tubedude
New member
I just went and poked around with some mics and headphones for a bit and I thought I would go through every mic and compare them all.
I started with the cheaper ones so as not to get spoiled if the better ones kicked thier ass from the beginning. Weird logic I guess.
I started with the Sennheiser e609 silver, kinda makes me sound more nasally, it has a weird mid bump that is great for toms and guitars, can be very nasty on some voices. Sounds good otherwise, on my voice I give it, eh, a C+.
I went on to the Sennheiser 504, the tom mics... sounded less nasal, and different, but decent, I shoot it a C+ also.
Popped in the Beyerdynamic Soundstar Mk II, sounded very nice, less nasally than both of the others, and had a pretty nice top. I'll go with a B on this one.
Went with Sennheiser e602 (yes, the kick mic) and wow, I was quite impressed. On my voice it sounded very very good, although a bit scooped, which might be waht made me like it, as it had no nasal sounding-ness to it. I give it a B+, surprisingly enough.
Next I plugged in my Sennheiser MD-441, and there it was... the smoothness. This mic IS all its hyped to be. Very smooth, very nice, very worth the money. It had no mid range nasal or harshness, the top end was smooth and had a nice buttery rolloff somewhere, it just sounded nice on me. Its always my 1st try on guitars too, and often stays there. For $259 used, this mic simply cannot be beat. Score is an A.
Next up, and the last one I tried, the Soundelux U-195. To my surprise, the Soundelux sounded remarkably similar to the 441. Very smooth sounding throughtout the entire range, very good mids and top. The top is, however, brighter than the 441, good or bad depending. More bottom too, and I tried it with different fat and roll off settings and different distances. Smooth mic, this one is worth the cash too, but in a fight between this and the 441, it would be VERY hard to pick one. The 441 matched very close in smoothness of sound and overall sound to the Soundelux. I give the soundelux an A too.
I think the biggest thing I got out of this test was how good the MD-441 is compared to the rest of them. Its just plain great. I see them go for $300-$400 all the time, and I would say at that price if I was going for a main mic for my studio, it would NOT be a like-priced condensor if I had the option of the 441. It stood very close in characteristic to a $1200 large diapragm mic, and I would bet the farm that with a little EQ you could make it do anything you wanted it to, including matching the Soundelux.
I think I want another 441.
Ok, useless banter, but I've seen worse.
Peace!
I started with the cheaper ones so as not to get spoiled if the better ones kicked thier ass from the beginning. Weird logic I guess.
I started with the Sennheiser e609 silver, kinda makes me sound more nasally, it has a weird mid bump that is great for toms and guitars, can be very nasty on some voices. Sounds good otherwise, on my voice I give it, eh, a C+.
I went on to the Sennheiser 504, the tom mics... sounded less nasal, and different, but decent, I shoot it a C+ also.
Popped in the Beyerdynamic Soundstar Mk II, sounded very nice, less nasally than both of the others, and had a pretty nice top. I'll go with a B on this one.
Went with Sennheiser e602 (yes, the kick mic) and wow, I was quite impressed. On my voice it sounded very very good, although a bit scooped, which might be waht made me like it, as it had no nasal sounding-ness to it. I give it a B+, surprisingly enough.
Next I plugged in my Sennheiser MD-441, and there it was... the smoothness. This mic IS all its hyped to be. Very smooth, very nice, very worth the money. It had no mid range nasal or harshness, the top end was smooth and had a nice buttery rolloff somewhere, it just sounded nice on me. Its always my 1st try on guitars too, and often stays there. For $259 used, this mic simply cannot be beat. Score is an A.
Next up, and the last one I tried, the Soundelux U-195. To my surprise, the Soundelux sounded remarkably similar to the 441. Very smooth sounding throughtout the entire range, very good mids and top. The top is, however, brighter than the 441, good or bad depending. More bottom too, and I tried it with different fat and roll off settings and different distances. Smooth mic, this one is worth the cash too, but in a fight between this and the 441, it would be VERY hard to pick one. The 441 matched very close in smoothness of sound and overall sound to the Soundelux. I give the soundelux an A too.
I think the biggest thing I got out of this test was how good the MD-441 is compared to the rest of them. Its just plain great. I see them go for $300-$400 all the time, and I would say at that price if I was going for a main mic for my studio, it would NOT be a like-priced condensor if I had the option of the 441. It stood very close in characteristic to a $1200 large diapragm mic, and I would bet the farm that with a little EQ you could make it do anything you wanted it to, including matching the Soundelux.
I think I want another 441.
Ok, useless banter, but I've seen worse.
Peace!
