by Warm Audio Skylight Large Diaphragm Studio Condenser XLR Microphone + Shock Mount + Bag for Recording and Podcasting

For once a new piece of gear WAS the answer.I hated how my voice sounds through a hand-me-down SM58. Its sound with my soft alto performance is so warm that it's difficult to fix with EQ. It is extremely sensitive to proximity effect. Getting enough gain for quiet vocals was very difficult thru any consumer interface I've had over the years. Despite the acclaimed built-in pop filter and my aftermarket windscreen, avoiding plosives was always a huge pain and I never stopped concentrating on my address position.This solved all my problems, like night and day. The response or EQ or the sound or whatever is perfect for me. Crisp and airy but not even remotely sibilant. It is very sensitive, and not only is getting enough gain easy on the same interfaces (now using phantom power), but the pop filter is incredible. I can put my face directly against the filter and just sing, even a breathy whisper, and it sounds perfect. Proper address is trivial; I have to spit my plosives hard to get a pop now. The ambient sound of my untreated home studio with the 512 is also so much lower that I noticed it before thinking to check; deliberate testing also confirms this clearly.I can't even think of anything to improve. The sound isn't only sufficient, but just plain great; I'm free to focus on my own technique. The mic even pretty to look at. I'm done thinking about vocal mics for the foreseeable future. I thought my struggles were just the art of recording. Nah, I just had the wrong gear this time lolIt's very heavy, like a laptop, so make sure your mount is up for it. It is built very well, but this is not the invincible workhorse I'm used to in the SM58. I could throw the SM58 across the room, like actually. This is more studio oriented, precise and delicate, and I'm afraid to knock it over.

I stumbled across this microphone looking for more vintage designs. I was considering the Stellar X2 vintage and then say this, and at only $50 at the time. The art deco design caught my eye, and the low price, so I decided to hunt down some reviews. A majority were good, I I pulled the trigger. Well, the build quality is fantastic. All metal, including the shock mount. This has some heft. Fit and finish is excellent as well. I hooked it up (phantom power required) and it is what I came to expect from the reviews. Smooth, maybe a touch dark. Very listenable and not fatiguing. If you want something that is more “exciting” up top (IE more treble), this may not be the mic for you. But if you like a smoother tone, this is the guy. The output is solid, being a condenser mic, so no cloudlifter or separate preamp required. Your audio interface will work just fine. I can’t help but sing the praises of this thing. For $200, I would have been happy. On sale for $50, I’m ecstatic. I cannot understand how it can go for this low. I hope they keep making these. This is a fantastic deal. All you need is an interface, and XLR cable, and a stand of some kind and you have a killer setup.

SOLID PRODUCT!!! SUPERB QUALITY!!!a $200 mic for a fraction the price. Sheesh.HEAVY built. Product is made out of METAL so it will be HEAVY.Body is NOT plastic.Sound quality is clean.Bigger diaphragm so it will pick up the deeper tones.adjust/lower your gains cuz the mic isn't like your cheaper USB mics that needed a maxed out gains just to "pick up" sounds. You will need to play around with your settings (discord, in-game audios, other VC softwares, etc) when moving from a cheaper mic to this XLR expensive mic.

512 Audio is associated with Warm Audio, but this is a 512 Audio model. It's a nice solid build, stylish, and most importantly sounds much better than a $50 should! Nice stiff shock mount, which I have yet to test for isolation. Buy it for your mic locker!This mic looks to be the same (except for color) as the Chinese Alctron CK6 I found elsewhere, and since the 512 PCBs each bear a CK6 marking, I'd say that is likely the case. Both have the rather unusual head basket grill.I was told (or read) there may have been some tweaks to components to meet 512's performance goals. Sadly 512 Audio doesn't publish any real specs on this mic -- no polar plots, no response curves, and no noise figure. Seems odd when the parent WA makes a big deal out of specs. The Alctron CK6 states 22 dB, so if that hasn't improved, it's not what I'd consider to be a low noise mic. Both show -42B for sensitivty, so not as high out put as I've come to expect in an LDC.One other small thing: the description says it weighs 1 kg (2.2 pounds), whcih is not technically correct. The mic and mount _together_ weigh in at 0.96 kG, but the mic itself weighs 0.6 kg. Anyway, a good purchase.