Looking for a semi-decent Microphone

[TroubleElectrical]

I am looking for a good value microphone for under $80 (AUD) i am in Australia (if that helps)

[The Flying Sloth]

18 minutes ago, Superninja009 said:

I am looking for a good value microphone for under $80 (AUD) i am in Australia (if that helps)

I'm not sure you'll find much decent in that price range new but the used market here can be interesting at the worst of times. 
I'd suggest perhaps saving up a little more and getting a decent XLR mic along with a Behringer UM2 (about 30 bucks) but if that's not an option the t.bone MB88U / Samson Q2U / AT2005 'USB and XLR combo' microphones might be the best option available. If you're looking for a little more information about studio mics and audio solutions in general check out the link in my signature.

 

[TroubleElectrical]

 

8 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

I'm not sure you'll find much decent in that price range new but the used market here can be interesting at the worst of times. 
I'd suggest perhaps saving up a little more and getting a decent XLR mic along with a Behringer UM2 (about 30 bucks) but if that's not an option the t.bone MB88U / Samson Q2U / AT2005 USB and XLR microphones might be the best option available. If you're looking for a little more information about studio mics and audio solutions in general check out the link in my signature.

thanks mate, i'll check it out (still open to more suggestions)

[Tigerleon]

4 hours ago, Superninja009 said:

I am looking for a good value microphone for under $80 (AUD) i am in Australia (if that helps)

Blue snowball or at2020usb

[e22big]

Not sure how much that was - actually not even sure if it's still avaialble today but I bought SE Magneto mic for a long time when I work on my own radio channel. It was fantastic, the only mic that doesn't make me hate my own voice when it's being recorded. And it's very reliable as I have to carry it to work and all the place I went to do reporting stuff and it works perfectly everytime. Highly recommend if you can find it some where at a reasonable price. 

 

https://www.seelectronics.com/se-magneto

[The Flying Sloth]

4 hours ago, e22big said:

Snip

The Magneto was/is the cheapest mic SE made/makes, rather than being a true condenser mic like their other offerings it was an electret design more similar to the AT mics, cheap pencil condenser mics and the NW/BM series cheap Amazon mics. Now, that's not to say the mic is automatically bad because of that but I'm surprised you found it much better for your voice than other options in the range, from my memory it sounds basically like a 2020 with more bass. If you enjoy that bassist tone you might find a darker mic like the 3U Audio CM1 Teal or a ribbon mic suits your voice well.

[e22big]

7 hours ago, The Flying Sloth said:

The Magneto was/is the cheapest mic SE made/makes, rather than being a true condenser mic like their other offerings it was an electret design more similar to the AT mics, cheap pencil condenser mics and the NW/BM series cheap Amazon mics. Now, that's not to say the mic is automatically bad because of that but I'm surprised you found it much better for your voice than other options in the range, from my memory it sounds basically like a 2020 with more bass. If you enjoy that bassist tone you might find a darker mic like the 3U Audio CM1 Teal or a ribbon mic suits your voice well.

I have been using either phone or a dedicated portable recorder up to that point so yeah, Magneto SE is a massive upgrade from that. Although to be fair, I actually try comparing it with the studio mic (also SE but the higher model one) and I still found my voice sound significantly better with Magneto so it may be just my preference or my voice that works quite well with the Magneto. 

[The Flying Sloth]

57 minutes ago, e22big said:

I have been using either phone or a dedicated portable recorder up to that point so yeah, Magneto SE is a massive upgrade from that. Although to be fair, I actually try comparing it with the studio mic (also SE but the higher model one) and I still found my voice sound significantly better with Magneto so it may be just my preference or my voice that works quite well with the Magneto. 

The t.bone tube mics from Thomann come from the factory (Feilo) the old Se tube mics did and they were damn good value for money. If you're ever looking for an upgrade to a mid-tier mic I suggest you try and test the t.bone SCT 800, it's the exact same mic as the renowned Se5500 (which was one of the designs that a couple of Neumann engineers came up with when they left Neumann) but for under $200. Considering the Se originally sold for more than triple that... it's damn good value, and with a NOS tube, well, I mean, there's a reason Neumann tried to sue SE over the microphone and they stopped selling it....

[e22big]

10 minutes ago, The Flying Sloth said:

The t.bone tube mics from Thomann come from the factory (Feilo) the old Se tube mics did and they were damn good value for money. If you're ever looking for an upgrade to a mid-tier mic I suggest you try and test the t.bone SCT 800, it's the exact same mic as the renowned Se5500 (which was one of the designs that a couple of Neumann engineers came up with when they left Neumann) but for under $200. Considering the Se originally sold for more than triple that... it's damn good value, and with a NOS tube, well, I mean, there's a reason Neumann tried to sue SE over the microphone and they stopped selling it....

too bad I am not doing reporting or radio job any more, otherwise I might consider that as an option - my old TACAM-US 322 also just die so I am not even sure if I can still use this mic without upgrading the entire setup

[TroubleElectrical]

The t.bone MB88U looked like a great deal but the shipping was going to cost more than the entire unit, any options that will be alot better in australia?

[The Flying Sloth]

8 minutes ago, Superninja009 said:

The t.bone MB88U looked like a great deal but the shipping was going to cost more than the entire unit, any options that will be alot better in australia?

Not at the same price point unless you want to go down the used road.

[u4ea]

Depends on your definition of semi-decent but for me it was: Better than those cheap 3.5mm microphones they slap on headsets or webcams but not professional enough that I need to add extra devices like some xlr conversion device.  I don't do podcasts or make music, I use it for Discord and meetings etc. 

 

The best bang for your buck I found was a Neewer USB (NW-8000 USB I think?) mic and a Fifine USB Mic (K670). After looking for some reviews on YouTube they seem to pack quite the punch for their price and can spar with +€100 XLR mics for half the price.

 

I still have the Neewer at my parents and have the FiFine here at my apartment. It blows the mics of all of my friends and colleagues out of the water. The FiFine one even has a mic monitor, but amazon.com.au doesn't seem to sell one at reasonable prices it seems.  

[The Flying Sloth]

59 minutes ago, u4ea said:

The best bang for your buck I found was a Neewer USB (NW-8000 USB I think?) mic and a Fifine USB Mic (K670). After looking for some reviews on YouTube they seem to pack quite the punch for their price and can spar with +€100 XLR mics for half the price.

If the Neewer one is just an 800 with USB circuitry it can't spar with a 15 Euro XLR mic (Behringer C2) let alone a 100 Euro one. For 100 Euro I could grab a 3U Audio C1 that spar with much higher priced mics and sees studio use because of this fact.

 

Then again, I've not heard either of those USB mics as I try to stay away from them, perhaps the brand has truly produced a better product for once.