[jacamera]

For me at least it's about the ergonomics of the microphone form factor. I'm not comfortable with a standalone mic in front of my face. I don't like having to remember to keep the proper distance.

I got a nice high quality broadcast headset that sounded amazing but then I couldn't get the monitoring levels to work well with any combination of audio interfaces. On any given call I might have to boost my headphone volume considerably depending on the other person's audio quality but that would invariably throw off my own monitoring levels.

In the end I got a high quality gaming headset that doesn't require monitoring due to the open-back design. The microphone sounds fine but not nearly as good as the other options unfortunately.

All that to say I spent a few thousand dollars over a few months trying to solve this problem and couldn't find a great solution!

[hajile]

ElectroVoice re20. The "variable-D" design helps you sound decent if you're not keeping exact distance from the mic. The builtin pop blocker is also quite effective.

It was designed so that if your interview target didn't have good mic discipline (most people don't have any), you'd still get a usable recording. As long as you're in a roughly 12" cube in front of the mic, you'll basically be fine.

If you're spending that much money and really want a headset mic, get a countryman and wireless set. You only need to reach a few feet, so a cheap analog system should work perfectly and provide way better sound quality.