Blue Yeti Blackout

The Blue Yeti is a great microphone, it has very good sound and is solidly built. The microphone has a high sensitivity and a good dynamic range / frequency spectrum. The sound is very natural and free of distortions. The microphone also has a good signal/noise ratio, the recordings have little noise. A good feature is the headphone input which allows monitoring without delay / echo. What I also like is that the Blue Yeti has four different types of shooting modes, depending on the application. This makes it very versatile in use. The cordioid mode is ideal for voice-overs, but it also has a mode for a more spacious recording pattern. It is actually four microphones in 1. In my opinion a very professional microphone for an affordable price.

Definitely recommended: I have already made many recordings with it for instructional materials and videos. The audio quality is top notch for a product in this price range, and the construction of the microphone is also beyond expectations. There are three rotary knobs on the microphone. On the front a volume knob to control the headphone output. Very handy to hear your own voice louder or softer during recordings. There's no audible latency between your recording and what you hear back, so you don't get confused by your own voice. There are two rotary knobs on the back. One to control the gain (very useful not to have to do this in software, but directly on the device itself); in other words how 'loud' is the microphone. The other dial to set the shooting mode. Cardioid to record your own voice in a cone just in front of the microphone. This mode cuts out ambient noise quite effectively so that your voice/instrument is the only thing that can be heard. This together with the gain knob works great for adjusting the sound according to the environment. Another mode is for one-on-one interviews, recording both from the front and back, but not from the sides. A third mode is for omnidirectional, which records in all directions. A final mode is for magnified stereo recordings. In addition to the rotary controls, there is a clear mute button on the front, with a red light that indicates whether the microphone is on or off, and a headphone output on the bottom. The stand is very stable, and nice and heavy with buttons that make adjustment easy. It is certainly not a portable microphone in the sense that you can take it anywhere in your bag, but that is also not the intended use. The microphone only has a USB connection (so no direct analog output), and it's plug-and-play in Windows 10, and I assume most other operating systems as well. In short: recommended!