:
1) Still supported by the MFR 6 years after release.
SteelSeries Engine software still supports the headset, so you can tweak sound profiles and lighting (the sedately colored rings on the earcups) to your heart's content. If I could be arsed, I could probably tweak the mic to make it sound as good as my Labtec table mic, but meh.
2) Remarkable comfort after hours of use, even with budget fabric cushioning. Headband tension is medium-medium high; enough that I could wiggle my fat arse around "dancing" while listening to streaming music and they didn't fall off my shaved head, but not tight enough to crush my ears.
3) Left earcup has mic MUTE toggle button that is both intuitive to use and reliable. It just works.
4) 100% functional with default Windoze drivers. If you don't care to fuck with sound/lighting profiles, plug it in and it just works.
Unplug it and your PC goes back to exactly the way it was.
Bottom line: based on my experience with this budget model from SteelSeries, I would definitely keep them at the top of my list if shopping higher-priced models. They have a much-better-than-average handle on what features folks using a headphone on a PC need, and they sell on features & quality design, not bundahoo
.
mnem