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Recommandation for portable usb interface + microphone

Cecile

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Hi,

I've been working remotely for years and years now. My current setup for sound is 2 headphones (MDR-V6 and MDR-V7605) for my desktop and for my laptop. I also have a cheap (about $40 I think) lavalier microphone which I can plug in my phone and has an extra plug for secondary micro or headseat which only works on my phone, I use it for phonecalls because I like walking during them. On the laptop / desktop I only have the integrated / webcam mic.

So I am looking for a more unified solution :
- a light usb interface which I could move from desktop / top / phone with only one plug
- a light microphone that I could attach to my shirt or to my headphones
- thought I'd really enjoy better music quality, that's not my main target (I have a good quality soundcard on desktop, plus I want something cheap enough so I can carry it every where without worry, or offer one to my coworkers when they have exhausting sound quality and their employers won't do their job). For meetings / calls at least, integrated DAC is good enough
- the phone (+ADC, PSU, ... ? ) is more of an issue. I want a rather ok sound, like "ok for a cheap podcast" sound, something that will be less tiring to listen to for 8 hours a day than the laptop integrated one
- as a bonus, the microphone should be directionnal enough so I can work from a coffeeshop, and easy enough to position so I can walk
- one thing I don't like with my current lavalier mic is that is has a rather thin and long cable, so when I plug my heavy headphone jack on it, I need to put everything in my pocket to make sure the light cable does not get damaged.

My target price is as low as possible, I'd say $50-$200. The apple usb dongle probably is a good starting point, but usb and two separated jacks would really be preferred. I can cope with an adapter and a splitter I guess but that would be less practical.

Suggestions ?

Thanks.

Edit : I just saw that apple now have an USB-C dongle. None of my neither my desktop nor phone have usb-c, but that already a better solution for the futur :)
 
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staticV3

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If you want a small adapter with separate headphone out and microphone in ports, then have a look at the RØDE AI-Micro. No measurements unfortunately.
 
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Cecile

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mmm, and in addition to separate headphone and mic, is also as de detachable usb cable, which is a nice step into solving the micro usb vs usb c connectors. Otoh it's 60€ more than the apple, which might be better spent in the microphone. I might test apple for cheap now and see later if I can find mesurements for the rode.
 

s9_0d1n

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If you want a small adapter with separate headphone out and microphone in ports, then have a look at the RØDE AI-Micro. No measurements unfortunately.
I echo this recommendation.
For portable use in various scenarios I have used extensively 1 apple dongle, 2 samsung ones, 1 DDHifi TC35 Pro and the Rode ai-micro.

For communication purposes the AI-Micro has the huge advantage of being able to use separate lavalier mics (2 if needed) but also the even more important advantage (for me) of being able to have zero latency monitoring of your own voice. In long conference calls with closed headphones or IEM's this helps immensely.
It comes with 3 cables (usb-c to c, usb c to lightning and usb c to usb A so all possible sources are covered).

The most simple solution is however a good quality headset and a dongle from Apple or Samsung. Their sound quality and mic input quality is decent enough...
(for reference). If needed to use on a laptop or computer without USB C, an USB C to USB A adapter should solve that use case easily.

Also, if you only need communication and don't care about music related sound quality, this is one of the most useful solutions I came across in terms of headsets: https://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-..._r=DSDFT3JHQ43FV9P4HYSW&qid=1662905531&sr=8-4

The mic quality is decent and the proximity to one's mouth helps a lot when compared to normal "on cable / inline mics".

Coming back to the Ai-Micro, I didn't do any measurements, but subjectively In terms of sound quality it is comparable to the normal dongles (albeit slightly more noisy with really really sensitive IEM's) but at the same time significantly more powerful than all the ones I have quoted above, including the DD HiFi one. The quoted spec is 125 mW into 32 OHMS which is plenty for most headphones one would consider "portable"...let alone IEM's
 
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