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- Verified Buyer
I've been using it almost daily since I got it for ~ $260 in Nov 2021 (Black Fri sale). That's a lot of money for a mic that isn't going to be used for studio recording, but a real steal for the quality of what I got. Still more than what I need, to be honest, since Zoom, Teams, etc., compress the audio you transmit, but not too crazy given the amount of my day I usually spend in video conferences. A justified reinvestment of money I've saved on commutes, I tell myself. And the quality of sound that conferencing apps can handle is increasing, so I'm ready to take advantage as they improve.This is a really superb mic with an extremely accurate, full, articulate, and easy-to-listen-to sound. The mic has excellent off-axis noise coloration (reflected sounds from the side don't mess too much with the sound of you speaking into the top end). It does a good job, for a condenser mic, of rejecting sounds from places that it isn't pointed at. That minimizes disturbance from the many annoying sounds in my basement office which has not been soundproofed or treated to reduce sound reflection. With the gain knob on the bottom set to about 3/4, I can be heard perfectly with the mic positioned a modest distance (6-8 inches) above my head off-camera. Almost seems like a shotgun mic. I'm sure it sounds as good or better than plenty of XLR mics in a similar price range without requiring any of the extra expense and hassle of an audio interface, the cables, EQ, etc. that you would need to get the best from those.This mic is no effort at all to set up and use. Like pretty much any other USB mic, just plug it in, wait for it to be recognized and for the driver to install (my pc runs Windows 11) and you're good to go. No software included. You could get a free audio app like Audacity and use it to tweak the EQ or add effects and then set that as your device in your web conf app. But you're pretty much guaranteed to sound great without any of that with this mic. As with every mic, you do want to make sure your gain is set so it doesn't distort when you speak loudly and isn't too quiet when you speak softly.I use a boom arm to get it closer to my mouth, while still being out of sight, and to avoid sounds from desk vibration and keyboard noise. But the included TRIAD-ORBIT is certainly sturdy and seems like an excellent stand. The swivel mount is a joy. It is extremely well-built with threads or an adapter that work with any standard boom or stand. But the main thing is that it's designed so well. It effortlessly swivels and secures the mic, which is quite heavy for its size, in any needed position. The included braided cables are also very good.This mic will be more than good enough to get me started with content creation if I ever find the time for that. It's built to withstand a thermonuclear blast. Just nuts in terms of both sound and build quality. I can probably pass it on to my grandkids if I ever have any. It's quite a lot of fun just from a craftsmanship and aesthetics perspective. Highly recommended if you've got the spare cash.
