Nowadays, you can easily find USB mics that offering the plug-and-play feature directly to your peripherals. The days when we always need to carry a separated preamp or audio interface are gone. Most of them also have the integral stand to be used right away, either for a podcast or any other activities.
These mics are perfect for a podcast or creating unpolished recordings if you have a song idea. You want to do it if you’re a person who quickly forgets things. Now that the podcast stream has become a popular category, a point of view that can be heard is essential.
The mic is an excellent investment for this purpose, and a camera, of course. Combine them both, and you get a complete set for making a podcast. You can also reach another category, game streaming.
With Twitch and Youtube, all can be made possible. While choosing a mic, there are many fish in the market that can make you a little bit confused. Don’t worry; we have some recommendations here, the Apogee Mic and Rode NT USB. Let us see which one of these mics is worth buying.
Apogee Mic
Apogee Mic, especially the 96K version, is an excellent mic that you can easily find anywhere. The duralumin body combined with cardioid patterns is what looks interesting in people’s eyes. A durable mic is always a treat, primarily when provided with a crisp sound as well. You can easily attach a USB connector to a laptop or computer, plus a headset at the same time.
Just a trivial fact here, most people who work in the media industry don’t know how to use a mic properly. The reason is just one; mics are hard to use sometimes. If a user can’t figure how to use it, then the mic dead. Read also: Shure SM7B vs Condenser Mic.
With Apogee Mic, users are allowed to be creative without a challenge. You can find a USB jack and button for recording on the side, and when the lights are red, that’s the signal of recording. Once done, you can quickly transfer the data to your laptop or computer.
| Apogee Mic | Rode NT USB | |
|---|---|---|
  |   |
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| Product Dimensions | 5.02 x 2.13 x 7.8 inches | 2.44 x 1.97 x 7.24 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 1 pounds | 1.15 pounds |
| Shop now at Amazon | click here | click here |
What’s even more impressive about this mic is that it has a sharp and crisp sound. The extended response and the flat make it functional in many uses. It also has an excellent cardioid recording pattern, further increasing its value.
Besides its beautiful characters, it also has many features to consider: one, its compatibility. When working as a Youtuber on the gaming or podcast market, you must constantly shoot videos. There’s a need to connect a mic to a DSLR camera to produce better sound. Fortunately, this mic is fully compatible with DSLC cameras, making it a comfortable pair.
If you’re working with Macbook or any other Mac stuff, this mic can be an excellent choice. It comes with additional MAC cables that can offer an easiness in transferring data between devices.
You can also directly connect this mic with your MAcboos if you want to do live streaming.
About the power, Apogee 96K comes with no battery. You don’t need any batteries, to begin with. No external power is required; as long as the mic is connected to a device, it’s on.
Rode NT USB
Now we’re moving to the second mic on the list, called Rode NT USB. In the package, you’ll receive a cute small stand with an integrated pop shield. It offers more than just a podcast mic, and it is coming with a condenser capsule, like those studio-grade microphones.
The mic is built very solid, with a touch of classy design. Though it doesn’t have a suspension cradle, it has the standard mounting angled anywhere around 180 degrees.
The curved pop shield attaches firmly between the base of the mic and the mounting ring. Similar to the mic above, it’s also compatible to use with Macbooks. It’s easy to pair and easy to connect. But, there’s nothing to further adjust besides the preferred monitoring level and mix.
The two best things about the mic are that the little self-noise and the built-in headphone amp can create loud and clear sounds. Using Rode NT USB for spoken voice delivers sounds with no bottom-end without apparent anomalies. The pop shield is a great thing here, providing you to get close in and effectively exploit the low-end.
Though it is not a rival for the higher valued U47/Neve combo, this mic still provides results that You can compare with many other affordable studio microphones. Other than spoken voice, users can use this mic to affect acoustic guitar and other instruments positively.
Rode NT USB is the mic with versatility. It can be an actual microphone that also works as a preamp and digital conversion. With the price of 129 pounds, NT USB can give an excellent value.
Apogee Mic vs Rode NT USB
Conclusion
Now, which one of them is more suitable for you? As a quick reminder, we want to describe the differences first, in case you forget. NT USB has less self-noise, and compared to Apogee; it’s more silent.
Apogee is more warm and flat about the sound character, while NT USB is more open and sibilance. But overall, we can say that NT USB is brighter, but that doesn’t mean it’s better.
NT USB has a headphone that you can use for direct monitoring. Apogee, on the other hand, doesn’t have both. NT USB has a longer cable, which is 3m, compared to Apogee’s 1 m.
But for or final words, we’d like to pick Apogee Mic 96K as the winner. The mic is amazingly versatile and highly compatible with all devices. It feels incredible when you can connect it with your mobile devices and rock on right away.
Besides, the mic sound quality is impressive, even when compared to some mics with a price level above it. Connect it directly with your desktop and start to create your ideas, whether it’s a podcast or other activities.