Ephraim J. Witchwood said:
Someone explain to me how the hell they are "upgrading voice quality" without making their mics better. It doesn't make sense to me. >.<
Well, it won't help folks with absolutely crap hardware... like the massively-useless free headset I got with my first Live annual card.
For those with reasonable headsets*, though, there are at least two ways that I can think of because voice over XBL is digitally compressed to save bandwidth for the rest of the gaming data:
a) they could have improved the compression algorithm, so that it loses less in transmission quality while taking up the same or less amount of your uplink/downlink bandwidth.
b) they could have used the same compression algorithm but decreased the amount of compression, meaning a better signal but at the cost of more bandwidth.
There are probably other ways, but I'm not an expert.
-- Steve
* I have an awesome headset; back when
Halo 2 came out I got the Halo-branded green Plantronics one. It was a bit on the expensive side, but it's lasted me for six years (so far, and still going on strong except that I'm down to my last foam-rubber thingie for the earpiece) while giving me a much better voice signal than the cheapies. I use Plantronics gear at work, and I've always been impressed with their quality... even if the price is a bit high for a gaming accessory. Then again, it's also compatible with cellphones if you don't mind looking like a gaming geek on the street.