Antlion ModMic USB + Ultrasone 580i Headset

I ran a test, recording voiceovers for videos while monitoring the audio on the Sennheiser PC38X headset I use and love at the office. As I feared, the microphone was picking up the output from the headphones - perils of an open back design (or maybe - or also? - electrical cross-talk from the shared 3.5mm TRRS cable setup).

So I started looking into a solution with a good cost-performance ratio. After hearing the relatively dramatic difference between the PC38X microphone and the ModMic in this video review, I decided that was the route I’d go.

Antlion had a bundle, pairing the ModMic USB (GDL-1500) with the Ultrasone 580i. The 580i headphones don’t get glowing reviews, but they’re closed-back, noise-isolating, and the combo brought the price down around $100 to about $205, so I gave ’em a shot. I like the way they sound (though I might tweak with an EQ).

For convenience, I’m routing everything to a single USB port; the headphones (3.5mm) are plugged into a Sound Blaster Play! 3 USB DAC/amp (SB1730) DragonFly Black (after the Sound Blaster crapped out, only putting out sound on one channel, the second Play! 3 I’ve had do that; I’m done with Creative Labs stuff for now), and then the ModMic and Sound Blaster are both plugged into an inline 2-port SIIG USB hub (JU-H20011-S1)

Finally, to tidy everything up, I wrapped the 3.5 mm cable for the headphones together with the USB cable for the ModMic in 1/4" split braided cable loom, trimmed with a hot knife. This was a little too large; 3/16" would probably have been perfect (1/8" was too small), but alas I couldn’t easily source that. The ModMic comes with anchors to keep the cables together, but that’s clunkier.