Logitech USB Desktop Microphone

I’ve used a lot of microphones in my day. Regular readers of this blog know that I’m not above doing a podcast when the occasion warrants (currently immediately following new Terminator – The Sarah Connor Chronicles episodes). I also use Skype for a VOIP application, and I’m a frequent user of Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I’ve used desktop mics,
headset mics, hand-held, what have you. Right now, the mic I’m using the most, and am the happiest with, is the Logitech USB Desktop Microphone.
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I’ll agree, it doesn’t look like much at first glance, but this is one versatile mic. I got it originally because the built-in microphones in my laptop, and the built-in mic jack, were so problematic that I had to go all digital. Based on the reviews and the low cost, I decided to give the Logitech a try. Since it wasn’t available locally, I got mine from Amazon and it arrived within a few days. I took it out of its plastic prison (can’t someone make these things easier to open… please?) and plugged it into one of my laptop’s USB ports. After selecting this to be the active mic, I fired up Skype and gave it a test.

I was impressed by the clarity this microphone provided. I can’t remember even having a land-line phone call sound so clear. This is due, in no small part, to the noise-cancelling feature of this device. By taking out such things as fan noise and furnace rumblings, the resulting sound from this mic is well above average.

I don’t think there is a more demanding application for an office mic than that of speech recognition. Most recognition software specifically state that you need to have a headset microphone and the that mic needs to be placed just-so close to your mouth. Now, I have a fine noise-cancelling headset, but I find that wearing a headset keeps me constantly reminded that I’m being artificially tied to a computer. Given my results in other applications, I decided to give the Logitech a try.

Wow. I was impressed. My speech recognition was as good or better than with any mic I’d ever used. In fact, the sound levels and quality during the device adjustment stage were the highest I can remember seeing. The Logitech easily earned its position as my preferred speech recognition microphone.

Honestly, after quite a number of months of use, I have no complaints. It works equally well with my Vista laptop as it does with my XP desktop. Other than the aforementioned sort of austere goofiness to its design (which isn’t hard to get used to), I can’t find anything less than positive to say about it. I very highly recommend this microphone for those speech-specific tasks many of us have that require a good utility microphone. (And it’s not bad for singers, either, though it’s not what its target market is.)