#244 in Computer accessories & peripherals
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Reddit mentions of Blue Snowflake USB Microphone
Sentiment score: 12
Reddit mentions: 25
We found 25 Reddit mentions of Blue Snowflake USB Microphone. Here are the top ones.
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Portable high-quality condenser microphone that lets you capture high-quality audio at any locationUltra-compact design gives you the freedom of pristine sound on the goProprietary digital converter and preampPlug-and-play driverless set-up and performance
Specs:
| Color | blue |
| Height | 2.5 Inches |
| Length | 6.5 Inches |
| Number of items | 1 |
| Release date | April 2008 |
| Size | standart |
| Weight | 0.551155655 Pounds |
| Width | 4.4 Inches |
headphones and separate mic is gonna be the recommendation from most these Sennheisers have given me better sound than any "gaming" headset I've owned (which has been a few...) and are super comfortable. If your budget is around $90 you can easily get a better pair of cans than that and pair it with a ModMic if you're willing to wait a bit for shipping or get the Snowflake from Blue Microphones which is well-reviewed and amazon has fantastic shipping times
If you're still dead-set on a headset I can offer a few recommendations as well
I don't know how much you're willing to spend, but the Blue Snowflake is an absolute beast for the price, and it is especially useful if you have a laptop. The Logitech is slightly cheaper, but half of the quality.
The GoMic (demo) doesn't have the hinge, but has better audio quality (snowflake demo).
Go with your headphone plan and consider the Zalman ZM-MIC1 for the cheap. Or you can try the Blue Snowflake
that's pricier than the Snowball ICE over here ;)
I've had a good bit of success with blue snowflake. I recommend any kind of condenser microphone, though, as that's their purpose.
I can't help you with settings, but I can offer some microphone stuff.
I did a bunch of looking around and reading when I was picking a microphone and headphones. I started looking at gaming headsets, but then came to the conclusion that they're more of a "gimmick," which is to say that they're meh-quality products that sell well due to their "gamer" tag. I saw many instances where mics on them were awful or stopped working pretty fast, so I looked at desk mics. (Note: None of this is my own personal experience. Only the experiences and advice I've gathered from others).
If you really want headphones with a mic attached, I have no personal experience with it, I've seen the antlion modmic suggested on different occasions (which you attach to regular headphones to make a headset). But headset mics, while they can be good, are generally lower in quality than actual mics. (Again, not personal experience).
In the end, I picked up a pair of Sennheiser HD 558 headphones (irrelevant, but why not share) and bought a Blue Microphones: Snowflake USB Microphone.
The Snowflake seems to be a very good mic. Physically, it's small (folds down, and fits in your palm) and made mostly of metal with a little plastic. Function wise, I believe it's Unidirectional, so you need to worry less about surrounding sounds getting caught (unless loud). The only setup I had to do for my mic was plug it in and set it as my primary source for audio input (on the computer, not Overwatch).
I've used my mic in plenty of Overwatch matches and have heard no complaints from my teammates about quality. If I ask, I'm told I sound perfectly fine, and not too loud or quiet. I do not have to hunch over to speak into my mic and be heard clearly. I would definitely recommend it. If you're interested in it, feel free to ask me any more questions about it.
EDIT: I also strongly suggest you go into Overwatch and ask people how you sound while using your mic. Your post suggests you may not have used it yet, but I may be wrong.
This should be posted to r/crazyideas
Why would you not just use a mic? http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012AUHXW/ref=mp_s_a_1_14?qid=1411796534&sr=8-14&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70
If you are looking to spend 100 dollars, you will not get quality regardless of what you choose.
If i 100% needed best bang for buck for both mic and headphones, I'd buy this combo:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW/
http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-429-Headphones-Black/dp/B0065VKQ34/
If you don't care about the microphone, buy the cheapest ass desk mic you can find (probably about 15-20 dollars) and spend some more on the headphones, but they will still not be good headphones even if you add in another 20 bucks.
Personally I run a Blue Yeti which is practically the best USB mic money can buy, with Audio Technica M50:s. The headphones are monitor ones, which means they have very little sound bias (this can be good or bad, if you do even the slightest sound production like I do, you want monitor phones and they work great for gaming and listening to music too so it's not a problem for me that I can't squeeze more bass out for example).
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334510821&sr=8-1
I use this, works great. Very short cable though so you might need a USB extender cable.
Regarding the mic, you could get a VMODA BoomPro to use with compatible headphones, but I actually have started suggesting the Blue Snowflake mic.
 
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-SNOWFLAKE-Snowflake-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW
 
Sounds really good, is Cardioid so its better at not picking up random noise, and its really really small so you can put it on your desk or above monitor no problem
Right. I still need more sleep. My brother has this one. He really likes it and it's just under your max price (if you get a used one).
You could look into the Antlion Mod Mic. They're a little pricey (~ $50 USD) but sound quality is good and it attaches to any set of headphones.
Alternatively, I have a Blue Yeti Snowflake. It uses a usb connection, so I'm not sure how or if it's compatible with console play, but the sound quality is fantastic all the way across the room.
this is a good (and cheap) small mic option that you'll clip on top of the laptop screen
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=ox_sc_act_title_1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&linkCode=sl1&tag=aliqus09-20&linkId=a062dc42c9ab4d8891c3b8c5ba564b0f
it also use USB so you can still have the headphone jack, usb also means better recording quality , just make sure to change your recording device in onenote settings to the external mic
CPU | Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor | $247.94 @ SuperBiiz
CPU Cooler | SilenX EFZ-92HA2 54.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler | $10.98 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $114.99 @ Amazon
Memory | A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $78.59 @ Amazon
Storage | A-Data Premier SP610 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $67.28 @ NCIX US
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $56.98 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX Video Card | $329.99 @ Amazon
Case | NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case | $69.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $44.99 @ NCIX US
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) | $90.26 @ OutletPC
Monitor | Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor | $129.99 @ Best Buy
Keyboard | Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard | $71.98 @ SuperBiiz
Mouse | Logitech G400s Wired Optical Mouse | $47.93 @ Amazon
Headphones | Sennheiser HD 558 Headphones | $119.95 @ Amazon
Other| Blue Snowflake | $38.00 @ Amazon
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $1519.84
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-22 09:32 EDT-0400 |
My short rationale for the chosen products:
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CPU: Intel quad-core, hyperthreaded CPU clocked at 3,4GHz with a boost up to 3,7GHz. This will do awesome in gaming and will help with streaming as well. It's locked so can't overclock it.
CPU Cooler: Because the budget was very tight, I had to use a budget CPU cooler. Now after looking for some reviews I found this one and it was good enough for me. Tempatures are not amazing, but the CPU will not get that hot to begin with, so I am not worried about it at all.
Motherboard: Z97 is the latest chipset from Intel designed for overclocking. Now wait a minute? Overclocking? Yes. I had to get the Z97 chip instead of the H97 (basicly the same chip, but not designed for overclocking) because H97 does not support SLI. Now this motherboard has solid on-board audio and all the features Z97 got. As well 8 USB ports on the back wich 6 of them being 3.0.
Memory: RAM is RAM. The only thing that really mathers is capacity. For gaming, streaming and recording 8GB is enough for now. So I went for a 1x8GB, 1600MHz, CL9 stick from A-Data. Don't worry about 1 stick vs 2 sticks. The performance loss is nothing in your use scenario.
Storage: 128GB SSD, 1TB HDD. The SP610 is an amazing SSD for the price. It can perform better in light workloads then the MX100 or EVO drives wich is amazing. But you will not really notice much difference between this SSD compared to other "faster" drives in your use. 1TB HDD for your data.
Video Card: Now before I say anything else. I would like to have a talk with your trusted friend about overclocking. Especially GPUs these days is so easy and it's very very hard to "kill" the card by overclocking it. So I highly suggest to overclock this card. If you want a nice step by step guide by me personally wich will let you get a nice overclock. I can provide this for you. Now this is an amazing card. I am blown away by Nvidia. Sadly all the GTX 970s are out of stock as of right now. So you have to keep your eyes open. I heard from somebody else that newegg would have them back on Tuesday (not sure if that is today). So I don't know! Here is a very well written review of the EVGA ACX. I highly suggest to have a look at the "overclocking" section.
Case: I went for an amazing looking, but still affordable case from NZXT. The Source 340. Here is the only solid video I could find about this case, but you can see that it's a pretty awesome for the price. Very clean; especially with the PSU cover meaning most of your cables will be hidden very well. I skipped the intro because she just went over another item that I did not include into the build.
Power Supply: 5 year warrenty, 80+ bronze, semi modular fully black sleeved cables, 750W PSU made by EVGA. Amazing PSU for the price. 5 year warrenty, wich is amazing. Means that they used very solid components and this shows in the testing of this PSU. Very stable power all around. It as well looks very clean. The only downside is the fan, wich can get slightly on the louder side. But because this PSU is fairly well covered away by the PSU cover it should help with that.
OS: Windows 8.1 as asked for.
Monitor: 1920x1080, 60hz, 5ms, IPS monitor from Acer. Now I will instantly tell you something about "ms". Almost all the numbers that are marketed are wrong. I have myself a korean 1440p monitor that is marketed at 8ms. But in reality is 13ms. Does this mean I lose an edge in high level competitive gaming? I don't think so. A higher MS on a monitor really only will cause motion blur, wich means that when you move quickly from left to right or up and down. The frames aren't yet correctly on the screen. Causing a "blurry" effect. Wich is somethig that is noticeable if you pay very close attention to it, but I personally have not even seen it yet on my monitor. Now, it's an IPS monitor instead of TN. Wich is just so beautiful. You will probably never want to go back to TN after you got an IPS panel. Here is a unboxing and first look from Linus. That ends weirdly! ^^
Keyboard: Since you wanted cherry MX blues I went for this keyboard instead. Very solidly build wich is in my opinion a very big factor tenkeyless keyboard from CoolerMaster. This will make you sit in a more natural position wich will help you in the long term.
Mouse: I had to go down with the price.. so I can suggest the G400s. I have it myself and I love it. It's based of the very popular MX518 wich was an amazing mouse back in the days.
Headphones: This is the beauty wich I did not want to cut down at all. It's an amazing value for what you get. Head-fi is a well regarded forum with fair and solid reviews on a lot of good or bad quality headphones. Here are reviews from just normal people who review it in short and tell you their experience. I can give you a in-depth review as well if you want. But I hopefully got you sold on this headphone by now.
Microphone: So budget was cutting it close, but this is as low as I wanted to go for a microphone. There are way cheaper options out there, but they all had mixed reviews, for some they worked amazing, for others they were crap. So I did not wanted to risk that and went for a solid but budget friendly microphone from Blue. Here is a very nice review - he did unbox it as well if you want to see it.
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###Hope you like it and If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Pretty small for boom arms, but the only other option for a discreet mic is something like Mod Mic or a Lavalier microphone .
Unless you don't mind the desk noise that may happen with it on a surface, many do come with stands you can put on your desk anyway. Blue has a mic called the Snowflake more of on the go laptop usage, but is pretty high quality and is very small.
To be honest i dont. :S I use a really generic one i got at walmart for something like $20 and my friends say it sounds good. But people on reddit love the "Blue" mics . For example this is $40 http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW/ref=sr_1_4?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1420333153&sr=1-4&keywords=blue+yeti
These are meant to be excellent, but they're not the cheapest things
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1279117016&sr=8-1
If you want something cheap, does it really matter? You can even use one ear of your headphones if you need a mic that bad.
That snap-on mic that you can attach to any set of cans is supposed to be good. I personally run ATH-M50x + Blue snowflake. I've had no problems with either, short of the problems that all desk mics have.
So I woke up and these are the links to the videos and some pointers and what not.
ALL LINKS IN THE BOTTOM
Here is the first video for 150 dollars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dj5G0isn9Y
These are the 50 dollar headphones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fD-M1F6L4g
These are the really high end for 200-1000 dollar sets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgTnJ3JQQ0E
Open vs Closed
Closed
Closed which is what I use right now but am looking to get an open pair for 150 bucks. Now closed is where the sound outside your headphones do not come in, as much. Now some are completely noise cancelling then others and some you can still hear but not too well. It has a less of a sound stage so it is harder to know where somethings is by hearing it.
Open
Open is where the vibrator (forgot the name) is directly exposed with little noise cancelling materiel and sometimes none. The offer a much larger sound stage where you can tell where hostiles are, where the birds are, tanks, etc. They also are much better sounding. However, if you live in a loud place with a lot of things going on, get closed. Open also allows for people to hear what you listen to, from 2 or 3 feet away but not behind a closed door.
Microphones
One of the things that you need to be weary about is desktop mics. They are good sounding, great everything. However if you have a small desk get an attachable arm. If you have a mechanical keyboard or hit your table a lot get an arm. But arms can be expensive 20-40 dollars or even more. The solution is getting a Antlion Modmic 4.0 for 40 bucks, great sound, nice and clear and noise cancelling so it won't pickup outside noise. Desktop mics I'd get is a Blue Yeti, Snowball, Audio Technica 2020 is also great, Snowflake microphone, etc.
Ad-dons for audio
So if you want to get better audio, louder, etc. Get an AMP/DAC mix. They are a DAC/AMP connecting VIA USB plug to the PC and then the headphones connect to the DAC with a quarter inch with some 3.5mm connectors but not recommended. These offer a much better experience but at a cost for 80-200 dollars for good ones. Some pads too add bass or take away from treble, mids or bass or add to. But not that much but it is always great to get better pads then stock ones on some stuff for more comfortable wearing.
Headphones
Probably why you are here reading this. Now if you have 80-100 dollars here are my recommendations
Takstar HI 2050 open back headphones and a modmic 4.0 come in at just 100 dollars, they are great headphones. VERY comfy pads from Bererdynamic, honestly I don't know how they aren't losing money they sound like 200 dollar headphones.
Superlux 668B's they are good headphones, they sound high end, are very tough, etc. However they are semi-open and have a fairly large sound stage. My biggest 2 problems are, they are very treble heavy and uncomfortable for larger heads and ears. If I got these I'd need the velour ear pads Amazons sells for them because the stock are hard plastic. The other problem is they aren't very big either and I have a very large ear and head so they is a minus for me. Which is why I love the Takstar HI2050's.
Now if you want to drop more money then get these AKG Q701's which are VERY open. They offer the largest sound stage in the price bracket and more then almost all 500+ headphones. They are very comfy and big for big ears. Very good sound.
For some alternatives in that price bracket for open are DT 990's pros for 150 dollars, they are a bit treble heavy but still are very great. They are 150 on Amazon for the 250 OHM one which can be used in quarter inch and 3.5mm plugs by unscrewing the quarter inch adapter. They have very deep ear pads and very comfy ones too.
Now if you want closed for 30 bucks and still good audio get these Monoprice 108323. Now these earpads aren't very good IMO so I'd get Brainwavz replacement pads for 20 dollars. They are deep, comfy and overall nice. Sound I don't know too much about but they still beat gaming headsets.
For the last pair of closed backs I can think of are DT 770s, bass heavy, VERY big headphones from Beyerdynamic and overall good but not a good sound stage get these for 170 on Amazon.
Another honourable mention is Audio Technica M50x's, they are ok. Better then gaming headsets but don't offer much compared to 990's or 701's but still good. They are 160 I believe.
Now get a modmic or whatever mic you want with these, I'd get a desktop mic w/ arm personally but modmic is nice.
Links
Make sure to look at reviews.
Feel free to ask any questions too.
How about the Blue Snowflake? It is a bit small but should sit on a desk fine. Or a CAD U1.
Blue snowflake!
Hmm idk about $20, but you can certainly buy a Blue Snowflake:
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467683042&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+snowflake
or something like a Samson Go Mic:
https://www.amazon.com/Samson-Mic-Portable-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B001R76D42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467683100&sr=8-1&keywords=samson+mic
Oh sorry-Here is the link to the http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW
Don't you know Z-brush? ...Its essentially a 3D sculpting tool for modeling your objects/models. It offers better control than Maya or Blender, but it can't rig objects or animate them so its kinda like an addon, but you export your file to your animation software of choice. Unless you have
a) Had training in Maya/Use it for work or university
b) Bought a license
I'd go with blender. Even if you have familiarity with Maya. There is a nice preset that switches the key binding to the ones in Maya, and you can publish your work with out a license. Unlike Maya where you have to buy one. (If you have the student edition that won't cut it-go read the terms of service, and I think they also have a watermark)
Sorry, can't really say but my guess is they'd be better since they are larger, dedicated microphones.
EDIT: also I forgot that the Audio Technica Mic is ~$150 so here a few other sub $50 mics:
http://www.amazon.com/CAD-U37-Condenser-Recording-Microphone/dp/B001AIQGUO/
http://www.amazon.com/Samson-Mic-Portable-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B001R76D42/
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Snowflake-USB-Microphone/dp/B0012AUHXW
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-ECMCS3-Omnidirectional-Stereo-Microphone/dp/B0058MJX4O/
Fairly generic question. My current desktop microphone broke so I am looking to replace it. My biggest concern is how it will pick up my mechanical keyboard "clicks".
I was looking into the Blue Snowflake or the Blue Snowball but those are just ones I've seen suggested elsewhere. I am open to about any setup.
Any suggestions?