The important factor is how you position the microphone relative to your mouth—specifically the distance and the angle—to control how much sound hits the diaphragm and to avoid overloading it. If the mic is pressed directly against the lips or held very close, the sudden bursts of air from plosives and loud speech can overload the diaphragm, causing distortion or popping. On the flip side, if you keep it too far away, the signal becomes weak and more susceptible to background noise, which can also sound distorted when you try to boost the level. The best practice is a moderate distance from the mouth, with the microphone angled slightly off-axis so air blasts don’t hit it directly. This keeps the signal strong and clean without clipping. In navy practice, you’ll want a consistent distance and avoid any lip contact with the mic to maintain clear, undistorted transmission. Other factors like color, warranty period, or time of day don’t affect distortion, so they’re not relevant to this issue.