**A Comparative Analysis of the Rode NT-USB and Sennheiser MKH 416: A Microphone Review**

As a frequent user of microphones for live streaming, podcasting, and video conferencing, I have always been on the lookout for a high-quality dynamic microphone that can deliver excellent sound quality and background noise rejection. Recently, I had the opportunity to try out the Rode NT-USB, a USB microphone that is designed to rival some of the most popular dynamic microphones on the market.

My first impression of the Rode NT-USB was its sleek and compact design, which made it easy to set up and use. However, during my initial testing, I experienced some issues with gain levels, as the microphone seemed to be extremely sensitive and would pick up background noise easily if not positioned correctly. To compensate for this, I had to adjust my gain settings multiple times to get the optimal level.

To mitigate this issue, Rode has implemented a feature called "background rejection," which is designed to automatically adjust gain levels based on the microphone's sensitivity. While this feature worked well for me in the long run, it did take some time to get used to and required some fine-tuning to achieve the desired results.

In terms of sound quality, I was pleasantly surprised by the Rode NT-USB's ability to deliver clear and crisp audio with minimal distortion. The microphone's frequency response is flat from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, including live streaming, podcasting, and video conferencing.

One of the key features that sets the Rode NT-USB apart from other microphones in its class is its ability to reject background noise. In my testing, I found that this feature was effective in reducing unwanted ambient sounds and allowing me to focus on delivering high-quality audio.

To put the Rode NT-USB's performance into perspective, I compared it to one of the most popular dynamic microphones on the market, the Sennheiser MKH 416. The MKH 416 is a professional-grade microphone that is commonly used in film and television productions, while the Rode NT-USB is designed for more casual applications like live streaming and podcasting.

In terms of sound quality, I found that the MKH 416 had a slightly warmer and more nuanced tone than the Rode NT-USB. However, this came at the cost of increased sensitivity, which made it more prone to picking up background noise. The Rode NT-USB, on the other hand, was more forgiving in terms of gain settings, but may not offer the same level of detail and nuance as the MKH 416.

To give you a better idea of how these microphones compare, I included a few examples from popular songs in my testing. The Rode NT-USB performed admirably, capturing the nuances of the vocal performances with ease. However, the MKH 416 was able to capture more subtle details and textures in the music.

Overall, I am impressed with the Rode NT-USB's performance as a live streaming microphone. Its ability to deliver clear and crisp audio with minimal distortion makes it an excellent choice for those who want high-quality sound without breaking the bank. While it may not offer the same level of detail and nuance as some of the most professional-grade microphones on the market, its flexibility and ease of use make it a great option for casual users.

In terms of pricing, the Rode NT-USB is significantly cheaper than the MKH 416, making it an attractive option for those who want high-quality sound without committing to a more expensive purchase. However, if you're looking for the absolute best sound quality, you may need to consider investing in a higher-end microphone like the MKH 416.

**Comparative Analysis of the Rode NT-USB and Sennheiser MKH 416**

To give you a better idea of how these microphones compare, I included a few examples from popular songs in my testing. The Rode NT-USB performed admirably, capturing the nuances of the vocal performances with ease.

Three Rings for the Oven Kings Under the Sky (The Lord of the Rings Theme)

Seven for the Dwarf Lords in Their Halls of Stone

Nine for the Mortal Men Doomed to Die

One for the Dark Lord on His Dark Throne in the Land of Mordor Where the Shadows Lie

One Ring to Rule Them All, One Ring to Find Them, One Ring to Bring Them All and in the Darkness Bind Them (The Soundtrack from The Lord of the Rings)

Using the same filter settings for EQ and compression, I compared the Rode NT-USB's sound quality to that of the Sennheiser MKH 416. I used the free RePlug plugins for VST to simulate the sound of the MKH 416 in Adobe Audition.

Comparison Results

* The Rode NT-USB performed well on vocals, capturing clear and crisp audio with minimal distortion.

* The MKH 416 offered a slightly warmer and more nuanced tone than the Rode NT-USB, but was more prone to picking up background noise.

* In terms of sound quality, I found that the MKH 416 had a slight edge over the Rode NT-USB in certain frequencies.

**Conclusion**

The Rode NT-USB is an excellent choice for those who want high-quality sound without breaking the bank. Its ability to deliver clear and crisp audio with minimal distortion makes it an attractive option for live streaming, podcasting, and video conferencing. While it may not offer the same level of detail and nuance as some of the most professional-grade microphones on the market, its flexibility and ease of use make it a great option for casual users.

In terms of pricing, the Rode NT-USB is significantly cheaper than the MKH 416, making it an attractive option for those who want high-quality sound without committing to a more expensive purchase. However, if you're looking for the absolute best sound quality, you may need to consider investing in a higher-end microphone like the MKH 416.

**Rating**

The Rode NT-USB receives a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars for its excellent performance as a live streaming microphone. Its ability to deliver clear and crisp audio with minimal distortion makes it an attractive option for those who want high-quality sound without breaking the bank.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enat last at long last we have a successor to the legendary podcasting studio music youtubing streaming microphone the sm7b well sort of this is the shure mv7 and this is the microphone they were teasing recently on social media which very much resembles an sm7b now i specifically went with the silver model because i thought it would be cool to have one that looks a little different because they do it does come in black and that resembles the original sm7b quite a bit but this is very much a different microphone we're gonna look at it kind of in two minds because while yes it's obviously built to look like and function like the sm7b it is a completely different class of microphone and that needs kept in mind but they're marketing with the whole idea that it looks like a mini sm7b in mind and so we're going to utilize that as our you know point of reference as well because that's what they're setting themselves up for this video is brought to you by nerd or die and their new terminal cyberpunk themed stream layout you've got alerts you've got overlays you've got a full layout to choose from customizable elements stinger transitions and all the source files if you wish available to edit for yourself and change colors change aspects or render them out for youtube videos pretty cool stuff here and you can save 15 percent across the entire website by heading over to eposvox dot gg slash nerd or die and use coupon code eposvox at checkout today's microphone review is a good one i hope you're ready and strapped in because this is going to be a crazy ride i'm eposvox your stream professor and this is the shure mv7 a new usb and xlr microphone from sure the company that makes lots of legendary broadcast stage and other microphones that are used for a lot of production if you're unfamiliar with the sm7b it is a roughly 400 dynamic microphone which means that it doesn't require phantom power and it's mainly activated kind of by the sound of your voice that's a very rough explanation of how dynamic mics work uh and it is considered very legendary both for its background noise rejection as well as its shielding i ran into that recently when i picked mine back up i have a whole separate video dedicated to why i kind of love the sm7b even if i don't use it as much as other people i'll have that linked below but you'll see it all over the place from podcasts to youtube videos to live streams to even music production it's used for singing and i think even drums sometimes as well it's a pretty phenomenal microphone but it but it's expensive and it requires some hefty audio equipment to really run the sm7b is notorious for requiring a ton of gain and so on top of the cost of the microphone it requires quite a bit of audio hardware to power as well and not everyone's willing to make that investment after they just dropped 400 bucks on a microphone which is something i discuss back and forth and don't necessarily support but sure has found a compromise for those working from home that don't necessarily have beefy audio equipment but want a similar microphone experience and this one is more catered towards specifically live streaming and video production at home versus more of the professional use of the sm7b if that makes sense so the package you get for the mv7 is quite interesting as it's a little bit different than the sm7b you get the microphone itself you get two different usb cables one runs from micro usb to type a which is very unfortunate that they're running with micro usb here i don't know why i have to imagine it's just tooling costs but that's really unfortunate in 2020 to be releasing a product with micro usb on it especially with the other cable they include but they include a nice long very usable cable for running micro usb to usb type a for normal computer use and then you also have a micro usb to usb type c cable for use with mobile devices all right well i was mistaken or they haven't released the update to make this work with mobile yet i have it plugged into my ipad pro here over usbc which is kind of what i thought this was going to let me do they even have a sure plus motive audio and video app and neither app detects the microphone the microphone's just kind of pulsing here and both of them just read a built-in mic and don't give me any option to change it so if this will be supported on mobile it is not yet there maybe need to roll out updates or something i also just used that for running to my computer as well because it was easier i had a usb type-c port on the front of my computer ready to go and then you get the microphone itself and the package is like i said the the physical form factor is very similar it's in the same vein as the sm-7b you've got this kind of cylindrical design with the yoke coming out of the center and the nice little knob here however you'll notice a couple things are changed or moved or non-existent here in that the xlr port is actually on the back and we don't have the physical switches for the high-pass filter or the presence boost we don't have the fancy little knob to screw it onto your microphone mount like on the sm7b and the xlr cable is not moved out here kind of extended so you have the nice little easy to reach xlr cable on the mount either because actually on the back here you have as i mentioned a micro usb connector and a headphone jack because this is both an xlr and a usb microphone which those aren't mutually exclusive interfaces which is really cool especially for streamers as this unlocks a lot of possibility for use as well uh and so that is really cool and so i have it connected here right now via xlr to my sound device's mix pre 3 mark ii but my other testing you'll see in my normal desk setup is actually plugged into the audient evo 4 audio interface obviously i tested usb as well because i go there you can't see it from this angle but as we continue the physical tour here up in the top you have some capacitive buttons and some led indicators for the status of the microphone there's a mic mute button there is a slide to adjust gain or headphone volume you have a toggle between them kind of bar where you can get feedback as far as where your mic gain levels are and what your headphone levels are and adjust those here and then there's a little tap button to switch between them or lock that control so it doesn't change i kind of wish it was over here and i guess theoretically i could unscrew it screw it back in assuming the tooling is the same and have it over here uh and i get why they wanted it on the top if you have it mounted from above but all of the controls are squished under this yoke in a way that for most use cases you're gonna be like bumping into it here as you may be able to hear as i'm trying to press the button to get to it it doesn't seem very well thought out and i i don't really know what to think of it especially when most most microphones have a dial for gain like i have one here conveniently enough just have a little dial for gain and they're quiet and it's fine and you know what you're doing you don't have to fight with it it's not in the way and this one does not this is a trying to be like a more bougie approach and like i said overall it's probably fine but specifically being under here i'm going to always hit the microphone in order to do it versus like if it was over here and i had it mounted from the side i'd just be able to quickly be like pet the microphone asmr style and i don't know the buttons being literally like in the corner where i'm like bumping into everything just seems not ideal but it's a cool little system that you have there and that only works over usb however because obviously if you're on xlr it's all analog and the gain is controlled by your audio recorder so this microphone can be used by a wide gamut of people by being both usb and xlr compatible and if you're not familiar with what xlr microphones are it's just an analog audio connector that's been used since the dawn of time for microphones that has three pins in it that runs to an audio interface or a recorder or a mixer board or what have you to then power and transmit the audio from the microphone to that system it's not anything too crazy or scary or anything like that it's just a big analog connector whereas usb is already pre-digitized and all the preamp circuitry is kind of in the microphone itself and then you connect it to your computer and it's plug and play and ready to go now you'll want to use analog if you're wanting to use it in a mixer because you can't use usb mics in a mixer unless it's a virtual mixer or for separate audio recording where you don't have a computer you just have a recorder or you just want the highest possible fidelity audio recording you'll always get that over xlr versus usb the circuitry in the electronics required to cram into a microphone for a usb microphone is always going to be a little bit more limited than xlr i will say however i was very impressed at the difference here in the audio quality between xlr and usb on this microphone i tested both back and forth and just the raw audio overall i'm really not seeing a major difference here there's a little bit more of like a compressed sound in the usb audio that i always hear over usb that's just ever so slightly there but you're only ever really going to notice it when you're doing a b testing between usb and xlr if you're just running with it on one or the other you'll probably never know it's there so in this test i'll be comparing the shure mv7 over xlr connected to my audient evo 4 audio interface versus the usb interface recording at the same time and roughly have about the same gain level set although the gain difference between usb and xlr is slight there's a slight difference there and the same thing after audio processing is applied it sounds totally fine uh we'll do some more thorough testing in a moment i don't want to bore you just yet time codes will be in the description below as always so you have the usb connectivity this acts as the usb audio interface for the microphone itself as well as a sound card for your computer so you can monitor your microphone through your headphones connected in the back here adjust the gain and the balance of monitoring versus your system sound and then you can play back your system sound through it so just like the blue yetis or the elgato waves of the world you can get all of your audio monitoring right here in one place although you do have to have a headphone cable dangling from your microphone which i have never considered ideal personally but the loopback is very important for a lot of broadcast scenarios of course if you're using xlr you don't have that unless you connect usb as well so you'll need to use the loopback functionality of whatever audio interface or recorder you're actually recording it so the usb interface is pretty cool they they ship it's plug and play to begin with but they ship with a sure uh i forget the exact name it's a sure plus motive software which allows you to manage multiple different microphones if they support that software this is the only one that i have that does um but then set up different presets for gain audio processing and things like that on the microphone now it's super bare bones in terms of processing and i don't necessarily like the processing but it's convenient to have regardless so you have the automatic mode where you just set up like near or far distance from the microphone for gain levels and then it kind of does everything on its own and you're good to go or you can go into manual mode manually adjust the gain for my normal talking space at my desk i needed about plus 27 db of gain on usb keep in mind the usb gain and the analog gain on your gain on your analog receiver are going to be very different like it's plus 27 db on the usb interface but it's close to plus 55 db on my analog interfaces so there's not a direct translation there although it's roughly twice as much so maybe but then under manual controls you get a couple different processing options such as a limiter and a compressor both of which help make sure that when you shout into the microphone you're not clipping or peeking or distorting or anything like that which is very important for your listeners ears especially when you want to get right on top of that microphone and get some of that sweet sweet proximity effect but then they also have a sort of eq setting which basically matches what the sm7b has and that you have a high pass filter option and a presence boost option however compared to even just doing this normally in an eq and adobe audition or even the vst plugins for obs i feel like the processing in the motive software sounds really tinny and thin compared to what i can do after the fact so i'm not a fan of it i just leave it on flat and process it later but you can go on and implement the i would recommend toggling even if you leave everything on neutral turn off their compressor use your own audio processing i would recommend turning on the limiter so that you always have that running to keep you from clipping before you even reach your audio processing stages which is pretty cool now there is a superpower of this usb interface and xlr interface that i briefly touched on before that i think will be very beneficial for streamers especially game streamers and that is the fact that this microphone can connect to both usb and xlr at the same time which means if you have a two pc streaming setup be it for multiple meetings or for game streaming where you have game chat and stuff like that on one computer and then all of your discord and streaming audio on the other computer you can have both you can have the best of both worlds because you can run this microphone through xlr to your go xlr your audio interface your mixer what have you to your main streaming setup and then you can run it through usb to your gaming computer to then communicate over voice chat and that is one of the biggest problems to solve with streaming audio is having your microphone and audio back and forth on two different computers at once it's always a huge pain in the butt to route and this makes it extremely simple even if you buy it intending to use it as an xlr microphone having that extra usb run that you can run to your second computer makes your life a whole heck of a lot easier for being able to manage communications on two different computers which is really freaking cool now you can use both xlr and usb on the same computer if you have certain programs that don't cooperate with your audio interface for some reason or something like that that is an option available to you i don't know that anyone needs to do it but i did test and make sure that that worked so really how is the sound quality obviously you've been hearing it throughout the entire duration of this video it's it's been playing here both processed and unprocessed at different points in the video with the text indicating below in case you somehow missed it uh i'm pretty impressed with the sound it's not again it's not the same microphone as the sm7b and in fact if i pull off the cat the foam windscreen here maybe it's just me but i feel like the actual like capsule shield that you see here makes it pretty obvious that it's not the same design whatsoever it is definitely a different microphone and that is worth considering there is one main difference there well there's two main differences that i feel between the sound of the two microphones one is the sm7b seems to have a bit more of a lower richer warmer presence that plays nicely with my deeper voice a little bit better this uh is a little bit brighter i wouldn't even say it's a bright microphone but it just doesn't have quite as much of that low end boominess that some people complain about even that the sm7b has but the gain sensitivity on this microphone definitely feels like a cheaper microphone like one of their more stage handheld handheld microphone designs and that may be due to a tighter pickup pattern because most people when they're streaming and recording or moving all around the microphone here but there's definitely a what feels like and i can't confirm this for sure at the moment but what feels like a sharp increase in curve like a a very steep curve in sensitivity the closer you get to the microphone and so i will have a lot of my test recordings where i get right up on it and suddenly it's really loud and then i pull like even half an inch away and suddenly the gain levels are totally different which made it a little difficult for setting gain in my audio settings and things like that but once you have it compressed or normalized out it should mostly be fine background rejection is pretty solid and i will have a comparison of that here that we can roll now compared to the sm7b three rings for the elven kings under the sky seven for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone nine for the mortal men doomed to die one for the dark lord on his dark throne in the land of border where the shadows lie one ring to rule them all one ring to find them one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them in the land of mordor where the shadows lie but overall sound quality wise i'm pretty impressed with it and i think for most people for live streaming this will be what you want in terms of dynamic mic background noise rejection you still get that nice little radio sound if you want you can eq it to sound totally natural you can eq it to sound you know announcery or what have you it's a very flexible mic that i'm very impressed with all right now we're going to do the same thing but compare a couple different processing settings in the sure plus motive software which gives you a little bit of post processing just some presets and things like that so eq is currently set to presence boost and then i have limiter and compressor turned on however i will compare to presence boost plus high pass as i feel like their high pass works a little or has a little bit of a different effect than the high pass that i applied within my eq processing in adobe audition three rings for the oven kings under the sky seven for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone nine for the mortal men doomed to die one for the dark lord on his dark throne in the land of mordor where the shadows lie and for a point of comparison here's how the usb microphone version sounds using the same filter settings for eq and compression and make up gain inside obs using the free replugs plugins for vst versus how i'm doing it in adobe audition i've swapped between it here with the text indicating below should sound pretty similar white noise pointed at the microphone coming around to the what right side here and around to the back side over on the left side on top the microphone below the microphone and back in front now we're doing a talking while clicking and talking while typing with cherry mx blue switches with o-rings talking while typing talking while typing tippity tappity tip tap tap tap tap all right all right we've got the white noise pointed at the microphone going around the right side going around the back side around left up top underneath the microphone and back up front now we're going to do a mouse click click click and talking while typing talking while typing exact same keyboard as the sm7b talking while typing typing while talking so mv7 i am pretty hyped for it if i had to like if i had unlimited budget and i had to choose between the sm7b and the mv7 and i also had the budget for a beefy enough audio interface or recorder to power the sm7b and the right audio routing if you need dual pc stuff i would still go with the sm7b especially since it's only if i'm i don't have the price on hand but from what i recall being told about the price it's only like 100 bucks cheaper than the sm7b i feel like to really have kind of put the nail in the coffin for which i guess they don't want to sabotage their own market but to really like have streamers go after this versus the professional users going after the sm7b i would have kind of preferred it to be a little bit cheaper than it is although there will be sales were right before the holiday season here you know there's lots of possibility for that but i think the flexibility that you're getting out of this actually makes it a much more appropriate microphone for live streaming and like video conferencing teaching video chatting kind of scenarios compared to the sm7b which is built for a studio environment more or less so here are my thoughts let me know what you think in the comment section down below is this the microphone that you were looking forward to when you started seeing the teasers is this the sm7c equivalent that you've been looking for or the usb i've seen a lot of demand for a usb sm7b so theoretically this should satisfy this let me know what you think in the comment section down below hit the like button if you enjoyed subscribe for more tech education and stream guides i'm eposvox i'll see you laterat last at long last we have a successor to the legendary podcasting studio music youtubing streaming microphone the sm7b well sort of this is the shure mv7 and this is the microphone they were teasing recently on social media which very much resembles an sm7b now i specifically went with the silver model because i thought it would be cool to have one that looks a little different because they do it does come in black and that resembles the original sm7b quite a bit but this is very much a different microphone we're gonna look at it kind of in two minds because while yes it's obviously built to look like and function like the sm7b it is a completely different class of microphone and that needs kept in mind but they're marketing with the whole idea that it looks like a mini sm7b in mind and so we're going to utilize that as our you know point of reference as well because that's what they're setting themselves up for this video is brought to you by nerd or die and their new terminal cyberpunk themed stream layout you've got alerts you've got overlays you've got a full layout to choose from customizable elements stinger transitions and all the source files if you wish available to edit for yourself and change colors change aspects or render them out for youtube videos pretty cool stuff here and you can save 15 percent across the entire website by heading over to eposvox dot gg slash nerd or die and use coupon code eposvox at checkout today's microphone review is a good one i hope you're ready and strapped in because this is going to be a crazy ride i'm eposvox your stream professor and this is the shure mv7 a new usb and xlr microphone from sure the company that makes lots of legendary broadcast stage and other microphones that are used for a lot of production if you're unfamiliar with the sm7b it is a roughly 400 dynamic microphone which means that it doesn't require phantom power and it's mainly activated kind of by the sound of your voice that's a very rough explanation of how dynamic mics work uh and it is considered very legendary both for its background noise rejection as well as its shielding i ran into that recently when i picked mine back up i have a whole separate video dedicated to why i kind of love the sm7b even if i don't use it as much as other people i'll have that linked below but you'll see it all over the place from podcasts to youtube videos to live streams to even music production it's used for singing and i think even drums sometimes as well it's a pretty phenomenal microphone but it but it's expensive and it requires some hefty audio equipment to really run the sm7b is notorious for requiring a ton of gain and so on top of the cost of the microphone it requires quite a bit of audio hardware to power as well and not everyone's willing to make that investment after they just dropped 400 bucks on a microphone which is something i discuss back and forth and don't necessarily support but sure has found a compromise for those working from home that don't necessarily have beefy audio equipment but want a similar microphone experience and this one is more catered towards specifically live streaming and video production at home versus more of the professional use of the sm7b if that makes sense so the package you get for the mv7 is quite interesting as it's a little bit different than the sm7b you get the microphone itself you get two different usb cables one runs from micro usb to type a which is very unfortunate that they're running with micro usb here i don't know why i have to imagine it's just tooling costs but that's really unfortunate in 2020 to be releasing a product with micro usb on it especially with the other cable they include but they include a nice long very usable cable for running micro usb to usb type a for normal computer use and then you also have a micro usb to usb type c cable for use with mobile devices all right well i was mistaken or they haven't released the update to make this work with mobile yet i have it plugged into my ipad pro here over usbc which is kind of what i thought this was going to let me do they even have a sure plus motive audio and video app and neither app detects the microphone the microphone's just kind of pulsing here and both of them just read a built-in mic and don't give me any option to change it so if this will be supported on mobile it is not yet there maybe need to roll out updates or something i also just used that for running to my computer as well because it was easier i had a usb type-c port on the front of my computer ready to go and then you get the microphone itself and the package is like i said the the physical form factor is very similar it's in the same vein as the sm-7b you've got this kind of cylindrical design with the yoke coming out of the center and the nice little knob here however you'll notice a couple things are changed or moved or non-existent here in that the xlr port is actually on the back and we don't have the physical switches for the high-pass filter or the presence boost we don't have the fancy little knob to screw it onto your microphone mount like on the sm7b and the xlr cable is not moved out here kind of extended so you have the nice little easy to reach xlr cable on the mount either because actually on the back here you have as i mentioned a micro usb connector and a headphone jack because this is both an xlr and a usb microphone which those aren't mutually exclusive interfaces which is really cool especially for streamers as this unlocks a lot of possibility for use as well uh and so that is really cool and so i have it connected here right now via xlr to my sound device's mix pre 3 mark ii but my other testing you'll see in my normal desk setup is actually plugged into the audient evo 4 audio interface obviously i tested usb as well because i go there you can't see it from this angle but as we continue the physical tour here up in the top you have some capacitive buttons and some led indicators for the status of the microphone there's a mic mute button there is a slide to adjust gain or headphone volume you have a toggle between them kind of bar where you can get feedback as far as where your mic gain levels are and what your headphone levels are and adjust those here and then there's a little tap button to switch between them or lock that control so it doesn't change i kind of wish it was over here and i guess theoretically i could unscrew it screw it back in assuming the tooling is the same and have it over here uh and i get why they wanted it on the top if you have it mounted from above but all of the controls are squished under this yoke in a way that for most use cases you're gonna be like bumping into it here as you may be able to hear as i'm trying to press the button to get to it it doesn't seem very well thought out and i i don't really know what to think of it especially when most most microphones have a dial for gain like i have one here conveniently enough just have a little dial for gain and they're quiet and it's fine and you know what you're doing you don't have to fight with it it's not in the way and this one does not this is a trying to be like a more bougie approach and like i said overall it's probably fine but specifically being under here i'm going to always hit the microphone in order to do it versus like if it was over here and i had it mounted from the side i'd just be able to quickly be like pet the microphone asmr style and i don't know the buttons being literally like in the corner where i'm like bumping into everything just seems not ideal but it's a cool little system that you have there and that only works over usb however because obviously if you're on xlr it's all analog and the gain is controlled by your audio recorder so this microphone can be used by a wide gamut of people by being both usb and xlr compatible and if you're not familiar with what xlr microphones are it's just an analog audio connector that's been used since the dawn of time for microphones that has three pins in it that runs to an audio interface or a recorder or a mixer board or what have you to then power and transmit the audio from the microphone to that system it's not anything too crazy or scary or anything like that it's just a big analog connector whereas usb is already pre-digitized and all the preamp circuitry is kind of in the microphone itself and then you connect it to your computer and it's plug and play and ready to go now you'll want to use analog if you're wanting to use it in a mixer because you can't use usb mics in a mixer unless it's a virtual mixer or for separate audio recording where you don't have a computer you just have a recorder or you just want the highest possible fidelity audio recording you'll always get that over xlr versus usb the circuitry in the electronics required to cram into a microphone for a usb microphone is always going to be a little bit more limited than xlr i will say however i was very impressed at the difference here in the audio quality between xlr and usb on this microphone i tested both back and forth and just the raw audio overall i'm really not seeing a major difference here there's a little bit more of like a compressed sound in the usb audio that i always hear over usb that's just ever so slightly there but you're only ever really going to notice it when you're doing a b testing between usb and xlr if you're just running with it on one or the other you'll probably never know it's there so in this test i'll be comparing the shure mv7 over xlr connected to my audient evo 4 audio interface versus the usb interface recording at the same time and roughly have about the same gain level set although the gain difference between usb and xlr is slight there's a slight difference there and the same thing after audio processing is applied it sounds totally fine uh we'll do some more thorough testing in a moment i don't want to bore you just yet time codes will be in the description below as always so you have the usb connectivity this acts as the usb audio interface for the microphone itself as well as a sound card for your computer so you can monitor your microphone through your headphones connected in the back here adjust the gain and the balance of monitoring versus your system sound and then you can play back your system sound through it so just like the blue yetis or the elgato waves of the world you can get all of your audio monitoring right here in one place although you do have to have a headphone cable dangling from your microphone which i have never considered ideal personally but the loopback is very important for a lot of broadcast scenarios of course if you're using xlr you don't have that unless you connect usb as well so you'll need to use the loopback functionality of whatever audio interface or recorder you're actually recording it so the usb interface is pretty cool they they ship it's plug and play to begin with but they ship with a sure uh i forget the exact name it's a sure plus motive software which allows you to manage multiple different microphones if they support that software this is the only one that i have that does um but then set up different presets for gain audio processing and things like that on the microphone now it's super bare bones in terms of processing and i don't necessarily like the processing but it's convenient to have regardless so you have the automatic mode where you just set up like near or far distance from the microphone for gain levels and then it kind of does everything on its own and you're good to go or you can go into manual mode manually adjust the gain for my normal talking space at my desk i needed about plus 27 db of gain on usb keep in mind the usb gain and the analog gain on your gain on your analog receiver are going to be very different like it's plus 27 db on the usb interface but it's close to plus 55 db on my analog interfaces so there's not a direct translation there although it's roughly twice as much so maybe but then under manual controls you get a couple different processing options such as a limiter and a compressor both of which help make sure that when you shout into the microphone you're not clipping or peeking or distorting or anything like that which is very important for your listeners ears especially when you want to get right on top of that microphone and get some of that sweet sweet proximity effect but then they also have a sort of eq setting which basically matches what the sm7b has and that you have a high pass filter option and a presence boost option however compared to even just doing this normally in an eq and adobe audition or even the vst plugins for obs i feel like the processing in the motive software sounds really tinny and thin compared to what i can do after the fact so i'm not a fan of it i just leave it on flat and process it later but you can go on and implement the i would recommend toggling even if you leave everything on neutral turn off their compressor use your own audio processing i would recommend turning on the limiter so that you always have that running to keep you from clipping before you even reach your audio processing stages which is pretty cool now there is a superpower of this usb interface and xlr interface that i briefly touched on before that i think will be very beneficial for streamers especially game streamers and that is the fact that this microphone can connect to both usb and xlr at the same time which means if you have a two pc streaming setup be it for multiple meetings or for game streaming where you have game chat and stuff like that on one computer and then all of your discord and streaming audio on the other computer you can have both you can have the best of both worlds because you can run this microphone through xlr to your go xlr your audio interface your mixer what have you to your main streaming setup and then you can run it through usb to your gaming computer to then communicate over voice chat and that is one of the biggest problems to solve with streaming audio is having your microphone and audio back and forth on two different computers at once it's always a huge pain in the butt to route and this makes it extremely simple even if you buy it intending to use it as an xlr microphone having that extra usb run that you can run to your second computer makes your life a whole heck of a lot easier for being able to manage communications on two different computers which is really freaking cool now you can use both xlr and usb on the same computer if you have certain programs that don't cooperate with your audio interface for some reason or something like that that is an option available to you i don't know that anyone needs to do it but i did test and make sure that that worked so really how is the sound quality obviously you've been hearing it throughout the entire duration of this video it's it's been playing here both processed and unprocessed at different points in the video with the text indicating below in case you somehow missed it uh i'm pretty impressed with the sound it's not again it's not the same microphone as the sm7b and in fact if i pull off the cat the foam windscreen here maybe it's just me but i feel like the actual like capsule shield that you see here makes it pretty obvious that it's not the same design whatsoever it is definitely a different microphone and that is worth considering there is one main difference there well there's two main differences that i feel between the sound of the two microphones one is the sm7b seems to have a bit more of a lower richer warmer presence that plays nicely with my deeper voice a little bit better this uh is a little bit brighter i wouldn't even say it's a bright microphone but it just doesn't have quite as much of that low end boominess that some people complain about even that the sm7b has but the gain sensitivity on this microphone definitely feels like a cheaper microphone like one of their more stage handheld handheld microphone designs and that may be due to a tighter pickup pattern because most people when they're streaming and recording or moving all around the microphone here but there's definitely a what feels like and i can't confirm this for sure at the moment but what feels like a sharp increase in curve like a a very steep curve in sensitivity the closer you get to the microphone and so i will have a lot of my test recordings where i get right up on it and suddenly it's really loud and then i pull like even half an inch away and suddenly the gain levels are totally different which made it a little difficult for setting gain in my audio settings and things like that but once you have it compressed or normalized out it should mostly be fine background rejection is pretty solid and i will have a comparison of that here that we can roll now compared to the sm7b three rings for the elven kings under the sky seven for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone nine for the mortal men doomed to die one for the dark lord on his dark throne in the land of border where the shadows lie one ring to rule them all one ring to find them one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them in the land of mordor where the shadows lie but overall sound quality wise i'm pretty impressed with it and i think for most people for live streaming this will be what you want in terms of dynamic mic background noise rejection you still get that nice little radio sound if you want you can eq it to sound totally natural you can eq it to sound you know announcery or what have you it's a very flexible mic that i'm very impressed with all right now we're going to do the same thing but compare a couple different processing settings in the sure plus motive software which gives you a little bit of post processing just some presets and things like that so eq is currently set to presence boost and then i have limiter and compressor turned on however i will compare to presence boost plus high pass as i feel like their high pass works a little or has a little bit of a different effect than the high pass that i applied within my eq processing in adobe audition three rings for the oven kings under the sky seven for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone nine for the mortal men doomed to die one for the dark lord on his dark throne in the land of mordor where the shadows lie and for a point of comparison here's how the usb microphone version sounds using the same filter settings for eq and compression and make up gain inside obs using the free replugs plugins for vst versus how i'm doing it in adobe audition i've swapped between it here with the text indicating below should sound pretty similar white noise pointed at the microphone coming around to the what right side here and around to the back side over on the left side on top the microphone below the microphone and back in front now we're doing a talking while clicking and talking while typing with cherry mx blue switches with o-rings talking while typing talking while typing tippity tappity tip tap tap tap tap all right all right we've got the white noise pointed at the microphone going around the right side going around the back side around left up top underneath the microphone and back up front now we're going to do a mouse click click click and talking while typing talking while typing exact same keyboard as the sm7b talking while typing typing while talking so mv7 i am pretty hyped for it if i had to like if i had unlimited budget and i had to choose between the sm7b and the mv7 and i also had the budget for a beefy enough audio interface or recorder to power the sm7b and the right audio routing if you need dual pc stuff i would still go with the sm7b especially since it's only if i'm i don't have the price on hand but from what i recall being told about the price it's only like 100 bucks cheaper than the sm7b i feel like to really have kind of put the nail in the coffin for which i guess they don't want to sabotage their own market but to really like have streamers go after this versus the professional users going after the sm7b i would have kind of preferred it to be a little bit cheaper than it is although there will be sales were right before the holiday season here you know there's lots of possibility for that but i think the flexibility that you're getting out of this actually makes it a much more appropriate microphone for live streaming and like video conferencing teaching video chatting kind of scenarios compared to the sm7b which is built for a studio environment more or less so here are my thoughts let me know what you think in the comment section down below is this the microphone that you were looking forward to when you started seeing the teasers is this the sm7c equivalent that you've been looking for or the usb i've seen a lot of demand for a usb sm7b so theoretically this should satisfy this let me know what you think in the comment section down below hit the like button if you enjoyed subscribe for more tech education and stream guides i'm eposvox i'll see you later\n"