Antlion ModMic Wireless review: One step closer to the ideal ModMic - deguzmanhatly1954

Antlion's ModMic line e'er appealed to Maine in possibility. Forget buying a gaming headset of questionable repute. Acquire a high-remnant pair of headphones instead—perdition, maybe you already consume that—so merely affix a microphone to the side. My inner audiophile rejoiced at the idea.

But I found the past-current ModMic 5 a little awkward when I reviewed it in 2018. Depict it: You're already using wired headphones, and then you need to run a second, classify wire from the ModMic itself to your PC. It was kludgy, even with the cable sheaths Ant lion included to bind the deuce wires together—a prototype much a product.

Enter the ModMic Wireless. It seems so apparent, right-handed? If cabling is the problem, simply eliminate one of the cables. Could Antlion solve the trouble so easy though? I recently exhausted some clock with the ModMic Wireless to discover out.

Putt in the work

ModMic installation is still as disagreeable American Samoa ever. Remember, the ModMics are designed to riding horse on any pair of headphones. That means adhesive, in the form of 3M tape. You desquamate the backup, eyeball where you want the microphone to rest, and then affix it.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

It feels permanent. It's scary. Equivalent last time, I definite to use my Sennheiser HD 280s, which aren't straight-grained that expensive. They're $100 studio headphones I've had for nearly a decade now. Even so, it's unnerving to draw such a drastic—and admittedly somewhat ugly—modification. I can't straight-grained imagine doing this with some $1,200 ZMFs or what have you.

Actually, I can imagine IT, and I don't recommend it.

Assuming you take in some headphones that are nice-but-not-too-pleasant though, the ample news is the ModMic is more "semi-permanent." What you're actually affixing to your headphones is a olive-sized magnetic magnetic disc. IT's still a bit of an eyesore, just the rest of the ModMic, the genuine mass of the device including the mike and control building block, detaches.

That's essential, really. If you're victimisation a ModMic, chances are it's because you have a pair of headphones you love. You love them so much, you can't bear the thought of victimization a gaming headset, even for the added convenience. IT follows that you'd wish to suppress using those headphones outside the house, and beingness able to remove (most of) the ModMic makes that possible.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

And the ModMic Wireless is infinitely easier to remove than its predecessor. Once I'd attached the ModMic 5, I basically left-handed it in situ. Removing it entailed undoing all the cable television service sheaths, untangling the two cables inner, then detaching the actual ModMic itself. Information technology wasn't worth the effort. But the ModMic Wireless? It just pops off and on. Easy.

My only charge about installation is that I matte up "forced" to bash so happening the mighty earcup. Why? Because doing so meant the MicroUSB charging port was properly oriented facing down. You could mount the ModMic Radiocommunication on the left, and I wanted to execute thusly because that's the standard for most (if not entirely) gaming headsets, but it leaves that port pointing into the sky, which is…unusual.

At any rate, once it's mounted it's fairly easy to get the ModMic Wireless mated up. Plug the USB dongle into your Personal computer, and so information technology's as easy as holding down the button on the dongle and happening the ModMic itself to set them searching.

And that was it! I can't stress enough how much simpler the ModMic Wireless installation was versus the ModMic 5. The kit even included a second rivet, so you could theoretically transfer the ModMic Tune 'tween 2 pairs of headphones—something I never would've done with the ModMic 5.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Unruffled, there are some drawbacks. Expiration wireless definitely improves the ModMic experience boilers suit, but IT does mean you're battery-reliant. Antlion claims you'll come 12 hours of battery from the ModMic Wireless, which should be enough for even a long day of consecutive Zoom calls and gambling. It's one much gimmick you require to remember to flush though, or else you're back to two cables suspension from your headphones.

I too wish the ModMic Wireless was smarter about powering down. It'll do thus mechanically if the receiver loses power (i.e. you put your computer to sleep) just otherwise you need to remember to manually turn IT off when you'Ra through with talking.

The ModMic Wireless likewise includes status LEDs on both the mike unit and the USB receiver. Blue agency the ModMic is adjunctive, red means it's muted, and yellow means it's charging. Problem is, the placement of these LEDs is awkward. The three along the ModMic itself are arrayed on the outside, meaning when you have the headset along you sack't see them. This is especially knotty in the slip of the reddened "Mute" indicator.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

Antlion's result is to direct your regard at the USB receiver. That deeds fine along most laptops, but on a screen background? A long-term peripheral like this, I desire to put the pass catcher on the rearmost of my tower, except then you can't see the lights. Antlion includes a USB extension phone cable, so you can either plunk that happening your desk someplace in view surgery clear place on your front I/O. Neither's a perfective solution, in my opinion—but hey, leastwise it's cleaner than the ModMic 5's in-line mute on/off switch.

The last run into the ModMic Wireless is that the sound is less impressive than with the ModMic 5. In that location's a Leontyne Price to pay for leaving wireless, even when you'atomic number 75 exit made-for-audio-snobs wireless.

You still get two microphones hither, a cardioid pickup for noisy environments and an omnidirectional mike for higher-quality recordings. When you A/B exam with the ModMic 5 though, the ModMic Wireless dishes up a thinner and many nasally sound than its wired sibling connected both settings. This is not a microphone I'd desire to record music with surgery plane a sedate podcast.

That's solitary disappointing coming from the ModMic 5 though. If you're approaching from a standard gaming headset, especially a wireless gaming headset? The ModMic Wireless by all odds sounds warmer and more flattering than (for illustration) the HyperX Cloud Flight S surgery Astro A50.

IDG / Hayden Dingman

I supposition the question is whether "better than a play headset" is enough to justify the ModMic Wireless's $120 price. If you'ray loving with a taxon brace of altissimo-end headphones, the answer is potentially yes—but the ModMic Wireless won't pull double-duty as a podcast mike or anything like the (significantly cheaper) ModMic 5.

Bottom line

Price is the only reason to pass on the ModMic 5 any circumstance though—and even then, I'd shut up choose for the Wireless. Sure, the ModMic Wireless still isn't nearly as convenient nor as elegant as a headset with a built-in microphone. It's a "hack," a workaround designed for a passionate niche of audiophiles. But the ModMic Wireless does what IT claims, and does it with a nether region of very much less fuss than the original wired ModMic. This is the closest Antlion's ever come to its destination.

I stock-still think a proper play headset is plausibly a amend investment. As I said, the ModMic Wireless is $120 on its own, more expensive than the HyperX Cloud Alpha and almost American Samoa much As Logitech's G Pro X and G533—and that's before you ingredien in the cost of headphones. (See our roundup of PC gaming headsets for our top recommendations in the least Leontyne Price levels.) But if you're determined to wane the audiophile rabbit cakehole, the ModMic Wireless is your best option by FAR.

Just be warned, it's a deep rabbit hole.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/393203/antlion-modmic-wireless-review.html

Posted by: deguzmanhatly1954.blogspot.com

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