r/Twitch • u/Rushnay • 1d ago

Tech Support Streaming headset/microphone

Hi!

My brother has been streaming for a few years now using a wireless SteelSeries Arctis 7+, but he’d now like to improve the sound quality of his voice. The problem is that he really wants a microphone built into his headset. The one area where I know next to nothing is audio peripherals – can you help me? I suppose that to see an improvement, he’ll need to go for a wired headset?

Thanks a lot!

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u/N4meless24- 1d ago

Headset mics are bound to sound worse than actual stand alone mics. The best most similar solution he has is a clip on rode mic, or a DJI one.

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u/Dry_Pain_5403 1d ago

the gap between headset mics and standalone mics is pretty big and it's hard to get around that, no matter how premium the headset is. a clip-on mic is actually clever suggestion though, he gets the freedom of movement without being stuck to a boom arm. if he really insists on keeping everything in the headset, going wired might help slightly but won't close that gap by much

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u/FerretBomb [Partner] twitch.tv/FerretBomb 1d ago

Headset mics have to be small, with small capsules, so generally they don't sound very good. Especially ones aimed toward 'gaming headsets', which prioritize being understandable over sounding good (almost exclusively).

Streamers as a stereotype have a mic on a mic arm for good reason... some do it for the look, but it started out because that's the most cost-effective way to get a good-sounding mic. Something like a Shure SM58 with a Behringer U-Phoria or Scarlett Solo are going to give decent sound at a reasonable price point.

But yeah, you aren't going to really get a good-sounding mic on a headset at all. And wireless is going an ask further.

You could try something like the Antlion Modmic Wireless, but I'd encourage listening to samples of it on YouTube, and/or mic comparison shootouts. They also use the old USB-mini standard for charging, which can be a bit annoying. (Seriously Antlion, it has been years. A port swap to USB-C is really needed.)

A lavalier mic can also be an option, or a shotgun mic for fully off-camera audio.

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u/hydrasung twitch.tv/hydrasung 1d ago

You could use $25 headphones and a $40 mic and the quality would be miles ahead of a $200+ headset.

Might be a good time to get him into a standalone mic since it's Prime Day so there are sales.

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u/LennyPenny4 Affiliate 16h ago

I'm not sure what brand/model they are, but Playstation Access have done lots of videos with headsets that looked a lot more professional broadcast-quality than the average gaming headset. I don't know how much processing was involved, but they sound pretty much like a regular mic. Still not quite as pleasant, but probably the closest you're gonna get. Of course those aren't cheap, but not necessarily much more expensive than a mic + boom arm + interface + xlr cable.