Top positive review
8 people found this helpful
Inexpensive, Sounds Great, Looks Good.
By Bob Bowen on Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2016
Don't write reviews very often, but I feel like I should for this. I personally think this is the best mic you can get at this price, the quality is absolutely great for the ~$60 range. I have convinced literally three people to buy this mic: my brother and two of my friends. This particular model has a three-way selector switch on the back. Pos. 1 is mainly good for commentating, podcasts, and Skype calls. Pos. 2 takes in audio from both sides of the mic, generally used for interviews or conferences. Pos. 3 dampens the amount of dB coming through, mainly used for recording things that are very loud and bassy, i.e. live music, so that there isn't any crackling and things like that. It also has a sturdy and plenty long USB cable. It is also worth noting that this is compatible with the NEEWER scissor arm (NEEWER Microphone Suspension Boom Scissor Arm Stand), but what you'll have to do is take the threaded part on the stand that you screw your Snowball onto off, thread it onto the scissor arm, and then screw the snowball onto that. I had to learn this from a video ([...]), so I thought I'd save someone some time by saying it here. And with recording instruments, it's great. As I said, the quality is plenty good especially for the price. But what you have to do is make sure the mic is nice and close up, otherwise the instrument sounds faint, and you just get a lot of reverberation from the room (but make sure it's not TOO close or your rumbling bass or piercing flute will make your audio go into the red) (duh). In conclusion, everyone I coaxed into getting this mic are also very pleased. My friend got his a week ago, and he's happy with the extra range of frequencies it picks up, unlike his old headset. My other friend and my brother got theirs about two or three months ago (my other friend got the iCE), and I, at the time of writing, have been running strong with my brushed aluminum Snowball for about 7 months with no issue, except that the connection between my Snowball and its cable has become kinda loose (it slides out easy). But it's really no big deal. So I guess my point is that it's great, and if you're looking for a mic in this price range, look no further, especially since it's probably the coolest looking one.
Top critical review
13 people found this helpful
Decent for podcasting but not for pro-work
By KR Silkenvoice on Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2010
For years I've been working with traditional XLR cardioid condenser mics (love my Neumann TLM) but I've had to travel a lot lately, and humping the XLR cables, pre-amp, and heavy mics through airports and hotels has gotten to be a real bother, so I started The Hunt for a Great USB Mic. Now, there are good USB mics out there for under $100, and Blue's Snowball is adequate. At ~$70 you get what you pay for. It is ok for podcasting, if you aren't too picky about sound quality. I had one shipped to me, didn't like that background hum, sent it back thinking it was a problem with the mic, and got another one that sounded exactly the same. (And yes, I read all the instructions and advice and made all the adjustments. I even tried it on Mac, Laptop, and PC--so spare me the "oh did you try this, and you're an idiot because you didn't try that" Snowball fanboy snarkiness ;). So, when I returned the Snowball, I considered getting Blue's Yeti, but it's sheer size disqualified it -- the mic is way too big and heavy to be considered remotely portable, and since I like to record standing-up instead of sitting down, I worried that it would be too heavy for my boom. Having eliminated Blue's mics, I tried the Samson G Track at ~$120 and the AudioTechnica AT2020 at ~$110. I like that the Samson has the headphone output and the gain controls (which the AT does not) and better recording quality versus the AT2020 at 48kHz versus 44.1kHz. However, the Sampson weighs a half-pound more. For both mics the sound quality is great for podcasting, and while vastly superior to the Blue Snowball, and certainly adequate for most vocals that will be supported with background music, neither mic produces recordings clean enough and of high enough quality (limited to 16bit) for pure narration (IMHO). So I upped my price-point again. And found THE perfect USB mic for voice-overs at ~$275. The MXL USB.009. It records at 24Bit/96kHz -- a huge improvement over the 16Bit/44.1kHz of all the other mics. It has the benefits of a mic jack and knobs for gain control like the Samson G Track, and is Plug and Play. I don't have to tweak anything on my Mac or my PC. It is lightweight, so I'm not worried about my boom tipping, and there is no background hum. I like the steel carrying case -- it weighs about 6 pounds with the mic and USB cable -- and makes it easy to carry through airport security. Yes, the MXL USB.009 is 4x the cost of the Blue Snowball and 2.5x the cost of the Samson G Track and the AT2020, but for me, it is worth it. I not only do podcasting, but I do professional voice-over work, and I need something that will give me the convenience of direct USB recording with near-studio quality.
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