After reading that thread about using the XLR balanced cable on the computer, I called both Samson and Andrea and they've both gotten me pretty hesitant about the solution that people on this site have been using. Samson 77 à XLR cable to 3.5mm TRS à Andrea USB à computer. The people on this site have said that the XLR output is a far better output over the unbalanced 1/4 inch Jack. The engineer at Samson said that computers are really NOT designed for accepting XLR signals. The circuitry is just different even though your computer may accept the Jack. The XLR output has two hot signals that is at a lower volume than the unbalanced signal, but is constant resulting in a clear signal when you attempt to push the signal through 60 feet of cable in a pro audio setting. In a speech recognition setting, there is likely to be only 5 feet of cable so losing the one hot signal may not be that detrimental. It may work, but you are losing the benefit of the XLR. The guy at the Andrea also confirmed the previous engineer and said that, though a balance signal is preferable, you really need to plug in the balance signal into a something that accepts balanced signals like a mixer or something like a M-Audio USB interfaces. They don't make any USB sound pods that receive balanced signals. This is because there are 3.5 mm TRS USB sound pots are only designed to accept mic level unbalanced signals. This is because the RS is actually fused into one ground signal. The only hot signal is at the tip. He then said they will be developing a RF mic for Dragon soon and that their wired mics are already rated 6 Dragons and are only $25. :?

 

So what is going on here?

thorspickaxe,

First of all, engineers can throw a lot of horse pucky at you. It isn't a question of their technical expertise, it's generally a question of their practical expertise. Basically what they're telling you is technically correct but practically wrong. I have never used the balanced cable with any of my Samson Airline 77 wireless microphones and I would never presume to because the one thing that the technical folks are correct about is that that cable doesn't work well with USB SoundPods. However, the unbalanced XLR cable works perfectly with speech recognition and with all USB SoundPods, at least the ones that are recommended here.

Second, what they tell you you will experience with the XLR cable is just pure horse pucky. It works fine and it is definitely more reliable than the standard balanced cable.

Three, six Dragon's doesn't mean a whole lot. I would take that information with a grain of salt. It's very possible that they will come up with a good $25 microphone that is designed for speech recognition and works well. However, until I see it, I won't believe it.

A long and the short of it is that I understand what these engineers are trying to say, but they're just not correct when it comes to actual experience working with speech recognition. The XLR cable works just fine and doesn't cause any particular problem when used, and I recommend that it be you used, with a USB SoundPod. Whether that be the Andrea half duplex, the Buddy USB 6G, or the Andrea PureAudio USB-SA. I have used all of these with both of my Samson Airline 77 wireless microphones or onto seven years now and they work perfectly.

Chuck Runquist
Technical Project Manager
VoiceTeach LLC
Home of VoicePower®: Simply powerful, powerfully simple

"The least questioned assumptions are often the most questionable." -- Paul Broca

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This seems most interesting to me. I noticed the other day that the Samson Airline Manual recommended (for what we all are using it for), the unbalanced output. And that is what Monkey8 packaged with one I got from him recently. 

But then I have MOST happily been using the Airline with the XLR cable for about five years, because the first one I bought came with that cable and not the quarter inch one!

So indeed, what gives?

Is the secret to using the XLR cable the Buddy 6G I stuck at the end?

I have no problem whatever with either solution, but the different views seem interesting!

Ed 

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DNS 12 Pro, Windows 7 Professional, SP1, i7-2700K 3.50 Ghz Sandybridge, 16Gb DDR3 PC3-160000C9 2000Mhz dual channel RAM, SpeechMike 5276 and Samson Airline 77

Ed,

Samson/Sennheiser engineers speak with forked tongue as Tonto would have said (Lone Ranger TV show of the 50s and 60s).

In other words, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

Use the XLR cable period. If you do, you won't get into trouble.

Chuck Runquist
Technical Project Manager
VoiceTeach LLC
Home of VoicePower®: Simply powerful, powerfully simple

If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way.  (variant of Murphy's law - Edward A. Murphy, Jr.)

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OP here. Forgot the email I used for my first account and had to set up a new one.

 

Anywho,

 

The manual says on page 14 that "XLR jack is preferable, since it will deliver an electronmagnetically cleaner signal."

 

I also didn't know that there was a balance and unbalanced XLR cable. I was referring to those engineers saying that in general USB sound pods or computer input jacks don't take advantage of the 2 hot wires of the XLR signal. Only one. They said if you are not plugging into something like a mixer or a M-Audio USB interface that has a XLR slot, but instead are using a TRS jack, the Tip and Ring should be the two hots and the Sleeve should be the ground. The Andrea said that all their USB sound pods mic inputs have the Ring and Sleeve fused together to accept the ground. They don't make any USB interfaces that accepts balanced signals. In the pro-audio world, a balanced signal would be cleaner with minimal hum/buzz. They both were not sure if connecting a XLR-TRS cable to a computer or a USB pod for a computer would work let alone be better than the 1/4" unbalanced signal. 

rayraysound:

Being a non-technical person when it comes to speech recognition mics, or to any mic for that matter, I approach this issue using the time-tested maxim, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating."  In my case, the RCA to RCA cable just did not work with Samson Airline 77.  It is only the XLR to 3.5mm RCA wired for speech recognition cable that does.  The "wired for speech recognition" is important , because I tried the XLR to 3.5mm RCA cable readily available in, and sold by, most audio and music stores, and it also didn't work with Samson Airline 77. 

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DNS Professional 11, Windows 7, Laptop, Intel i7, 8 GB RAM, 600 GB HD, Samson Airline 77, Sennheiser ME 3, Andrea USB Pod

After reading up on the difference between a balanced and unbalanced signals are, the benefit sort of makes sense. From what I read, unbalanced cables carry audio signal in the shield and tip. The shield can pick up interference (hum). Balanced cables carry no audio in the shield, with two audio signals on two lines that are twisted around each other. One signal is inverse of the other and any noise/interference that is identical on both wires is rejected. 

 

What the engineer was saying is that a PC or USB sound pod is not designed with the circuitry to perform the summation at the end so the "benefit" of the summation cancelling out interference, like in active noise cancelling earphones, does not exist in this setup. However, you still get the benefit of not running an audio signal through the shield. 

 

I still find it strange that there are so many people with problems using the unbalanced signal as the advantages of using a balanced signal isn't really that apparent with short cable lengths like 5', but become necessary with 50' or 100' cable lengths with a lot of interference. The Andrea guy was saying why don't you just used the unbalanced output?  

 

So this solution has been working for people? I guess there are no cheap alternatives to the USB pod for accepting balanced outputs from the 77, which may not be even that beneficial.  

 

 

EDIT: Interestingly though most XLR to digital is super expensive and overkill, there is one I found on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Icicle-Converter-Preamp/dp/B001EW5YQS that claims to convert balanced XLR to digital USB for pretty much the same price as the Andrea USB pod. Anyone try this?