The best microphone for dictation is one that sits close to your mouth and is connected by cable. That is really all it takes. An expensive device does little if it stands a metre away or runs over Bluetooth.
The microphone types compared
| Microphone | Best for | Strengths | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wired USB headset | Almost everyone, especially with background noise | Constant distance from your mouth, good at filtering room noise, the best all-rounder | Keep the boom to the side of your mouth, not straight in front |
| USB desk microphone | A quiet single office | Very clear, nothing on your head, comfortable for long sessions | You have to stay in front of it; picks up desk knocks and room echo |
| Dictation microphone (e.g. Philips SpeechMike, Olympus RecMic) | Law firms, medical practices, an established dictation workflow | Close to your mouth, familiar handling | Works as a USB microphone; map its record buttons to your Sprecho shortcut in the vendor's software |
| Built-in laptop microphone | Quiet rooms, travel | No accessories, always there | Picks up keyboard and echo, weak at a distance |
| Wired headset via jack or USB-C adapter | Travel, reusing your phone headset | Cheap, small, none of the Bluetooth drawbacks | Cheap adapters or inline mics can sound muffled |
| Bluetooth headset or AirPods | Occasional dictation when nothing else is at hand | Wireless | Phone quality, start-up delay, music sounds like a phone call meanwhile |
What fits your setting?
Single office, quiet. A USB desk microphone or the built-in microphone is enough. Keep about 15 to 30 cm distance and place the microphone so it does not sit right next to the keyboard.
Open-plan office. A wired USB headset. Colleagues' voices are the hardest interference of all, and only a microphone close to your mouth reliably keeps them small.
Home office with kids, a dog or street noise. Also a USB headset. A desk microphone picks up the whole room; a headset picks up mainly you.
Law firm or medical practice with a dictation microphone. You can keep using your SpeechMike or RecMic. Sprecho sees it as a normal USB microphone. Sprecho does not yet support its record buttons directly: in the vendor's control software, map your Sprecho shortcut to the button you normally use to start recording. The available shortcuts are listed in the keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet.
Travelling. The built-in microphone in a quiet place, otherwise a small wired headset with a jack or USB-C. Bluetooth works in a pinch, but select it explicitly and wait a moment after pressing the key.
Why wired
A wired microphone delivers full audio from the very first moment. A Bluetooth headset first has to switch to call mode to record: that takes up to one or two seconds, the audio is only phone quality, and names and technical terms are the first things to be misrecognised. That is why other dictation apps also recommend the built-in or a wired microphone.
Sprecho already takes this into account. On Automatic it follows your default microphone as long as it is not a Bluetooth device, so USB headsets, USB microphones, dictation microphones and microphones in a dock or monitor are used directly. Everything about Bluetooth is in Bluetooth microphones and dictation.
When Bluetooth is fine anyway
- You dictate only occasionally and have no other microphone with you.
- You sit in a noisy open-plan office, and a microphone close to your mouth matters more to you than audio quality.
Then select the headset under Settings → General → Input Device or from the Sprecho icon in the menu bar or tray, and wait about half a second after pressing the dictation key before you speak.