Microsoft hit upon a stroke of genius when it included a mic with every premium Xbox 360 sold in 2005 and 2006. It ensured that nearly everybody in an online match could talk to one another thus fostering a better sense of community. Now it’s doing the same with the Xbox One, but the mic has gone through some improvements.

Major Nelson shared a new blog post today that compares the audio quality of an Xbox 360 mic with that of an Xbox One mic. You should already know that the the Xbox One mic is superior, but by how much? Well, take a listen to some Xbox 360 mic audio to reacquaint yourself with the kind of audio quality that you hear every night in Call of Duty or Halo matches:

It’s serviceable, right? It’s not like the Xbox 360 mic’s audio quality impaired in-game communications in any way. That may be true, but just wait until you hear what the Xbox One mic is capable of:

It’s a lot better, right? That’s because the Xbox One has dedicated audio processing and it uses the same Skype audio codec that powers the desktop applicaiton. The audio port in the new controller also allows audio to be passed through at a higher sampling rate so you end up with superior sound.

Sony is making up for its blunder last generation by including a mic with every PS4 sold this time around. We’ll soon be able to see which one provides the superior audio experience, but I assume most gamers won’t really care all that much. Besides, we’re all going to end up muting half the players in online matches anyway.

[Image: Xbox]