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Comment by kstrauser | Hacker News Reader

I bought a Yeti Blue a while back, and several people commented positively on its sound quality. I'm pleased with it, especially given its decent price: it's not a bank-breaker for being such a huge upgrade over the built-in laptop mic.

As a bonus, it has a hardware mute button on it. Now I usually leave my Zoom unmuted, and use the button to toggle whether my coworkers can hear me. It's more convenient than clicking the Zoom button or finding the keyboard shortcut.

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Basically any mic that's widely recommended for entry-level YouTubers (outside search engine spam, those don't count as real recommendations) will be a giant step up from laptop or headphone mics, enough that most people who just want to sound good on video conferencing probably don't need to spend more. The Blue Yeti is exactly that kind of mic, to the point that it's kind of a cliché.

Shotgun mics popular among low-budget filmmakers (think: people who shoot local commercials, little indie films and shorts, and, when desperate for cash, weddings) would also be a good and fairly cheap way to go, though they may require other hardware to function.

Do those do noise canceling?

Shotgun mics? They're very good at cancelling off-axis noise (that is, anything that's not in a fairly narrow cone the direction they're aimed) but AFAIK it's really challenging to have hardware cancelling of distant noises in the direction of capture, while also capturing a narrow cone like that. So, do they do noise cancelling? Yes, very much so, it's kinda their whole point, but also no, depending on what you mean.

Oh i meant more the noise canceling you need in a call... cat meow, ambulance siren coming from the open window, the sound of you pouring yourself more coffee etc.

I have one of these, but honestly, I find it hard to convince myself it's better than the built-in mic in my MBP. I've gone back-and-forth in the Zoom audio settings between my Yeti and the MBP mic, tweaking the knob on the Yeti to every setting, and I still prefer the laptop.

The main issue with the Yeti Blue is that it's 15 years old: although microphone tech doesn't evolve as much over the years, it's still behind a bit (e.g. it does 48 kHz/16-bit audio while modern USB mics do 96 kHz/24-bit). It also uses a USB-mini connector which is very annoying.

There are a few modern improvements on it, such as the Yeti X.

hehe, I just posted a sibling comment about the same mic. I've been using it for 5+ years, and I don't think like I'm missing anything. I suppose I need to make sure to keep myself uninformed on the subject so I don't get an upgrade :)

The USB connector is not an issue for me, because the mic is connected to a docking station/computer display.

The sound quality hasn't been an issue yet, and I've used it to record some game assets, etc...

Have you used Yeti X? If so, how does it compare to Blue in practice?

And boy does that mini-uab connector suck. The cable falls out all the time.

The Blue Yeti is a condenser mic, so it picks up a lot of background noise.

Going the dynamic mic route can end up costing a bit more, but worth it in my opinion. Unless you have a very quiet environment and don’t need to type on a keyboard or click a mouse while on calls.

That hasn't been my experience at all, especially when set for cardioid. I use to ask diligently about whether my coworkers could hear me type, or my kids yelling from another room, etc., and they couldn't. It does a surprisingly good job of not picking up the trucks leaving from fire department literally across the street from my house.

I have a feeling this is likely due to noise suppression in the video call platform.

Possibly Jitsi doesn’t do it as well as Zoom or Google Meet, so my experience on Jitsi was a night and day improvement switching from Blue Yeti (cardioid mode) to a dynamic mic.

Fair enough. Zoom seems to be alright at that.

Had a yeti nano, pretty good. Still the condenser mics are too sensitive at times.

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