I am loving the Blue Yeti. Not only a great sounding Mic but one that has far more features than anything in the same price range and below. Hear a quick comparison between the Samson C01U and the Blue Yeti here – http://vocaroo.com – it does not do the microphone justice, I certainly don’t regret the purchase.
So what features does it come with? Well a good length of USB cable and one hell of a funky stand with rubberised base to support what is one chunky mic! (and great to attach a pop filter to)
- On the front
- Volume
- Mute button – so useful!
- On the rear
- Adjustable gain
- 4 pattern setting
- Stereo – main pick up from front and sides, vocals and instruments
- Cardioid – main pick up from front, singular speaker for podcasts
- Omnidirectional – all around, focus groups
- Bidirectional – front and rear, interviews across the table
- Underneath
- micro USB connection (no drivers required!)
- headphone 3.5mm jack – zero latency audio monitoring
- 5/8 inch threaded hole for microphone stand
What don’t I like? well not a lot to be honest…
- Its a bit of a beast – it appeals to me but don’t think it will be a joy to carry around
- The microphone has a tendency to either damage its own paintwork or that of the stand – if you look at second hand ones they mostly mention slight “mic vs stand” knocks (mine does but it on the stand.
- Volume and gain controls feel a little loose
- No ideal shock mount – Blue’s own Radius shock mount is expensive (at £44) and does not support its own mic (Search YouTube) and there is little alternatives out there due to the unusual base layout. (see unavailable custom mount at Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00HL5WWHQ )
Full specs can be found here http://www.bluemic.com/yeti/#specs
I think maybe a project for the summer would be to make a shock mount and publish the designs as a blog?
Andy
The TechLec Blog 