BY-GM18

Packaging was in okay shape. The item itself actually did not fit well in its packaging. Caused a lump and was hard to pull out of it. The Microphone itself was tested and using the test feature on my laptop and also tested out in a live meeting with other people and they heard me very well. No picking up of background sounds and it was very clear. I recommend this gooseneck for those who could use a great sounding mic.

First off, I am not a podcaster, so i can't speak with authority as to whether this would be the quality you would need for podcasting. I would guess that it would be great for that, because it works so well for my purposes. I use it mostly for dictating speech to text. Until now I had been using an inexpensive headset microphone that would typically get 10 to 20% of my words wrong so I would have to go in and fix them. This microphone gets very close to 100% of my words perfectly. I couldn't be happier! It probably goes without saying but I did need to go into my computer sound settings and specify my computer speakers as the primary speakers. That way I could leave the microphone plugged in all the time. Otherwise I would have to unplug the microphone if I wanted to hear the sound from my computer speakers. I have a pair of headphones plugged into the back of the microphone and it allows me to hear the input of the microphone through the headphones and the computer speakers at the same time if that is what I want to do. The foam windscreen is removable and works very well. I also like that it has a mute button and a gain control right on the base. I am very happy with this microphone. It is perfect for my purposes.

This is is the type of microphone you want for activities like speech recognition and communicating remotely via a computer in a room with background noise. Think of it as the opposite of the microphone on your webcam that attempts to capture everyone in the room; this is a more directional, close-up microphone.The mute button lets you create privacy that you can visibly confirm when the orange ring light is off = muted! It's a press-on, press again for off, type of switching, not "momentary" or "push-to-talk" as some microphone are.The gain control is really handy: no need to navigate several menus and settings on your computer if someone can't hear you, just reach for a knob on the mic itself!The microphone "pattern" seems to avoid nearby noise and capture more of what's right in front of it. Turning up the gain can capture more background noise, but it's still less than a typical webcam microphone.It works great with DragonSpeak speech recognition as well! Works with Windows or MacOS too.

I am really happy with how this little microphone performs. I also have a Blue Yeti that works really well, but it's huge and it picks up EVERYTHING. if the AC is running, every echo in the room, etc. This Boya mic seems to pick up my voice well and eliminates the background noises.It's really easy to install and adjust, it doesn't take up much room, and I like the mute button with light to let you know when you're mic is hot. It also has a convenient gain knob right on the base.It's very simple and it just works. I'm very happy with this one. For reference, I use it to record voice overs for videos and for zoom meetings.