1. Yeah an apartment No clue. None. My best guesses is either the walls are better insulated then I think, no one really cares, or it's the directionality of the surround sound system which is really apparent at some levels and modes.
2. The official mic is really decent, and while it is loud, it's loud around me. It's not right in my ear like the mic, which is turned up to full volume. Sometimes I have trouble hearing some folks when the connection isn't as good and I press the volume up button forgetting it's already at max and I press it again and it does that super loud 3 beeps in my ear, that hurts.
Oh yeah, be playing RFG this weekend. If you see me online at all, send me an invite, I'm not playing anything else seriously until AC2 arrives.