Recommended models: Yeti, Raspberry, Snowball
Blue has focused on the production of consumer-grade microphones since its inception, and is the industry benchmark in the field of USB microphones. According to NPD Group, as of 2015, more than 1 million Blue microphones were sold in the United States, with a market share of 63%. Blue's diverse product line meets the needs of almost most consumers, and well-known musicians such as Bob Dylan and Imagine Dragons also use Blue's products.
Yeti is Blue's flagship product and has a high sales volume both at home and abroad. Thanks to Blue's unique patented three-diaphragm capsule technology, the Yeti has four pickup modes to switch from. This allows it to not only perform well when recording a single sound source, but also for two-person conversations, multi-person meetings, and instrumental playing, achieving the recording effect that can only be achieved by multiple microphones. The all-metal body is sturdy and durable, and the control buttons and monitor jacks are also readily available, and in terms of functionality, the Yeti has few shortcomings. The wirecutter has chosen Yeti as the number one player in several reviews, calling it "excellent sound quality and ease of use", and theMasterSwitch calling it "the undisputed king". The best sound quality and perfect functions in the same class make this microphone quite popular, and the price of 1298 yuan is also very cost-effective.
The Yeti Pro adds a five-pin XLR jack for stereo recording. Compared to the Yeti, the Yeti Pro's frequency response curve is flatter, and the midrange and high frequencies are more delicate than the Yeti, with lower distortion and better reproduction. Compared with traditional professional microphones, Yeti Pro has more application scenarios and eliminates tedious debugging. However, for non-professional users, the increase brought by the price difference of 1,000 yuan is relatively limited. In addition, in Windows, if you want to achieve the highest resolution of 24bit/192kHz, you need to install a driver.
The all-metal Yeti series is a little heavier to carry, while the Raspberry is positioned to be portable and high-sound, and fits in your pocket. It adopts a unique acoustic diffuser design, with a micro sound absorption layer and a scattering layer to effectively reduce the noise picked. Even in noisy outdoor recordings, relatively good vocals can be picked up. The price of this product, which takes into account both portability and sound quality, is also higher, and the official price is 1880 yuan.
Snowball is the first USB microphone in the U.S. market, priced at 688 yuan, and also focuses on portability. The spherical housing has a built-in dual-diaphragm array for recording podcasts, meetings, and musical instruments. If you only need to record a single sound source, a low-spec version of Snowball-ice will do the trick. However, neither microphone has the gain and monitoring to keep track of what is going on in real time during recording.
Blue Microphones Yeti Pro condenser microphone
