A microphone is perhaps the most essential tool on your computer, whether you have regular meetings or want to lend your soft vocals to a podcast or a virtual tabletop session, for example. My favorite microphone for years has been the Neat Bumblebee 2, a cardioid USB microphone from a company that knows what it’s doing in space (compatible with both Mac and Windows PC). Right now you can get a phenomenal discount on Woot’s microphone where it’s only on sale for one price $16.99 for the next four days, or until supplies last.
This model’s cardioid microphone is great for blocking out background noise, and it comes with a headphone jack that allows you to instantly monitor your voice output, so you can make sure everything sounds good as you adjust the settings. I’ve been using the Bumblebee 2 on my desk since it came out in 2018, accompanying me through countless phone calls and gaming nights. I appreciate the simple button layout, including a mute button that turns on a red LED very visible indication no one can hear you. The main star is the multi-function dial that lets you control the mix and adjust how your voice comes through.
Neat is a microphone company with quite a history behind it, in case you haven’t heard of it before. It created Blue Microphones, which became such a success with the Blue Snowball and Yeti microphones that Logitech acquired it in the 2010s. It was neat in the end acquired by Turtle Beach in 2021.