Thankfully, the folks at Logitech have stepped in to save the day. Introducing the Logitech Vantage USB microphone. This microphone has been exclusively designed to work for the Sony Playstation 2 & 3 consoles, but being a USB peripheral, I was also able to get it to play along with my PC without much trouble.
The sound quality from this microphone closely mirrors the quality of the microphone that comes standard Harmonix Rock Band setup. The cable is 15 feet long, and the size and weight of this microphone feel very similar. I decided to take this microphone for an audio test drive to see howit stacked up against the original rock band mic, and how it stacked up to the microphone that comes packaged with Sony’s Singstar Karaoke.
Test 1: Singstar Rocks.
The microphones that come with this game have a standard 3.5mm plug that fits into a special USB adaptor. The advantage here is that the microphones are very versatile, and I’ve used them for everything from Karaoketo voiceover work and even VoIP for a while when a pair of headphones broke.
The Logitech Vantage USB microphone is USB only, but it does have a little block at the base near the USB plug which makes me think that it was engineered with the Singstar microphone design in mind. I guess that idea never made it to production, which is a shame… but I digress.
I plugged the Vantage into my PS2, and fired up Singstar. I started with a classic favorite, “Song 2” by: Blur. Woohoo! I was surprised at how much I suck when I sing. I used to be in choir, and puberty dropped my vocal range 2 octaves. The Logitech Vantage microphone was good. Like an acoustic guitar showing off a guitarist’s flaws normally covered by distortion in it’s electric counterpart… I saw that the Logitech Vantage microphone is indeed a high quality voice input microphone, and I should practice my vocals more before I go out to sing karaoke again.
Test 2: Rock Band.
Confidence growing from lack of available friends to tear me apart, I decided to try my hand… er… voice at a little rock band. This time my song(s)of choice came thanks to the downloadable Foo Fighters pack on Rock Band by Harmonix. I belted out, “Learn to Fly”, and realized that Dave Grohl (lead singer for the Foo Fighters) earns his money on stage. That man can sing!
I feel like I did a little better on Rock Band than I did with Singstar… but that’s like saying a shipwreck near port is better than one mid ocean. Perhaps I should stick to drums.
Test 3: PC
Yes, you’d think a video game reviewer would stop with two tests (I have so many other things to do right?), but I wanted to see if someone else could hear the difference. So, I fired up my favorite VoIP program, and had a conversation with the Logitech Vantage Microphone. I was listening for low pops (very prevalent when you saythe letter “P”), and found that the Logitech Vantage USB microphone sounded… alot like other microphones that I use. No distinction means no problems!
Conclusion:
The Logitech Vantage USB microphone is a good aftermarket peripheral to replace or supplement your existing hardware. It seems well built, sounds good and works with a couple different titles over two different consoles; making it a pretty good value for the money.
I only have two complaints. First, there is no mute on the microphone. For something possibly more versatile, I’d like to have seen a mute switch on it. Also, I didn’t like the chunky block at the end of the cable near the USB tip. These aside, this is a good piece of hardware.