The Dixon USB Condenser Microphone Recording Kit is by far one of the biggest small little bundle surprises for me this year. Why? Because after hours of searching for a decent desktop microphone for podcasting I have found one that isn’t made of plastic.
I got this one from Cash Crusaders. You know how it goes. You need a guitar cable and end up walking out with a recording microphone. I have been to several stores the last two months and most of them either stock overpriced USB microphones, or plastic ones. Sometimes you are lucky and they are overpriced and plastic. (I am looking at you Incredible Connection…)
Why a USB Condenser Microphone?
Well, because we don’t all have USB Audio interface sound cards. I do, but that is for creating a quick interface when recording guitars on my iMac.
With the new normal being attending meetings via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, most of the working force in the world rely on the built in microphone on their laptops when speaking. On desktop you need to rely on the built in microphone on your webcam, if it does have one. By default these are not the greatest quality when it comes to sound. In the last few months we have been flooded with desktop microphones in South Africa ranging from between R299 to R850. They do the job, but personally I hate the plastic casings. I like some thing heavy that feels like there was an effort made to make a proper product.
What I like about a USB Condenser Microphone is that you have much noise over the USB input port versus the traditional audio jack inputs we used to find in traditional desktop microphones.
Why this USB Condenser Microphone
It looked heavy. It was matt black with red bands and it looked professional. Then I picked it up and it was heavy.
It has great specs.
- It connects via USB which is ideal for every PC or laptop
- Sensitivity comes in at -36dB
- The pick up pattern is cardioid
- It responds to frequencies between 30 – 18 000Hz
- Sampling rate is 16 bit / 48KHz
It comes with a travel case which I love. Everything fits into the case in foam and it just looks more professional. Included with the microphone is a shock mount, pop filter & tabletop stand. If you need more flexibility you can spend an additional R500 and get a microphone boom arm. The supplied USB cable is 1.8 meters, if you go for the boom arm kit you get a 2.9 meter cable which is more than generous.
What does it sound like?
Bloody decent. I am actually impressed. I expected a tin, clanky sound. Cheap to be honest.
But not this little devil. It is rich, clear and warm. I spun up a demo in Garage Band, set the recording input to the Dixon microphone and did a quick recording. I sounded, normal. At the very best that is what we all want to sound like, ourselves.
Where this is a great option for conferences calls, I think it extends itself beyond just that and is a perfect microphone for bloggers, podcasters and home demo recordings. It fits in-between the space of crap plastic mics and overly expensive mics and at R1190 it is a great price for the built and sound quality. I am looking forward to experimenting more with it and will soon be posting a few tests done with the recording kit to give you a better idea of the sound quality.
Now I know that over the last couple of years the brand Dixon hasn’t really been at the forefront of quality products, but looking at the various products they currently supply at Cash Crusaders there is a clear indication that this is changing and that both brands are starting to change their business model around. I dare say in a few years we might not associate either of the brand with cheap nor pawn shop anymore.
