Why I have sent back my beautiful Sennheiser MB Pro 2 UC ML Bluetooth Headset (£186 on amazon)

I’m looking for the best solution for Zoom training sessions, and trying to work out why some people use headsets and some don’t.
Reason 1 – to sound really great ~ if people have to listen to you for an hour or more, most webcams in echoey rooms sound scratchy and unpleasant. I want people to ENJOY hearing me talk about Gantt charts for an hour!
Reason 2 – so you don’t give them ambient noise from people in the next room, dogs barking, chairs scraping, traffic (or birds) outside, etc.
Reason 3 – so you don’t give them echo/feedback, as their voice comes out of the speakers into your room and into your microphone and then back to them
Two more reasons that I don’t personally care about, but could be issues:
Reason 4 – working somewhere noisy, like an office or a call centre or a co-work, and not wanting to be distracted by the noises around you. You need noise-cancelling headphones for this.
Reason 5 – confidentiality – not wanting people around you to hear what you are hearing. You need headphones for this.
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For 4 and 5 the Sennheisers were great. But unfortunately for them I’m in a quiet office on my own so they aren’t needed for these reasons.
But for the first three, which I’m interested in, they failed:
a) The microphone was OK, quite good in fact, but not as good as my Rode lavalier mic (the unfortunately named “Smart Lav”: £50). By the way I have found that the Smart Lav only sounds great when mounted on a headset so it’s right by my mouth – when attached to my collar or tie it’s too far away to sound good. Fail!
b) I couldn’t hear myself talking properly with the noise-cancelling phones – was I talking loudly or quietly? It was hard to tell! There was no feedback from the mic into the phones, which would seem like a good idea (it’s what you get in a recording studio, and it’s essential).
c) The mic still picks up the ambient noise – it’s a bit more close-up than a web-cam, but not really 100% close up like my Rode podcaster mic is. That picks up nothing from the room at all, just all 100% you, and for recording audio I love it. The only snag with the Podcaster is that it’s huge – it would block out most of you face on a zoom call!

d) echo/feedback – doesn’t seem to be an issue with ANY of the systems, even my webcam. I still haven’t worked out why it DOES seem to be an issue with some individuals – maybe they have their speakers on very loud, or their speakers are unusually close to the web cam’s mic, or pointing back at it or something? Still a mystery….
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So what’s my ideal solution? Maybe a one-ear system like this, so I can hear them myself with my free ear but also I hear a bit more of them in the one speaker – but will this feel a bit lopsided?

Or maybe just a microphone on a holder, with no headphones at all?

Although I can’t help thinking that a side mic is better than one in front of your mouth – for Zoom calls. And the above is in front of your mouth, probably designed for call centres again.
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And finally:
Wireless would be good, but that all-important high quality mic sound seems to require a wire….
Possibly a directional/rifle mic just out of shot, like they use to record my courses at the super-professional Linkedin Learning, would be a good solution, but I know that good ones cost a LOT of money. And I want to be able to move around, even turn away and write on the whiteboard etc, so it may not be good enough.
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Current solution
So the search goes on, and until then I’ll keep using my home-made set-up: a Smart Lav mounted on an old headset so it’s just to the side of my mouth, so I have one ear free to hear you talking and me talking – and I’ll just have to live with the wire…..

