1 00:00:00,380 --> 00:00:05,180 - The first question we need to answer is who exactly makes the B20 streaming microphone? 2 00:00:05,180 --> 00:00:09,500 EPOS sponsored this video. And in a nutshell, they're the result of a previous 3 00:00:09,500 --> 00:00:14,720 joint venture between Demant and Sennheiser that is now its own independent brand. 4 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,080 With that out of the way, let's take a look at this thing. 5 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:21,270 Definitely A-plus for product protection. 6 00:00:21,270 --> 00:00:24,830 That is some fine, fine packaging. 7 00:00:24,830 --> 00:00:28,710 Here, let's see if it's any good. No, I won't, sorry. 8 00:00:28,710 --> 00:00:32,450 I'll be good, I'll be good. I'll be good today, David. All right, let's pull out our microphone. 9 00:00:32,450 --> 00:00:35,800 Oh, interesting, so it's got like kind of a side ARM. 10 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,710 The ARM rotates 360 degrees and is 3/8ths threaded. 11 00:00:39,710 --> 00:00:44,520 So you should be able to mount this to pretty much any audio equipment that you would want to. 12 00:00:44,520 --> 00:00:48,350 Okay, if you don't want to mount it to an ARM, it does come with a base. 13 00:00:48,350 --> 00:00:51,950 And then presumably, there's also, oh yes, oh, okay. 14 00:00:51,950 --> 00:00:56,653 Yep, that makes sense, yeah. Oh wow, all machined aluminum. 15 00:00:57,540 --> 00:01:01,130 Super, super rigid. And what else have we got included? 16 00:01:02,163 --> 00:01:02,996 My bad. 17 00:01:06,589 --> 00:01:09,890 Like I'm just trying to show you the thing. A quarter inch threaded bolt. 18 00:01:09,890 --> 00:01:15,663 And then, we've also got a USB type A to type C. That's nice, everything should be USB type C at this. 19 00:01:17,590 --> 00:01:20,810 It is a little bit more complex and a little bit more costly 20 00:01:20,810 --> 00:01:24,500 to implement into the product. But it's got clear benefits, 21 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:29,250 even if you're not taking advantage of all the features like, you know, super high power delivery 22 00:01:29,250 --> 00:01:35,290 or whatever that obviously a microphone wouldn't need. And one of the big ones is just look at that. 23 00:01:35,290 --> 00:01:40,440 You plug it in any way you want. And perhaps more importantly, it's really, really durable. 24 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:45,539 We actually did a test where we unplugged and re-plugged it 10,000 times. 25 00:01:45,539 --> 00:01:49,750 And USB-C held up to the challenge, whereas micro B did not. 26 00:01:49,750 --> 00:01:53,460 Wow, I never thought a microphone could be so dangerous. 27 00:01:53,460 --> 00:01:57,900 This is the safety guide. I've never actually read one of these. 28 00:01:57,900 --> 00:02:02,520 Always include this safety guide when passing the product onto third parties. 29 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:08,090 Ah, no way. I was trying to assemble it wrong and they won't let me. 30 00:02:08,090 --> 00:02:12,950 I've wanted to put it like this just to show that, like, oh yeah, make sure you don't assemble it wrong. 31 00:02:12,950 --> 00:02:16,200 But the one end of the oval is flattened out. 32 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:21,210 So you can't put it in the wrong way. More products should be designed to be lined as proof. 33 00:02:21,210 --> 00:02:24,300 For all the linusesses in your life. Don't be a Linus. 34 00:02:24,300 --> 00:02:28,520 Do you know Linus is slang for penis? - [DAVID] What? - Let's take a closer look at the microphone. 35 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:33,160 So it appears as though the intention is for it to be addressed. 36 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:36,680 I'm going to guess the side with the mute button 37 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,100 and the volume knob and not the side with gain 38 00:02:40,100 --> 00:02:44,660 and pickup pattern. It's got four pickup patterns. So you've got stereo, omni-directional, 39 00:02:44,660 --> 00:02:49,560 cardioid, and bi-directional. So these are useful for all kinds of different applications. 40 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:53,940 Cardioid, you want to use if you're getting real up close and personal with your microphone 41 00:02:53,940 --> 00:02:57,520 if you like that kind of sound. You want to block out ambient sound. 42 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,180 Omni-directional would be if you just want to put it in the middle of a conference table 43 00:03:01,180 --> 00:03:06,210 and be able to hear everyone, everything that's going on. Bi-directional would be great for conducting an interview 44 00:03:06,210 --> 00:03:10,780 with someone across the table from you. So you don't pick up some of that nearby side noise 45 00:03:10,780 --> 00:03:16,270 but it picks up both of you really well. And then stereo would be if you want to make 46 00:03:16,270 --> 00:03:20,010 a stereo recording, I guess. It doesn't come up very often 47 00:03:20,010 --> 00:03:25,060 in like a podcasting context. But, hey, you know, I'm sure someone has use for it 48 00:03:25,060 --> 00:03:28,960 for, like, art. On the bottom, the last thing that I didn't show you guys yet 49 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:33,030 is that there's a headphone Jack. So it's pretty typical for these USB microphones 50 00:03:33,030 --> 00:03:36,260 to have both an audio input 51 00:03:36,260 --> 00:03:40,780 and an audio output that goes through them. Which allows you to monitor yourself with zero latency. 52 00:03:40,780 --> 00:03:44,740 Because if you try to monitor yourself through the computer, there can be a bit of a delay. 53 00:03:44,740 --> 00:03:49,530 So you're talking. And then you hear yourself a little bit later. And it can be extremely distracting. 54 00:03:49,530 --> 00:03:51,780 I actually hosted Rancho like that for years. 55 00:03:52,770 --> 00:03:56,910 All right, that's a little loud. Okay, we're going to have to, whoa, we're going to have to lose some gain here. 56 00:03:56,910 --> 00:04:00,180 I'm a bit of a hot boy, like from a, 57 00:04:00,180 --> 00:04:03,613 like a audio, microphone perspective. I tend to talk really loud. 58 00:04:03,613 --> 00:04:09,240 Man, you know what, I kind of want to, I kind of want to up a little bit. I usually prefer to have my mic a little closer. 59 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:15,220 Now while I get this dialed in, EPOS doesn't actually say whether this is a condenser type or a dynamic microphone. 60 00:04:15,220 --> 00:04:20,680 But most USB microphones are condensers. And particularly, the ones with adjustable pickup patterns 61 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:25,040 are generally condensers. And the main benefit of a condenser is that you get 62 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:29,030 better frequency response and sort of generally more accurate inputs. 63 00:04:29,030 --> 00:04:32,190 But it does come at the cost of more background noise. 64 00:04:32,190 --> 00:04:36,840 Whereas with the dynamic microphone, you got to get real in close and personal with it 65 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:41,270 otherwise you're going to be hearing everything from your AC to your neighbor backing out of their driveway 66 00:04:41,270 --> 00:04:46,850 and everything else in between. Now of course, if you did want to hear some of that stuff, let's have a listen to what one of the other pickup patterns 67 00:04:46,850 --> 00:04:51,560 sounds like on this. Here's omni-directional, hey, David, how's it going? 68 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:56,600 - [DAVID] Great. - Yup, I can hear you. And then if I flip back to cardioid. 69 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:00,463 Whup, that's the wrong dial. There we go, ah, David, how's it going? 70 00:05:00,463 --> 00:05:04,450 - [DAVID] It's going good. - Yeah, it doesn't matter what your name is. Little bit of handling noise. 71 00:05:04,450 --> 00:05:08,240 Generally speaking, you shouldn't be rubbing your microphone while you're using it anyway. 72 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:14,330 That's not, that's not recommended. In terms of table bumps, bumping my elbows a little bit. 73 00:05:14,330 --> 00:05:18,850 There's a little bit, but not bad. If I flip back to omni-directional, you guys are going to hear. 74 00:05:18,850 --> 00:05:24,140 Yeah, that's quite a lot worse. I mean, these are the main concerns when you're using something for gaming, right? 75 00:05:24,140 --> 00:05:27,530 Because you're actually, you're moving around. You're sliding your hands around. 76 00:05:27,530 --> 00:05:30,610 So, you know, you've got keys going kind of clickety clack. 77 00:05:30,610 --> 00:05:34,660 This is another example of why in a gaming or podcasting setting, whether you're taking notes 78 00:05:34,660 --> 00:05:38,870 or just playing a video game, you don't really want omni-directional. 79 00:05:38,870 --> 00:05:42,810 An omni-directional pickup battle is not really the best. Hello, hello. 80 00:05:42,810 --> 00:05:46,033 Yep, it's muted, turns red. Subtle, but easy to see. 81 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,240 There we go, that's back. Based on my experience with it so far, 82 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,510 I would definitely recommend, like, with many microphones, 83 00:05:53,510 --> 00:05:57,080 the use of a pop filter. You can definitely pick up some breathing and some plosives. 84 00:05:57,080 --> 00:06:02,020 But it's far from the worst I've ever encountered by a long shot. And oh, of course, they've got their software, 85 00:06:02,020 --> 00:06:05,600 the EPOS gaming suite microphone. Oh, this is really cool. 86 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,030 We can actually see in real time, the profile of my voice. 87 00:06:09,030 --> 00:06:15,890 It's not that high pitch. I'm really heavy in the kind of 250 to 500 Hertz range. 88 00:06:16,950 --> 00:06:20,610 You know, that's a higher voice compared to, you know, 89 00:06:20,610 --> 00:06:24,240 a really bassy man voice. Hi, I'm Batman. 90 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,570 Yeah, that goes a little lower. Oh, interesting, I had actually noticed 91 00:06:27,570 --> 00:06:31,310 it didn't have a high pass filter or a low cut built into the microphone. 92 00:06:31,310 --> 00:06:37,026 It looks like you can configure that in software though. Ooh, voice enhancer, should we try the warm voice? 93 00:06:37,026 --> 00:06:38,353 - [DAVID] Yeah. - Hello. 94 00:06:44,710 --> 00:06:49,340 Do a quick test recording. Let's see what I sound like in the warm voice enhancer preset. 95 00:06:49,340 --> 00:06:53,980 Do a quick test recording. Let's see what I sound like in the warm voice enhancer preset. 96 00:06:53,980 --> 00:06:57,130 Probably a little too warm, I think, for my tastes. 97 00:06:57,130 --> 00:07:00,580 Now, we are listening to the clear voice enhancer preset. 98 00:07:00,580 --> 00:07:05,560 Now, we are listening to the clear voice enhancer. I think we're going to stick with off for voice enhancer. 99 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:10,620 Of course, you can create a custom one if you want. Just be like, look, there's not enough bass in my voice. 100 00:07:10,620 --> 00:07:15,260 I need to crank the bass. This is the ultimate bass version of my voice. 101 00:07:15,260 --> 00:07:18,610 You know, Nicki Minaj, this is super bass, super, 102 00:07:18,610 --> 00:07:23,830 I'm going fishing super bass. This is the ultimate bass version of my voice. 103 00:07:23,830 --> 00:07:27,903 You know, Nicki Minaj, this is. Yeah, that's intolerable. 104 00:07:29,810 --> 00:07:33,938 Moving on to noise cancellation. This sounds like a feature where it uses the microphone 105 00:07:33,938 --> 00:07:37,410 to, you know, get rid of annoying ambient sounds 106 00:07:37,410 --> 00:07:42,050 in the headphones. But that's not what it does. It actually is supposed to just clean up 107 00:07:42,050 --> 00:07:46,400 your digital recording. So we're going to start at zero and record for a little bit here. 108 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,750 Then we're going to step it up to 50, where theoretically, we should get a bit of a cleaner sound 109 00:07:50,750 --> 00:07:54,900 to the recording. But as we move all the way up to a 100, it's also possible that we'll get 110 00:07:54,900 --> 00:07:58,370 a bit of a reduction in naturalness. It's not the sort of thing I would typically turn on. 111 00:07:58,370 --> 00:08:01,580 But it's up to you. A thing I would typically turn on but. 112 00:08:01,580 --> 00:08:08,050 Yep, somehow I managed to describe exactly what was happening without even having listened to it yet. 113 00:08:08,050 --> 00:08:12,780 50 is all right, a 100 is definitely too much for me. So that's it, that's the EPOS B20. 114 00:08:12,780 --> 00:08:16,930 It comes in at $199 US. And you guys can check it out at the link down below. 115 00:08:16,930 --> 00:08:21,270 Thanks again to EPOS for sponsoring this video and thanks to you guys for watching ShortCircuit. 116 00:08:22,378 --> 00:08:23,211 Subcribe.