Collection
Audio Fixes That Cost Nothing
Across the audio pages on this site the first recommendation keeps turning out to be free. Collected here, because those paragraphs are the easiest to skip.
5 min read
Audio & Voice
Being heard clearly, and hearing the room less.
Start here
Audio Fixes That Cost Nothing
Across the audio pages on this site the first recommendation keeps turning out to be free. Collected here, because those paragraphs are the easiest to skip.
Guide
Reducing Echo on Calls Without Buying Panels
The room reaches the microphone as reflections off hard flat surfaces. Break those and the echo mostly goes, using things already in the house.
4 min read
Guide
Speaker Placement on a Desk
Two speakers pointed at nobody is the default arrangement. Height, angle and distance from the wall change more than any upgrade at this price.
4 min read
Guide
A Subwoofer in a Flat
Bass travels through the building, not through the air, which is why turning it down helps less than expected. What decoupling changes and what it cannot.
3 min read
Guide
Gain Staging Without Clipping
Clipping destroys the recording rather than making it loud, and it cannot be undone afterwards. Where to set the level, and why headroom costs you nothing.
4 min read
Guide
Headphone Impedance and Whether You Need an Amp
Impedance is the number everyone quotes and sensitivity is the one that decides. How to tell whether your headphones are short of power, before spending anything.
4 min read
Comparison
Dynamic vs Condenser Microphone in a Noisy Room
A condenser is the more capable microphone and usually the wrong one at a gaming desk. Sensitivity is the specification, and the room decides how it cuts.
3 min read
Comparison
Open vs Closed Back Headphones in a Shared Room
Open backs sound better and leak in both directions. In a room with another person in it, that is the whole decision — not soundstage.
4 min read
Guide
Ground Loops, and Why Desk Speakers Hum
A steady mains hum that changes when you touch the case is a ground loop. The common fix circulating online is genuinely dangerous — this one is not.
4 min read
Guide
Microphone Position, and the Proximity Effect
Moving a mic closer improves your voice relative to the room faster than any purchase. It also changes your tone, which is why people move it back again.
4 min read
Guide
Mute That Actually Mutes
There are three places a microphone can be silenced and only one of them is certain. Why the button you press is usually a request, and how to test which you have.
4 min read
Guide
Sidetone, and Hearing Your Own Voice
A sealed earcup makes your own voice sound wrong, so you get louder without noticing. What sidetone does about it, and why a delayed version is worse than none.
4 min read
Guide
Desk Speakers Vibrating Through Everything
A speaker on a desk turns the desk into part of the speaker. Isolation pads decouple it, and they change the sound more than most people expect.
3 min read
Guide
Do Acoustic Panels Improve Gaming and Stream Audio?
Thin foam absorbs high frequencies and leaves the boominess untouched. Where a few panels genuinely help, and where they are decoration on a wall.
3 min read
Guide
Do You Need a Pop Filter for a Gaming Mic?
Plosives are a blast of air hitting the capsule, not a loud sound. That is why a filter works and why moving off-axis works just as well for free.
3 min read
Guide
Replace Headphone Pads Before Buying a New Headset
Pads are a consumable that changes comfort, isolation and tone. A flattened pair makes a good headset sound wrong, and replacing them costs very little.
3 min read
Guide
Stopping Keyboard Noise Reaching Your Microphone
Desk taps travel through the desk into the mic, not through the air. That is why moving the microphone helps less than decoupling it does.
3 min read
Guide
When Does a Gaming Headset Need a DAC?
Most headsets do not. A separate converter earns its place in three cases — audible interference, a high-impedance headphone, or a hissing front panel.
3 min read
Find one by feature
Narrow by what actually matters for your case. Selecting more than one narrows further, it does not broaden — this is a filter, not a search.
24 of 24 match
- Reducing Echo on Calls Without Buying PanelsGain Staging Without ClippingMicrophone Position, and the Proximity Effectand 3 more on this site
USB microphone boom arm
- Microphone Position, and the Proximity EffectStopping Keyboard Noise Reaching Your Microphone
Microphone shock mount
- Microphone Position, and the Proximity EffectDo You Need a Pop Filter for a Gaming Mic?
Microphone pop filter
- Reducing Echo on Calls Without Buying PanelsSpeaker Placement on a DeskA Subwoofer in a Flatand 2 more on this site
Compact acoustic panel pack
- Draught-Proofing a Rented FlatReducing Echo on Calls Without Buying PanelsDo Acoustic Panels Improve Gaming and Stream Audio?
Door draft stopper
- Speaker Placement on a DeskA Subwoofer in a FlatDesk Speakers Vibrating Through Everything
Desktop speaker isolation pads
- When a TV Works as a MonitorSpeaker Placement on a DeskDesk Speakers Vibrating Through Everything
Desktop soundbar
- A Subwoofer in a FlatGain Staging Without ClippingHeadphone Impedance and Whether You Need an Ampand 4 more on this site
USB headphone DAC
- Mute That Actually MutesWhen Does a Gaming Headset Need a DAC?
USB audio volume knob
- Headphone Impedance and Whether You Need an AmpOpen vs Closed Back Headphones in a Shared RoomWhen Does a Gaming Headset Need a DAC?
Headphone and speaker audio switch
- Replace Headphone Pads Before Buying a New Headset
Headphone stand with USB ports
- Headphone Impedance and Whether You Need an AmpOpen vs Closed Back Headphones in a Shared RoomSidetone, and Hearing Your Own Voiceand 1 more on this site
Replacement headphone ear pads
- Replace Headphone Pads Before Buying a New Headset
Headset cable extension
- Reducing Echo on Calls Without Buying PanelsGain Staging Without ClippingDynamic vs Condenser Microphone in a Noisy Roomand 2 more on this site
USB dynamic microphone
- Dynamic vs Condenser Microphone in a Noisy Room
USB condenser microphone
- Gain Staging Without ClippingHeadphone Impedance and Whether You Need an AmpDynamic vs Condenser Microphone in a Noisy Room
Compact XLR audio interface
- Ground Loops, and Why Desk Speakers Hum
Audio ground loop isolator
- Ground Loops, and Why Desk Speakers Hum
Shielded audio interconnect cable
- Mute That Actually Mutes
USB hardware mute button
- Bluetooth Audio Latency in GamesSidetone, and Hearing Your Own Voice
USB headset with sidetone
- A Subwoofer in a Flat
Subwoofer isolation platform
- Bluetooth Audio Latency in GamesHeadphone Impedance and Whether You Need an Amp
FiiO KA11 USB-C DAC and headphone amp
FiiO
- Microphone Position, and the Proximity Effect
RODE PSA1+ studio boom arm
RODE
- Bluetooth Audio Latency in Games
Wireless gaming headset with 2.4 GHz dongle
Other things that might be annoying you
- Warning lightThe light is on and nobody can tell me why.
- A long drive coming upSix hours in the car and I have not thought about any of it.
- Wi-Fi that keeps droppingThe PC is upstairs and the router is by the front door.
- The desk is set up wrongThe screen is too low, the chair is too high, and I have never changed either.
- A screen that is hard to look atGlare across it, or text I keep leaning in to read.
- Stuck at the roadsideSomething failed away from home and I had nothing useful with me.
- Taking a handheld awayCharging it, filling it, and getting it there in one piece.
- A PC that will not startIt was fine yesterday and now nothing happens at all.
- A car that barely movesIt sits far more than it drives, and that is its own problem.
- Nobody can hear me properlyHum, echo, or a microphone that picks up every keystroke.
- Losing work to a power cutA flickering supply, a failing drive, and no backup worth the name.
- Dead batteryThe car sat for a month and now it won't turn over.
- No garage spaceThe car fits, but only just, and nothing else does.
- Car clutterEverything I own is loose in the trunk and rattling.
- Dirty interiorThe interior has grit in places a vacuum cannot reach.
- Bad lightingI cannot see what I am doing under the hood or under the car.
- Lost toolsI own three 10 mm sockets and can find none of them.
- Loud PCIt sounds like a hairdryer the moment a game loads.
- PC runs hotFrame rate drops after twenty minutes and never recovers.
- Cable messBehind the desk is one knot I refuse to look at.
- Cannot drillI rent, so nothing can leave a hole or a mark.
- Nowhere to put itThe flat is full and there is nowhere left to put anything.
- Bag will not closeIt all went in last time and now the case will not shut.
- Everything needs chargingFour devices, one socket, and a flight in the morning.