Today I am reviewing the Blue Snowflake. This is a little USB Mic that you can place directly on your desk, or mount it to your laptop and use it to improve audio for meetings.
If you are interested in this microphone, it will set you back $45 on Amazon
What's In the Box
- Microphone
- USB Cable
- Documentation
- 2-Year Warranty
Performance / Features
The build quality of the microphone is not too consistent. The metal base is nice and sturdy and has a few soft pads to ensure you don't damage your laptop when placing it over the edge of the screen. The microphone capsule has a metal grill on the front, but the back feels like cheap plastic. Also, the connection point between the mic capsule and the stand is very thin and I would be worried about this breaking off if you open and close the mic too frequently.
The frequency response is listed as 35Hz - 20kHz, and it sounds perfectly fine to me. When speaking it did sound somewhat compressed and lacking a little in the low end, but for a $45 microphone designed for Skype / Conference calls, it performs well in this area.
The polar pattern is cardioid and it performs like a cardioid mic should perform. HOWEVER, the design of this mic requires you to almost always place the mic behind your keyboard (on laptop screen, on desktop screen, below desktop monitor), ultimately placing the keyboard in between you and the mic. This means that it picks up a LOT of keyboard noise. So if you plan on typing during a call, you may want to look elsewhere.
Pros
- Decent sound
- Decent build quality
- Plug & Play
- Portable
Con
- Noisy interface
- Limited placement options
Conclusion
Overall, I think the mic sounds pretty nice for voice, but that's about it. I can only recommend this if you are going to be using it to improve your audio quality for skype phone calls, or if you don't mind a bit of keyboard noise in the background while gaming. Luckily, that's exactly what this mic was designed for. Skype & Conference Calls.
If you have any additional questions about this microphone, leave them in the comments on this site or on the youtube channel, and I will try to reply ASAP.
Buy the Blue Snowflake:
US: http://amzn.to/1NFPXfT
UK: http://amzn.to/1sMy5GU
