John,
This is actually quite a complex question. There are many factors to consider. Do no always sit next to your computer or do you tend to get up and pace a bit during dictation? Is the environment you intend to dictate within a quiet one or a noisy one? Are you going to use your mic on a desktop,a tablet, or a laptop computer? Are you going to work in a constant stop and go dictation style or will you be dictating for long periods of time? These are some of the questions we tend to ask clients when helping them choose the mic that’s the best fit for their work style. The microphone people choose is very crucial because it affects the performance of NaturallySpeaking and therefore affects their overall experience with the software.
The Sennheiser ME3(modified for speech recognition) was the original Mercedes mic for speech recognition several years ago but since then there have been some additions although it still places in the top six. Here are the top five in order.
1. Hybrid Samson Airline 77 wireless microphone – The highest accuracy and best noise cancellation on any mic we’ve ever tested. Here is a review.
Samson Airline 77 Review
2. Revolabs xTag wireless lapel microphone - This mic placed second in accuracy and is incredibly comfortable as it is a lapel mic. It’s Achilles heal is its noise cancellation so it needs to used in more quite environments.
3. Hybrid Plantronics CS55 wireless telephone/microphone – Third in accuracy with great noise cancellation and the unique phone to computer application.
4. Plantronics CS50-USB wireless microphone – Fourth in accuracy with its sound device built in. A slight bit less accurate than the CS55 due to the sound device being a bit gritty compared to the VXI or Andrea external soundcards used with the CS55.
5.theBoom V4 microphone & theBoom “O” microphone – The only wired mics currently that best the Sennheiser. Very good noise cancellation and accuracy with the v4 being an ear clip style mic and the “O” being a traditional style headset. These mics can also be used with cell phones or cordless landline phones.
The KnowBrainer Hands Free (or Sennheiser knock off) is an exellent and economical choice offering good accuracy and noise cancellation.
Several months ago one of our forum members mentioned that he uses an Olympus ME52W lapel mic with NaturallySpeaking. I told him that mic certainly would produce less than acceptable results. We sell that mic as an add on to our endorsed digital recorders and would never sell it for direct dictation. The seed was planted and after a few trials.............the ME52W actually did very well at $30.00. The accuracy was comparable to our other 2nd tier wired mics such as the TalkPro Express, ANC 700/750 or NC 9100. Unique to this mic is the fact it's a lapel mic and only carries the weight of a quarter. Noise cancellation was not at all acceptable so I would only suggest using this mic in a
very quiet environments only. I also suggest if anyone wants to take this route add a 1/2 duplex USB Pod (external soundcard) and a 6 ft extension cord (adding to the site soon) as the ME52W only has a three foot cord. The mic,soundcard and cord will cost you only 76.00 and the mic by itself has became the most inexpensive mic that we have ever accidentally found acceptable for NaturallySpeeking.
For the last 4 weeks we’ve been testing the Sennheiser BW900 and have found it to be a jack of all trades. Our test results and review are about finalized and I’ll post them here upon completion.
You can compare all of our mics and how they size up against each other on the microphone
Microphone Comparison Matrix.