Best USB mic??

[char3327]

Hey y'all,

    I really want some really good audio but don't want to deal with all the things involed with an xlr setup. Looking for the the best USB microphone possible. Ignore budget for this one...Thanks in advance.

[Darknighterror]

Whats your usecase? Just speaking? singing? instruments? Answers might differ on that.

 

You might take a look at the" Shure MV 7" for example, thats a pretty good one.

[char3327]

Use case would be singing for sure, as well as like speaking/streaming...


I have heard really good things about Shure microphones so I will definitely look at that.

[OfficialTechSpace]

I don't see a reason to ever buy a USB microphone. Perfectly capable XLR mics are available for the same price, and don't have the same drawbacks that USB mics do. There's a reason why they exist, and there's also a reason why you'll never find one in a studio. They exist because inexperienced users think they're easier to work with, and that they're a good deal. They're not either.

 

You won't find one in a studio because:

1) they're more likely to produce an electronic hum

2) they have worse latency

3) they're bundled with troublesome software/driver related issues

4) they use proprietary interfaces that cannot be upgraded

5) they require shorter length cables

6) they typically use lower quality parts

 

A cheap Behringer or Focusrite interface paired with a modest XLR microphone selection would sound miles better for a similar price. They're not any more difficult to work with than a USB mic, there's literally only 1 more cable to deal with. That's a common misconception, usually stemming from a lack of user experience.

[SansVarnic]

-= Cleaned =-

[LogicalDrm]

4 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

3) they're bundled with troublesome software/driver related issues

This is false. Or the issues would be same as with any USB interface, more so with the cheap ones you bring up as option.

 

4 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

4) they use proprietary interfaces that cannot be upgraded

By this you mean cable? Or internals? Either way, not relevant.

 

4 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

5) they require shorter length cables

I haven't been in many studios or recording spaces, but OPs usecase would indicate something that can easily be done done with under 10m cable. Well within USB spec. So overall bs argument.

 

4 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

6) they typically use lower quality parts

Yet you proceed to offer "budget solution and claim it would have automatically better quality parts just because its XLR.

 

4 hours ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

A cheap Behringer or Focusrite interface paired with a modest XLR microphone selection would sound miles better for a similar price. They're not any more difficult to work with than a USB mic, there's literally only 1 more cable to deal with. That's a common misconception, usually stemming from a lack of user experience.

2 more cables? Power and USB besides mic to interface. Also, example with comparison to some more popular USB mics would help your argument. Which atm is very one sided, and giving opinion over facts.

 

@char3327

I'm not audio guy so take that into account. I bought Blue Yeti used couple years ago. For my use its mainly good. I do casting, voice overs and recording in very echoed spaces. I'm not sure if USB mic would be my pick for serious sound work. For spoken stuff and occasional instruments for sure. So don't shoot XLR as option down, but look into it to see whether extra learning curve is worth it for your usecase.

[OfficialTechSpace]

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

I'm not audio guy so take that into account.

@LogicalDrmIf you're not an experienced professional then don't speak on the matter. You're quoting a deleted message simply to rehash a disagreement you find opposition to. This is not productive, nor is it pleasant.

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

"6) they typically use lower quality parts"

By this you mean cable? Or internals? Either way, not relevant.

It's entirely relevant to the point of explaining why one is better than the other. Why ask which it is if either way it's irrelevant anyways? That was clearly an argument designed to allow no intelligent response, besides questioning the question itself. The integrated USB interface and preamp is simply a lower quality than what you would find from any dedicated external solution.

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

"5) they require shorter length cables"

I haven't been in many studios or recording spaces, but OPs usecase would indicate something that can easily be done done with under 10m cable. Well within USB spec. So overall bs argument.

Latency my friend. You can transfer data through a USB without drop-off from a reasonably large distance, but latency only increases. This is more of an issue with as a mic cable than it would be as a data transfer cable. Again with the unpleasantries... you can disagree, but that doesn't make you right. You don't have to berate or insult someones talking points just because they don't think the same as you.

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

"A cheap Behringer or Focusrite interface paired with a modest XLR microphone selection would sound miles better for a similar price. They're not any more difficult to work with than a USB mic, there's literally only 1 more cable to deal with. That's a common misconception, usually stemming from a lack of user experience."

2 more cables? Power and USB besides mic to interface.

One cable. A lot of USB interfaces are fully capable of also being powered over USB.

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

"3) they're bundled with troublesome software/driver related issues"

This is false. Or the issues would be same as with any USB interface, more so with the cheap ones you bring up as option.

Using the same connector does not mean that they use the same software or drivers. They don't, and your statement is very clearly inept due to your own lack of experience on the matter.

7 hours ago, LogicalDrm said:

"6) they typically use lower quality parts"

Yet you proceed to offer "budget solution and claim it would have automatically better quality parts just because its XLR.

A cheap dedicated external interface using industry-standard, studio acceptable specs, will always use higher quality internals than a proprietary internal interface designed for convenience over performance. XLR microphones also have lower distortion, better signal to noise ratios, a higher dynamic range, and a higher bit-depth (largely capped at 16-bit on USB mics). In large part again, due to the internal interface. What you're saying is equivalent to justifying an inline power supply over a dedicated one.

[WkdPaul]

1 hour ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

You're quoting a deleted message simply to rehash a disagreement you find opposition to. This is not productive, nor is it pleasant.

No he didn't ... look at the quotes properly, they all refer to your reply here ;

https://linustechtips.com/topic/1425891-best-usb-mic/#comment-15361289

 

 

1 hour ago, OfficialTechSpace said:

@LogicalDrmIf you're not an experienced professional then don't speak on the matter.

This is a public forum, people can reply all they want, there's not need to be an expert in anything for that.

 

The OP specifically asked for USB microphones only and doesn't want XLR, you can point out why XLR is much better than USB but that won't change OP's request, if you're unwilling to help past that, that's perfectly fine. You have made your point and OP has the choice to take that into account or not.

 

EDIT ; as per the rules, do not openly discuss ANY moderation. Replies that do so are removed automatically.

Edited April 21, 2022 by WkdPaul

[OfficialTechSpace]

41 minutes ago, WkdPaul said:

EDIT ; as per the rules, do not openly discuss ANY moderation. Replies that do so are removed automatically.

Should I just private message you then next time? I was concerned it'd go unknown by anyone else who reads this thread. In which case your response would've made me look silly, because I'm well-aware of what reply was being referred to. Also that it was no longer present to my knowledge. I'd also like to add that your response is still there, mocking what I'd assume to be impaired vision on my part despite me being, again, right to my knowledge.

[tikker]

I really like my Rode NT USB Mini that I settled on. My use case is speaking (conference talks, telecons etc.). It's likely not the absolute best as I was going for a middle of the road budget, but people have expressed appreciation for the sound quality. It is quite sensitive though, so I run RTX voice to remove ambient noise (fans, pump and that kind of low level stuff) as I don't have a dedicated audio room.

[char3327]

@tikker Thank you for the suggestion I will look into it!

[Ariolander]

I would look into the PreSonus Revelator or Revelator Dynamic USB mics.  

 

PreSonus has been in the pro audio gear world for decades before streaming became a thing and their Revelator software rivals Elgato in features and ease of use, but without the big Elgato "stream tax" pricing.

[The Flying Sloth]

Jesus this devolved quickly,

OP, it is very difficult to get a USB mic that is also workable for singing and / or other recording applications, your best bet will be something like a Samson Q2U, AT2005 or Tbone MB88U all of which are combination XLR / USB microphones built by brands with recognition in the studio audio space. Because of this USB/XLR design they also come with the added benefit of not becoming paperweights when something in the USB / conversion circuit breaks. Take a look at the guide in my signature for a little more information on microphone options, the guide is designed to answer the question you have posed.

Now to lend my 2 cents to the dumpster fire
 

On 4/21/2022 at 10:05 AM, OfficialTechSpace said:

They exist because inexperienced users think they're easier to work with, and that they're a good deal. They're not either.

I would argue that they are a simplest option in that you just plug in the microphone and it works. I'm exaggerating the difficulty difference but think of it like this, most people know full well that it's possible to build a computer, buying parts and putting it together yourself yet people still buy prebuilts every day because they either have no interest in learning to build or they think it's too difficult for them. Don't get me wrong, I have an absolute hatred of USB microphones but they're like a prebuilt, you plug it in and it works, if it doesn't you RMA and get a replacement, it is much simpler but by the same token a prebuilt PC is almost never going to be the best value for money or have the perfect specs for streaming or your specific workload, it's a generic solution that does the basics good enough for people to buy it.
 

On 4/21/2022 at 3:04 PM, LogicalDrm said:

Yet you proceed to offer "budget solution and claim it would have automatically better quality parts just because its XLR.

I am not aware of any USB microphone with an amplification circuit or DAC / ADC anywhere close to even the most budget of audio interfaces, if we're talking microphones you have more of a point, there are the BM800 and other crap Ebay special microphones that are genuinely terrible but that doesn't mean all budget solutions are bad, take the Behringer C2 for instance, I've used them as daily driver microphones for years despite owning mics woth well over 50x as much. The argument isn't that the budget XLR solution is better by virtue of being XLR, the budget XLR solution is better because it gives you options for improvement, likely ASIO support, good DAC and ADC, 24 bit audio vs the 16 (at best) bit audio of a USB mic, a better amplification circuit and complete modularity in that if/when something breaks you can sub out that one component rather than buying a whole new USB mic.
 

 

On 4/21/2022 at 3:04 PM, LogicalDrm said:

2 more cables? Power and USB besides mic to interface. Also, example with comparison to some more popular USB mics would help your argument. Which atm is very one sided, and giving opinion over facts.

I know I'm just being pedantic here but most budget interfaces are bus powered so it really is only one more cable

 

On 4/21/2022 at 10:27 PM, OfficialTechSpace said:

Latency my friend. You can transfer data through a USB without drop-off from a reasonably large distance, but latency only increases. This is more of an issue with as a mic cable than it would be as a data transfer cable. Again with the unpleasantries... you can disagree, but that doesn't make you right. You don't have to berate or insult someones talking points just because they don't think the same as you.

The additional latency from a longer USB cable is negligible and likely could only be measured with lab equipment. There's a decent thread with some calculations here and one from Gearspace with people talking specifically about USB latency and cable length to interfaces here. This is even less of an issue with a mic cable sending an analogue signal, there are many more things to be worried about when lengthening a cable such as resistance, possible EMI, possibility of breakages all of which I would be more concerned about than the latency of the analogue microphone signal. Take a look at the wikipedia page about Velocity Factor (the speed at which a signal can pass through a wire to see why I'm not worried. 

Spoiler

 Plenum data cable typically has a VF between 0.42 and 0.72 (42% to 72% of the speed of light in vacuum) and riser cable around 0.70. A VF of 0.70 corresponds to a speed of approximately 210,000,000 m/s or 4.76 ns per metre.

 

On 4/21/2022 at 10:27 PM, OfficialTechSpace said:

On 4/21/2022 at 3:04 PM, LogicalDrm said:

"3) they're bundled with troublesome software/driver related issues"

This is false. Or the issues would be same as with any USB interface, more so with the cheap ones you bring up as option.

Using the same connector does not mean that they use the same software or drivers. They don't, and your statement is very clearly inept due to your own lack of experience on the matter.

There are certainly cheap USB Audio Interfaces with terrible drivers, like the Behringer UM2 and UMC22 or M Audio Fast Track series (there are others but those were the ones I knew off the top of my head). Most of the time these driver issues are due to the interfaces being budget devices at launch and being older designs considered legacy by their manufacturer and as such receive little in the way of support with newer operating systems. Now, these driver issues are usually noticed because people expect a USB interface to have native ASIO drivers and play nice with their DAW or other softwares they may utilise the interface with, most of the time even the most broken of interface drivers still allow it to be used with Native windows drivers as a simple external IO option though you will lose a large amount of functionality.

It goes similarly for USB microphones with one small adjustment, because they were never designed for low latency use in an audio production environment a USB microphone with dodgey drivers or something broken in the ADC circuit makes it unusable as opposed to a legacy interface where it just becomes a glorified USB audio adapter. Because of their low price and relative lack of expectation of performance USB mics (especially generic options) often can be running from the same standard inbuilt Windows USB audio drivers that a legacy interface would, using the inbuilt windows drivers should lessen the possibility of massive failure on the software side but still leaves the hardware side where I think it is fairly obvious a USB mic would die well before an interface would 

In closing I'll relay a quote from another of the Audio forum regulars, Derkoli
 

Quote

The biggest issue is the fact that the microphone is attempting to be a jack of all trades. And it really can't be. It's trying to be a microphone, pre-amp and AD converter all at once.

An XLR microphone just has to focus on being a damn good microphone. Nothing else.

An audio interface just has to focus on being a damn good pre-amp and AD/DA converter. Nothing else.

Really, audio interfaces/XLR microphones are vastly favoured in the audio world due to a few things:

If you spend 300 on a USB microphone, you're not spending 300 on a microphone. You're spending 300 on an interface AND a microphone. Hence the lesser quality.

They are not nearly as versatile. If I wanted to, I could plug every XLR microphone under the sun into any of my interfaces, and they would work if they are supplied with +48V phantom power as and when it is needed.

Wanna upgrade? Buy a full new USB microphone/interface system. With an XLR setup, you can upgrade the microphone, or the interface. With a USB microphone, you can only upgrade both at the same time.

You can't shove a USB microphone output into a mixing desk.

Most USB microphones only record at a bit depth of 16. The studio "standard" tends to be 24 bit, due to the increased achieveable Dynamic Range with a bit depth of 24. This gives you greater flexibility during the post-production process.

Trust me when I say that receiving a 16 bit audio file is probably the worst thing in the world for an audio engineer. It's so hard to work properly with such a low dynamic range file, you try and work with the levels of it and you clip the shit out of it more often than not.

USB Microphones tend to be cheap and noisy little buggers. Shoving all that analog circuitry close to a relatively sensitive transducer can fuck with it. Also if phantom power is needed, you can introduce noise from the transformer that is needed to take the voltage from the USB power lines and turn it into +48VDC Phantom power.

Regards,
Sloth

[Ahoy Hoy]

Throw this back on subject a bit.

To the best of my knowledge the "best" USB microphone I can think of is the Sennheiseir MK4 Digital.

Costs a a good ammount at £300 and compared to the none USB version which the microhpone is based of its a extra £70.
Its not crazy suitable if you recorded in a noise situation as it will pick up a lot of background noise. But its a great microphone.
Also good for musical instruments as well. Amazing for a guitar even electric guitar, have used the standard MK4 on guitar cabs before. Also used a MK4 under a grand piano.

Got a noise background Shure MV7 is a decent shout.
If your after that budget sloths recomendations are decent.