[abesh]

My colleagues have been telling me over the last few months that my voice sounds quite muddy whenever I take conference calls and I always thought it was most probably my WiFi. I use the KEF M100 earbuds and never thought they would have crappy microphones but then I was in our HQ with high bandwidth WiFi and my voice quality was crap again Switched to a Audio Technica usb microphone lying in the office and there was a marked difference.
So here I am, looking for advice on headphones with really good microphones. My budget is around $150 and I would prefer wired over wireless buds/iems. Not looking at headphones since I travel a lot and want them to be as easy to carry as possible. Also I listen to a lot of music (rock, metal) on the go so good sound quality would be a plus.

 

[baskingshark]

I think the KZ ZS10 Pro may suit you (there is a mic and non mic version). Around $37 USD when on sales on aliexpress. Good allrounder, good instrument separation and details and great bass.
It is V shaped sound signature.
I have the mic version but personally I think an added mic degrades the sound quality slightly (I'm quite picky with sound quality), so I used a non mic cable with it.

 

[abesh]

Thanks so much Let me see if Amazon has them too Does it come with both a mic and a non mic cable?

 

[baskingshark]

no u can only choose one cable (either mic or non mic). It is cheaper for the non mic version. I have quite a few friends that use it for calls and music (mic version), but as above I'm not a fan of the slight degradation in sound with a mic version.

 

[abesh]

I am a little nitpicky too when it comes to audio quality. Is there a non mic cable on Amazon that you would suggest for the KZ?

 

[baskingshark]

I personally use the NICEHCK 8 core copper cable:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32955106234.html

Can be around 8 USD during sales. Sorry I usually buy from aliexpress as it's cheaper, so haven't tried buying this from amazon. Bear in mind the KZ ZS10 Pro has a 2 pin connector, and it uses a para C connector so the one I am using (above) sticks out a bit (but still fits and works). Some of the others in headfi use a real para C 2 pin connector so it is more ergonomic in a way. You can probably ask the rest for more advise in a cheap and good cable thread:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/low-end-cheap-generic-otherwise-bang-for-buck-cable-thread.891911/

 

[abesh]

Thanks so much, I will check them out. But would you know how good the mic is on the KZ? That is pretty important as I would use it for office calls too

 

[baskingshark]

Thanks so much, I will check them out. But would you know how good the mic is on the KZ? That is pretty important as I would use it for office calls too

It is not too bad. I've seen a couple of my friends use KZ mic wires all the time for their daily conference calls and office calls (on KZ AS6, AS10, ZS10 Pro and ZS10 original).

I personally don't use earphones/earbuds for my work, so YMMV.