C414 style comparison - Warm Audio WA-14 and SE Electronics SE4400a

[DrewPeterson7]

tl;dr from the related thread - in the Warm Audio Mystery Box giveaway (more or less), I ordered one because of the dozen and a half eligible mics, there was only really one where I already owned a good quality take on the design, their C414 style, where I had a matched pair of SE4400a's.

So, sure enough, guess what showed up. :lol:

I did as fair a comparison between the two as I could here - I tried to match the mic positions as closely as I could, recorded both on the same performance, through matching mic pres with identical settings, and no other post processing save for volume matching the two tracks, and then some conservative volume maximizing on the master bus.



I WILL note that, while both mics were run through the same preamps with the same settings and were in very, very similar positions, there was a pretty perceptible volume difference here and I had to add about 10.5db trim to get the two tracks to audibly the same level. I did volume match them here; I think it's easier to compare the sound of the mics when they're audibly the same level, and knowing one is nearly 11db louder than the other (mic settings were identical, both had pad switches at -0db, both were in cardioid mode, and the low cut switches on the SE were bypassed) is itself useful. It does come out a little in the noise floor, and I think if you listen carefully especially at the very end you can hear a little more self-noise from the WA signal chain. If you're sensitive to this, that's worth knowing.

 

[Papanate]

Which Mic was the quieter one? It sounds to me that it was the Warm Audio.

 

[TalismanRich]

Wow, for me, the WA14 was significantly brighter than the SE. I heard much more "body" from the SE. The Warm pushed the string sound a lot more. If I had to choose one, it would be the SE.

I would expect there to be a big difference in volume. The sensitivity of the WA14 is 9mV/PA which is -41dB and the SE is 25mV/PA which is -32dB. Your adjustment of 10.5dB is right in the ballpark.

 

[DrewPeterson7]

Which Mic was the quieter one? It sounds to me that it was the Warm Audio.

Yup, that one took almost 11db to volume match, which surprised me so much I triple-checked everything to make sure I didn't have a pad somewhere I was unaware of.

Wow, for me, the WA14 was significantly brighter than the SE. I heard much more "body" from the SE. The Warm pushed the string sound a lot more. If I had to choose one, it would be the SE.

I would expect there to be a big difference in volume. The sensitivity of the WA14 is 9mV/PA which is -41dB and the SE is 25mV/PA which is -32dB. Your adjustment of 10.5dB is right in the ballpark.

Hey, that's awesome, and makes me feel WAY less like I'm going insane. Broadly I agree - as I'd mentioned in the other thread, there were actually things I found kind of appealing about the high end of the WA, there's a bit of funkiness or... grittiness isn't the word, but it wasn't unappealing to me whatever it was. But, the SE had a fuller body to it and felt more substantial, and a bit of a neve-style EQ (any other context, I've got a pair of 551s wired up behind the CAPI preamps and I'd have engaged those, but I wanted this as neutral as possible) to boost the top end a hair and veeeery slightly pull back 360hz, and I thought I was getting a very, very comparable tone I liked more.

The SE4400 is still my second choice behind their VR1 ribbon, but in a rock context I usually double track rhythm acoustics and use one channel of each. They'd also work wonderfully in stereo I think, though for the music I right I rarely want "wide" acoustic guitars where I wouldn't rather just double track.

 

[CoolCat]

Sound is so funny, I was 100% in the WA vote, while the SE sounded so different it was amazing how big a difference a mic can make!
To me it sounded like two different guitars. There was a nice "warm" smoothness in the WA and the SE had the clarity, woody, sound maybe the sensitivity picking up more or more of the room.

Warm Audio is great stuff imo, the concept of having a "DIY" already done, and with years of mfg expertise under their belt now and increase to a 5 year warranty started in 2025 if I recall. Like a lot of company's they made it through the flaming and bashing for beginner offshoring mass sales QC needed etc... they do 100% QC supposedly now in Austin Texas per the factory video. WARM and a lot of the boutique did the drill deep gearhead stuff getting the parts quality up and the mystery capsule location?
I couldn't build one myself, due to my skills and patience with high end parts.

You could use those two mics and they might go together really well on a acoustic multi tracking, but if you only wanted one track , WA 414 sounded really smooth.
SE sounded familiar too. Totally different though, imo.
(excellent video too...great lighting and great audio)