WEBVTT 00:00:00.380 --> 00:00:05.180 - The first question we need to answer is who exactly makes the B20 streaming microphone? 00:00:05.180 --> 00:00:09.500 EPOS sponsored this video. And in a nutshell, they're the result of a previous 00:00:09.500 --> 00:00:14.720 joint venture between Demant and Sennheiser that is now its own independent brand. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:18.080 With that out of the way, let's take a look at this thing. 00:00:18.080 --> 00:00:21.270 Definitely A-plus for product protection. 00:00:21.270 --> 00:00:24.830 That is some fine, fine packaging. 00:00:24.830 --> 00:00:28.710 Here, let's see if it's any good. No, I won't, sorry. 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. 00:00:32.450 --> 00:00:35.800 Oh, interesting, so it's got like kind of a side ARM. 00:00:35.800 --> 00:00:39.710 The ARM rotates 360 degrees and is 3/8ths threaded. 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. 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. 00:00:48.350 --> 00:00:51.950 And then presumably, there's also, oh yes, oh, okay. 00:00:51.950 --> 00:00:56.653 Yep, that makes sense, yeah. Oh wow, all machined aluminum. 00:00:57.540 --> 00:01:01.130 Super, super rigid. And what else have we got included? 00:01:02.163 --> 00:01:02.996 My bad. 00:01:06.589 --> 00:01:09.890 Like I'm just trying to show you the thing. A quarter inch threaded bolt. 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. 00:01:17.590 --> 00:01:20.810 It is a little bit more complex and a little bit more costly 00:01:20.810 --> 00:01:24.500 to implement into the product. But it's got clear benefits, 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 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. 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. 00:01:40.440 --> 00:01:45.539 We actually did a test where we unplugged and re-plugged it 10,000 times. 00:01:45.539 --> 00:01:49.750 And USB-C held up to the challenge, whereas micro B did not. 00:01:49.750 --> 00:01:53.460 Wow, I never thought a microphone could be so dangerous. 00:01:53.460 --> 00:01:57.900 This is the safety guide. I've never actually read one of these. 00:01:57.900 --> 00:02:02.520 Always include this safety guide when passing the product onto third parties. 00:02:02.520 --> 00:02:08.090 Ah, no way. I was trying to assemble it wrong and they won't let me. 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. 00:02:12.950 --> 00:02:16.200 But the one end of the oval is flattened out. 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. 00:02:21.210 --> 00:02:24.300 For all the linusesses in your life. Don't be a Linus. 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. 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:33.160 So it appears as though the intention is for it to be addressed. 00:02:33.160 --> 00:02:36.680 I'm going to guess the side with the mute button 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:40.100 and the volume knob and not the side with gain 00:02:40.100 --> 00:02:44.660 and pickup pattern. It's got four pickup patterns. So you've got stereo, omni-directional, 00:02:44.660 --> 00:02:49.560 cardioid, and bi-directional. So these are useful for all kinds of different applications. 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 00:02:53.940 --> 00:02:57.520 if you like that kind of sound. You want to block out ambient sound. 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 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 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 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 00:03:16.270 --> 00:03:20.010 a stereo recording, I guess. It doesn't come up very often 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 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 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:33.030 is that there's a headphone Jack. So it's pretty typical for these USB microphones 00:03:33.030 --> 00:03:36.260 to have both an audio input 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. 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. 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. 00:03:49.530 --> 00:03:51.780 I actually hosted Rancho like that for years. 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. 00:03:56.910 --> 00:04:00.180 I'm a bit of a hot boy, like from a, 00:04:00.180 --> 00:04:03.613 like a audio, microphone perspective. I tend to talk really loud. 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. 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. 00:04:15.220 --> 00:04:20.680 But most USB microphones are condensers. And particularly, the ones with adjustable pickup patterns 00:04:20.680 --> 00:04:25.040 are generally condensers. And the main benefit of a condenser is that you get 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:29.030 better frequency response and sort of generally more accurate inputs. 00:04:29.030 --> 00:04:32.190 But it does come at the cost of more background noise. 00:04:32.190 --> 00:04:36.840 Whereas with the dynamic microphone, you got to get real in close and personal with it 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 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 00:04:46.850 --> 00:04:51.560 sounds like on this. Here's omni-directional, hey, David, how's it going? 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:56.600 - [DAVID] Great. - Yup, I can hear you. And then if I flip back to cardioid. 00:04:56.600 --> 00:05:00.463 Whup, that's the wrong dial. There we go, ah, David, how's it going? 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. 00:05:04.450 --> 00:05:08.240 Generally speaking, you shouldn't be rubbing your microphone while you're using it anyway. 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. 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. 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? 00:05:24.140 --> 00:05:27.530 Because you're actually, you're moving around. You're sliding your hands around. 00:05:27.530 --> 00:05:30.610 So, you know, you've got keys going kind of clickety clack. 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 00:05:34.660 --> 00:05:38.870 or just playing a video game, you don't really want omni-directional. 00:05:38.870 --> 00:05:42.810 An omni-directional pickup battle is not really the best. Hello, hello. 00:05:42.810 --> 00:05:46.033 Yep, it's muted, turns red. Subtle, but easy to see. 00:05:47.080 --> 00:05:50.240 There we go, that's back. Based on my experience with it so far, 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:53.510 I would definitely recommend, like, with many microphones, 00:05:53.510 --> 00:05:57.080 the use of a pop filter. You can definitely pick up some breathing and some plosives. 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, 00:06:02.020 --> 00:06:05.600 the EPOS gaming suite microphone. Oh, this is really cool. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:09.030 We can actually see in real time, the profile of my voice. 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. 00:06:16.950 --> 00:06:20.610 You know, that's a higher voice compared to, you know, 00:06:20.610 --> 00:06:24.240 a really bassy man voice. Hi, I'm Batman. 00:06:24.240 --> 00:06:27.570 Yeah, that goes a little lower. Oh, interesting, I had actually noticed 00:06:27.570 --> 00:06:31.310 it didn't have a high pass filter or a low cut built into the microphone. 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? 00:06:37.026 --> 00:06:38.353 - [DAVID] Yeah. - Hello. 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. 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. 00:06:53.980 --> 00:06:57.130 Probably a little too warm, I think, for my tastes. 00:06:57.130 --> 00:07:00.580 Now, we are listening to the clear voice enhancer preset. 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. 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. 00:07:10.620 --> 00:07:15.260 I need to crank the bass. This is the ultimate bass version of my voice. 00:07:15.260 --> 00:07:18.610 You know, Nicki Minaj, this is super bass, super, 00:07:18.610 --> 00:07:23.830 I'm going fishing super bass. This is the ultimate bass version of my voice. 00:07:23.830 --> 00:07:27.903 You know, Nicki Minaj, this is. Yeah, that's intolerable. 00:07:29.810 --> 00:07:33.938 Moving on to noise cancellation. This sounds like a feature where it uses the microphone 00:07:33.938 --> 00:07:37.410 to, you know, get rid of annoying ambient sounds 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 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. 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 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 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. 00:07:58.370 --> 00:08:01.580 But it's up to you. A thing I would typically turn on but. 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. 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. 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. 00:08:16.930 --> 00:08:21.270 Thanks again to EPOS for sponsoring this video and thanks to you guys for watching ShortCircuit. 00:08:22.378 --> 00:08:23.211 Subcribe.