Summary
- Krisp Microphone and Krisp Speaker: one-channel (mono) devices
- Your voice goes out in mono, regardless of your physical microphone or the other participants' speakers
- Mono doesn't mean low quality: voice quality depends on the sample rate
- Krisp Microphone: HD voice at a 32,000 Hz sample rate, depending on your device and computer
- Krisp Speaker: up to a 16,000 Hz sample rate, no HD support.
Both Krisp Microphone and Krisp Speaker are one-channel devices. This means that the incoming and outgoing sounds will be mono.
Info
When you listen to a sound in stereo, each of your speakers plays a separate audio track. This gives you the impression of sound source localization, meaning you can locate the position of a sound source within a 3D space.
Mono playback systems use one speaker and can only produce a 2D perception of the sound localization. If two speakers are used, the same audio track is played through both speakers, mimicking the third dimension.
If your voice goes through the Krisp Microphone, it will become mono, no matter how many channels your physical microphone has.
The other call participants will hear your voice in mono whether or not their physical speakers support stereo sound. If two speakers are used, your voice will go out through both of them, but will still stay mono.
Will my voice have low quality because it's mono?
The quality of the voice is defined by its sample rate. High-quality voice refers to voice transmitted at a 32,000 Hz or higher sample rate. This is known as HD quality. For reference, the highest frequency audible to the human ear is 20,000 Hz.
The sound can be HD whether it's mono or stereo.
Krisp Microphone supports HD voice at a 32,000 Hz sample rate if you have an appropriate physical device and your computer can handle the load. If the other call participants have high-quality speakers, they will hear your voice in HD.
Krisp Speaker doesn't support HD voice. Regardless of the specs of your physical speaker, the highest sample rate for Krisp Speaker is 16,000 Hz. If you are not in professional sound production, this quality should not affect your experience.