Gadgetory

what's up gas yeah sure so if you've been alive for a while you know the world is a messed up place riddled with war disease famine and here in America gaming headsets somehow I have found the solutions to all of these epidemics but let's tackle the big one first shall we gaming headsets need to get their together how is it possible that such an oversaturated market can have so few compelling options to their credit more solid contenders have begun to emerge but in recent years the popular remedy for the dearth of options in this market was to grab a pair of quality headphones granted that probably cost a lot less than a gaming headset with the same sound quality and slap on a mod mic a modular microphone that could be fixed to any pair of cants what a lovely idea from the team at antlion audio it's a solution that I've been using daily since 2014 with their 4.0 model clipped to my beyerdynamic DT 880 pros but that all changes today with the release of their latest revision the mod mic 5.0 whoever's in charge of naming these products you're doing a great job so after years of extensive listening to user feedback the new mod mic arrives in the zip-up hardshell case and carries over all the familiar features of its predecessor backed by some nice additions and improvements the mounting system still includes two base clasps with a strong adhesive backing that fixes to the outer ear cup of your headphones naturally the flatter the mounting surface the stronger the bond though I had no problem hugging the voluptuous curves of my AKG k7 x-axis by the power of magnetism the boom mic snaps firmly onto the clasp with its own connecting clasp that can be reversed if you wish to mount the mic on the other ear cup once attached notches in the clasp allow you to swing the boom up and away when not in use and powerful magnets ensure the mic never gets derailed in the process to my surprise the new boom pole is almost as flexible as cinnamon nice girl but never did find out what she did for a living there's a new stiffness here that keeps the boom frozen in place long after it's been molded for optimal positioning and that's pretty cool apart from a foam pop filter the microphone itself now features a module for switching between pickup patterns omnidirectional which provides a bit more clarity in controlled environments and unidirectional to avoid broadcasting every little detail to the interweb hey honey did you try the hemorrhoid cream I bought you I'm streaming this which has great feedback to cue you in when you change positions and size and placement make switching on-the-fly easy for both left and right side mic orientation now with the old model I had two major complaints the first was that obnoxious never-ending cable I've seen communication devices with wires that long before but those were called telephones fortunately this issue has been resolved and replaced by a modular cabling system with detachable 3.5 millimeter cables in one and 2 meter varieties choose the link that suits your needs and significantly reduce the amount of cable clutter they've also included a modular mute switch that's entirely optional like the pickup pattern switch this one is well sized well placed and features good click eNOS and tactility another huge factor that makes this modular system work so well is that all the 3.5 milimeter connections have an outstanding bite to them to keep the device from literally falling apart during a game now moving on to the second thing that I learned to loathe about the old mod mic and this is one area where headsets get huge points was that it added a second cable to your headgear and no matter the preventative measures put into place you would inevitably be left with this now antlion provides two different tools to help keep your cables in order unless of course your headphones have a coiled cable then you're out of luck the cable clips are exactly what they sound like and you get ten of them to aid in cable management while effective it's not the prettiest solution and that's where the foreskin comes in wrapping your cables with this sleeping jacket helps prevent snags and really cleans up the overall look of your hack job headset but it requires some effort to use due to the wraps incredibly stubborn form-fitted shape whether you employ this sleeve or not will largely depend on how often you need to separate your mic and headphone completely as I doubt most will want to go through this process often you get two meters of this leaving stuff that can easily be cut down to size with a pair of scissors which immediately starts a fraying frenzy but if you've ever sleeved your own PC cables you probably already know to snip off any stragglers before sealing the weave via some light touches with a small flame and remember kids just apart from some key design revamps the mic also gets a slight bump in sound quality but already sounded pretty darn good with my unidirectional 4.0 unit now sounds louder and clearer with a touch more warmth these qualities are even improved a smidge further with the 5.0 's on the directional setting noise cancellation with uni is more or less the same as it was on that note let's kick it to a sound test with the mod mic plugged directly into the 3.5 millimeter jack on my Panasonic Lumix gh4 how's it going guys this is a test with the antlion mod mic 4.0 this is the unidirectional version alright guys this is test number 2 with the mod mic 5.0 this is the newest version of the microphone alright I have just switched over the mod mic 5.0 to the omnidirectional setting now with the switch that's on the microphone itself so maybe now I'll sound a little bit more clear maybe there's now that test wasn't completely useless but chances are you'll be using the mod mic to chat with friends online not recording audio to your mirrorless camera or DSLR so here's what I sound like to someone on the other side through the discord team speaking act check one two this is a test using the mod mic 4.0 this is the older version of the mod mic this is the unidirectional version of that particular microphone this is a mic test with the mod mic 5.0 we are now using the unidirectional pickup pattern hopefully this introduces a little bit less ambient noise check one two testing one two three this is a test with the mod mic 5.0 with the omnidirectional pickup pattern let me know how I sound check one two how's it going everyone the 4.0 sounds especially tinny in this test with the 5.0 sounding warmer and clearer especially with omnidirectional pickup plugging into the rear i/o of my x99 sabertooth definitely introduced some emi feedback regardless of microphone or pickup pattern my friends in discord who i conducted a blind sound test on said the 4.0 actually produced slightly less feedback than the vibe though this may have been a detail that would have gone unnoticed had they not been actively listening for differences in the end they assured me that for general teamspeak use both mic sounded perfectly fine overall routing things out here the last change that comes with the new mod mic is pricing at the time of filming this video the 5.0 retails for 70 bucks a steep 40 percent hike over the last model one of the best things about the 4 I know is that it was affordable which made it an easy buy but this higher price point creates a new tier for gamers who can dish out the extra dough for all the bells and whistles while I'm definitely not in love with the MSRP the 5.0 is for the most part the modular mic we've been waiting for and certainly the one I'll be using for my voice chatting needs from here on out that's gonna do it for now guys let me know what you think of this thing in the comments I'm curious to hear y'all thoughts y'all's y'all's his thoughts is also feel free to share with the class what hardware you currently used for voice chatting before you guys go you know what to do does be alike got in the video if you enjoyed it and also check out my store which is now stocked full with new clothes badass mugs and retro tallboy glasses for your drinking pleasure as always I'm oh then what thank you guys for watching subscribe to the channel if you haven't already and I'll see y'all in the next video I'm streaming haha are you serious right now I'm streaming my now you got me laughing I'm streaming you suck you really you know I'm just gonna put on a tripod because a tripod won't rub