Hey, so I recently decided to try IEM's for gaming. I got myself some Kefine Kleans on the recommendation of a youtuber that actually does review IEM's based on gaming performance first and foremost. I also ordered some Kefine Delci AE since those are supposed to be slightly better for gaming.

First off. I would like to know what everyone is using and what games you're using it for. How the performance is. (things like sound stage, imaging, clarity, sound separation during gunfights etc)

But here is my issue. I've always used headsets that came with mics. And I use them on my steelseries gamedac (original) which only has one 3.5 input port (TRRS) for headsets and mics. Now, this thing actually has incredible sound. It greatly improves sound over the 3.5 jack on the motherboard, music is fantastic with it etc. It also has an EQ, gain settings and Most importantly, it has side tone. I am someone that has used sidetone for so long I can't do without. It also works great with the IEM I have, which isn't always the case with DACs (e.g. I heard the creative x4 preferably needs something with 80ohm impedance and higher)

So I found a sort of solution. Using a TRRS splitter to split the 3.5 input on the DAC to TRRS (audio) and TRS (for mic). I also bought the cheapest lavalier microphone I could find (those mics you attach to your clothes for interviews) and used that as a mic. It worked to my surprise. The only problem is that the lavalier mic sounds like absolute TRASH. it's better for my friends on discord due to discord noise suppression but the sidetone audio is horrifically bad and has a horrible loud hiss.

What would be a good mic solution for me? I need something that is 3.5mm. That has decent sound and I can either wear or place on my desk without taking too much space. An arm is ok too. See there are fantastic, affordable USB mics. But if I buy one of those, I don't get sidetone. Or I have to run my IEM through them to get sidetone, which I imagine will sound like absolute garbage compared to my DAC.

it's driving me crazy man. Do I just buy a better lavalier? Maybe a boom mic meant for cameras and vlogging? I would prefer to just buy one of those gaming mics, would probably also give me the best sound. But I wouldn't be able to use my DAC. I could go for a cheap XLR mic but then I need to buy a whole new fn AMP/DAC solution. At that point it becomes so expensive I might as well just buy a fn Audezee Maxwell and be done with it considering it's supposed to be the best of the best closed back, gaming headsets, wireless with all the bells and whistles.