Sound Tech GN-USB-2 18 Inch Professional Uni-Direction Noise Canceling Gooseneck Stereo Microphone with 10 FT USB Cord

Once I figured out a significant technical issue with the help of the seller's product support team (who thought you could even find such an animal today?), this product has worked quite well with my Dragon professional version 15. I'm using it now in fact dictating from approximately 8 inches away in an office with some minor background air conditioning noise and an open door to the hallway with a few people talking outside. When I first plugged it in I could not figure out why the mute button failed to activate or inactivate the dictation. I had to use the Dragon toolbar. And things were not working quite as well as I had hoped. But the support technician raised the possibility another audio device was running in the background. I knew I had inactivated my original USB headphone (a pretty good one). But it turns out the laptop's built-in audio (for built-in video or whatever) was still activated. I think what was happening was Dragon was using it rather than the microphone. Since I have deactivated the onboard audio the microphone is worked fine and the mute button mutes and un-mutes perfectly well. I like the bright red button because it reminds me when someone walks in my office to turn off the microphone so I don't dictate our conversation into the document I am drafting. All and all I am very happy. My previous wired headset had worked fine but it was cumbersome to use. I had to take it off or remember to use the Dragon toolbar to turn off the system any time someone walked in to my office or I got a phone call. Which happens dozens of times a day. Hitting the mute button on this microphone is much easier. And as far as I can tell the sound quality and accuracy of the dictation is at least as good as with my $225 headset.

I use this with Dragon Naturally Speaking 15. It works pretty good and is more cost effective than some of the other "high end" table mics people recommend for speech to text. I read 1000 words to test it and got about 99% accuracy. I think I was with in 4" when I did that. A few of the mistakes were my fault. It works best when you are close (like 4-8" away). I've found it can still function alright up to 3 get away but loses some accuracy. Do note that since I was conscious of the fact that I was testing the mic I paid more than the usual attention to my enunciation. In daily use I'm less precise so the real world accuracy is lower (though I wouldn't say that that is the mics fault). I would not recommend this for voice calls as it sounds subpar unless you are directly on top of it. It also has some static noise when on high sensitivity (which I assume dragon algorithmically filters out so it's a non issue for speech to text). Additionally this mic would not work in a noisy environment as it picks up background noise relatively easily. I've been using it in my room as I've been working from home due to COVID. The mic length is good and will work for most people. In retrospect I wish I had purchased a table mic with an adjustable length mic so I could make it longer when I sit back in my chair but the ones that I looked at that had that feature were a lot more expensive. In all fairness I don't have another table mic to compare this to but I'm satisfied with my 99% accuracy for under $100.

decent mic for my dragon dictation software. a bit glitchy for sensitivity but overall, for the price, works fine

Bought it to use with "Dragon Medical Embedded in Meditech". Works well. I have objectively tested it and found it practically on par with PowerMic III in terms of recognition - if used close to mouth and not as a "far field thing". That might be due to the fact that my voice is husky. It actually sounds way better (to human ears) than PowerMic III. However, PowerMic III is "very hot" if you listen to it - perhaps artificially so enhanced as to "optimize its use in the streaming environment" (purely my guess). Dragon Medical Embedded is basically 100% "Cloud Dragon" with 1.4 Mb/s upload-streaming, i.e., no local processing at all, as opposed to MModal or DMO that I believe still do some data compression on local machines. Can't comment on its use as a gaming accessory (Amazon requested a rating on that) ... like I have time for gaming. However, based on how my recorded voice sounds, this gooseneck would be perfectly fine for PC telephony/general communication in a way PowerMic III will never be (which sounds way too distorted). By the way, it seems to be quite solidly constructed although I haven't had the time to put it through the wringer.

When it is working, it is fine. But after only 4 weeks of gentle use, the mic started dying. First the gain began to fade and my voice was not being picked up as well. Then it became extremely static-y. I think what happen is the internal wire must have gotten damage from the repetitive bending at the neck of the microphone. I tried to contact the seller, but no response. It is going in the trash. I just bought the Blue Yeti and hope that works out better than this piece of crap. I was using this microphone to dictate medical notes. Too bad it didn't work out. Don't waste your money. Just invest in something tried and true.

The build and sound quality are very good on my Mac mini. No setup, just plug it in and go; solid, heavy metal base; goose neck has two convenient bend point. My complaint is the mute button. I like that it is not a momentary unmute, you press it once and it stays on. However, the button is a soft press toggle, not a dedicated on and off position. Therefore, the computer is able to unmute the mic itself without physical manipulation. So anytime my computer wakes, the mic turns on. If I open a multimedia app, the mic turns on. If I open Discord chat, the mic turns on. I would like to be able to force it into mute without the computer having the power to make it hot as it pleases. As is, I just have to unplug it at the base to truly force it into mute.

Everything about the microphone was amazing except for one thing. The recording dropped out a few times and I'm wondering whether it was due to having to use a dongle to connect to my MacBook Pro which only has a USB C port.