Mod Mic Questions and Observations

[cageymaru]

Short version:

Mayflower ARC mic in sounds "digital" and the mic volume is low compared to onboard sound using two different mics.

Mod Mic 4.0 has to be aimed at chest to be able to understand a word that my buddy is saying on TeamSpeak or Discord. Otherwise he sounds muffled / drowning.

Aiming mic at chest makes it pickup noises like paper rustling, keyboard, etc which defeats the purpose of purchasing a noise cancellation mic.

Is the Mod Mic 5.0 a better device or suggest another solution.

What would be better than a Mayflower ARC but stay within his $250 budget? He has Fostex T40RP headphones. He adores the Fostex + ARC combo, but hates the low volume mic. He wants to graduate from onboard sound because he wants more power for his headphones.


Details for those that want to know what we tried and the results:


Buddy bought a Mod Mic 4.0 instead of the 5.0 by accident from Amazon. We tried to troubleshoot several issues for quite a few hours today and maybe someone has more suggestions to help us. All of our testing was performed on TeamSpeak and Discord.

The Mod Mic 4.0 when plugged into a Mayflower ARC sounds "digital" with his desktop PC. When he transfers the Mayflower ARC and Mod Mic 4.0 combo to his laptop it still sounds "digital" but much more natural. The desktop is a 2017 build so all new components and the Windows sound extras are turned off. I forgot to ask what the laptop is but since it is his workplace; I'm assuming nothing special.

If he places the Mod Mic 4.0 anywhere in the vicinity of his mouth then the thing seems to try to perform noise cancellation on his voice. So he has to aim it at his chest to get it to sound decent. If he places it in a natural position then it sounds like he is at the bottom of the sea and choking on a clump of seaweed. Is it supposed to work this way? Also it sounds like there is nothing in the middle to upper midrange and absolutely zero highs when it is pointed at his chest or in a more natural position. This is the best case scenario that we can get out of it. Is it supposed to sound this way?

When we plug the Mod Mic 4.0 into the PC Mic In spot, the mic is much louder, but still does the noise cancellation thing on his voice. He still has to aim it at his chest for me to be able to understand what he is saying as the natural position for a mic makes the device perform noise cancellation on his voice.

Lastly I can hear his keyboard, mouse and him rustling papers with the Mod Mic pointed at his chest. He wanted a noise cancellation mic to stop all of that and being forced to aim the mic at his chest and thus keyboard defeats the purpose of a noise cancellation mic.

If he returns the Mod Mic 4.0, what should he try next? Is the Mod Mic 5.0 better at noise cancellation than the 4.0 version? I almost suggested a Blue Yeti on a floor mount stand as I had issues with "thumps" when I had my Blue Yeti mounted in the stock mount on my desk. But a stand or similar device is a no go because he has preschool kids that would probably end up tipping it over due to curiosity.

Lastly why would the Mayflower ARC be so much quieter than the onboard sound? It is an all USB device so it is converting the analog mic into a digital signal. There is a volume slider in Windows for the headphone amp and the mic device in the ARC, yet it is not nearly as loud as the onboard sound. It doesn't sound "worse" than the onboard sound other than the annoying digital robot quality that colors the sound of his voice, but it is clearly lower in volume. If we can't fix it then I'm going to start calling him "RoboCop." Don't tell frankmansal that I said that.

Lastly the Mayflower ARC makes the mic on his old Sennheiser headset sound digital also which goes away when we plug the headset into the onboard sound so we assume that it is something that the ARC is doing. He just purchased Fostex T40RP MK3 Professional Studio Headphones, Closed from Amazon and he absolutely adores them. I suggested the headphones and ARC combo; so figuring out the ARC digital sounding, quiet mic is a plus. If he does return the Mayflower unit, what is a good replacement that stays within his budget at $250?

We really don't want to exceed $250 as we're looking at some ~ $250 Swan 3 way speakers in his near future.

Help!

 

[xmadror]

here is what came with mine.
Does he put the mic in front of his mouth ? or further back like on this image ?

 

[frankmansal]

I figured out how to fix them, go on amazon then go to orders, select the right order, select return or replace, select refund, defective item, print label, drop off at ups drop box, complete.