Good evening, I'm looking to replace my current Bluetooth headset microphone, and am studying your KnowBrainer recommended microphones. The first one I'm looking at is the Speechware 3-in-1 TableMike.

I work in a very quiet environment in my home, so I don't deal with general office noises. The kinds of noises, though, that currently create problems for me (specifically the "jumping cursor" problem) are sudden sounds like the icemaker dispensing ice 40 feet away from where I'm sitting, the creaking of an office chair, the setting down of a mug on the desk next to me, my otherwise very quiet officemate's typing or rustling of papers, the printer turning on, warming up, and printing, a person sneezing or coughing nearby or even the distance of a room away – you get the idea. It's not the general hubbub you hear in the background of an office setting, but rather sudden sounds in an otherwise very quiet environment.

With that in mind, is this the kind of noise canceling that this particular microphone is good at, and would this be a good microphone for my setting, or would you recommend I look at one of your other microphones instead?

Thank you.

-------------------------

Dell XPS 15 9500
32 GB RAM
Intel Core i7-10750H Processor
Microsoft 365
BlueParrott C400-XT
SpeechWare TableMike 3-in-1
DPI 15.61.200.010

The SpeechWare 3-in-1 TableMike includes ample noise filtering to handle rustling papers and your icemaker. From a personal point of view, this is our favorite microphone; mostly because we don't have to put it on or wear it. No matter how comfortable a headset microphone is, there's nothing more comfortable than not having something around your head

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Change "No" to "Know" w/KnowBrainer 2022
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I agree. Not having to wear something on my head is pretty much my reason for starting my search by looking into this microphone.

So, having heard from you that it will work well in my quiet environment, I have a few more questions:

 

1. Comfort of the microphone aside, is accuracy as good as you've found with the Shokz or the MB Pro1, or would a headset microphone still be better?

 

2. While dictating into a table microphone, is the normal moving around that a person does while dictating okay  – like to open a low file drawer and pull out a file, or leg jiggling, or leaning over to read from a book situated on the desk on the opposite side of the computer from the microphone – or do you have to sit pretty still facing directly into the mic?

 

3. Can you talk at a normal volume, or do you need to speak louder than normal?

4. Can you still use hotkeys to start and stop dictating, or do you always have to press the microphone button on the base?

5. I don't have any USB-A ports on my computer, just USB-C. The manual for the microphone says they supply an adapter. Have you been satisfied that plugging into the adapter doesn't diminish the good recognition?
(This is one drawback I see with this mic, as one of my three USB-C ports on my computer is tied up for charging, and one has a hub with my trackball and a keyboard, leaving me only one open direct port. This means the microphone will have to be swapped out at least twice a week when I plug my backup drive in.)

 

6. I'll be using it with my laptop, and sometimes I'll be using the laptop and microphone when I'm away from my desk, using battery power. Since the microphone is powered via USB, how much does the microphone affect the battery life of the laptop?

7. I watched the Scott Baker review linked to in your information. He talks about having to change the audio MIDI settings. Is this something someone with minimal technical skills can do easily? (I'm not a hardware person – I wouldn't even know how to test the sound quality on my computer or even know what my built-in mic is named without googling how to find that information.) (I lied. I just searched "sound" in the Windows search and found what my mics are named.)

8. Scott describes having had to spend two hours in training, including having Dragon learn from his own documents. I know years ago we had to train each new Dragon profile and it was quite a process (I got to laughing at the Dave Barry piece every single time, though!), but I haven't needed to train a Dragon in years because I've gotten great results right out of the box. Do you agree with his recommendation about doing training, also about using his own documents for training?

9. On your page you say two things:
"Extremely accurate up to 24 inches"
and
"Up to a 40 inch range with Dragon 13 Far Field algorithms"
Are the differences between these two distances because of there being both the Green LED and Blue LED modes? Can you easily switch back and forth between the two, or do you need to switch from one user profile to another in order to switch back and forth? Does this even matter?? Which would I use under which circumstances?

10. And finally, if I were to be taking the microphone to another location, say to a hotel, riding in a car (not the driver, obviously!) or on a train, or to another location with an entirely different background noise quality, are there any special considerations?

Okay, I think that's enough questions! I thank you for your time helping me with my decision.

Jacky

-------------------------

Dell XPS 15 9500
32 GB RAM
Intel Core i7-10750H Processor
Microsoft 365
BlueParrott C400-XT
SpeechWare TableMike 3-in-1
DPI 15.61.200.010

For the purposes of continuity, we have edited your previous post by numbering your questions (only).

1. The Shokz OpenComm UC microphone is more accurate than anything we have tested but having said that, you are unlikely to notice that tiny bit of accuracy improvement. However, accuracy improvement is noticeable in moderate to noisy environments

2. One of the advantages of the SpeechWare 3-in-1 TableMike is auto-gain. Our microphone goes over the top of our 2nd, of 3, 32 inch monitors. As long as you stay within ideally 24 inches of your TableMike, your accuracy should stay the same. If you back away to 3 feet or so, your accuracy may be acceptable but won't be quite as good.

3. Speak at a normal natural volume. Dragon's auto-gain control will handle volume/distance changes. Never speak softly or loudly, which is nearly impossible to maintain anyway

4. We recommend leaving your microphone permanently turned on. We find it more convenient to use Dragon's microphone off command or a hotkey (our preference)

5a. Considering that you are using a notebook computer and require mobility, you might want to consider the SpeechWare TravelMike which is much smaller, can be used as a TableMike, has a good 18 to 24 inch range and also includes a USB C adapter so that you can use it on any computer. We can't see how a USB C adapter would diminish our accuracy.

 

5b. You you might consider purchasing a larger USB port extender. Our desktop computer includes 13 built-in USB A ports, 2 USB C ports. 9 ports are direct to the motherboard.  We also had to add a 7 port (3 USB A & 4 USB C) extension and only have 4 unused ports. There is no such thing as having too many USB ports, no matter how many you have.

6. USB hardware like microphones, keyboards etc. cannot use more than 5 W so while these devices draw some power, it is only equivalent to a nightlight and shouldn't be much of an issue

7a. You do not need to manipulate your MIDI settings. They have nothing to do with Dragon, keyboards, microphones etc.

7b. Windows does not know what microphone are using. It can only identify USB soundcards and Bluetooth dongles. Considering Dragon's limited feature range, you won't be able to find an inferior USB soundcard; other than possibly the construction. Windows built-in sound card also includes excellent sound input and output but the built-in microphone is another matter. In many situations, Dragon may not even see your built-in soundcard. We only recommend USB microphones/sound cards and Bluetooth dongles

8. Scott's recommendation to train and rerun the Audio Check hasn't been necessary, or even helpful, since Ver. 12. However, if you run into a word that Dragon doesn't automatically recognize, training that specific word can be helpful. NEVER run training, which currently requires a KnowBrainer command anyway, unless you have a verbal disability. Obviously you don't

 

9. Ver. 13 included auto-gain (previously called Far Field algorithms) but it was not turned on by default. It's not even mentioned in the Dragon 13 help file. Nuance basically wanted to find out if it worked and knew that if you end users, like ourselves, would turn it on; same with Ver. 14. Ver. 15 auto-gain is turned on by default but SpeechWare microphones also have built-in auto-gain (greenlight mode). Greenlight mode increases your distance a little more but probably isn't worth factoring in. Greenlight mode also adds automatic EQ. The further away you dictate, the more your voice sounds thinner. Auto EQ adds back the low-end mid range response. Bluelight mode bypasses these features. It is rumored to sound better in VoIP applications. Having said that, we ignore bluelight mode because we couldn't hear the difference. You never have to switch users in Dragon unless you are using a specialized vocabulary or command collection.

10. The Achilles' heel of any TableMike is noise. You should be able to use the TravelMike in an automobile but definitely not an airport, bar or coffee house. You no longer have to worry about switching to a different user profile or rerunning the Microphone Check. Dragon handles this automatically. Of course you are still limited to the amount of noise your microphone can handle. NOTE that if you need to use your microphone in noisier environments, we believe you would be better served with the new Shokz OpenComm UC wireless Bluetooth headset which can pretty much handle any safe noise level (90 dB max). 90 dB is equivalent to a live concert, motorcycle, prop plane or leaf blower. Note that 90 dB is 10 times louder than 80 dB and staying in a 90 dB environment, more than 2 hours, can cause hearing damage.

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Change "No" to "Know" w/KnowBrainer 2022
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If in doubt, don't buy into buying it. Any far field designed device is going to falter if you have less than a booming voice, just to mention one potential failing scenario. You can't defeat the laws of physics.

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No need to buy if all you want to do is try ...

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I would echo that the Shokz OpenComm UC is indeed impressive. However, I would be returning it nonetheless - not because it is not accurate, or noise cancelling (though this I did not test), but because of other ergonomic factors.

I will echo Herr Wilke's caution on "far field" microphones. There is a reason why they haven't caught on.

If I could only have 1 microphone, that'd be the SMP3700 I am currently using - I have exclusively used it as a Table Mic (3 to 6 inches from the face) with a gooseneck phone holder (Lamicall LS05). It enable soft speech, almost whispering at that distance. It is also reasonably noise-filtering. Its onboard speaker is of course mono, but not a disgrace for something like Teams call (unlike Nuance's own PowerMic III). The newest PowerMic 4 is of course, just a rebadged SMP.

Personally, with the moderate price difference between 3-in-1 and the wired SMP on Knowbrainer, I'd seriously consider the latter, which is only the "gold standard".

And what if all of sudden you feel like to hold it in your hand to do "push-to-talk"? Many folks wouldn't use it any other way. I haven't. But I reserve that option.

Thanks for the input everybody. I just placed my order in the KnowBrainer store, the mic is supposed to arrive on Tuesday.

-------------------------

Dell XPS 15 9500
32 GB RAM
Intel Core i7-10750H Processor
Microsoft 365
BlueParrott C400-XT
SpeechWare TableMike 3-in-1
DPI 15.61.200.010

Jackie,

Because FedEx doesn't pick up on weekends, which our website fails to acknowledge, your 3-in-1 probably won't arrive until Wednesday or even Thursday via FedEx Express

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Change "No" to "Know" w/KnowBrainer 2022
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(615) 884-4558 ex 1

Not a problem. Thanks for the heads up, though.

Jacky

-------------------------

Dell XPS 15 9500
32 GB RAM
Intel Core i7-10750H Processor
Microsoft 365
BlueParrott C400-XT
SpeechWare TableMike 3-in-1
DPI 15.61.200.010

Do you recommend creating an entirely new profile when I get my new TableMike, or use the same profile but a new dictation source?

-------------------------

Dell XPS 15 9500
32 GB RAM
Intel Core i7-10750H Processor
Microsoft 365
BlueParrott C400-XT
SpeechWare TableMike 3-in-1
DPI 15.61.200.010

Just try it and please don't forget to share your experience.

Making predictions on whether or not Dragon behaves "better" this way or that most of the time are equivalent to looking into a crystal ball, so if you have the chance to actually try something, please do.

Creating a new speaker profile with just the TableMike as audio source literally is a matter of a few minutes, probably even less than the time it takes to write this reply

 

hth

mav

 

Edit: Fixed typo

Dragon 15 is designed to theoretically never have to run the Microphone Check or create a new user. DPI 15 is the only current version of Dragon that prompts you to run the Microphone Check and this is only when creating a new user. In our opinion, it shouldn't be necessary. Group and Medical versions of Dragon don't prompt the end user to run the Microphone Check, even when creating a new profile. In fact, you can switch out your microphone in the middle of your dictation with no ill effects. This is why Dragon doesn't prompt you when switching your microphone. The only time you need to run the Microphone Check is when you remove the checkmark from Automatically adjust the microphone level as I speak under the Choose a Microphone menu. From what we can see, if you do not remove this checkmark, running the Microphone Check will be useless because Dragon overrides your Audio Check

 

Nuance included this feature beginning with Ver. 13 but it wasn't turned on by default or even mentioned in the Help menu. Nuance correctly figured that a few of us guinea pigs would bump into this feature and try it out. For the most part Nuance was right but it didn't work as well, for many end-users, in DMPE 4.3.1.

Bottom line: Try plugging any microphone into your current user profile and enjoy

-------------------------

Change "No" to "Know" w/KnowBrainer 2022
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I've had my SpeechWare TableMike 3-in-1 now for a couple of months, and thought it's worth sharing my opinion/experience with it.

Comfort
The very best thing about it is, as Lunis suggested, not having to wear a headset.

Recognition accuracy/noise canceling
The recognition accuracy is as good as (but not better than) the BlueParrott XT 400 headset I was looking to replace with something better. I have found that the 3-in-1's noise canceling ability is about on par with that of my BlueParrott headset.

To get optimal recognition with the 3-in-1, though, I need to be NO MORE THAN about 10 inches from the microphone, which is FAR LESS THAN the 24 inches Lunis is able to achieve. To be able to keep the microphone at the 10 inch distance required some reconfiguring of items on my desk to get the microphone in the right place both when I'm sitting up straight directly in front of my computer, and also to be able to move it closer to the edge of my desk when I wish to lean back a little in my chair.
There is no way I could get acceptable accuracy at the stated 3 feet, or even as far away as 2 feet. If anyone can explain how I could achieve that, I'm all in!
(By the way, I'm using it in green mode.)

Use of hub
I have the 3-in-1 plugged into a multiport USB-A to USB-C hub, because my laptop only has USB-C ports. I don't have any sense that not having it plugged directly into my computer (as opposed to through a hub) has any negative impact.

Changing dictation sources
I was pleasantly surprised to read in the comments in this thread that there's no need to create a new user when using a new dictation source. So I simply turned the mic on the first time, switched dictation sources to that one, and started dictating. Like magic!
I love being able to switch back and forth between wearing the headset on those occasions when that makes the most sense, and using the TableMike when I can be sitting fairly still in front of my computer, which is most of the time.

Miscellaneous
I love that there's no hesitation when I use the hotkey to turn the microphone on, the way there is with Bluetooth headsets. With the TableMike I hit my hotkey and can start talking.

Another good thing is that it appears that I'm having fewer Dragon + Microsoft Office issues with DPI 15.6 while using the 3-in-1 than I've ever had with either of my Bluetooth headsets. I don't understand why that would be the case, but that's my initial impression. I used to have to restart sometimes once or twice every day or every other day after getting a message that dictation was no longer supported in the Office program, but now it seems I might go days without a problem.

All in all, because I can still use my Bluetooth headset if I need to for mobility, I'm happy with the TableMike for my usual use. It's not better than my Bluetooth BlueParrott, but the combo of the two works well for me.

-------------------------

Dell XPS 15 9500
32 GB RAM
Intel Core i7-10750H Processor
Microsoft 365
BlueParrott C400-XT
SpeechWare TableMike 3-in-1
DPI 15.61.200.010