If you plan to use your speech recognition software with some regularity, but aren't depending upon it at work or as you write your novel, you will likely appreciate the increase in accuracy seen with the following relatively inexpensive and higher quality microphones.
| Microphone | MSRP | Accuracy | Noise Cancellation | Durability | Warranty | Overall Rating |
| Andrea ANC-700 | $69.95 |  |
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1 year | |
| Andrea ANC-750 | $79.95 | |
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1-Year | |
| Radio Shack Sennheiser Knock Off | $49.95 |  |
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90-days | |
| VXI TalkPro UC1 | $149 |
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2-year | |
| VXI TalkPro UC2 | $159 | |
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2-year | |
| VXI TalkPro UC3 | $155 | |
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2-year | |
The Andrea ANC 700 and 750 microphones are identical except that the ANC-700 is a monaural headset (speaker on just one ear) and the ANC-750 is binaural (speaker for each ear). Both employ an "active noise canceling" process to reduce the influence of ambient noise. As Andrea Electronics puts it "At the heart of the Andrea ANC technology is a pair of matched omni-directional microphone elements positioned to optimize noise cancellation and capitalize upon their directional frequency independent characteristics." Neither include a USB sound adapter. It is important to know that when used with Dragon NaturallySpeaking the signal:noise ratio may be slightly less with these microphones but this is a byproduct of the noise canceling process and is not an indication of reduced performance. To read more about the noise canceling process employed by these Andrea microphones, read Andrea Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) Microphone Technology, a white paper provided by Andrea Electronics. We consider these to be strong performing microphones and very reasonably priced. Added performance may be realized when utilizing them in conjunction with an andrea USB sound adapter rather than your PC's internal sound card.
An important thing to realize about these microphones is that they require a bit more power than most microphones, in order to drive the noise cancelation circuitry. As a result a rare on-board sound card will not provide enough power for these. If this is the case, you can use either the Andrea APS-100 power adapter to boost the voltage, or (preferably) use these microphones with any of the commonly sold external USB sound cards.
Overall Rating:
Warranty: 1 year
Andrea ANC-700 |
Andrea ANC-750 |
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VXI released a series of microphones to replace their workhorse TalkPro USB 100 and 200 series microphones. VXI Corp. is known for creating excellent microphones for use with speech recognition and these new microphones are no exception. All three products in this series are Unified Communications (UC) ready, include USB sound cards with digital sound processing (DSP). Being Unified Communications ready means that these mics are intended for use in a variety of settings, including speech recognition, internet telephony, web conferencing, etc.
This series includes the following:
Overall Rating:
Warranty: 2-years
VXI TalkPro UC1: This is the simplest of the 3 microphones in this series, but performs identically to the others in all applications.
Features:
VXI TalkPro UC1
MSRP: $149
Learn more
VXI TalkPro UC2
This microphone is similar to the UC1, but includes two speakers.
Features:
VXI TalkPro UC2
MSRP: $159
Learn more
VXI TalkPro UC3: This is similar in function to the TalkPro UC1, but includes 3 wearing styles as shown in the image to the right.
Features:
VXI TalkPro UC3
MSRP: $155
Learn more
This microphone is a somewhat difficult microphone to categorize. The term "Sennheiser Knock Off" is not the Radio Shack term for the microphone, but rather a term coined within the speech recognition community because of its outward similarity to the Sennheiser ME3. This microphone has headband system virtually identical to the Sennheiser ME3 and like the ME3 does not include speakers. While it uses a different microphone element than its namesake, it enjoys surprising good accuracy and noise canceling abilities, almost, but not quite at the level of the considerably more expensive Sennheiser microphone. In our opinion, this microphone is clearly a step above the Andrea and VXI microphones in this category in terms of performance. So what's the problem with this microphone? Here are the issues:
On the positive side, this microphone comes with a long cord and is wired ready for use with a PC and does not need to be used in conjunction with a USB sound adapter (a good idea nonetheless but a necessity with the Sennheiser ME3).
Our take on this microphone? For $49 bucks it's a steal. But if you need the performance, you're better off buy the "real thing" - the Sennheiser ME3.
Special Note: Radio shack has changed their source for this microphone. Although it still carries the same product number, it is a different microphone and does not include the high quality element the previous version carried. The version carried at this site and at Knowbrainer.com is the standard, high quality microphone. Be careful about obtaining this microphone from Radio Shack.
Overall rating:
Warranty: 90 days
Radio Shack "Sennheiser Knock-Off"
MSRP:
$49.95
Learn more about the Radio Shack "Sennheiser ME3 Knockoff" ...
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