MIC1

Zalman ZM-MIC 1 Review / Test

Today I am testing out the Zalman ZM-Mic 1. This is a sort of lavalier microphone that is meant to be clipped to your headphones cable. 

What's In the Box 

  1. Microphone with ~10-foot cable.

Performance / Features

The build quality on this microphone is exactly what you would expect on a $7 microphone; cheap. The cable is a cheap rubber that feels flimsy, and the plastic portion that clips to your headphone cable feels relatively cheap as well. Unfortunately the portion that clips to your headphones is not adjustable. This leads to concerns with headphone cables being too thin or too thick. On top of this, it does not allow you to clip this microphone to your shirt.

This is an omni-directional microphone, so if you are concerned with picking up room noise or background noise, you will not like this microphone. When typing on my keyboard, I found that a lot of keyboard noise was picked up (note: I do not use a mechanical keyboard, so if you are using a mechanical keyboard, the sound would be significantly worse). I want to point out that the majority of Lav Mics are omni-directional because this provides the best pick up pattern to pick up your voice while clipped to your shirt. 

The audio from this microphone sounded best when being held closer to the sound source (just like any microphone). However, when clipped to the headphone cable or loosely clipped to my shirt, the audio sounded dampened. 

Pros

  • Sounds Decent
  • Only costs $7

Cons

  • Cheap Build Quality
  • Lack of Functionality
  • Not versatile

Conclusion

This is a decent sounding microphone for the cost. However, I would not recommend this microphone unless this is your only option. This is because you can buy a 3-pack of Neewer Lav Mics for between $5-$7. Sure the build quality is slightly lower, but it will allow you clip the microphone to your shirt and provide a little bit more versatility. 

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. 

Zalman ZM-Mic 1: http://amzn.to/1R0Ri0Q
Neewer Lav Mics: http://amzn.to/1R0Rj4O