| smbhax [sys=PC; cat=Hardware; reg=UC] |
| | | Headset, pretty much the highest rated USB headset mic I could find on rtings.com, even though it's a few years old now.
Got the Hyperspeed because a Windows Update forced more artificial gain compensation on my old analog standby, the low-cost JBL Quantum 100 (see entry 1678), which added a bit more low-level static crackle to captured audio, in effect.
The Hyperspeed has a 2.4 GHz wireless dongle, I haven't tried that out.
The Hyperspeed has a pretty solid feel to it, even though the struts holding the headset together are just about wire thin--and somehow I keep grabbing them and the actual wire running between them when I go to take it off.
The 'phones feel plush and were probably keeping my ears a bit TOO insulated and warm during wear. ; ) But they felt comfy.
Razer calls it an "ultralight" headset but it's quite noticeably significantly heavier than the inexpensive Quantums ($40--I got 'em on sale for $20--vs the Hyperspeed's $100).
Unlike the HyperX Cloud Stinger (see entry 1664) and the Logitech G433 7.1 Wired Surround Gaming Headset (see entry 1673), the Hyperspeed does NOT produce clicking sounds on the mic when I move my head around, thank goodness! So, it's actually usable.
And the mic doesn't sound too bad; it's rated a few .x notches below the Quantum mic on rtings, and that's probably about right. It has a much colder sound to it than the warm analog of the Quantum, and there's a whistling quality to it, at least my voice, even though I kept the very flexible mic boom straight, instead of bent in front of my mouth like it's shaped by default; it does angle in a few degrees more than the Quantum boom, but I wouldn't think that would be enough ingress into exhalations to account for the whistling effect. Unlike the Quantum, the Hyperspeed's boom is not detachable. The Hyperspeed's bendy stem feels a little more flexible and sturdier than the Quantum's.
I only had to add 4 dB of artificial gain in OBS to get max volume out of the Hyperspeed; there's a BIT of crackle around the captured vocals, but not as much as the Quantum with its now-required 28 dB artificial gain boost produces--although even that is still low enough that you don't notice it over even soft game background sounds.
I'm not sure it's required for operation, but you can install Razer's annoying Synapse software to get access to all kinds of sliders and things for the mic. I found the three "enhancements" I tried enabling hurt the mic capture quality, so I'd roll with them off if I was going to use this thing, and stick with the filters in OBS. There are various glitches, missing help text, and so forth that I ran into in the Synapse program, ugh--also, it messes with the default move speed on my Razer DeathAdder V3 Wired Mouse (see entry 1950) which I find REALLY annoying--and in fact in the past even just made it pretty much stop working reliably, hah.
I'd put up with the driver issues (oh well actually I suppose I'd uninstall Synapse and see if the headset still functioned ^ _^) if the BlackShark V2 Hyperspeed captured my silly voice at higher quality than my ol' analog JBL Quantum 100s, but it doesn't, quite.
So hopefully laptops will continue to come with 8mm audio jacks standard so I can always use a JBL Quantum 100--or hm well I suppose there's probably a USB adapter that works okay? I'll probably have to look into that some day... Hopefully there'll be an analog-to-digital adapter that doesn't make the Quantum sound like the voice is coming through a mild wind tunnel, like the Hyperspeed does. |
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| | | | Switching from default flat EQ to "Broadcast" EQ for the mic helped a lot--sounds kinda like the Quantum...but there's still a bit of a cold, hollow, echo-y sound to it. So yeah it's going back; found I can pretty much go back to the previous OBS Gain setting for the Quantum if I bend the mic to my mouth (18 db instead of 28 db straight; pre-Win-Update was 17.9 db straight), and that doesn't seem to get TOO windy... |
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Inexpertly trying to find from which headset mic I can get the best quality capture of my mumbly voice: a Razer "BlackShark V2 HyperSpeed" USB headset--via its 2.4 GHz wireless dongle--or a JBL "Quantum 100" analog headset.
Their head-to-head Rtings reviews are https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/compare/jbl-quantum-100-vs-razer-blackshark-v2-hyperspeed-wireless/13293/44397 ; Rtings rates both their mics very highly among headsets, with the Quantum mic just a few tenths of a point above the HyperSpeed's.
0:00 - Razer BlackShark V2 HyperSpeed
27:25 - JBL Quantum 100 - bent boom, 18 dB Gain
46:18 - JBL Quantum 100 - straight boom, 28 dB Gain
47:47 - Quantum bent boom again
1:01:31 - nope, Quantum straight boom it is then
1:04:32 - errata
ARGH I was saying "8mm" audio jack instead of "1/8th inch" audio jack--or 3.5 mm.
And I realized I should just try a 3.5mm to USB converter cable.
Until that arrives, it seems like the best I've got as far as mic capture for YT gaming videos--since a Windows Update a week ago seems to have nerfed my 5-6-years-old mid-range gaming laptop's 1/8" analog jack audio capture by about 10.1 dB--is the analog JBL Quantum 100 with the mic straight out and 28 dB artificial gain: it's a bit low-level static fuzzy, but still a nice warm sound. I can get less fuzz if I bend the mic in front of my mouth, so I can drop the gain by about 10 dB, but that's breathy, more difficult to keep consistent, and risks moisture & eventual smelly microbial life flourishing in the foam mic cover.
The HyperSpeed's mic is clear and crisp by comparison, but cold and hollow: a more remote sound with a sort of whistling, echoing quality about it that I find less pleasant than the Quantum. Occasional passages from the HyperSpeed sound digitally compressed at lower bit quality, like digital compression; that might have to do with the wireless 2.4 GHz dongle, but the included USB-A to USB-C cable, while pleasantly thick, soft, and pliable, isn't quite long enough--it's maybe 6 or 7 feet--for wired use with my preferred recording arrangement.
In 2.4 GHz wireless, I heard an occasional faint high-pitched tone in the HyperSpeed's headphones for a minute or so--didn't seem to get that when using it wired.
Rtings says the HyperSpeed headphones have 15 ms audio latency when used wired, and 25 ms in 2.4 GHz wireless--and nearly half a second when used with Bluetooth, which I didn't try. Rtings said they got 81.25 hours of "continuous battery life" with the HyperSpeed--they consider anything over 24 hours top-notch. I had it go from 100% battery to 95% battery in a few hours of sporadic test use, plus sitting off--having switched itself off after idling briefly--overnight. It went from that to 94% in another couple hours of 3 or 4 takes for this video.
The HyperSpeed's Synapse software--which I found necessary in order to switch to the decent "Broadcast" mic EQ profile--feels bloated and not as reliable as I'd like.
(And I find the Synapse software's effect on my Razer DeathAdder V3 Wired mouse less pleasing and reliable than what I get through the non-Synapse plug-and-play mouse driver; I got the Razer mouse for its lovely ergonomics in standard desktop use rather than for its high-DPI capability.)
Both the HyperSpeed and the Quantum are free from occasional clicking noises mics on the two other headsets I've tried produced; those two headsets, a HyperX Cloud Stinger and a Logitech G433 7.1 Wired Surround Gaming Headset, had heavier, inflexible swing boom arms, rather than the thinner, lighter, flexible, non-swiveling boom arms of the HyperSpeed and the Quantum. I'm not sure all swing-type booms are prone to generating those clicking noises if I move my head while wearing a headset, but I'll probably be avoiding them from here on out!
I didn't go much into headphone build and sound quality--I feel really unqualified to judge that; I didn't like the default sound profile for the HyperSpeed, and found I had to switch to its "Music" profile in order for Firelink Shrine in Dark Souls III to sound as nice as I was used to on the Quantum, for instance.
The Quantum feels more comfortable on my head--lighter, less wobbly, and cooler on the ears--than the HyperSpeed, but that could be because I'm used to the Quantum. The HyperSpeed feels more plush and solid than the Quantum, although the prongs and wires holding the HyperSpeed's cups on look rather thin.
The Quantum sells for $40, the HyperSpeed for $100; when I bought mine several years back, the Quantum was on sale for $20; I was so pleased with it I bought a second as a back-up. = ) |
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