Commercial Integrator February 2022 - 14

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
13 USB Microphones that Improve
WFH Conferencing Quality
These products represent an affordable way to upgrade the quality of WFH conferencing sessions.
By Robert Archer
ROUGHLY TWO YEARS AGO, the terms
" work from home " (WFH) and " hybrid
workplace " were not part of most workers'
everyday lexicon.
Having gone through the first wave of
the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 - and
now the latest wave of COVID-19 fueled by
the potent delta variant and the omicron
variant (spreading pervasively at the time
of this writing) - most employed Americans
are now permanently on either WFH
or hybrid schedules.
As the public grows more comfortable
with WFH - and likely more frustrated
by many of its limitations - people
are now facing the realization that they
must improve their WFH setups through
investments in new, home-office-friendly
technologies.
The most obvious place to start home
upgrades is with the network. Regardless
of whether you're an integrator in the
commercial market or an integrator in the
residential market, you're probably now
servicing clients who do business in home
environments. A good-quality conferencing
experience begins and ends with the
ability of the network to support increases
in activities.
Once the network is addressed, integrators
can look at affordable devices like
web cameras and microphones. When
someone is looking to improve the WFH
conferencing experience and must prioritize
their investments, the next logical step
is to get a quality microphone. After all,
today's generation of computers integrate
web cameras that are good enough to be
used until other aspects of conferencing
have been addressed.
Diving into the burgeoning USB microphone
category, these products are
readily available and designed as turnkey
solutions to utilize as upgrades for WFH
conferencing systems, as well as for music
recording and podcasting from home.
14
With a large percentage of American workers either fully remote or working a
hybrid schedule, it has become essential for them to obtain high-quality, but
affordable microphones for conferencing.
USB microphones are available at a
range of price points; they run from approximately
$50 to a few hundred dollars.
They provide features that include headphone
inputs (to monitor audio) and audio
volume controls. They also offer selectable
polar patterns (the way the microphone
picks up audio) and gain (the ability to
increase the level of the audio signal).
In addition to all these features, the category
is now offering a growing selection of
microphone types. These include tabletop
models, lavaliers and microphones that are
stand mountable.
On the opposite page, we look at
some popular USB microphones that are
Commercial Integrator FEBRUARY 2022
currently available. We spotlight 13
USB microphones best suited to WFH
applications.
AKG Ara
Available for less than
$100, the Ara offers a
selectable polar pattern
that lets users choose
between front or front
and back. The Ara also
provides a headphone
input and a volume
control. AKG.com
commercialintegrator.com
SYDA PRODUCTIONS/STOCK.ADOBE.COM

http://www.AKG.com http://www.commercialintegrator.com

Commercial Integrator February 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Integrator February 2022