Am i just out of touch?

[brighter]

the microphone that came in the box with rock band in 2007 is good enough for 99% of gamer uses, provided you know how to run it through a compressor. i only stopped using the one i had because it broke; now i use an app on my phone that lets me use it as a usb mic lol. even podcast mics are overkill!! you can just get Literally Whatever. you're hanging out, not Making Content.

that's my qualifier for saying an expensive chair, from a company that makes good *office* chairs rather than things designed to have logos appear in twitch streamer webcams, is absolutely worth it on a health level. i have a second hand herman miller aeron that i got on the cheap from some startup that went out of business & it's been incredible for my spine, even (or i guess especially) as someone sits like an absolute idiot. for people like us who sit down all the time, it's not just a fancy piece of furniture, it's an investment in the long term condition of your body. all those fucking race car chairs are awful though don't touch em

for cheap headphones i swear by sony mdr7506 but with many asterisks attached; i have the hobbies & brain diseases that make you care about "flat responses" & find the kind of barky midrange on them both useful and pleasant. other people find them physically exhausting to listen to for extended periods. ymmv - there is no such thing as a "best headphone," unfortunately

also RAZER SOFTWARE IS AWFUL AND SOMEHOW GETS WORSE EVERY TIME I SEE IT. DO NOT SUBJECT YOURSELF TO IT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. IT MAKES THEIR PRODUCTS EVEN WORSE THAN THEY ALREADY WOULD BE. DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HAVE TO LOG IN TO YOUR MOUSE?

 

[Vexicrypt]

No it's a USB Mic. So the soundcard and preamp is included. It's basically a Shure SM7 AND a preamp AND a soundcard, except you cant plug anything else in that soundcard and just like the other USB mics, if it breaks it's harder to repair and find spare parts.

And retail price is 400$ so all in all it's not a bad product per se but maybe destined for streamers or business people who just need a good mic for their zoom meetings and couldnt set up a proper sound interface.

OP mentioned SM7db which is not a USB mic, it just has a built in gain booster.

 

[-Ruri-]

Dunno about mics but I’m using an IKEA Markus and it’s really nice for the price, got mine for 150€ and it’s really solid imho. It has mesh too so you won’t sweat during summer. Some people report problems with the lumbar support but imho it’s fine, just takes a bit of time to get used to it. You can remove it if you don’t end up liking it.

 

[_oBSOLEte_]

OP mentioned SM7db which is not a USB mic, it just has a built in gain booster.

Ah I see. It's still not the same than the SM7B you mentionned, which is the base 400$ mic with no preamp and just the revision of good old SM7. They have a USB version which is 280$, the MV7, that I would still not recommend as I don't like USB mics.

I'm pointing the difference because Shure is not a "gamer's brand" like people seem to think here. They're standard mics for broadcast. There's a middle ground between those gamer headset who often sound like shit and overpriced pro audio gear.

Post automatically merged: Monday at 10:23 AM

there is no such thing as a "best headphone," unfortunately

As far as comfort go, for me BeyerDynamics DT770 is the best headphone I ever used. There are several versions tho, 30 Ohms for the everyday use and 80 or 250 Ohms you'll need a good HP amp output to drive them.

 

[Ikagura]

"Gaming" chairs are supposedly more comfortable but for that price I'd rather pay a "real" armchair instead.

 

[Adrastia]

I feel you.

Last time I looked at "gaming chairs", I felt like earning three consecutive life sentences XD

I found a really nice wooden captain's chair abandoned on a traffic island and lugged it for a mile. I'm sitting on it right now. I bought a cheap cushion and covered it with a plush pillowcase. The only computer chair I ever had was trash picked. Free is my favorite price.

 

[Cheela]

if i can revert a decision in my life i would probably go back in time and don't buy that gaming chairs in the middle of the pandemic! they are nice enough but they are necessary at all! now i use an office chair i stole from my dad's workplace (it was broken soo they were going to throw it out)

in terms of mics! i use two and i stream! one is the headset mic from the HyperXcloudII (goated headphones) and a fucking Guitar Hero World Tour Mic for more invested solo recording. Is not the perfect setup but is function well for me at the moment :3

 

[medisinn]

To me, the desk you use is far more important than the chair. No matter how comfortable a chair you have, if you are not sitting at a comfortable and ergonomic height in relation to your desk, it's gonna mess up your shoulder and wrist over time. Finding a good desk for your needs and building off of that seems logical to me. Standing desks aren't perfect, but they come the closest in my opinion. You can set the height to where you need it to feel comfortable when sitting for long periods of time. I have a Tresanti desk from Costco, although I just leave it at a standing position most of the time, otherwise it constantly beeps quietly if it's plugged in.

For a chair, I've tried many things, including a kneeling chair, and eventually settled on a yoga ball. It makes it easy to shift and adjust position, keeps your core somewhat engaged, and you can't have really bad slouching posture since there's nothing to lean back on. You can slightly adjust the height based on how much air it's filled with and what size yoga ball you get. I don't think the yoga ball is perfect either, I just couldn't think of another option, having a big computer chair makes it too tempting to have bad posture.

I recently got a Corsair Void RGB Elite headset, mostly since I wanted a wireless over ear headset and it was one of the cheaper options. Looks like it's 110 at Best Buy now but I got it on sale for 70 last month. It seems pretty good, although I've only really tested the direction audio with Valheim and R.E.P.O. so far. I don't know much as far as microphones go, I'd think any relatively cheap USB mic should work well for gaming with friends. My mic is some brand off of Amazon that was 30 or 40 bucks a couple years ago. Heck, even if you're starting to stream or something, to me it makes sense to start cheap and then invest in better equipment if you are having success and the setup is holding you back.