so ive been going back and forth on this for a while now and figured id just ask here because the opinions online vary wildly. been running SSB on 20m and 40m for about two years, mostly casual ragchewing and some DX when the band cooperates. my setup is an IC-7300 into a trapped vertical, pretty standard stuff.

lately ive been really conscious of how i sound on the other end and started doing monitor checks with a second receiver. honestly kind of embarrassing how processed and thin i was sounding before i started paying attention. i had the TX bandwidth cranked way too wide and the mic gain was way hot, which i think was causing all kinds of splatter i wasnt even aware of.

so my question is really about what actually matters for good SSB audio. like i see people going deep on outboard EQ, compression, all that broadcast stuff. and then some guys just plug in an SM-50 and call it a day and sound fantastic. is the radio DSP doing enough work or is there real benefit to outboard processing? also curious what mic technique people actually use day to day, do you keep a consistent distance or just kind of hold it wherever

mic distance is probably the most underrated thing honestly. i spent way too long messing with EQ curves before i figured out that just keeping the mic about 2-3 inches away and speaking slightly off-axis made more difference than anything else. avoids the proximity effect pumping up your lows when you move around, and you get less breath noise on the capsule.

as for outboard processing vs the radio DSP -- the 7300 actually has pretty capable audio shaping built in if you dig into the menus. the TX bandwidth, the bass/treble adjustments, the compression. most people never touch any of it and then wonder why they sound like theyre talking through a tin can. i ran mine with the bandwidth set to 2.4kHz for a long time before bumping it down to around 2.1kHz and it cleaned up the perceived audio quality a lot, less muddiness in the mids.

outboard stuff like an equalizer or a dedicated mic preamp can help if your mic is a poor match for the radio's input impedance but id honestly exhaust the built-in options first before spending money. the compressor on the 7300 is usable if you dont get greedy with it, maybe 4-5dB of compression at most or it starts to sound really pumpy on voice peaks.

yeah the mic gain thing caught me too when i first got serious about SSB. i had mine cranked because i thought more gain = louder = better and then someone told me straight up that my audio sounded like a distorted mess. turned it down until the ALC was barely moving on voice peaks and suddenly people were complimenting how i sounded. counterintuitive but it works

one thing i havent seen mentioned much is the actual mic itself. dynamic vs condenser makes a pretty big difference in how you need to set everything else up. condensers pick up way more room noise which can sound bad if your shack isnt quiet, dynamics are more forgiving in that way. im running an Heil PR-40 now and its kind of overkill for radio but it sounds great