Maono PD400X USB and XLR Review and Test | Maono Link Software Setup

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

OK Currently there is only a android app, not a ios app but that may change eventually, If you Wan To Get one and Help Support The Channel You Can Buy It Here- amzn.to/3ZL8HRU

[@jamesscudder5423]

I enjoyed the video. Very helpful for real! I use the same ic for streaming and singing. I went and sang a few songs and my followers was super satisfied with the new setup. Ty again for making the vidoe

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

A few of these maono microphones sound pretty good. i haven't heard all of their mics but the PD200X and PD400X are not too shabby at all.. im glad you liked the video and thanks for checking it out. !!!! i think the improved the software since i made this video which is cool but yeah.. not a bad microphone and have a great day.

[@Jose_Irizarry]

This is the best video I seen in setting up the Maono PD400X. Thank you so much!

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

You're welcome, a lot of people really enjoy the way This microphone and it's little brother sounds, if you're using this on USB and you're using the software I think they actually add to the couple more bills and whistles to it recently which is nice if you like those features, I've been meaning to get around to making a new video that just goes over the software since they've made the changes, I think they add it like a noise suppressor or a noise gate or something like that in there, which is nice but generally I don't use those because if you haven't set wrong they can kind of wreck your audio quality or if it's true noise suppression where it's just trying to always have the microphone live but remove the unwanted sounds that'll often wreck your audio quality but they did add some of the settings in there if you want them which is neat but hey glad you like the video, thanks for checking it out

[@christinamm6017]

Thanks, Danny! This video is really detailed.

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

Your welcome, it was a fun video to make, it ended up being longer than i expect but i try to cover everything, it was probably about a 10 hour editing project with all the little clips and jump cuts and what not but i enjoy editing, its a great looking mic that sounds great on XLR and sounds pretty darn good over usb, it lots of really nice features, its pretty affordable and built in limiter and compressor are great for anyone who want to live stream or record who wants to run those things but does not want the pc to have to do the processing on the streaming or recording software. i wish the compressor had a indicator of how much gain reduction you are getting, without a gain reduction meter you just kind of have to guess at the amount of gain reduction your getting, hopefully i made it easy to understand how to set the compressor threshold since it dos not have that meter..

[@Hirza.Barizi]

What do you think about the background noise and handling noise? Is it average or more sensitive for a dynamic microphone?

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

I would say it's pretty average all the way around I mean there are microphones with much worse handling noise than this. So it's definitely not one of the worst but all microphones will have some handling noise but more than likely you're not going to be hand holding a mic like this anyways I mean some people might but generally you don't. As far as background noise all microphones will pick up background noise and there's a lot of variables including how much noise is in the room and how high you have the gain turned up and everything else but I'd say it's average as well I mean there are a couple of microphones that do a little bit better at reducing background noise but this one's pretty average now I did do a review on a tank 3 in microphone recently and that seemed to be really good at not picking up background sounds but it did have a little higher than average handling noise I guess but when you're buying these budget items you're going to get a very nice sounding microphone if you buy the right one but none of them are going to be 100% perfect you know what I mean even some of the more expensive microphones you might find something is complain about but you know a really good microphone is going be like 3 to 600 bucks and then the super high in microphones are going to be well over a thousand bucks and then you have the crazy high-end ones I mean for $100 or less you're probably not going to find the perfect microphone but there are a lot of those budget ones that sound really good, I think this one sounded pretty decent but for the money I think they're are probably some better choices out there these days, I think this one had a problem when you say words with a p it pops really easily to wear some of the other ones don't but there's a lot of new budget microphones out these days

[@Kronnikk]

Would LOOOOVE if you did a updated software video with your preferred custom EQ settings

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

There are 2 things about EQ you need to keep in mind 1. everyone's voice and room acoustic are different, meaning my EQ settings may be very different than what would be best for your voice. 2. Generally i don't record with effects because once that effect is in the recording you cant change that your stuck with it .. i would rather turn all of that off and add any changes while editing my video or audio, now if i am live streaming ill do a private live stream, listen to the stream with headphones and than adjust the settings for what sounds best for my vice while streaming, i do notice a mic sounds different on a stream vs a recording some i would probably eq different for a recording vs a live stream.. i like a eq like FabFilter ProQ or the Free TDR Nova EQ as you get way more control with a EQ like that. i just releases a video on the new Pro Q4 but if you want to use the settings in the mic go for it.. but you do need to set the eq for your voice and room.

[@ToddDolce]

Danny, thank you so much for this! I should have this mic in my possession by this weekend! I do have one question though and it may be kind of stupid but I have to ask. If after adding the settings for the mic via the USB software I decide a week later just for one moment to use the mic in XLR mode...(which does not use that software) and then the next day go back to the USB,...will the USB settings in the software still be set as they were prior to jumping over to XLR for a day?

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

I've switched back and forth several times and I've never had to reset the settings,. I believe the settings are actually saved in the hardware on the microphone itself and not the app. But weird things do happen from time to time so you can always open up the app and double check but for me whatever settings I left of that for the ones that had next time I plugged it in. Now if you were to move it to a different computer I don't think it would reset but I've never tried that so I don't know for sure, but it does seem like the settings are saved on the microphone so I believe they should stay that way unless you open up the app and change it again I think the app just controls the hardware in the microphone.

[@ToddDolce]

@@dannylightning-audio-reviews Update: I tested the mic out this morning and WOW!!! After I messed with the settings for a bit I found the sweet spot for my voice. This thing,.....in its USB format,....gets about 90% there when it comes to replicating my RE20 sound. That's amazing!!!! I now have a portable solution for remote mobile situations! I havent bothered with the XLR side of it since that is not what I wanted it for. Tonight I will test the mic by unplugging it from one laptop and trying it on a different machine to test out the settings retention capability. If it keeps my original settings its a HUGE win! If it doesn't, it still stays with me because its that good! The settings I have are easy enough to reset anyway. UPDATE 4|30|23: I tested the mic by plugging it into a completely different computer via USB and YES the settings DO REMAIN and are retained as previously applied on the other device! The settings will remain WITH the Mic no matter where or what it is plugged into. This is truly a wonderful microphone!

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

@@ToddDolce they just sent me the PD200X 2 days ago.. i made a review for that yesterday.. its also extremely nice and only like 80 bucks, this company is really doing something right and they keeping the prices affordable. i really hope they continue to make great sounding great that is affordable, not sure about all their mics but the PD line is great so far. im glad your enjoying your microphone and that is cool you think its almost as good as the RE20..

[@unbiasOrbit]

​@@ToddDolce Thanks for your update! I'm really tempted to get this mic as an upgrade for my Fifine K658 hmm

[@otszzz79]

Ended up here to check the settings for USB usage. I made a test call with a friend, and he asked me to put it some louder, but it looks like it doesn't stay in the green. Looks like you got the solution here. Will try it later, thanks

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

Generally you want to make sure you don't have the gain on the microphone turned up too high, if so the pre-amplifiers on the microphone can clip into storage and there's also a possibility that the game will be too high for the software and clip and distort so you always want to make sure you have enough headroom to where if you get a little louder that you're not clipping into storing the microphone, generally for recording you want the loudest part of your speaking voice to be around minus 20, maybe -15 or maybe -10 on the loudness meter, I wouldn't push it past -10 unless you're running a limiter or a compressor to turn down the ladder parts. But generally as long as you keep this microphone a couple inches in front of your mouth as far as I could tell it had plenty of gain to get to a good volume, The software that this comes with has some pretty nice features on it and I believe there was a compressor and everything else you can set up I mean it's probably not the world's greatest compressor but hey it'll definitely work

[@MIHAYAOWEN]

The sound quality is really nice!

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

Yeah, I wasn't really expecting to be like wow this sounds really good but I'm pretty impressed with the microphone for the price You really can't beat it,. Sounds nice and it looks nice,. Plus it works on phones and XLR and USB so yeah very great deal overall

[@wlsport]

Thank you for the quality review. Tell me, please, does this microphone not require phantom power when connected via xlr?

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

No phantom power required,. Condenser microphones will require phantom power when running on USB but a dynamic microphone will not require a phantom power and last it's got some sort of decibel booster built in, the SE electronics Dyna caster requires phantom power if you want to use the decibel booster if not then you don't need the phantom power so that's about the only microphone I've seen that's dynamic that actually requires phantom power, either that or if you're using something like a fathead or a cloud lifter you're going to need the phantom powers well but generally if it's a dynamic,. No phantom power required.

[@wlsport]

@@dannylightning-audio-reviews Thank you so much for such a detailed answer. Thank you very much!

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

@@wlsport you are welcome

[@otszzz79]

One other question, also using the included stand atm, the ba90 mic boom arm still on the way from China. But the arm will be mounted on the desk too, thought the noise from bumping to desk would transfer through the arm. Is there a compatible shock mount for it? Maono doesn't have one atm

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

Noise can definitely come through the arm, of course the cheaper quality arms will transfer more noise into the microphone than a high quality one like a road PSA1 plus, I would imagine I did a tap test on this microphone to see how the noise came through, I can't remember what the results were like off hand but I'm sure I tested it in this video If you get on Amazon or something like that and just type in shock amount you'll probably be able to find something that works if you feel that you need one, it's kind of hard to find shock mounts that work with this type of microphone especially since it's not what I would call a lightweight microphone, honestly I'm not really sure what would be the best type of shock melt for this due to the weight, if it was lighter weight I could tell you exactly what to get but I think that shock not what struggle with the weight of this particular microphone unfortunately so I'm not really sure what would be your best bet but I guess I would go on Amazon or something and look around for universal shock mounts for dynamic microphones and see what pops up and see if you can find one that's rated to hold a decent amount of weight

[@otszzz79]

@@dannylightning-audio-reviews just received the maono ba90 arm that all praising so much. Need to return it. Cos the knob to tighten the second joint is not working, the arm just stretching out

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

Unfortunately you may have got a bad one. Mine will hold heavy microphones no problem and its great. i would exchange it for a new one and it will probably be fine. i had to return my elgato low profile arm as it was messed up, the replacement was better but still not great and has a hard time supporting a SM7B. the new pro elgao arm looks awesome but its almost 200 bucks which is crazy.. The maono low profile arm i got is really good but even if you buy a Ferrari you could get a lemon.. unfortunately that happens from time to time.

[@otszzz79]

@@dannylightning-audio-reviews all good, forgot to read the manual. Had to install mic and then tension the springs with screw in bottom

[@SOtoKes]

aw man can you dO an update video? the software looks so different now

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

I'll have to look at it, they just sent me their new little microphone and I'm currently working on making a video for that now, the software looks pretty similar but I'll have to look at it on the other microphones

[@VENUSWR]

I did not know about the software so I downloaded from their website and installed it but the program crashes as soon I try to launch it.

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

i think it only works with the PD400X and DM30 at the moment,, i am not sure which one of their microphones you have, if you have one of these i would uninstall it and reinstall it, hopefully you downloaded it from here www.maono.com/pages/maono-link-software?gclid=Cj0KCQiA54KfBhCKARIsAJzSrdrlqGTyOnBn6itSRF0dLKrG4weenjRRhevxEB0flsEMnjJvNvaRBrcaAjUgEALw_wcB

[@unbiasOrbit]

What is your level for windows sound settings?

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

If you're talking about the little system sounds that play that go ding-a-ling and beep beep and stuff like that normally I just turn those off cuz I don't want to hear them, hopefully that's what you referring to but normally I turn that off or down to zero

[@unbiasOrbit]

@@dannylightning-audio-reviews the microphone properties setting! Where you can adjust the slider for the microphone level.. I'm curious if that controls the volume or the gain

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

If you're using some sort of a microphone that plugs into a headphone jack you're probably going to use that to control the gain of the microphone And then you would want to adjust that as needed to get the proper game but.... if you're using a USB mic or if you're using a Mic plugged into an audio interface You would just leave that up 100%, and use the game knob on the microphone or the game knob on the audio interface to adjust the volume, when using a USB mic or a interface generally the only thing you really want to do is go in there to your computer's audio settings, under playback you can set that microphone as default But that's only if you're using it for a sound card or something where you leave it plugged into the computer and play all the computers audio back to the microphone's headphone jack, and under recording tab you can set that microphone to default that way anytime you're pulling up some sort of program that's going to use your microphone it should automatically choose that one, most of the time

[@unbiasOrbit]

@@dannylightning-audio-reviews okayy, thanks so much for explaining it! I appreciate it a lot~

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

You're welcome, have an awesome day and thanks for checking out my videos

[@PONTIANGOD]

Drosato Central Macedonia Checking In.

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

hey hey,,,,,, great to see you :)

[@vac91]

peter piper picked a pickled pepper how many picked peppers did peter piper pick

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

Well you said he picked a pickled pepper so I guess one LOL.

[@Dabzeys]

Can’t get the xlr to work

[@dannylightning-audio-reviews]

That is not really much info to go by, i assume your plugging it into a audio interface that is plugged into your computer with usb, basically you just plug it into the interface and turn the gain up on the interface until it gets loud Enough, with a dynamic mic you may need to put the gain knob on the interface to like 60 or 70%. also make sure your recording software or voice chat app is set to use the interface as the main input and output source, make sure the interface is set as the computer's main audio device . if you're sure the interface is connected to your pc and working properly and you can't get any sound i might look into exchanging the mic, i have never received a dead mic before but i guess it could happen