Zalman ZM-MIC1 High Sensitivity Headphone Microphone with Mini Clip, Computer PC Streaming Gaming Mic, 3.5mm Jack

Getting sick of the quality of gaming headsets, I bought myself a quality set of cans and needed me a microphone for gaming. I kept seeing this product recommended everywhere, and, for the price, I decided to give it a go. I was skeptical that a clip-on mic would produce a decent sound quality and not pick up tons of background noise. I was wrong. My voice is perfectly clear and, even with an electric fan on in the background a lot of the time, the microphone didn't seem to pick up any annoying background noise. I'm very satisfied with this product. The wire is very long and has rubber clips along it that you can use to clip onto another wire (say, a headset). The clips aren't universal and will mostly fit smaller wires, but they're a nice touch that do work somewhat okay with my HD600 cord. The main microphone clip doesn't appear to be adjustable, so be careful if whatever you're clipping it onto is too thick or too small. This product isn't a super high quality mic, but it will do just fine for chatting or gaming. For the price, the quality is great.

I purchased the Zalman several months ago and have been using it consistently. I'll keep it simple with a pro and con list. PROS: -Price: Seriously, $9 for a mic that provides such good sound quality? What's not to like about that... -Setup: I know a lot of microphones are like this, but the plug-n-play is simple and couldn't be easier -Ergonomics: Getting the Zalman set-up on my headphones was easy and fit like a charm. Quality: The sound quality is on par with price. For $9 you WILL NOT find a mic that preforms at this level, plain as that. CONS: -Cable: The cable is very long (not a con for some people), and worst of all it is very thin! I didn't have a problem with either of these, but you have a habit of running over cables with your chair, be warned! OVERALL: If you want a cheap microphone that's preforms decently, buy this. Heck, buy this thing as a backup. For $9, you cannot beat it. NOTE: I have since upgraded to a Antlion ModMic. Similar to the Zalman, but more expensive and with phenomenal sound quality. Costs about $35, check out their website if you want to step up from a "decent" microphone. (modmic.com)

Good choice for simple voice chat uses. Pair with nice headphones and it gets the job done for gaming. More than adequate for Skype and other voice programs. But not as clear or functional as a gaming microphone for regular gamers. Would fail to meet most standards if you were wanting to do audio recordings for podcasts or youtube videos. Like many people, I wanted a mic to go with my high quality headphones. My PC headset with built in mic had speakers that were pretty shoddy, so this seemed like a no brainer. Use my high quality music headphones with this mic instead of spending $100 or so on a gaming headset? Yeah! And it works in that regard to some degree. The mic clips to your headphone cable, so it's mostly out of the way, and not immediately in front of your mouth. This is nice, but also works against the mic. To compensate for this, the mic is omni-directional, so it picks up sound in all directions and is highly sensitive. So most importantly, your voice does come through fairly clear. But it also picks up anything else in the room. Fans, keyboard noises, mouse noises, dogs shuffling by, and whatever else you can think of. Without noise canceling, it's a live line. Now for things like Skype and Google chats, I wouldn't imagine this to be a problem. If you need a mic for that purpose, look no further. The quality is good for the price, the sound comes through mostly clear, and you'll be understood by your friends. A sound purchase. For gamers, this means this mic is almost required to be a solely push-to-talk mic. That's not necessarily a bad thing in a larger group, but with just a handful of friends and I, we like to use the voice activated transmitting in Mumble and Vent so we're not forced to press the key constantly. For this purpose, the mic worked... so so. With no mute switch, I had to software mute the program if somebody came into the room to talk to me. Luckily you can bind these keys with the software, but just something to keep in mind. Also, since the mic was picking up so much background chatter, I had a much harder time setting it to recognize when I was talking versus typing, putting my drink down on the desk, moving the mouse, etc. Once again, these are only issues if you use voice activated transmission. But even with push-to-talk enabled, the sound quality is distant. Comparing it to other mics I have, it sounds like you are speaking away from the mic. My friends said I always sound like I'm away from the computer a little bit. Kind of tin can sounding. Clear enough? Sure. Just not all that loud and audible. Not as good as my relatively cheap Xbox/PC headset mic ( Xbox 360 Sharkoon X-Tatic SX Stereo Gaming Headset ) which rests closer to the mouth. For this reason, I preferred using the headset and sacrificing my listening quality so my friends could hear me loud and clear. I've also done recording comparisons, and when it is placed in the "clip" position on the headset wire, it is by far the quietest mic I have and picks up a lot of white noise. However, sound quality DOES improved quite a bit as you move it closer to your mouth. This kind of makes you want to lean down a little while talking and that's not a terribly convenient feature. I gave this item 4 stars because it does exactly what it advertises. It works. And for the price, it works fine. But those expecting an extremely clear and functional mic should temper their expectations. Sound tests of the mic can be found on Youtube, and you'll hear some of the "tinny" and "distant" sound with lots of background "noise" that I referenced in this review. I don't regret buying it, since it's served me well for 6 months now without much fuss, but it also lead me to buy a nicer gaming headset and research higher quality PC microphones such as the Snowball and Blue Yeti. If you want quality sound, and have the cash (~$60-$100), look into those two brands and you'll find exactly what you need. For everybody else, this is a cheap alternative, but I did not find it as good as mics that rest near the mouth and that offer some form of noise canceling to reduce background noise clutter.

After my Plantronics GameCom 780's broke (literally snapped in half) I decided to go a different route with my gaming headset. I bought a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones, and ran this mic through the coil of cable. The Good: The mic clips to the headphone cord and holds itself there securely. You never have to worry about positioning it, because it's always hanging by your mouth. Also, the cord is VERY long, so I had no problem connecting to my computer. The Bad: There are little clips on the wire that are designed to grip the cord. This is all well and good, but works terribly on a coiled headset. They turn into little barbs that grab the cable and bunch it up in weird places. You can't cut them off because they are fused to the plastic of the wire. Not a deal breaker for everyone, but annoying to coiled wire folk. Also, the audio is not great. This should not come as a surprise to you, since it is a tiny mic, but the sound is very thin and not bassy at all. It does the job, but does not sound particularly good. If you talked into a webcam mic, you are getting basically the same sound. It's a very ok microphone, and the price is good, all things considered. But I am currently looking into getting something a little more robust.

Been using for 3 weeks, product working well, definitely worth the price. Just clip to shirt or collar.

Quality of this mic is not bad, high quality sound recording. I am satisfied.

Great value microphone. I was looking for a gaming headset but love my current headphones (M50X) too much to make a switch. A lack of space also means I'm not going for a fullsize microphone either. This gem did the job. Fellow gamers are able to hear me clearer now and at a softer volume without compromising quality. One thing to note - this mic picks up sound from all around so if someone else is speaking in the background, the other end of the mic hears it as well.

It's cheap, it clips to your cable, it's convenient. It sounds pretty bad so don't expect to record your singing with it, but for basic comms in games or voice chatting with grandma it's fantastic.

I bought this microphone for my Youtube channel as a replacement mic for my broken blue snowball and let me tell you, this thing is so worth it. The sound is amazing after the audio track has been put through some effects on audacity and sounds better than my original mic ever did. If you want to buy this product I would recommend that you do but it should be known that it picks up a lot of background noises which can be a bit distracting for professional use. The only design flaw would be the cable which is way too long and can get annoying when you need it to be neat but has some zip ties to hold it in place which normally fixes the problem.