Today I reviewed another USB microphone from Audio Technica. This time, the ATR-2500 USB Condenser Microphone. This is part of the ATR series, which Audio Technica describes their affordable line of microphones. But that clearly does not translate into poor quality when it comes to audio.
If you are interested in this microphone, it will set you back $75 on Amazon.
What's In the Box
- Microphone
- USB Cable
- Microphone Mount
- Table Top Stand
- Documentation
- Life Time Warranty
Performance / Features
The build quality of the microphone is nice for about 90%. The remaining 10% feels like cheap plastic. The microphone stand is cheap and does not feel sturdy enough to hold the microphone stand, and the microphone mount provide no shock absorption.
The specs sheet says that this microphone provides 30Hz - 15kHz, which does not look like the best, but when listening to the microphone, I think it sounds perfectly fine. It seems like they made up for the lack of high frequencies through clever EQ of the microphone.
The microphone has a cardioid polar pattern, which is fairly directional. When testing it out, it seems like the pick up pattern is about 180-degrees. So anything in front of the mic it will pick up, and anything behind it, it will only pick up low frequencies of. When testing this out on the keyboard test, we heard a LOT more of my voice versus the keyboard, but you could still hear a bit of clicking in the background. During the distance test, we heard a bit of a drop off in volume as the distance increased, but it was not as drastic as a dynamic microphone.
Pros
- Nice sound
- Good build quality
- Provides EVERYTHING you need to record
- Decent sound isolation
Cons
- Horrible Microphone Mount
- USB Microphone
Conclusion
All things considered, I think that this is a fairly nice microphone. The acoustic guitar and voice sounded really nice through this microphone, and the electric guitar sounded great as well. There was a bit of background noise picked up when typing on a keyboard. I think if you buy this microphone your best bet would be to invest a few extra bucks on a shock mount, a pop filter, and a proper microphone stand and then you would be good to go.
I would recommend this mainly for podcasters or musicians who will be controlling the recording environment a little more than a live streamer would. With proper attention paid to the location of the microphone and the audio treatment in the room, this will be a microphone that you could use for podcasts or youtube covers for years to come.
If you have any additional questions about this headset, leave them in the comments on this site or on the youtube channel, and I will try to reply ASAP.
Buy it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Thnc8P