Getting high quality audio from a microphone doesn’t need to cost a lot, and that’s the case with the Samson Meteor Mic, priced at just $69.99 from Best Buy and Amazon.
Video Review
While that price might seem like a lot to the average person, it’s actually fairly competitive, especially given the microphone’s build quality, simplicity and audio quality. You can pick the Meteor Mic up in a chrome finish, or a “titanium black” model, which I think looks very nice. Because the chrome model is a very glossy finish, it can pick up fingerprints and smudges extremely easy, whereas the titanium black model won’t.
The Meteor Mic itself is a fairly straightforward USB condenser microphone. It uses a cardioid pickup pattern, which pulls in the majority of audio from the front of the microphone. Some microphone use that, or a combination cardioid and omnidirectional pickup, the latter of which picks up audio from all directions. Cardioid is generally better and recommended for voice recordings, musical instruments and more.
Some specs include a driverless mini-USB connection (also compatible with Apple’s camera connection kits), 16-bit (44.1/46kHz) recording resolution, frequency response of between 20Hz and 20kHz, a microphone stand cutout (at the bottom), and a 3.5mm headphone jack output for no-delay monitoring.
For more features, specifications and photos, visit the product page on Samson’s website.
Overall, the design mimics what you’d find from vintage-style microphones, basically combining older designs with newer technology. There are three legs with stiff movement, so you don’t have to worry about them folding up when you don’t want them to. There are also rubber feet at the bottom of each leg to prevent the microphone from moving around while on a surface. The front features a knob that adjusts the volume for no-delay monitoring with a button in the middle to mute the microphone altogether. Above all of that is an LED indicator, which lights up blue, indicating it has power. The louder the input audio, the more likely it is you’ll see it turn purple, and your audio will start clipping a bit. If the audio is too loud, it’ll turn solid red. A demo of this as well as an audio sample can be found in my review video above.
I’ve always found it a bit difficult to describe audio, so the best way to understand the audio quality of this particular microphone is to listen to the audio sample within my review video above. Simply put: Audio is loud, clear, and has a good low-range response, so it can pickup the bass in your voice fairly well, as opposed to the Samson GoMic that I’ve been using for over 3 years.
All told, the Meteor Mic is an excellent choice for those hoping to start recording audio at high quality using a microphone that’s built well, sounds good, and is priced right.
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