DSA-awarded audio equipment is usually very entry-level.
Any "shotgun" Mic, for instance, may be labelled as such, but the Andrea SG-110M is specifically only barely able to qualify as such.
We have tested multiple and they work as intended/in line with their specs.
If you try to record someone in a noisy/echo-filled auditorium with this mic, it will not work. If you try to record the entire auditorium or one person a few feet away, it will work.
In addition, examining the mic, the polar patterns in the insert are for a unidirectional, cardioid mic. Not a shotgun.
When we test them in a relatively/under a few db environments, we find they work okay to pick up a single voice.
But are, by design not Omni directional. So once the lecturer/subject moves out of the capture field, which the further away they are can be very small, they will be muffled/hard to hear.
What this does mean is that a better Mic may be needed, but we can only supply what the assessor/student has agreed to and DSA approved.
With both Microphones and headsets/headphones as well, the noise cancelling features that are inbuilt will again be very entry-level/rudimentary. Expecting a £20-50 headset/headphone to have the same active cancelling features and abilities as a £300-10000 pair of headphones is not realistic.
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