audio technica ATR2500x-USB condenser recording microphone review

 

When you decide to create sound content in any form, in terms of equipment, you need a good microphone so that your voice will be pleasant to your listener or listeners. A poor microphone quality will certainly ruin your chances of getting more attention without mercy. This has led to a mushrooming of products targeting the streaming/podcast user base.

In the field of professional audio equipment in China, Audio-Technica has always been known for its specificity and product richness, covering not only professional products such as large scale sound control integrated systems and portable wireless conferencing systems, but also a more extensive civilian product line. The ATR2500X-USB is a new directional condenser microphone positioned in the mid-range price range. With this product, we can also get a glimpse of the importance Audio-Technica places on its mid-range product line.

The ATR2500x-USB is an upgraded version of its predecessor, the ATR2500-USB, and is priced at $149 on the website, which translates to a $1000 product. However, the ATR2500-USB has not yet been announced on the official website, which shows that Audio-Technica has enough confidence in the product itself. From the official information given, the upgrades are mainly reflected in the appearance, interface and sampling rate. The old ATR2500-USB was available in silver and black, while the new model is currently only available in black, although a limited color for this product can’t be ruled out in the future. The mold of the housing has changed slightly and the new ATR2500x-USB looks more modern thanks to the new volume buttons and LED lights. In terms of sound parameters, the upgraded ATR2500x-USB sampling frequency has been increased from 44.1kHz/48kHz to four sampling rates of 44.1kHz/48kHz/96kHz/192kHz, and the bit rate has been increased from 16 to 24 bits, so it has more headroom, as Audio-Technica has done in recent iterations of the product. Similar enhancements have been made in recent iterations of the product. For the average consumer, the most intuitive and important upgrade is that the new ATR2500x-USB ditches the original USB (B) type, which is the interface we usually refer to as the printer cable, and directly adopts the Type-C interface output. I have to say, this upgrade is very, very timely and necessary, after all, the broadest audience for this product should be those who don’t want to worry about the various interfaces and Connecting cable troubles of ordinary consumers.

As a mid-range desktop microphone mainstay, it not only offers ease of use to meet today’s needs, but also improves the sound quality of the radio compared to entry-level products. It’s clearly aimed at home users, especially those who don’t want to complicate their work and life with audio interfaces and XLR cables, but still want a great-sounding microphone. Compared to the previous product we reviewed, the ART2100X-USB, the more expensive ATR2500x-USB is a more professional-looking entry-level product that cuts out the traditional XLR connector and keeps only the Type-C connector, allowing it to be used on your PC or MAC without any additional drivers or software. With the bi-directional Type-C cable included in the product, you can connect to your mobile device more easily, with a direct connection on most Android phones, while on the iPhone you’ll need to purchase a separate adapter.

When we open the package, we can see the body of the microphone, the triangular stand, the conversion head of the folding stand and two connection cables. They are Type C to USB and Type C to Type C to correspond to different usage scenarios. Audio-Technica’s included tripod stand has always been my personal favorite accessory, and it folds up very small and convenient for carrying around.

The body of the microphone has an excellent textural performance. Its black metal body gives it a very rugged and professional look. Behind the metal mesh is a large condenser pickup capsule. The built-in blue LED can be very nice and useful because it helps you easily find the pickup side of the microphone even in dim lighting situations. Since this microphone is cardioid radio, you have to point this side towards your mouth. Underneath are two volume buttons and a 3.5 mm headphone output. The headphone output is used as a monitor for the microphone. This means that as soon as you plug in your headphones, you can hear everything the pickup capsule picks up in real time and with almost no perceptible delay. If you choose to use a microphone as your default playback device, this 3.5mm port will also output any sound from your computer, and you can then use the previously mentioned buttons to adjust the volume. But unfortunately, the microphone monitor volume is not adjustable.

The Audio-Technica ATR2500x-USB microphone is equipped with a condenser pickup capsule with a 120° cardioid pickup pattern. With a response rate of 330 ~ 15,000 Hz, it can record audio at up to 24-bit/192 kHz resolution. If you often use condenser microphones, then you should know that condenser microphones can produce good sound and excellent dynamics, but are very sensitive. So when you are in a not so quiet occasion, condenser microphone may not be a very ideal choice. But the ATR2500x-USB has a cardioid pickup pattern, which means the mic is able to relatively ignore sound coming from its sides or behind the pickup capsule. But it also makes the ATR2500x-USB hardly ideal for recording multi-instrumental music or interviews, as it doesn’t offer any other more suitable polar directional radio mode. Suffice it to say, this is a home streaming microphone aimed entirely at users considering a single person.

Visits: 0

Exit mobile version