I noticed in the specs that there is now no beamforming mic from what I have read. Can anyone with a new 2017 27" iMac let me know what the sound quality for facetime is like with it please before I pull the trigger.
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New 2017 iMac no beamforming mic?
- Thread starter killhippie
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I don't THINK the 2017 has dual mics like the 2012-2015 and thus cannot do beam forming. However I would try to find reviews and comparisons. Apple may have found better audio quality by moving the mic on the 2017 model vs dual mics with beam forming found on previous models.
On a computer I would think a single better mic would be better then dual mics in the same locations since it will only be used by someone sitting in front of the computer.
And an external mic is the way to go in any case if use it a lot. People listening to you or what you are doing will be thankful. And of course its a requirement if you produce media like Podcast, youtube videos or whatever.
On a computer I would think a single better mic would be better then dual mics in the same locations since it will only be used by someone sitting in front of the computer.
And an external mic is the way to go in any case if use it a lot. People listening to you or what you are doing will be thankful. And of course its a requirement if you produce media like Podcast, youtube videos or whatever.
No real reviews yet, but the mic is placed nearer the fans I think its definitely at the bottom, maybe it does work better, I'll be finding out when mine arrives. Tech moves on and microphones get better, or Apple cuts a few corners and nobody notices
Time will tell. I'm just interested for facetime calls as I wont be using an external mic for that.
There is better be a good reason for Apple to make that change. Because my Late 2015 iMac picks up the fan noise and person on the other end of FaceTime call always complain about this loud noise. I hope relocation of mic improves on that. Also I believe due to this particular reason FaceTime always lowers the mic sensitivity down to 1/4 of its max level for it to do some noise cancellation which is not a good solution. This has been the case since the very first aluminium iMac and with Cinema and Thunderbolt Displays
No real reviews yet, but the mic is placed nearer the fans I think its definitely at the bottom, maybe it does work better, I'll be finding out when mine arrives. Tech moves on and microphones get better, or Apple cuts a few corners and nobody notices
I thought the same thing. I did a little experiment with my iMac. Cranked the fans to max (2640 RPM) and put a db meter in both spots to see which was noisier. Unfortunately the bottom is significantly noisier then on the top.
So I tried setting the fan to 2000 RPM which might be more reasonable. Same results. Then 1700 RPM, same results. I was trying to see if maybe intake noise would drop off at a certain RPM but it doesn't appear to matter. The top is always quieter than the bottom near the intakes.
In theory Apple COULD make a algorithm to cancel out a lot of fan noice. Or could have add a mic on the back to actively cancel it.
I'll be curious to see actual reviews on this.
Maybe someone with a 2017 iMac could be nice enough to FaceTime a techy buddy and increase the fan speed to see what they notice?
EDIT: Typo
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