HN Explorer

Ask HN: Earbuds and Microphones for Zoom Calls

4 points by joegahona ↗ HN
Someone posted this article[1] a year ago that I've used to effectively and inexpensively build a professional meeting presence on my work video calls (Zoom, Meet, etc.). The section on headphones[2] was the biggest upside of all, especially the inexpensive mic attachment.

I've had some success getting colleagues onboard with this, but some just don't like bulky over-the-head headphones and refuse to use them, even if they've been expensed.

Has anyone identified high-quality earbud-style headphones/mics that produce near-flawless voices from their coworkers? The microphone portion is extremely important -- earbuds benefit the person wearing them, but if they're using their laptop mic to speak, it's problematic for the other people in the meeting who have to hear their voice echoing, their dog barking, doors slamming, etc.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24610166

[2] https://www.benkuhn.net/vc/#hear-yourself-clearly-with-open-back-headphones

7 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 28.5 ms ] thread
ketanmaheshwari
I have been using Apple airpods for about six months now without any issues. They fit well and seem comfortable enough that sometimes I forget they are still in ear long after the meeting is over. Never had sound or mic issues.
auslegung
> Has anyone identified high-quality earbud-style headphones/mics that produce near-flawless voices

I suspect “near-flawless” is impossible with earbuds because you’re using Bluetooth, a mic that is far from the person’s mouth, and tiny hardware.

joegahona
Not all earbuds are Bluetooth, but I get it on the other two points.
natdempk
Really the biggest issue is that most of your coworkers are going to have poor audio recording setups, which is going to severely limit how good the audio you hear can be. I listen to coworkers on reasonably higher end headphones that I use for music production all day and its not great. In my experience most of it just comes down to how good the other person's microphone setup is. They'll sound pretty good even on standard gear like Airpods with a good recording setup, and pretty bad on higher end gear like studio headphones with a poor recording setup.
komon
Honestly a cheap boom mic is going to be the optimum of ease-of-use and noise input isolation.

There are plenty of fairly cheap earbuds with built-in boom mics, of varying quality.

If folks really have an aversion to over-ear headphones I'd suggest that direction.

raihansaputra
Look into Jabra headsets. Known for call/comms-centric audio gear instead of music.