[Average Frequency]

PFFT. Stop acting like money is all that matters. How annoying.

But what about the "audiophile perspective" then?

 

[chesebert]

PFFT. Stop acting like money is all that matters. How annoying.

Quality is all that matters. You generally get what you pay for up to a certain dollar amount.

 

[KazuMae]

Depends on what are you trying to do. General listening and playing games? a logitech speakers with subwoofers would do the job.. I am using Bose companion 2 for several years now and it works great so far. If you are trying to do more than that probably may wanna start installing noise dampening foam on your walls and pc and go up from there..

just my 2 cents

 

[Ordeith]

people generally start with monitoring speakers and then move away to something that sounds more pleasing - audiophile focused not critical monitoring. I will give you 6-12 months before you sell and get something that sounds more pleasing.

This reads a bit like projection to me. I settled on these after trying a few setups precisely because they "sound pleasing".

Have you never met an "audiophile" who prized "accuracy' highly?

 

[gregorio]

I think for my use case a shotgun mic like the Sennheiser MKH416.

That depends, what’s your “use case”? Mics are designed for specific purposes; close use, more distant use, vocal use, instrument use, studio use, outside use, etc. The 416 is a shotgun mic, it’s designed for outside use at a distance. For many years it was the standard for film production sound, until it was superseded. If your “use case” is inside a small/moderate sized room, a 416 is the wrong mic for the job!

Unfortunately, you’ve been give more than a fair amount of incorrect information/advice. This really isn’t the right place to be asking such questions, you’re going to get a bunch of answers from people who’ve been indoctrinated with audiophile marketing and/or who know little or nothing about recording.

The more expensive the mic, the better it will pick up sounds like mechanical keyboard clacks, PC fans, coil whine and cars passing by.

No, that’s not the case. It depends on what the mic is designed for and of course basic economics such as availability. The most expensive mics are generally the vintage mics which are not particularly sensitive and have relatively high self-noise.

Those that have 'higher end inputs' like the MKH416, are also knowledgeable about plugins, and many other aspects of their setup.

The 416 isn’t really a high end input and isn’t appropriate for most indoor use. While it can be used indoors under certain circumstances, most likely these particular users are not very knowledgeable.

As to the SM7B, you're not going to get it to sing when all you have is 60 dB of amplification. That would suffice for recording snare drum with it, but for voice it won't.

If you need more than 60dB of pre-amplification, you’re using the wrong mic for the job or using the right mic incorrectly! Stating the SM7B won’t suffice (or is too insensitive) for voice is seriously incorrect, because it’s specifically designed for voice recording! It’s used in quite a lot of radio broadcast stations and the previous version (SM7) was used by Michael Jackson on the Thriller album. It’s designed for close use though.

I still find the mic sensitivity on condensers to pick up more room noise (or even outside noise depending on where I've lived) than my dynamic mic usage overall.

That’s not really true either. It depends on the design, the polar pattern for example but some condenser mic’s pick up less noise than dynamic mics. While condensers are generally more sensitive than dynamic mics, they’re more sensitive to everything, room noise and the desired signal, EG. They maintain the signal to noise ratio, SNR. However, this typically isn’t true in the high freq range, where dynamic mics are particularly insensitive.

$1500/pr for powered speakers are pretty low end in terms of audiophile use case, TBH. I wouldn't even start considering powered speakers until $10k.

That depends on what you mean by “audiophile use case”. If you mean expensive and fashionable then you’re probably right, but not if you mean accurate/high fidelity. For example a $5000 active speaker/monitor will typically be far “higher end” (hi-fidelity) in a properly treated room than a >$10,000 audiophile speaker in a poorly treated or untreated room. The speakers the OP have chosen are very good, commonly used by professionals.

Quality is all that matters. You generally get what you pay for up to a certain dollar amount.

Unfortunately that is often not the case in the audiophile world. In fact quite commonly the opposite is the case, assuming that quality = high fidelity.

Have you never met an "audiophile" who prized "accuracy' highly?

Yes, it’s a bit of paradox these days. An audiophile is defined as a hi-fi enthusiast but many audiophiles spend significant amounts on audiophile products that either make no difference to fidelity or actually reduce it.

G

 

[Ordeith]

That depends, what’s your “use case”? Mics are designed for specific purposes; close use, more distant use, vocal use, instrument use, studio use, outside use, etc. The 416 is a shotgun mic, it’s designed for outside use at a distance. For many years it was the standard for film production sound, until it was superseded. If your “use case” is inside a small/moderate sized room, a 416 is the wrong mic for the job!

I have spent many hours now researching, as well as trying (some) mics in person. I like the 416 because it seems to have good noise rejection (I live in a pre-war building in NYC that has horrifying hissing sounds from the radiators) that I can use at a decent distance without "eating" it. My voice sounds 'nice' on it, too. I started a YT channel and my first videos have just been recorded with my headset - the second video picked up that audible hiss, and I was too lazy to re-do the audio track. Some streamers say my voice "sounds fine" already with that mic, but I do like the way my voice sounds with the 416 and so do other friends. I'm not looking to throw away money here, but I did like it a lot - in particular since I didn't have to 'eat it'.

Voice over and streaming for long periods is the 'use case'. I need to be able to sit about a foot (30cm) away from the mic. In my 416 tests (shotgun mics so far are my favorite for this) I can point them down at me from my monitor and they won't be in my 'camera shot'. So the sound quality is great, I can sit comfortably in my chair...but I am totally open to other recommendations. Podcastage says the 416 isn't his preferred mic for this use case (though it is in his overall setup), but his voice is also higher pitched than mine (this is not a dig).

Would be happy to have recommendations as to other products to look at and try, or a way to re-think this if you think that's necessary.

The 416 isn’t really a high end input and isn’t appropriate for most indoor use. While it can be used indoors under certain circumstances, most likely these particular users are not very knowledgeable.

I meant "in the USD 1000+ price range" in terms of "higher end" (which is why I put the term in quotes, not necessarily equating increased spending with higher quality). I tried the Schoeps version and my voice sounds even better on that, but I'm not really in the 2k+ microphone range - diminishing returns appear to kick in well before.

The 416 + a simple Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 might be enough for me, but I'm still going to demo other USB audio interfaces.

Yes, it’s a bit of paradox these days. An audiophile is defined as a hi-fi enthusiast but many audiophiles spend significant amounts on audiophile products that either make no difference to fidelity or actually reduce it.

Thankfully in this hobby there's no one definition, but I am taken aback by those who try to deride other folks for their passion. Especially since the thing that unites us in all likelihood is the love of great music. But *shrug*.

 

[gregorio]

I meant "in the USD 1000+ price range" in terms of "higher end" (which is why I put the term in quotes, not necessarily equating increased spending with higher quality). I tried the Schoeps version and my voice sounds even better on that, but I'm not really in the 2k+ microphone range - diminishing returns appear to kick in well before.

The 416 + a simple Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 might be enough for me, but I'm still going to demo other USB audio interfaces.

If you’re talking about the Shoeps CMIT5, yes, that’s high end and the preferred standard these days for film sound. You need to be careful using any shotgun mic indoors. It’s generally not recommended because the way they achieve off-axis noise rejection (the “interference tube”) can result in audio problems caused by sound reflections from walls, ceilings, etc.

Best positioning is about 50cm away, in front and above, pointing downwards towards your chest. If you haven’t already bought the 416 and assuming you’re avoiding the shotgun indoors issue, you might want to try the Rode NTG 3. It has near identical performance to a 416 but is considerably cheaper. A favourite with indie (low budget) film makers.

The Scarlet 2i2 is a good choice. I use high-end studio ADCs/DACs but that’s because I need far more I/O (32x32) but I have used a Scarlet 2i2 and was impressed for it’s price. Unlike the audiophile world, the pro-audio world doesn’t have as much snake oil and even the cheap ADCs/DACs have a pretty much ruler flat response. In fact often better than audiophile DACs costing 10+ times more. The only potential weakness is it’s headphone output wasn’t great.

G