Topic: Question about radio headsets/earpieces/mics
I'm curious to hear what kind of experiences everybody has had with the variety of earphones/mics for their in-car radios.
First off, I'm not asking about wiring/interconnect issues. I'm a music-tech and I have tons of TRS/XLR/RCA/etc connectors and a soldering gun and don't think I won't use 'em. So, connecting to a radio isn't a problem, unless the mics require some kind of phantom/bias power and the radio doesn't supply it... bue, even that, I can solve.
What I'm after are experiences about sound quality, both from the earphone and mic ends.
For example, there are the plain ol' loose earphones and mics which you have to figure out how to put into your helmet (velcro, hot-melt glue, chewing gum). It seems like, if those earphones are more than about 1/2" away from your ear, they could get hard to hear over the din of the car. Also, I understand that many of the mics aren't good at picking up voice over the car noise, either.
On the other hand, I've also seen some throat-mics on eBay, where the earphone is an in-ear type, fed by a clear, coiled tube running from the actual speaker which is also in the throat-mic collar. How do these compare to others as far as: mic picking up voice louder than in-car noise and the earphone being more-easily heard than the mounted-to-helmet types?
Lastly, and I'd understand if this wouldn't pass tech, but... if it's firmly secured like everything else... has anybody toyed with wiring an mp3 player into the headset with the radio, so that you have something to listen to during the drive?
- Joe