A conference microphone has one job: make the quietest person at the table sound clear to the people on the other end of the call. The hard part is that the same mic also picks up the projector fan, the HVAC vent, the laptop typing, and the reverb off the glass wall. The five models below are the ones that handle those competing demands without forcing the IT team to babysit the room every Monday morning. After looking at the full lineup from Shure, Sennheiser, Logitech, Audio-Technica, and Crestron for rooms ranging from 4-seat huddle spaces to 20-seat boardrooms, these are the picks that combine pickup quality, DSP, and platform certification.
Quick comparison
| Microphone | Form factor | Pickup pattern | Best for | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shure MXA902 Ceiling Mic | Ceiling array | Single-zone steerable | 12 to 20 seat rooms | Teams, Zoom |
| Sennheiser Speech Line | Wireless gooseneck | Cardioid | Lecterns and panels | Dante |
| Logitech Rally Mic Pod | Tabletop pod | Omni 4-zone | 6 to 14 seat rooms | Teams, Zoom |
| Audio-Technica ES933 PML | Hanging cardioid | Cardioid | Mid-room overhead | Standard XLR |
| Crestron CRMC-PRO | Ceiling array | Multi-beam | Crestron rooms | Teams, Crestron |
Shure MXA902 Ceiling Mic, Best Overall
The MXA902 combines a ceiling-mounted microphone array and a loudspeaker into a single tile that drops into a standard 2-by-2 ceiling grid. The single-zone IntelliMix processing steers a wide coverage pattern across a 20-by-20 foot area, so one unit handles a 12-seat boardroom without spot mics on the table.
Network audio runs over Dante or AES67, and the on-board DSP handles echo cancellation, noise suppression, and automatic gain so the mic plugs into a Teams Room or Zoom Room appliance without an external processor. Power over Ethernet keeps the install to a single cable.
Trade-off: the MXA902 is the most expensive pick on this list, and the install needs a drop ceiling and a network drop in the right spot. For a room without those, the Rally Mic Pod is a better starting point.
Sennheiser Speech Line, Best for Panels and Lecterns
The Speech Line Digital Wireless system is the right pick when the room layout involves a podium, a head table, or a moving presenter. The gooseneck transmitters pair with a rack-mount receiver and deliver clean cardioid pickup with the rejection needed to cut feedback from a nearby room PA.
The system supports AES 256-bit encryption end to end and runs in the 1.9 GHz DECT band, which avoids the WiFi congestion that hurts 2.4 GHz wireless mic systems in a crowded office. Battery life on the handhelds and bodypacks runs about 8 hours of continuous use.
Trade-off: this is not a single-room conference mic; it is a wireless system designed for events and panels. Pricier and more complex than the ceiling and tabletop picks, but the right answer for moving presenters.
Logitech Rally Mic Pod, Best Tabletop
The Rally Mic Pod is the tabletop pod that ships as part of the Rally video system and the right pick when ceiling mounting is not an option. Each pod has four omnidirectional capsules with internal DSP that creates a four-zone pickup pattern around the unit, and up to seven pods can be daisy-chained for very long tables.
The pod connects to the Rally hub or to a USB conferencing appliance via a single shielded cable that carries audio and power. Teams Rooms and Zoom Rooms certification means no driver work, and the on-board mute button has a clear LED ring.
Trade-off: the pods sit on the table and the cables run across the surface. For a clean install, plan the cable routing and table grommets before bolting anything down. The hanging cable also limits how often you can reconfigure the room.
Audio-Technica ES933 PML, Best Hanging Mic
The ES933 PML is the workhorse hanging cardioid mic for mid-size rooms that already have an audio rack with phantom power and a real DSP. Standard XLR output, cardioid pattern, and a flat frequency response from 80 Hz to 20 kHz make it predictable and easy to integrate with any third-party processor.
The mic ships with a 25-foot cable and a ceiling escutcheon, and the cardioid pattern delivers about 130 degrees of pickup coverage from a 9-foot ceiling. Three or four ES933s arrayed across a long boardroom give clean talker isolation when paired with an automixer.
Trade-off: this is not a plug-and-play USB mic. It needs phantom power, an automixer, and a DSP, which means the install has to go through an integrator. Cheaper per mic than the network units, but the room rack is the additional cost.
Crestron CRMC-PRO, Best for Crestron Rooms
The CRMC-PRO is Crestron's ceiling beamforming array, designed to drop into rooms already running Crestron control and AV processing. Multi-beam steering tracks active talkers in real time, and the unit reports beam status and talker activity back to the Crestron processor for analytics and automatic camera framing.
Network audio runs over Dante and the unit integrates with Crestron Flex for Teams Rooms appliances. PoE+ powered, 24-by-24 inch ceiling form factor, and a black-painted version is available for darker ceiling tiles.
Trade-off: the integration story is built around Crestron infrastructure. In a room running QSC Q-SYS or a standalone Teams appliance without Crestron, the Shure MXA902 is the cleaner pick.
How to choose
Match the mic to the room geometry, not the headcount
A long narrow boardroom needs different coverage than a square huddle room with the same number of seats. Measure the longest distance from the likely mic location to the farthest talker, then check the manufacturer pickup pattern at that distance. A ceiling unit rated for 20-by-20 coverage will struggle in a 28-foot-long room.
Certification matters when IT is on the hook
Teams and Zoom certified devices get firmware updates through the platform admin console and stay supported when the platform pushes a new feature. Non-certified mics work but eventually need manual driver updates, and feature parity can lag.
Plan the DSP and the network before the mic
Network audio (Dante, AES67) needs a separate VLAN, PTP time sync, and managed switches. If the IT team has not set that up, the project is going to take longer than the AV portion suggests. A USB or analog tabletop pod is faster to deploy when the network is not ready.
Echo cancellation is the easy part, noise suppression is the hard part
Modern DSP handles echo cancellation in any room. The differentiator between a good and a great conference mic is how it handles steady-state HVAC noise, fan noise, and the room hum without making the talker sound underwater. Listen to demo recordings before committing.
For related setup choices, see our guide to conference room cameras and the full conference room equipment breakdown. For how we evaluate audio gear, see our methodology.
A conference microphone install is a five-year decision, so the pickup pattern, the certification, and the integration story all matter more than the day-one price. The Shure MXA902 is the right call for most 10-to-20-seat rooms, the Rally Mic Pod covers tabletop setups, and the Crestron CRMC-PRO ties into existing Crestron infrastructure cleanly. Get the room measurements right, pick the form factor that matches the ceiling and table, and the mic stops being a daily problem.
Frequently asked questions
Ceiling mic or tabletop mic for a 12-person room?+
For rooms with 8 or more seats and a long table, a ceiling array is usually the better answer. A single ceiling unit covers the full table without cables on the surface and stays out of the way when the room is reconfigured. Tabletop mics keep the source closer to each talker, which helps in rooms with bad acoustics, but the cabling and the visual clutter get worse as the table grows. For a typical 12-person boardroom with carpet and a drop ceiling, a Shure MXA902 or equivalent covers the entire table from one mounting point.
Do I need a DSP if my conference mic has built-in processing?+
Built-in DSP handles echo cancellation, automatic gain, and basic noise suppression, which is enough for most small and medium rooms. A separate DSP box becomes useful when you are combining multiple microphones, integrating with a room PA, or running into a Crestron or Q-SYS control system. For a single-room install with one ceiling array and a soundbar, the on-board DSP is fine.
What is a beamforming microphone?+
A beamforming microphone uses an array of small mic capsules and signal processing to electronically steer the pickup pattern toward the talker, rather than relying on a single fixed pattern. The result is that the mic picks up the active speaker clearly while rejecting sound from other directions in the room. Beamforming is what makes a ceiling array workable in a large room without dozens of capsules.
Are USB conference mics good enough for a real boardroom?+
USB conference mics work well for huddle rooms and small offices up to about 6 seats. For a real boardroom with a long table, glass walls, and a reverberant ceiling, you want a networked mic on Dante or AES67 that integrates with a proper DSP and a calibrated speaker setup. The USB ones cover the laptop-on-the-table use case, not the built-in room.
What does Teams or Zoom certification actually mean?+
Certification means the manufacturer ran the device through Microsoft's or Zoom's test suite for echo handling, latency, noise suppression, and bandwidth use, and the certifying party publishes a compatibility statement. Certified devices generally work with no driver tweaking, support the full feature set including remote management, and stay supported through platform updates. Non-certified devices may work fine but can drop features (like noise suppression toggles) over time.
Morgan Davis
Morgan Davis writes for The Tested Hub.