Microphones and MacOS

[Dave2002]

I finally got round to trying out my Zoom H2n microphone with the newest iMac computer. I've run it with my laptop (Retina MacBook Pro) and I think other iMacs before. The latest test suggests there is electrical interference from somewhere - though I suppose there could be acoustic/mechanical noise getting in.

For our purposes it's probably not a big deal, as I was testing this for use with online audio video connections (also Zoom!) and it's clear that despite the hum or whatever it is, that the overall sound quality is a lot better than the inbuilt mic in the computer. In Audacity it is possible to remove most of the background anyway using the Noise reduction feature - though if we use this mic with the computer it will almost certainly only be for live sessions for the near future.

I have ordered one of these Victure mics as a suitable "spare" specifically for this kind of application - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08B3GRBLF/
The reviews suggest that it may be very good, or alteratively very poor - which may be the luck of the draw, and possibly due to poor quality control.

I thought for under £30 it might be worth a shot, though if it's not good I'll return it and probably buy a more expensive Marantz mic instead.

[Anastasius]

I finally got round to trying out my Zoom H2n microphone with the newest iMac computer. I've run it with my laptop (Retina MacBook Pro) and I think other iMacs before. The latest test suggests there is electrical interference from somewhere - though I suppose there could be acoustic/mechanical noise getting in.

For our purposes it's probably not a big deal, as I was testing this for use with online audio video connections (also Zoom!) and it's clear that despite the hum or whatever it is, that the overall sound quality is a lot better than the inbuilt mic in the computer. In Audacity it is possible to remove most of the background anyway using the Noise reduction feature - though if we use this mic with the computer it will almost certainly only be for live sessions for the near future.

I have ordered one of these Victure mics as a suitable "spare" specifically for this kind of application - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08B3GRBLF/
The reviews suggest that it may be very good, or alteratively very poor - which may be the luck of the draw, and possibly due to poor quality control.

I thought for under £30 it might be worth a shot, though if it's not good I'll return it and probably buy a more expensive Marantz mic instead.

As it's Amazon, I suggest that you buy 10, select the one that sounds best and send the others back. I'm not sure my new iMac has a separate microphone socket.

[Dave2002]

As it's Amazon, I suggest that you buy 10, select the one that sounds best and send the others back. I'm not sure my new iMac has a separate microphone socket.

This will be USB so should work, I think. Will let you know.

Tried to use the Zoom mic last night in a Zoom meeting - but turned out to be a bit tricky getting the settings right, so went back to the inbuilt hardware.
I'm sure that an external mic could be better, but it's not quite as simple as I'd hoped.

[Dave2002]

Victure mic arrived. Seems quite solid, and works, but in my first test it does show signs of a small amount of residual noise - not dissimilar to the noise with the Zoom microphone.
Again the noise is quite easy to remove - at least to a low level - but I’d prefer if it wasn’t there at all. Tonally the mic sounds OK and I should try it with music. It doesn’t at first sound a lot better, if at all, than the inbuilt mic on the iMac I used for the test.

So was it a waste of money? Not sure yet. It’s not terrible, but I’m not sure it’s bringing much new to the party.