Best Microphones for Zoom, According to the CNET Staff Who Use Them
Even better wireless Apple earbuds with noise cancellation
Apple AirPods Pro 2
There’s nothing worse than being in a Zoom meeting and having your equipment let you down, either by not picking up your voice or by having poor audio quality, making it nearly impossible to meet the company’s standards, and your own. That’s why having a good microphone is imperative.
As remote work becomes more commonplace, Zoom and other platforms like Slack have become the primary portals through which you communicate with your colleagues, managers, or reports. But with so many of us now working in hybrid mode, including the staff at CNET, it’s more important than ever to have the right microphone for your conferencing needs.
The bigger the microphone, the less likely a room full of people will ask you to speak up or “say that again.” After all, poor audio can ruin a presentation before it even starts and make it difficult for colleagues to understand what you’re trying to say.
And we get it. While a solid internet connection and a good webcam are probably a bigger priority for employees (remote or otherwise), that doesn’t mean you should ignore the importance of a good microphone and settle for the audio quality your laptop or desktop provides. And a microphone doesn’t have to be expensive, either—even a cheap USB microphone can provide a big improvement without breaking the bank.
Here at CNET, we use a variety of external microphones for our Zoom meetings and video calls, including USB mics, headsets, and even earbuds with decent mic arrays. Read on for our top picks below.
I’ve tried a variety of single-sided Bluetooth headsets with boom mics and none of them sound very good. Wired headsets are great for Zoom, but how far away should you be from a video call anyway? The Sennheiser SC635 is a premium wired headset that comes in 1/8-inch jack or USB versions — I use the former for the best audio quality. Skip the wireless earbuds, which place microphones on the sides of your head, too far from the hole where the words are coming from.
–Brian Cooley
Steel Series is best known for their gaming gear, but did you know they also make some excellent microphones? The Alias is a dark gray pill-shaped microphone that works well with a stand. I found it worked best on a boom. The sound quality is excellent. If you plug in your headphones, you can use the monitoring function to hear yourself and your team. It has an easy-to-use touch mute button that shows you a big red X so you know you’re on mute. It also has some cool lighting underneath, because it’s a gamer at heart.
I love the Alias and it’s currently my favorite standalone mic for Zoom calls.
Not all conference calls involve sitting behind a laptop. Sometimes you’re the one giving a presentation and need some freedom of movement. A Lavalier microphone attaches to your collar and streams wirelessly to a small control unit attached to your laptop.
The Lark Max comes with dual microphones, with noise cancellation, and a controller unit that easily connects to your iPhone, Android, or laptop (via USB-C). The sound quality is excellent, although you will have to speak a little louder than you would with a desktop mic. The drop in volume is more than worth it for the freedom of movement and sound quality you get from the Lark Max. As an added bonus, the case also charges the mics and controller, so you’ll have them ready to go when you need them.
I’ve been using my Blue Yeti microphone for a while now and I’ve loved every second of it. Mine is on a no-name boom arm that I bought on Amazon when I was reorganizing my desk, and that’s actually made it even more useful to me. There’s a volume rocker and a mute button on the front, so I can easily mute myself during a call without having to use a software function on my Mac.
The quality is great and I’ve never had any issues with it. I do wish it used USB-C instead of Micro-USB, but since I leave it plugged in all the time and don’t really mess with it, I’m not too worried about that.
— Jared DiPane
While not specifically a microphone, Apple’s AirPods are a great way to take part in Zoom calls. Normally, I’d stick with a giant microphone in my face for large meetings, but if you’re having a smaller, more personal Zoom meeting, a pair of AirPods is more than enough. Most people already have a set of AirPods if they have an Apple phone, so why spend extra money if you don’t have to?
–James Bricknell
I wish I had used my Yeti Blue microphone more often, but my Razer Kiyo webcam has been my workhorse microphone during the pandemic. That’s mainly because the Blue at well, it picks up clacking keystrokes from where it sits above my mechanical keyboard, while the Kiyo only picks up my voice from where it sits above my monitor.
That’s not to disparage the Kiyo itself, which is better than internal microphones and most headphones. It’s a handy all-in-one and, given how annoying it is to switch between microphones on the half-dozen video chat platforms I use, it’s nice to always have a reliable microphone plugged in and ready to go.
–David Lumb
I need a single microphone for Zoom calls, podcasting, video presenting, and voiceover work, and the Shure MV7’s beautiful audio quality delivers all of that. Unlike many professional condenser microphones, it connects directly to my computer via USB, so I don’t have to mess with audio interfaces or any of that nonsense. It’s just plug and play, making it easy to get professional recordings.
–Andrew Lanxon
