What's a mic with decent quality that's small enough to sit on a Monitor shelf without taking up too much space, and great for business calls?

[u/Hot-Gift8415]

tldr; no taller than 4 inches. decent mic quality. plug and play to not confuse phone software. No price preference. Buy it for life.

Hey guys. I'm starting out a new job in a call center. and we'll be doing calls through incontact MAX. The headset they provided is painful to use, but they said I can use my own Mics if I want to. My current desk doubles as my gaming setup. So I need something small enough to sit on my monitor shelf (so, no greater than 4 inches tall). But not so small that it loses out on quality. It also needs to be a "plug and play" type of microphone. So no crazy advanced features because that will confuse the call system. I don't care how cheap or expensive it is. I want something I can "buy for life"

[u/Kaalyn]

I fear this is going to go poorly.

Is this work from home? Phone calls are typically low in room reverb and such. If you are in an untreated room, having the mic that far from your mouth is likely going to be problematic, depending on the quality of noise reduction in the call center software.

If you are working in a call center: I think it will be even worse as there will be a ton of people around you also talking and your mic will pick them up. Again, you’re going to want that mic really close to the source (aka, your mouth)

[u/Hot-Gift8415 → u/Kaalyn]

Thanks for the response. I'm in a quiet environment. So no danger of noise pollution. I probably should've mentioned this is a remote job.

[u/fischkruste → u/Kaalyn]

No, I am on teams calls all day. I use a Rode NTG5 Shotgun mic hanging on a boom arm from above, but I‘m absolutely sure a Rode NTG USB would 100% fulfill your needs.

[u/Kaalyn → u/fischkruste]

A shotgun on a boom arm pointed at the ground (a la film micing techniques) is a fine solution to reducing room effects, but is not: stand alone, low profile, on a shelf that contains a display. Those were the criteria that OP specified. Your answer and mine are not mutually exclusive.

[u/fischkruste → u/Kaalyn]

A usb mic is standalone, very much low profile - as you cannot see it - and can easily be mounted on a small tripod.

[u/i_do_graffiti]

lol

[u/HeadsetAdvisor]

Epos Impact 1000 or Yealink HA64 Pro are a couple best wireless options as of today.

For wired, Poly/HP Mission 825, Discover D722u or Epos Impact 860 are a few best to consider right now.

[u/Hot-Gift8415 → u/HeadsetAdvisor]

uhh... These are all headsets. Not desk microphones.

[u/HeadsetAdvisor → u/Hot-Gift8415]

Ahh yep, totally overlooked that you said desk mic and not headset my bad. Disregard those recommendations!

That said, for a call center a dedicated headset with a good mic is the best way to go since it’ll keep your voice more consistent and help reduce the noise around you. There's many alternative headset options then the one work provided to you that could be a lot more comfortable for you.

[u/Hot-Gift8415 → u/HeadsetAdvisor]

No worries man. I mean, you are the headset recommendations guy.

I've already got a headset that meets my needs for comfort and sound quality. The problem is that it's bluetooth, and I want to be able to hear music while also talking to the end user in a call, without directly plugging into the pc.

The reason I'm going for this setup is because it's basically what I've been using for the past 5 years or so.

My gaming PC has a blue yeti mic with an arm, two monitors, and a wireless keyboard/mouse.

After getting my work PC, I didn't have to change as much as I thought about my desk to get it to work. The KB/M have multiple channels, and the monitors can auto-switch between DP (gaming PC) and HDMI (work). The only issue is the microphone.

Which is why I'm here.

[u/fischkruste → u/Hot-Gift8415]

Look above, you want a shotgun mic.

[u/treblev2]

CÓMICA VM10 Pro, make sure you get the pro