Microphone is an integral part of your setup if recording, streaming and broadcasting are what you are going to do because they will help improve the audio quality and making the sound more pleasurable to listen. Samson Q2U Vs ATR2100 are two great choices to consider for users out there who are looking for an affordable microphone for their digital recording purposes. Both of them are producing a good sound but are also different and before shopping, go check which will fit your application the best here.
In this article, we are going to give you information about:
- Are you currently looking for an External Microphone
- Which Microphone to Purchase
- What are Samson Q2U and ATR2100
- What Samson Q2U and ATR2100 Look Like
- How to Setup Samson Q2U and ATR2100
- How are the Performance of Samson Q2U and ATR2100
- What else Samson Q2U and ATR2100 can offer
- Samson Q2U Vs ATR2100
External Microphone
There is always the best device/tool/equipment for every job and this is the same with a microphone because while many can be versatile enough for every purpose we have planned, not just any of them will deliver the best performance. However, this is not always the case either because as long as the unit is working, we can always make do with whatever model we have on hand; if there is a smartphone, it can already record audio with a certain level of quality, if we have a recorder it is even better.
If you are a content maker whose activity is revolving around the smartphone but feel the audio captured is lacking compared to the nice video quality, you can go with cheaper external microphones such as Shure MV88 Vs Rode VideoMicro which will instantly click to your portable device. The choice is almost unlimited with microphones today and tons of them can make the shopping quite confusing if you are not already deciding which brand to stay with or have a short range of budget to stick to.
| Samson Q2U | Audio-Technica ATR2100 | |
|---|---|---|
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| Product Dimensions | 13 x 4 x 10 inches | 7.9 x 2.2 x 10.6 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 1.9 pounds | 2 pounds |
| Shop now at Amazon | click here | click here |
Choosing a Microphone
In general there are few types of microphones that may help to classify each one of them into an easier option to consider. First is from connectivity, we have USB microphones and the more standard XLR one for condenser type. USB is very convenient since it is basically plug-and-play for example the popular Yeti from Blue while XLR needs an ideal port, if not already powered from your PC we will need an audio interface or mixer to make the tool work.
Second is from the type and as you can already guess, it is between condenser and dynamic microphone again. Dynamic is often seen as the more durable option and generally more forgiving for untreated rooms as well as give more presence for vocal while condenser is capturing sounds more detailed and overall more sensitive in comparison. From the patterns there are several of them; some models can have different patterns that we can choose while the other stick with one pattern with mostly being cardioid.
The last is their price level and similarly, this is a subject to change for different people since not all of them are classified affordable at the same range. Expensive microphones are created for professionals and for use in a treated room but in addition they also sound amazing. The lower ends are not failing in terms of audio quality but they will be lacking probably in the response yet, when it is for streaming, podcasting, or recording audio for a video content, many are already very reliable.
About Samson Q2U and ATR2100
If you don’t have much time to spare, it is great to shop based on the brand that you have been using before or set a budget first so then we can eliminate the huge options and save the time to check each one of them. It is also great to see what the other similar users are purchasing because while they may not fit your preference, their options have a high chance to match yours as well especially those highly rated products.
Among those many options in the market, Samson and Audio Technica will be two of the most reliable brands to go. Both of them have been in the game for quite a long time and became our first choice when checking out various audio equipment yet, it is also true that the former is more popular when it comes to budget speakers compared to how AT was leading in various product categories including headphone and microphone. Putting all market share information aside, these brands are going to offer good quality products.
They also carry quite the options inside and some are already well-known among users but for those who are going to look for a microphone that are ideally made for voice recording including podcasting, Samson Q2U and ATR2100 are such an ideal choice to consider. Both of them are coming in the same market and the reason why lots of people are using these models is because of the affordable price range; equally below $100 but works quite impressively to deliver a nice sound quality.
As you can guess, both of them are dynamic microphones and they are often the choice for podcasters or streamers since we can’t go wrong with any of them. The best thing about Samson Q2U and ATR2100 besides the price point is their performance and this is because they are very directional, hardly picking anything besides what’s in front of them and in addition they are also convenient in any setup without much fuss to work with.
Samson Q2U and ATR2100 Design
From the build quality, these microphones are not something that will break easily, the housing is solid and there is definitely a weight to them. The design looks like any dynamic microphones out there with a round grills which in comparison slightly more oval in ATR2100. The solid housing is grey and silver respectively while as you can see on the sample picture above, they similarly have the standard on/off switch located just below the grill.
In the box you will get the microphone with USB cable, XLR to XLR cable, microphone stand, and microphone clip in ATR2100 while in Q2U you will get the unit, plus microphone mount, the same desktop microphone stand, XLR to XLR cable, USB cable, recording software driver, and a headphone if you choose the recording and podcasting pack. All the ports or connectivity are placed at the bottom; the XLR, USB, and headphone jack port.
Samson Q2U and ATR2100 Setup
Besides the price point, the best part of Samson Q2U and ATR2100 is their convenience because as you can already expect, these microphones are coming with both USB and XLR ports which mean we can use either of them for recording. It gives the convenience for those who don’t own an interface in their setup and they are already working well, but the audio interface provides a better manual adjustment in which the quality can be better than what’s in our computer.
Samson Q2U and ATR2100 Performance
Moving further, let’s see the performance which is the most important point when it comes to choosing the best microphone and for starter, both of Samson Q2U and ATR2100 are equally designed with frequency response from 50 to 150kHz. In practice, they are very similar to each other and they are also cardioid microphones so the most sound is captured from the front part. They don’t pick much from the back but you will still listen to some if there is sound source coming from the back or opposite of you.
They work well with the USB cable but also nicer when changed through the XLR cable and they do give a prominent change which makes the XLR ones with audio interface sounds much smoother and pleasant to listen to. In general, they are very quiet microphones and as the gain increased, there is no concerning background noise created. The reason why Q2U sounds better is because it has a flatter frequency response for dynamic microphone while the ATR2100, similar to many others has this frequency boost.
Samson Q2U and ATR2100 Feature
Moving to the feature part, this is where Samson Q2U and ATR2100 are shining the most in our opinion because here we can get a zero delay audio monitoring and specifically for the Q2U, this one has buttons to adjust their headphone level right on the microphone. This is working if you are plugging them with the USB cable thus, if only XLR is being used, the monitoring is not available. What’s good is we can also listen to the computer sound through the headphones.
Samson Q2U and ATR2100
As a dynamic microphone, these models are working well, if you don’t have a specific taste but only looking for nice sounding microphones. Both are going to fit just fine and in general they are more ideal for podcasting or recording voice only since the instrument part is not that great. In comparison they are fairly flat but if you check their frequency response, Samson is actually offering a flatter response hence it sounds more natural than ATR2100 which is slightly boosted.
They can offer direct monitoring with zero latency and can equally be connected to computer via USB or XLR through audio interface or mixer if you want to improve the quality and prefer analog connectivity. What’s offered by Samson Q2U is this model also puts volume buttons on the microphone for further convenience.
Conclusion
All in all you can go with either of them and still be satisfied with the performance but for those who are looking for a more natural sounding one, we do recommend getting the Samson Q2U, and in addition this model will also offer audio level as well on the unit.