Microphone Performance

The boom microphone of the Roccat Cross was tested by connecting it to the Asus ROG STRIX X99 Gaming motherboard. It uses an integrated sound card with Realtek's ALC1150 audio codec, including a number of software tweaks for suppressing ambient noise and adding various effects (who wouldn't want to sound like Darth Vader on TeamSpeak, amirite?). All this has been turned off for this test in order to obtain the microphone's raw, unmodified sound.

I also used an external USB sound card, Creative's cheap Sound Blaster E1 ($42), and again turned off all the software features that could affect the sound of the microphone.

To review the microphone's sound and to compare it to other similar headsets, I used the Adam A7X speakers and Shure SRH840 headphones, being studio monitors, connected to Audiolab's M-DAC, a high quality digital-to-analog converter that functions as an external sound card when connected to a PC.

The testing was done in Discord, TeamSpeak, Skype, and Audacity, and I also used Audacity to record sound from the microphones. The sound was recorded with microphone sensitivity set to 100% and was not post-processed or edited in any way.

For reference, this voice recording has been made with the Rode NT-USB, a high-quality studio microphone. Excuse my less-than-stellar English pronunciation.



This is the sound recorded using the Roccat Cross' boom microphone:




As you can hear, the boom microphone sounds very good. A certain level of voice compression is definitely present, but it captures the depth and dynamics of the voice better than most other headsets in this price range, while retaining clarity at the same time.

In addition to communicating with teammates, it's also quite usable for Twitch streaming and YouTube voiceovers, even if you have no intention of post-processing the recordings. When connected to an integrated sound card, it picks up a certain level of static noise. Unfortunately, this is practically unavoidable without properly grounding the PC, which is why we use and recommend USB sound cards to eliminate such issues. I should also note that while recording these soundclips, the microphone never caught the headset's sound.

Let's listen to what the microphones of a few competitors sound like:









The secondary in-line microphone, the one you use when the Roccat Cross is connected to your mobile phone, sounds like this:



It is quite usable for its primary function - having phone conversations and issuing voice assistant commands - and that is as much as one can expect from it.

The fact that the Roccat Cross enables you to disconnect the cable from the headset allows users to easily swap out the factory cable in case of damage, or to use multiple cables for various purposes (e.g. one for your living room and another for your office) or conduct microphone upgrades. Here is how the Roccat Cross sounds when paired with the excellent aftermarket V-Moda BoomPro ($32) microphone:




Awesome! Although this is not necessarily an upgrade everyone will decide on, it is certainly a legitimate option - an option you won't get with most competing headsets.