Do You Need An Expensive Microphone? Cheap Vs Expensive Mics, Blind Test

Рет қаралды 3,247

Күн бұрын

In this video I compare a variety of condenser microphones. I do a blind test to hopefully help people decide if they really need to spend a lot of money on a microphone. There are definitely benefits and sound quality improvements to be had with more expensive microphones. But could a $40 microphone suffice for your needs nearly as well as a $1,000 mic?
I test the following mics:
Blue Snowball Ice - $40
Blue Ember - $85
Audio-Technica AT2020 - $99
Tascam TM280 - $100-$180
Rode NT1 - $270
Earthworks SR314 - $700
Neumann TLM 103 - $1,100
As requested by several viewers, I have set up a Patreon account. Any support is much appreciated, but absolutely not required.
/ bigtb1717

Пікірлер: 34

@urallnutz5294 Жыл бұрын

Whooooo the version I liked best was the one of these cheapest ones (Mic D - Snowball Ice). Noticeably more present and clarity, with moments of bass just when needed. I think the expensive microphones would sound best in proper sound environments or with studio monitors, but realistically most people listen on phones/ear buds/gaming headsets, where clarity is king

@BBEEKKAY 2 жыл бұрын

This was interesting and fun. The testing and even the content being tested. Opened up my eyes (or my ears?). Thanks for this video.

@tbhv 5 ай бұрын

Well, I was delighted to have guessed right about some of these! The first obvious thing- most of the mics offered satisfactory delivery, that said the big upset for me was the Neumann- I just felt it lacked balance; the lows were lacking, highs were mighty particular and specific/ testy. The SR314 definitely sounded the most expensive and balanced - but then again like all the mics, everything performed differently in different applications and in the end I did not think performance was consistent across reading vs podcast. Ie the “annoying” voice sounded particularly annoying on the 314. Thanks for doing this blind test. What I can conclude is the openness in highs / mids / overall balance/ how refined the timbre of the microphone is (smoothness in the mic) can be correlated to its cost value. That finer tuning is where your money goes in a nicer mic.

@narrator-timothymckean 5 ай бұрын

I think differences would have been clearer without the sound effects in the background. That masked the difference in noise floor and the subtleties around the beginning and end of words.

@bigtb1717 5 ай бұрын

I'm sure that's true. But this wasn't meant to be an analytical comparison of the differences. It was more to show that, in a couple real-world use cases (I didn't have any added sound effects during the second part of the testing) you could probably get by with any of these microphones.

@sergioleoncamarillo609 2 жыл бұрын

E, F and G sounded best to me. D is very bad to me.

@hjackson.92 Жыл бұрын

I had to play the blind test twice. It's saying quite a bit when the first two microphones appeared to sound quite the same despite the wide gap in pricing. And since I had a sound bar whose subwoofer was off on the first run and thought microphone D sounded best - and was the only one that had a significantly different sound to my ears, I had to turn the subwoofer on. Again, the first two sounded identical on this second run, microphone D sounded the worst of all of them, and strangely enough the last one had enough of that broadcast-like sound that it beat the first two for me. And that's the thing - I noticed all of these microphones tested here are condensers, and I prefer dynamic microphones. . . but the Blue Ember to me sounds closest to what I might consider in the future, which is either an RE-20 or a Blue Sona. I didn't think condenser mics could sound great, but I now suspect that there are KZbinrs are using the wrong mic (i.e. doesn't work well with their voices) or are using the mic wrong.

@henrikpetersson3463 Жыл бұрын

I was surprised that the Blue Ember was the one I preferred the least. I was thinking that it was the snowball. Not surprised that my favourites were the most two expensive ones though. The TLM has more of a classic voice-over sound being a Neumann LDC, but I was actually leaning towards the Earthworks mic in this example. It has some good low end and a sweet mid range while sounding very clear and articulate. I'm liking it a lot really. I think the AT2020 is the most bang for the bucks though. So that's a really sweet budget alternative that could easily be a workhorse mic. But man, the Earthworks could be well worth saving up to as it's not crazy expensive even for the enthusiast. Especially since it's also a good live microphone, which none of the others can be considered being. (Not important if you're not planning on using it on stage of course.) The only thing that bothered me about the Earthworks was some resonance in the higher frequencies quite prominent in the sibilance. Easily solved with processing, but still, it does stick out a bit. I guess that's the price they had to pay when they made it so articulate.

@bigtb1717 Жыл бұрын

I agree. The Earthworks mic sounds really good.

@koffing2073 Жыл бұрын

Not surprised that the Neumann was B, sound is so smooth, pleasant and liquid. G has a unnatural compressed sound like radio. D clearly sounded inferior quality but only in direct comparison and using high quality speakers. As usual in audio you need to speed 10 times much to get 10% better quality. Listeners won't even notice as the content should be the main focus.

@RetroReminiscing 2 жыл бұрын

Brilliant video , I preffered A and E ... I personally have a blue yeti and a samson CO1U

@kamilzag5948 2 жыл бұрын

For me test on Audiophil set: D - good, G like trueRadio voice , F - more detailed than others. :) My choice BEST Q for YT vlogs = F $$$|QUALITY = I choose G

@rok_koritnik Жыл бұрын

I liked B and F the most. B has more presence, but is slightly harsh, F is smoother, but lacks the resolution. Both are good though.

@Sonnell 9 ай бұрын

I am not very surprised, however some microphones require specific preamps, or preamp settings, most notably input impedance.

@maryammindd Жыл бұрын

Very good Idea and very helpful. Thanks😊

@tinymotogarage 2 жыл бұрын

Nice vid. Was it raining or was there a fan in the room? Not sure which of these mics are expensive and which are not without research - maybe put the basic MSRP in the description so we can figure cheap to expensive?

@bigtb1717 2 жыл бұрын

Lol, I put some ambiance in the part where I was reading about the guy on the ship. It was wind/waves and a ship creaking. I'll update the description with the prices. Thanks.

@alexjnewton56 8 ай бұрын

E AND F BEST NATURAL, RAW SOUND WITHOUT A BUNCH OF FILTERS.

@listentothestars 2 жыл бұрын

this was wild!

@kamilzag5948 2 жыл бұрын

Extra test! Thnx

@legitphantom5921 Жыл бұрын

Fuck my favourite one was the Neuman and sr314 😭

@rowentan 2 жыл бұрын

I really like what do you did on this video and can you reveal which mic is which on this video? I'm really interested to buy one of the mic here. Thanks.

@bigtb1717 2 жыл бұрын

I'm glad you liked it. I do tell which mic was which in the video. I also have the brands, models and prices listed in the description. If you have questions about a specific mic, let me know.

@rowentan 2 жыл бұрын

@@bigtb1717 thanks. My bad for missing out the reveal towards the end of your review. That's really helpful of you for making this video.

@sirnigelcogs 2 жыл бұрын

On listening I thought D and G were awful. The others were pretty good. I wasn't surprised to find out D and G were two of the cheap ones.

@bigtb1717 2 жыл бұрын

I agree that the two Blue mics sound rough compared to the others. Considering some of the others they were compared to here, I don't think they did too bad, but I greatly prefer the sound of the $100 AT2020. Either way, I'm definitely one of the people who is willing to spend more to get something better than those mics, lol.

@krollpeter 2 жыл бұрын

@@bigtb1717 ... which I found sounding muffled through my laptop. I noticed that many people have a preference for a bit darker sound, though. No lie for me D and G were the best. However, all of them would do the job.

@bigtb1717 2 жыл бұрын

Absolutely, everybody has their own preference. That's why I find tests like this interesting. The Blue mics definitely seem tuned to give a more "articulate" character to voice. In headphones I found the two Blue mics a bit harsh (mostly the Snowball Ice) and the other mics sound smoother. But I'm sure there are people who agree with you and prefer the tone of the Blue mics. And there are tons of people using them without issue for KZbin and podcasts. The Snowball Ice is $40 and doesn't require a separate interface, so it's a really cheap option for someone on a budget. Win-win if you actually prefer the sound over mics that cost 10-20 times as much!

@krollpeter 2 жыл бұрын

@@bigtb1717 I do not listen to anything via headphones, however, even cheapos have better frequency response than my laptop speakers. So ... that would explain preferences.