Tuning Microphones for Performance, Quality and Versatility
Excellence in microphone performance is a foundational design pillar for EPOS – delivering high quality audio for crystal clear voice pick-up
Many gamers buy their first headset because gaming has taken them on a journey from solo to online multiplayer, and the free earbuds and inline microphone that came with their mobile phone are no longer good enough. For both gamers and streamers, the quality of the microphone and its associated circuitry and software is crucial to delivering the best social experience and optimizing microphone performance is one of the main goals for our engineering team.
In a team-based game, it’s important to know who is shouting “I see them!” or for your squad-mates to hear you call for a medic. Speech intelligibility can make the difference between winning and losing. In a gaming context, clear, natural audio with strong microphone performance in the vocal range will prevent voices from blurring together. Excellence in microphone performance is a primary goal and we are constantly looking for ways to refine and improve this.
At EPOS, we have the advantage of building on the experience of other Demant owned companies with a long heritage in audio technology. For example, we make headsets for air traffic controllers – where microphone performance is crucial for pilots to hear instructions clearly.
The analogue advantage
Microphone pick up patterns
We use high quality analogue microphones because they outperform digital components in our tests. For example, while the GSP 600 unit was designed with the unidirectional cardioid pick-up pattern ideal for its use case scenario, the bidirectional microphone in the GSP 670 is an evolution of the analogue units we used in our very first gaming headsets over ten years ago. The basic design has always been good, so we just tweak it as needed. Sure, we’ve now added switchable noise reduction to allow gamers playing in noisy environments to improve their microphone clarity – but it’s a steady evolution, rather than using new components just because they exist.
The H6PRO Series has been developed to deliver unparalleled performance across the full audio spectrum via a redesigned and easily detachable lift-to-mute microphone boom arm that is elongated to provide even better and more precise voice pickup. It is an ideal solution for streamers who use a dedicated microphone, as the convenient magnetic attachment mechanism gives gamers the flexibility to remove the arm whenever they so desire.
Whether microphones are for headset use or standalone for streamers, the goal is always the same for our engineers – to achieve excellent results for this key element of the gaming audio chain without compromise.