New mic, XLR or 6.35 Jack?

[Mads-Ejnar]

Hey you awesome guys
I'm looking for a new mic. Right now i have a "sennheiser pc350se" and sound card "creative sound blaster zxr"
This card only have 6.35 jack and RCA input.
But everywhere i found a great review on mic's, it's always XLR mic's.
I know you can buy a XLR to 6.35 jack cable, but don't get how this will work because the mic need power.

So, what do i need to get so a XLR mic will work? Or do i just skip XLR and get a normal 6.35 jack mic?

Do any of you have any recommendation on what to do? Or what mic to buy?
I'm looking at a price point around 100-200$

I'm from time to time edit my gameplay and there i can hear my mic today is really not the best one, so there for i want a new mic
 

[DeafLemming]

You'll need an audio interface of some kind which has female XLR ports for inputs. Also to keep in mind, if you get a XLR to anything but a male XLR, you, AFAIK, won't be able to supply phantom power to the mic, which means your mic will be super quiet or even outright won't work.

 

Ideally you'd get a USB audio interface with XLR inputs, which also supplies phantom power. The Focusrite Scarlett range is an example;

 

https://uk.focusrite.com/scarlett-range

 

For your price point, I'm not that invested into the world of audio tech, but it seems you'd be best off with a decent USB mic rather than try to get a XLR and audio interface. Hopefully someone who has more knowledge of this tech can help you better.

[Mads-Ejnar]

Scarlett looks to get really great reviews, so that could be a options
Thanks for the input

[ninbura]

You could use a single channel preamp with a XLR to 1/4 cable on the output if you wanted to just stick with your current sound card:

InnoGear 1

BEHRINGER MICROMON MA400

Monoprice 6ft Premier Series XLR Male to 1/4inch TRS Male 

Not the highest quality solution but it could work just fine for you, I do believe a USB interface is a better solution.

I'd go with an XLR mic over USB, allows for much more manipulation, could eventually upgrade to a soundboard and wouldn't need to replace the mic. Here is a good starting point within your budget:

BEHRINGER U-PHORIA UM2
Audio-Technica AT2020

AmazonBasics XLR Cable
Microphone Shock Mount with Pop Filter
Neewer NB-39

If you were willing to go over budget a little I would recommend the Scarlet Solo over the UM2:

Focusrite Scarlett Solo

Edit: According to community guidelines you aren't suppose to use the share button on Amazon / shortened links. I have updated the post to contain appropriate links, apologies for the inconvenience.

[Mads-Ejnar]

Thanks for that TheAgnda, that's alot of great info
I know the most XLR mic's need 48 volt, but i don't see any power supply for the UM2 and the Scarlett Solo.
Sure you can step up the USB 5 volt to 48 volt, but then you really don't have alot of current. And is this really enough to run the mic?

And one more thing, i can see that both UM2 and Scarlett Solo have RCA out, and my sound card have RCA in. Will it be better to use RCA in to my sound card and use it's ADC or use the ADC in one of them and get the audio over USB? 
 

[ninbura]

14 minutes ago, Mads-Ejnar said:

Thanks for that TheAgnda, that's alot of great info
I know the most XLR mic's need 48 volt, but i don't see any power supply for the UM2 and the Scarlett Solo.
Sure you can step up the USB 5 volt to 48 volt, but then you really don't have alot of current. And is this really enough to run the mic?

And one more thing, i can see that both UM2 and Scarlett Solo have RCA out, and my sound card have RCA in. Will it be better to use RCA in to my sound card and use it's ADC or use the ADC in one of them and get the audio over USB? 
 

You can power 1-2 mics on a USB interface over USB power alone no problem.

 

If you went with the UM2 you might be better off using it in conjunction with your soundcard, but at that point you could try using the single mic preamps I listed earlier using XLR to TRS into the mic input on the sound blaster. Note that I'm not sure you'd have direct monitor with this method which is a bummer. However if you went with the Scarlett Solo I believe you'd have the best experience using it solely, gives you solid control of inputs and outputs in one place with above average quality.

[Mads-Ejnar]

I think i will save op a bit more and get the Scarlett Solo and try that one out with the at2020
Thanks alot for your input

 

[kasugatei]

1 hour ago, Mads-Ejnar said:

I know the most XLR mic's need 48 volt

Only condensers need 48V. Dynamic microphones don't need it but can run with it and you would burn ribbon ones with 48V.

 

1 hour ago, Mads-Ejnar said:

Sure you can step up the USB 5 volt to 48 volt, but then you really don't have alot of current. And is this really enough to run the mic?

As @TheAgnda noted before, there is not a problem with the current. It is relatively standardized thing. Power hungry condensers (usually vacuum tube ones) will have their own psu box shipped with the microphone itself.