Customer Reviews

Multi-use Stereo Microphone

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I'm a full time student and use the iTalk to record my lectures on my iPod. The iTalk works great, but the problem I had was the iTalk's built in microphone would pick up the iPod's hard drive spinning and whirring. Slightly annoying, but I wanted to eliminate it from my records using a better microphone.

I purchased all sorts of after market mics in varying prices with ill effect. Radio Shack mics suck and the Sony self powered high dollar mics weren't any better, maybe b/c the iTalk's automatic gain control interfered with the powered mic's sensitivity....I don't really know.

Anyways, I bought this mic and have put it through it's paces. No whirring sounds from the iPod and the instructor sounds extremely clear on the recordings. Keep in mind that these recordings were made in either a large lecture room or an average sized classroom.

The iTalk's internal mic was sufficient, but this mic has taken the recordings to a new level. If you have an iTalk, save yourself the headache and disappointment of buying, testing, and returning store bought mics and buy this one. Ya won't be disappointed.

The sound quality doesn't seem to be much better than with the italk alone, BUT, on the plus side, it cuts down any harddrive noise from your ipod that gets picked up by the italk sometimes. I use mine for lectures in a relatively large lecture hall and the professor doesn't use a mic. When they do, the sound is great. I only have to turn up my volume about 3/4 for the sound to be good, but when they don't, I have to sit near the front and turn the volume up all the way. My advice would be to buy the italk by itself (or any other voice recorder, it's the only one I've used and I like it) and try it out. If the noise of the harddrive bothers you, THEN get the mic.

I started playing DDO (Dungeons and Dragons: Online) which has an integrated voice chat program so i dug out my old microphone that came with my Pentium 100mz Packard Bell computer.

After using it for a few days i couldn't stand holding it every time i wanted to talk so i bought a 40$ headset. Long story short the headset's microphone sounded quiet to everyone in the game even though it was 2 inches from my face and all microphone options were maxed out.

A few weeks later the microphone just stopped working.

I decided id go with a cheap alternative in case it was weak once again.

To my surprise this $15 microphone outperformed the $40 headset and my old microphone. It was so sensitive that i couldn't even clip it halfway down my shirt because people were commenting it was too loud. I had to clip it onto my keyboard and turn the volume way down.

People can hear me perfectly even when i have a fan blowing air in from outside about 4 feet away.

This mic does everything i wanted at an great price.

So why 4 stars instead of 5? The cord is really short. It would have gotten 5 stars if the cord was 1 or 2 feet longer.

My name is Muhammad Ali Hasan, and my PodCast, ALI'S AMERICA, can be found at the iTMS under Podcasts

So far, I have recorded all of my PodCasts (to date - July 2005) using this microphone, and I couldn't be happier

Now let's get something straight ---- for VERY professional recording, like music or film dialogue, I recommend a better mic

But for common dialogue, that is meant for notes or radio, this mic does the job just fine

It works extremely well with the Griffin iTalk, and its small size doesn't add any annoyences to such a small recording setup

Lastly, you can't beat the price! $15??? How could you go wrong with that?

in recap ----- for professional recordings, look elsewhere

But for common recreational stuff, look no further

HAPPY PODCASTING!!!!!!!!

UPDATE:

FYI - I recorded my first 2 podcasts using this mic --- judging by the audio quality, I'm very happy with the results

Since then, I have purchased a more upgraded mic, but this is one is very good

For radio broadcasts or Podcasts, I think it does the job pretty solidly

I only bought this lapel mic hoping that it can do a better job recording than the lapel mic that came with the DLO iPod mic. This lapel mic did it's job and is compatible with DLO's mic. I read reviews about Griffin's iTalk and how the design flaw prevents the iPod user from lock/unlocking their iPod. And the issue with freezing didn't sit well with me. So, I went with DLO's mic that works pretty well without the lapel mic. But when you attach Griffin's lapel mic, my iPod can finally do it's job.

Pros:
Inexpensive, records in stereo (quite well), lapel clip is very strong, and the mic swivels, so you can adjust it accordingly.

Cons:
The frequency is a little high, so some recordings may come out a little tinny sounding because there's little to no low-range on this mic. For the price, you can't really expect much. Also, I wish the wire was a little longer. It's pretty short, so you either need your source in your shirt pocket, or less than 2 feet from the mic. Also, it would be nice if they made this mic in black. Unless you're wearing a white shirt, it really stands out. These are all petty complaints, because the mic really does work quite well for the price, but there are a couple of drawbacks.

I bought this item to use with my 5G iPod and Griffin's iTalk Pro. It works perfectly and the quality of the sound is very clear with no hiss or clicks. I like the clothes pin style clip and the mic swivels to any direction for any suitable position. Highly recomend this product for your voice or music recordings.

Tony Aldridge
Longview Texas

While this microphone works fine for several purposes, don't buy it for an iPod Touch. It is not a stand alone mic for use with the iPod Touch and the iTalk app. You will need other accessories to make it work. The product description could have been more specific.

I bought this for my iPod Touch so that I could use it with VoIP apps. There is no passthru for headphones and the built-in speaker doesn't work when this is plugged in. Not quite what I hoped for.

Purchased this microphone for recording lectures at the university. It works flawlessly and has good sensitivity.