Customer Reviews

Nady USB Microphone

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was very pleased when I opened the box and found a nice chunky, seemingly heavy duty microphone. The hardware is well crafted with good fit and finish.

I plugged it in and it self installed quickly and without incident.

Now, having tested the microphone for several voice only projects using multiple software applications, the quality of recordins was poor at best. In all cases the volume was VERY low, tinney, and digitized.

To eliminate the possibility of computer malfunction or software limitations, I tested this on three computer with two different software applications all with the same results.

I would not reccomend this solution.

I am using audacity (DAW), and needed a mic to add vocals to a music project. This was the only USB mic that I could find that met my budget. Since it was made by music icon, Nady, I took the chance. This mic is of sturdy construction with a metal mesh screen and a nice long built in USB cable. It has a on/off switch with a led that lights up when on. It flashes when recording (which comes in handy). As for the sound: You will have to find a EQ setting that works for your voice and this mic. You would have to do this with any mic, so that's not really a minus. Sound is rather flat though, which kind of surprised me for such a large capsule (I screwed the wind screen off and took a look). I thought it picked up sound pretty well. I made the mistake of keeping a fan on once and you could hear it in the background during playback. This is a case of you get what you pay for. Nevertheless, I applaud Nady for making a affordable USB microphone available. It sure beats anything else out there in its price range.

This mic is fine for what it is--a very inexpensive, plastic body mic for quick, direct PC recording. It doesn't have good specs and it has a mediocre 16-bit A/D converter. That's just what one would expect in a USB mic for $30. There are better mics available for between $50 and $100 (and much higher) from better audio companies that I would recommend instead (Shure, Samson, Blue Audio, M-Audio, Audio-Technica, CAD, Rode).

If you just want to play around and be able to easily record audio with better quality than a webcam mic or built-in laptop mic, this unit is perfectly fine. If you are doing more serious audio or music recording, no one in their right mind (or that isn't a novice) would ever use this mic.

Having said that, most people don't understand how USB mics work so attribute problems they are having to the mic instead of their configuration. At least on Windows systems, almost all USB mics use the built-in Windows USB driver. Some come with their own drivers however, but often provide not much more functionality than the generic Windows driver. What that means is that Windows provides just the basic I/O functionality for this mic. Everything else is completely dependent on the software you are using and how you have Windows configured with your other audio devices. Some audio software is very flexible and will work well with any USB mic and others are not.

For multitrack recording, this mic is useless. It shuts off all other sound coming from the computer. For multitrack recording, you need to listen to previously recorded tracks while adding more tracks. With this mic it is impossible. I have other USB mics that work just fine. Whoever designed this device was not real intelligent.

Okay, the first few days, I had to get used to the computer recognizing the mic as headphones, so it was messing up my external sounds, and stuff. Okay I fixed that. Then I try to go to the website for tweaking software and before I do, 3 days after I buy the mic, it's indicator light just stopped working why I do not know but for some reason that I cannot imagine. I am so mad I did not get the samson. Also, I bought the Montego DDL, which is an awesome sound card for under $60. I already threw it in the trash.

It's pretty much a karaoke mic, and it would have helped if I didn't cut corners and purchase something to mount the mic. I won't sell myself short next time around.

Bottom line. If you believe this loser above me, ur on crack. j/k but seriously don't buy it. Look at it this way. You can purchase your playstation 2 which is cool for what it is. Or do you really wanna spice it up and drive the town in a lexus droptop with a hottie in the passenger seat. Spend the extra $100, I promise it'll be worth it.

Thanks J-Di Lil rock

I purchased this microphone on July 18,2007 and i mean it wasnt the best but it did a good job for what i was doing. Which i made my whole cd you can go to [...] to take a listen to how it sounds when recording. Overall i'll have to give it 3 stars it was o.k. while it lasted but the microphone completed broke the beginning of 08 so it did last some months. So i say to the buyer if you are just looking for something to play with for awhile then this is the mic but for long term i say you go with the co3u samson you can check it out on this link

Maybe mine came broken...it rattles inside and doesn't record well....my cheap Radio Shack mic does better.