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Blue Icicle XLR to USB Converter for Dynamic & Condenser Microphones

Brand: Blue Microphones

796 ratings

| 140 answered questions

Currently unavailable.

We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.

Brand	Blue Microphones
Connector Type	USB, XLR Connector
Connectivity Technology	USB
Number of Channels	1
Item Weight	3.5 Ounces
Power Source	Corded Electric

About this item

Built-in mic preamp with analog mic gain control
48V phantom power
Fully Balanced, low noise front end
Driverless operation
Usb cable included

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From the manufacturer

Blue Microphones Icicle XLR to USB Mic Converter/Mic Preamp

What's in the Box

Blue Icicle
6-foot USB cable

Icicle XLR to USB Mic Converter/Mic Preamp

The Icicle is Blue's new stylish USB converter and mic preamp combo that allows you to connect any XLR microphone directly into your computer via USB. The Icicle features a studio quality microphone preamp, 48V phantom power, fully balanced low noise front end, analog gain control, and driverless operation.

Make Any Mic a USB Mic

The Icicle works with both dynamic and condenser microphones, providing high quality and hassle-free connectivity with Mac or PC. Whether you're using a microphone for digital recording, podcasting, voice messaging, or voice recognition applications, the Icicle is the quick and easy way to get connected.

Plug and Record

Simply plug in the USB cable and your mic will be live--no special driver installation is required.

Quality and Simplicity

The Icicle features a built-in, studio-quality mic preamp, along with a fully balanced, low-noise analog front end to send a clear signal via USB.

It also supplies 48V Phantom Power for condenser mics.

On the control front, the Icicle keeps it simple, with a single analog volume level control.

Amazon.com

Connect any XLR microphone directly into your computer via USB. Click to enlarge.

Use with dynamic and condenser mics thanks to 48V phantom power.

Make Any Mic a USB Mic
The Icicle works with both dynamic and condenser microphones, providing high quality and hassle-free connectivity with Mac or PC. Whether you're using a microphone for digital recording, podcasting, voice messaging, or voice recognition applications, the Icicle is the quick and easy way to get connected.

Plug and Record
Simply plug in the USB cable and your mic will be live--no special driver installation is required.

Quality and Simplicity
The Icicle features a built-in, studio-quality mic preamp, along with a fully balanced, low-noise analog front end to send a clear signal via USB.

It also supplies 48V Phantom Power for condenser mics.

On the control front, the Icicle keeps it simple, with a single analog volume level control.

What's in the Box
Blue Icicle, 6-foot USB Cable

From the Manufacturer

The Icicle is Blue’s new stylish USB converter and mic preamp combo that allows you to connect any XLR microphone directly into your computer via USB! The Icicle features a studio quality microphone preamp, 48V phantom power, fully balanced low noise front end, analog gain control, and driverless operation. Setup is a snap!

The Icicle works with both dynamic and condenser microphones, providing high quality and hassle-free connectivity with Mac or PC. Whether you’re using a microphone for digital recording, podcasting, voice messaging, or voice recognition applications, the Icicle is the quick and easy way to get connected.

Icicle Chain

Characteristics

Plug and Record — No Special Drivers Required
Built-in Studio Quality USB Microphone Preamp
Supplies 48V Phantom Power for Condenser Mics
Fully Balanced Low Noise Analog Front End
Analog Level Control
Phantom Power Active Light
Includes 6-ft USB Cable

Suggested Applications

Digital music recording, podcasting, voice messaging, voice recognition

System Requirements

Macintosh: Mac OSX; USB 1.0 or 2.0; 64MB RAM (min)
Windows: XP Home Edition, XP Professional, Vista; USB 1.0 or 2.0; 64MB RAM (min)

Product information

Item Weight

3.5 ounces

Product Dimensions

8 x 5 x 8 inches

ASIN

B001EW5YQS

Item model number

ICICLE

Customer Reviews

796 ratings

4.4 out of 5 stars

Best Sellers Rank

#31,659 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
#60 in Microphone Preamps
#11,350 in Music Recording Equipment

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer

Date First Available

June 17, 2003

Connector Type

USB, XLR Connector

Color Screen

Power Source

Corded Electric

Voltage

240 Volts

Warranty & Support

Product Warranty: For warranty information about this product, please click here. [PDF ]

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Customer Questions & Answers

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Customer reviews

5 star		73%
4 star		11%
3 star		6%
2 star		4%
1 star		6%

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Top reviews from the United States

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M. Williamson

The device died and Blue's support completely blew it.

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

June 11, 2017

A few months into owning this product, it stopped working. "USB Device not recognized." I could easily recreate this problem on multiple PCs and multiple operating systems. I used a tool called "USBDeview" to see exactly the data that the device is sending to the system. The device was failing to send the proper identification codes to any system I plugged it into.

Okay, fine. I contacted support.

June 14, 2017

They finally got back to me. Basically asking me to repeat the diagnostics I've already done. Fine. Sent them all the screenshots and data I collected.

June 19, 2017

After some back-and-forth, they finally agreed to RMA the device. They asked for my shipping information and I sent it on the 19th.

June 21, 2017

I got an RMA number and instructions. Sent the package with a tracking number.

July 12, 2017

I finally received an email, "Your Package Has Been Received!" Of course, it's been two weeks since the tracking information indicated that it was delivered. The body of the email says, "Our support team will be testing your unit within the next 2-3 business days. Be on the lookout for a status update letting you know if your microphone or headphone passed our inspection."

Today is Aug 2, 2017

I haven't heard a thing from them. NOTHING. No status, no questions, no updates... NOTHING. I've sent emails, I haven't heard a reply.

I paid $50 for a device that I don't even have because Blue doesn't care about their customers.

I will never buy another Blue Mics device again.

68 people found this helpful

Helpful

Zebra Hoedown Throwdown

this will get the job done well and stores nicely at a good size

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2018

Verified Purchase

Does the job, if you want to use a proper XLR microphone instead of some weaksauce overhyped Yeti, this will get the job done well and stores nicely at a good size. No noticeable buzz or distortion until you crank the pre-amp all the way up, but you wont be doing that, because you are using a real mic because you want good audio quality, right jimmy? Note though, if this is your first XLR mic through a PC rig you WILL need a beefy power supply, this sucked my 600 watt dry and caused me all kinds of problems, this is not a failure of the Pre-amp just a note you will need to keep in mind before you blame the product.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Wade Hatler

Works on less than half the machines I've tried with Dynamic Mics

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

This review applies to both the Shure X2U and the Blue Icicle which other than price seem to work identically for my purposes. I've been trying to find a decent preamp/USB adapter for dynamic mics like Shure SM57, SM58 or the Sennheiser MD-411.

Most XLR to USB adapters fail to work at all, but the Blue Icicle and Shure X2U sort of work. Both have recording levels that are too low, although they're better than the othersI've tried. I can get this one to work satisfactorily on about half the computers I try it on, and not on the other half. It's the same story with the Shure X2U.

In both cases, I have to turn the recording level control to 100% just to be loud enough input to pass the Dragon microphone test (I own a Speech Recognition company and am using these for improved accuracy for speech recognition). This one barely works on most but not all Windows 10 boxes i've tried, and fails on most of the Windows 7 boxes I've tried. I've tried this particular device on 5-6 machines, and only had 2 sucessful ones.

When it works it works fine, but it's not a reliable solution. I'm hoping someone with more knowledge will stumble on this review and point me to something better.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

using it on MacBook Air

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2017

Verified Purchase

I am using it on MacBook Air which runs OS X Yosemite (10.10). Every time after you plug it into MacBook Air you need to wait about a minute or more until it is shown as available device. The device name is incorrectly reported, the first 5 letters of the name are Ok, however subsequent letters are shown as random gibberish symbols (every time you plug it into MacBook Air, the random gibberish symbols are different). Despite this minor technical problem with the name, the recording of sounds is good.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

A. Little Bird

Worth it for the flexibility of working digital or XLR

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2017

Verified Purchase

Very easy to use and figure out. I paired it with the XLR Blue Spark and I'm happy with both! This is my first step into the world of XLR mics and I ultimately went with this route as many professional mics tend to be XLRs. The Icicle gives me the option if in the future I want more or different mics, then there's a wider pool to choose from as all my previous mics are digital only and so far I've been unimpressed with how they capture my voice (doesn't sound like me as I hear myself). This combo does the job!

Suggestions to Blue, that I would've liked to have seen, though these aren't dealbreakers with the product as is:
-I wish there were some line indicators of some sort around the ring of the gain knob and maybe a little blip on the knob itself to serve as a directional mark, so it's easier to reference how far the dial was turned if you want to repeat a setting for certain situations. I can manually add both if needed, but it wouldn't look as nice.

-Since the Spark has a metal body and a bit of heft to it, the Icicle with its plastic body, feels a bit cheap and lackluster in comparison, especially given the price.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

earlyadapter

Simple and effective

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2019

Verified Purchase

I'm using this with a condenser measuring mic, that needs 48v phantom power. A low-noise mic preamp was essential to getting sensible readings and sensitivity, and I'm pleased with the result. Far better than a previous preamp that injected huge amounts of mains noise into the signal. This preamp has a good 20-20KHz response - I can't say anything about the tonal quality, because I'm essentially trying to avoid any 'warmth' in its response: that's dealt with further down the recording chain.
As other reviewers have noted, the Blue Icicle preamp looks and feels rather plasticky (it is!), but the connectors are sound, the basic gain control works (I've got it turned right up to +40db) and it loads up easily in Windows10 through a powered USB port, and appears under the Sound control of Control Panel. That's a good place to test that it's working as it has a little recording sound level widget.
It comes with a 2m mini-USB-USB line: the mini-USB is somewhat dated (re micro-USB), but I think actually is a better fitting connector that doesn't work itself loose.
Very pleased with the end results: accurate measurements!

Rabs

Pretty good and does what it says on the tin

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 9, 2014

Verified Purchase

Pretty good and does what it says on the tin.. Its a bit plastic cheapy feeling but then at this price I guess you get what you pay for (shure make one that's £120 which im shure (;o) would last for ever... If this Icicle was better built and more solid feeling id have given it five stars.

The only issue I had was getting it to work with windows 7... What I found in the end was that you had to cancel the windows drive search (click on the info bubble when it says "installing driver click here for details) and it works a treat.. If you let windows find its own driver it wont work.. And if you have already installed it, go to Devices and Printers (with it plugged in), and right click on the USB audio device (it should show as Icicle) and uninstall the driver in the properties.

Then unplug it, plug it back in and cancel widows driver search.. and it should work.

6 people found this helpful

Nfrid

Does what it does & sounds great

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 26, 2011

Verified Purchase

First off, this was slightly more fiddly to install than the instructions would have you believe. Not hard once figured out but it could have been easier if the instructions didn't claim that the pc would do all the work for you (it didn't on both my pcs and some looking for drivers was needed).

After that this little thing does just what it says, gives you surprisingly high quality audio for not much money. Connected to a mid-range condenser mic needing phantom power, I couldn't fault it. It looks cool and works fine every time.

One thing to note - there's no headphone output and because of latency, I can't monitor back from the PC without delay. So in reality I can't monitor the live recording at all. But then this device doesn't claim to provide monitoring, so no complaints, but be aware if this is what you need.

Now if they did one with a direct headphone output, that'd get 5 stars.

3 people found this helpful

Robbie McCormick

A "great" item for those who want it for just a few days.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

Bought for use with my AT2020. Worked great for a just few days (Friday to Monday) then stopped working completely. Tested through multiple appropriate cables, usb ports and PCs, couldn't get it to work again. All the item did was sit on my desk before it stopped working. Other than that, the item felt fairly cheap from the start and the blue light which indicates it's plugged in is very bright. Wouldn't recommend.

2 people found this helpful

Rob K

Poor quality.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

Not what I'd expect from Blue. Quite poor quality, did the job for a few months (with a few connection issues at times), before it broke completely.

One person found this helpful