"What happened to the spherical microphone?" ☞ My new product review channel.
08 October 2018 [link youtube]
The name of my new PRODUCT REVIEW channel is Sv4rige, rhymes with "Forage". You'll find this video over there, at: https://youtu.be/4m8XM8a6n-s
Røde NT-USB vs. Blue Snowball vs. Samson Meteor (a comparative, analytical product review for the competitors amongst relatively low-end, "everyday" microphones).
And yes, this video is PARTLY in response to the often-asked question, "What happened to your snowball (white sphere) microphone?"
Youtube Automatic Transcription
what is up most you guys watching this
video will probably know me from my main youtube channel where for many years this microphone was an iconic piece of equipment on screen all the time there were people who made videos making fun of me and praising me and laughing about the fact that I was always the guy holding this this mic I could even remember I once did a Skype call with my daughter my daughter is now five years old she was probably three years old the hand and in the middle of the call she said to me I have a question what is your ball so I was really known for using this microphone on camera and I was not known for high sound quality in my videos I was known for the iconic appearance of this mic but I was not getting a lot of email praising the sound quality neither in my my videos nor in my podcasts made using this mic so this is a somewhat famous Mike called the snowball many youtubers use it many podcasters use it and many people try to do a little bit better by using a pop filter and in this video I'm going to compare and contrast this to two other microphones that I've got in my hands and on site right now this is the meteor from Samsung so the name of the microphone is meteor not to be confused with meteor right that's a separate mic and the rode mic which i think is actually pronounced Rueda but everyone pronounces it rode ro de but it is not an English name and it's their USB mic which they now call the NT USB I think this review will apply to all of the road low-end USB based microphones when I'm recording in now so there's several criteria to consider these mics are for people who want better sound quality than they would get with the microphone that's built into their computer or built into their camera built into their phone whether that's for YouTube videos or Skype conversations or podcasts or whatever you're doing but they do not want the investment or the mess or equipment of using genuinely high and sant recording technology because it also takes up space people once you get into the you know the the higher quality sound recording equipment so first and foremost about this mic about the the meteor mic if you were picking this out in a store in a shop i think almost everyone would choose this mic i didn't i purchased it on the internet which is what most of you people are gonna do and that's probably why you're watching this video the industrial design and the aesthetics of this thing are incredibly appealing so if you just watch you know when you close up the legs they snap into position beautifully and they sort of they don't close too quickly or too easily the hinge is beautiful the industrial design is beautiful it reflects light in a beautiful way even the feeling of this switch is fantastic and the way the plug fits into it is also excellent i mean it's it's incredibly pleasing in the hand it's pleasing to the eye it's rugged and durable in terms of the exterior aesthetics of the industrial design this is clearly the winner it's one of the most pleasing factory-made objects I can remember buying externally if I could return this for a refund I would have done so already the sound quality is not good enough period and the worst thing about it is that it's inconsistent so I think about one recording out of 20 the sound quality from this was good by which I just mean good enough and I was pleased and I was really paying attention to the distance of the microphone for my mouth the position of it relative to the computer you know was there something behind it causing a little bit of echo during those test sessions during my first 20 or 40 recordings with this I was paying very close attention but the ultimate judgment of this is very very simply not good enough I have no idea what the issues are maybe it's because the the creator of this Samson they just didn't figure in a way to fit all the components into this very small housing you can see that very very little space to deal with compared to the amount at the volume of air inside the snowball Mike it is just a very small agra phone but let me tell you something the decisions they made do not work this is not a very simply it is not good enough so gorgeous design maybe at some point in the future this will be a brand to watch but in 2018 or 2019 in the sternest words possible I urge you not to pick up the Samson meteor and very simply mince the harshest judgment I can offer on it from my perspective it is non-functional it is not a piece of equipment I use or that I it's a piece of my actively avoid using I'm gonna try to get some value out of it by using it as a travel mic because it is portable but every time I use it on the road I know will be frustrated I know will be disappointment I wish I could return it and get a refund and I can't that is my judgment on the Samson meteor beautiful not functional um I reviewed that one first because the snowball has a okay for one thing used to know here microphones are not durable absolutely by definition just the passage of time and use they will get worn out and stopped working well so over time this microphone perform worse and worse and that's okay my opinion is not based on that fact you probably shouldn't expect a microphone to last more than three years not if you're using it regularly and of course things like dropping the mic you know impacts the mic are part of it but it's also just part of the normal use of Aging in the microphone it's not it's not impervious to age and wear and tear in terms of the the components inside that are expected to be quite delicate and respond to the sound of your voice it's supposed to pick up ultimately very fine vibrations on the air that's what sound is right so you can't expect it to last forever however um this microphone very simply you are not going to get good performance a hundred percent of the time but it is much much better the the hit to miss ratio was much better infinitely better if you like then the the Samson meteor mic I had a lot of experience I've many hundreds of recordings with this I can't even estimate cuz I have over a thousand videos on this YouTube channel and then I also did podcasts in other formats than are on YouTube in that huge double recordings the main thing you really learn to watch for is the distance of the microphone to your mouth so this is in a sense why it is a bad microphone for YouTube because really to get the best performance out of it you both need a pop filter and you do need the mic to be quite close to your mouth I believe the official guideline is 6 inches but you can experiment for yourself and see when it is that it really does pick up your voice well and doesn't have a lot of self noise or or noise outside of being being picked up needs to be quite close to your mouth and I managed this by just holding it you know to look the east on cam I would always hold it in my hand so that it was close to my mouth but wasn't obstructing the camera in a in a bad way um other people cope with it in other ways so if you're doing on camera recordings whether that's YouTube or Skype in many ways it kind of is a poor choice otherwise again very iconic industrial design the reason why this is so popular is that for most people it is good enough but I think most reviewers will agree with me that it is not objectively good and in terms of the hit to miss ratio let's say even 3 times out of 5 I was satisfied with the sound I think in the early days that was true and then it might got worse over time has got worn out when the sound is poor and you're really you're just left baffled why did that recording go poorly you know and you're looking at for me at least I look at the distance of the mic though okay all the little factors surrounding it that could have resulted the problem and it's it's frustrating so that's ultimately what justifies people making the decision to buy a slightly more expensive mic so again this is what is commonly called an English Road ro de not the correct pronunciation but hey they're making money so they don't mind this microphone absurdly is the exact opposite problem or situation this microphone gives you significantly better sound distance and with any set up the distance remote like if I record very close to my mouth or further away this is a big step up in audio quality from the other two microphones but guess what the trade-off is the functionality of the design the exterior ii setup is terrible it's very very difficult to get this to stand in its own tripod it comes with an asymmetrical tripod just showing you that on camera now it comes with this kind of slick looking asymmetrical tripod that almost induces it to fall over constantly and this is heavy enough that having it fall over and slam on its side or having it fall off your desk and slam on the floor that's gonna add to the wear and tear now obviously if you want to spend several hundred dollars and have a you know a mount for it a professional bracket for it there are ways to compensate for this the size and shape of the microphone is not suited to having in your hand the way the plug fits into the bottom of the microphone it very much limits what you can do with it by contrast by the way the the media right here you can see your USB cable fits into the back on the side so there's a lot you can do with it it can sit flat on its bottom it can be it can be mounted and cope with in various ways you could hold this in your hand um the exterior housing of the rode mic is a constant source of frustration and disappointment and if you want to pack this up and travel with it it is gonna take up a lot of space in your suitcase it is not going to be practical to use at all so guys that's it if you want what you call a low end USB microphone relatively inexpensive but that's genuinely good enough for youtube podcasting skype 21st century digital communications and social media one of the best options you can go for right now are the USB mics the low end NT USB mics from rode in terms of audio quality alone judging just audio quality it is by far the winner at this price level however there are other criteria that I think everyone in their life has to consider Portability and even just how well the format works on the surface of your desk if you're chase today life and in all of those ways this particular mic really is a letdown for 2018-2019 that's my vote I hope that Industrial Design at all three of these manufacturers continues to move forward there's a pretty limited set of criteria they're working within here in terms of producing a product that the mass market wants people who are not professional musicians not professional radio broadcasters our needs are modest and yet in some ways those needs are flexible and I think it's a struggle for people in the free market to meet them at a good enough price point this is my new channel doing product reviews forage rhymes with forage you can click on the links in the description below this video if you want to see my main youtube channel or the other stuff i've got online my name is Alma Zard broadcasting day from Victoria British Columbia Canada I am out
video will probably know me from my main youtube channel where for many years this microphone was an iconic piece of equipment on screen all the time there were people who made videos making fun of me and praising me and laughing about the fact that I was always the guy holding this this mic I could even remember I once did a Skype call with my daughter my daughter is now five years old she was probably three years old the hand and in the middle of the call she said to me I have a question what is your ball so I was really known for using this microphone on camera and I was not known for high sound quality in my videos I was known for the iconic appearance of this mic but I was not getting a lot of email praising the sound quality neither in my my videos nor in my podcasts made using this mic so this is a somewhat famous Mike called the snowball many youtubers use it many podcasters use it and many people try to do a little bit better by using a pop filter and in this video I'm going to compare and contrast this to two other microphones that I've got in my hands and on site right now this is the meteor from Samsung so the name of the microphone is meteor not to be confused with meteor right that's a separate mic and the rode mic which i think is actually pronounced Rueda but everyone pronounces it rode ro de but it is not an English name and it's their USB mic which they now call the NT USB I think this review will apply to all of the road low-end USB based microphones when I'm recording in now so there's several criteria to consider these mics are for people who want better sound quality than they would get with the microphone that's built into their computer or built into their camera built into their phone whether that's for YouTube videos or Skype conversations or podcasts or whatever you're doing but they do not want the investment or the mess or equipment of using genuinely high and sant recording technology because it also takes up space people once you get into the you know the the higher quality sound recording equipment so first and foremost about this mic about the the meteor mic if you were picking this out in a store in a shop i think almost everyone would choose this mic i didn't i purchased it on the internet which is what most of you people are gonna do and that's probably why you're watching this video the industrial design and the aesthetics of this thing are incredibly appealing so if you just watch you know when you close up the legs they snap into position beautifully and they sort of they don't close too quickly or too easily the hinge is beautiful the industrial design is beautiful it reflects light in a beautiful way even the feeling of this switch is fantastic and the way the plug fits into it is also excellent i mean it's it's incredibly pleasing in the hand it's pleasing to the eye it's rugged and durable in terms of the exterior aesthetics of the industrial design this is clearly the winner it's one of the most pleasing factory-made objects I can remember buying externally if I could return this for a refund I would have done so already the sound quality is not good enough period and the worst thing about it is that it's inconsistent so I think about one recording out of 20 the sound quality from this was good by which I just mean good enough and I was pleased and I was really paying attention to the distance of the microphone for my mouth the position of it relative to the computer you know was there something behind it causing a little bit of echo during those test sessions during my first 20 or 40 recordings with this I was paying very close attention but the ultimate judgment of this is very very simply not good enough I have no idea what the issues are maybe it's because the the creator of this Samson they just didn't figure in a way to fit all the components into this very small housing you can see that very very little space to deal with compared to the amount at the volume of air inside the snowball Mike it is just a very small agra phone but let me tell you something the decisions they made do not work this is not a very simply it is not good enough so gorgeous design maybe at some point in the future this will be a brand to watch but in 2018 or 2019 in the sternest words possible I urge you not to pick up the Samson meteor and very simply mince the harshest judgment I can offer on it from my perspective it is non-functional it is not a piece of equipment I use or that I it's a piece of my actively avoid using I'm gonna try to get some value out of it by using it as a travel mic because it is portable but every time I use it on the road I know will be frustrated I know will be disappointment I wish I could return it and get a refund and I can't that is my judgment on the Samson meteor beautiful not functional um I reviewed that one first because the snowball has a okay for one thing used to know here microphones are not durable absolutely by definition just the passage of time and use they will get worn out and stopped working well so over time this microphone perform worse and worse and that's okay my opinion is not based on that fact you probably shouldn't expect a microphone to last more than three years not if you're using it regularly and of course things like dropping the mic you know impacts the mic are part of it but it's also just part of the normal use of Aging in the microphone it's not it's not impervious to age and wear and tear in terms of the the components inside that are expected to be quite delicate and respond to the sound of your voice it's supposed to pick up ultimately very fine vibrations on the air that's what sound is right so you can't expect it to last forever however um this microphone very simply you are not going to get good performance a hundred percent of the time but it is much much better the the hit to miss ratio was much better infinitely better if you like then the the Samson meteor mic I had a lot of experience I've many hundreds of recordings with this I can't even estimate cuz I have over a thousand videos on this YouTube channel and then I also did podcasts in other formats than are on YouTube in that huge double recordings the main thing you really learn to watch for is the distance of the microphone to your mouth so this is in a sense why it is a bad microphone for YouTube because really to get the best performance out of it you both need a pop filter and you do need the mic to be quite close to your mouth I believe the official guideline is 6 inches but you can experiment for yourself and see when it is that it really does pick up your voice well and doesn't have a lot of self noise or or noise outside of being being picked up needs to be quite close to your mouth and I managed this by just holding it you know to look the east on cam I would always hold it in my hand so that it was close to my mouth but wasn't obstructing the camera in a in a bad way um other people cope with it in other ways so if you're doing on camera recordings whether that's YouTube or Skype in many ways it kind of is a poor choice otherwise again very iconic industrial design the reason why this is so popular is that for most people it is good enough but I think most reviewers will agree with me that it is not objectively good and in terms of the hit to miss ratio let's say even 3 times out of 5 I was satisfied with the sound I think in the early days that was true and then it might got worse over time has got worn out when the sound is poor and you're really you're just left baffled why did that recording go poorly you know and you're looking at for me at least I look at the distance of the mic though okay all the little factors surrounding it that could have resulted the problem and it's it's frustrating so that's ultimately what justifies people making the decision to buy a slightly more expensive mic so again this is what is commonly called an English Road ro de not the correct pronunciation but hey they're making money so they don't mind this microphone absurdly is the exact opposite problem or situation this microphone gives you significantly better sound distance and with any set up the distance remote like if I record very close to my mouth or further away this is a big step up in audio quality from the other two microphones but guess what the trade-off is the functionality of the design the exterior ii setup is terrible it's very very difficult to get this to stand in its own tripod it comes with an asymmetrical tripod just showing you that on camera now it comes with this kind of slick looking asymmetrical tripod that almost induces it to fall over constantly and this is heavy enough that having it fall over and slam on its side or having it fall off your desk and slam on the floor that's gonna add to the wear and tear now obviously if you want to spend several hundred dollars and have a you know a mount for it a professional bracket for it there are ways to compensate for this the size and shape of the microphone is not suited to having in your hand the way the plug fits into the bottom of the microphone it very much limits what you can do with it by contrast by the way the the media right here you can see your USB cable fits into the back on the side so there's a lot you can do with it it can sit flat on its bottom it can be it can be mounted and cope with in various ways you could hold this in your hand um the exterior housing of the rode mic is a constant source of frustration and disappointment and if you want to pack this up and travel with it it is gonna take up a lot of space in your suitcase it is not going to be practical to use at all so guys that's it if you want what you call a low end USB microphone relatively inexpensive but that's genuinely good enough for youtube podcasting skype 21st century digital communications and social media one of the best options you can go for right now are the USB mics the low end NT USB mics from rode in terms of audio quality alone judging just audio quality it is by far the winner at this price level however there are other criteria that I think everyone in their life has to consider Portability and even just how well the format works on the surface of your desk if you're chase today life and in all of those ways this particular mic really is a letdown for 2018-2019 that's my vote I hope that Industrial Design at all three of these manufacturers continues to move forward there's a pretty limited set of criteria they're working within here in terms of producing a product that the mass market wants people who are not professional musicians not professional radio broadcasters our needs are modest and yet in some ways those needs are flexible and I think it's a struggle for people in the free market to meet them at a good enough price point this is my new channel doing product reviews forage rhymes with forage you can click on the links in the description below this video if you want to see my main youtube channel or the other stuff i've got online my name is Alma Zard broadcasting day from Victoria British Columbia Canada I am out