Hey, I'm Chris Wilmshurst, I hope you're doing well.
Today, we're taking a look
at a number of products that were sent to me by a brand called 512 Audio.
I'd never heard of them before, but it seems that the in-house
brand of Warm Audio and they want to target audiophiles,
streamers, singers, and podcasters at an affordable price.
Nine times out of ten going affordable usually goes against a brands and
there are huge sacrifices, whether it's materials, sound, quality, or longevity.
However, I think 512 have found the right blend between performance,
price, and quality.
We have the Limelight, which is a dynamic vocal microphone
designed for podcasting, broadcasting and streaming.
We also have the Skylight large diaphragm studio condenser microphone,
which is designed for vocals.
I was also sent the 512 BB-A microphone arm and the 512 pop filter.
Firstly, the packaging on all the microphones
and the pop filter looks great.
I love the purple and black.
The boom arm came in a plain brown box, which doesn't do it any justice.
Unboxing the Limelight we have a manual, a great faux leather
carry pouch, the microphone and this handy mount.
The microphone is incredibly light.
If I didn't know this was actually a microphone, I would think it was a toy.
The styling is great
and it has this toggle to cut the lows or keep it nice and flat.
The Skylight
is a similar experience, albeit a larger one.
There is this heavy duty shock mount
with a great included pop filter and then the beast itself.
The microphone.
This thing weighs
a ton in comparison to the Limelight, but the quality is absolutely there.
This thing will do some damage.
I won't show you
the unboxing of the boom arm as it was just the arm in a boring brown box.
However, I will say the quality is great.
It's stiff, and there's been no sagging for the week.
It's been up on my desk.
The table clamp has these nice rubber
handles on the clamp, which makes tightening up easy and painless.
If you've used the Rode PSA1,
you'll know that it's sharp, uncomfortable and tedious to tighten and loosen.
I'm not a huge fan of this tension clamp on the side as it means
you can't have it up against the wall.
And finally, the pop filter has a similar package design to the microphone.
The design is simple.
Like most budget pop filters, a flexible arm, a big pop shield,
and a clamp for your boom arm.
So how do the microphone sound?
Well, I'll be straight with you.
I love the sound of the Limelight,
and I think despite feeling a bit cheap, the sound it produces is lovely.
It's directional, cuts out a fair bit of background noise and looks damn good.
Let's run a few tests so you get an idea.
So this
is the first audio test of the 512 Limelight.
It's plugged into my Maono E2 interface.
How does this sound to you?
If you didn't know, an interface can affect the sound of a microphone.
A lot as this is a budget interface,
this could potentially be seen as a worst case scenario.
However, I think the E2 has some fairly decent preamps for the money.
And trust me, there are a lot worse out there.
This keyboard is marketed towards streamers
and what to all streamers seem to have these days clicky keyboards.
So that's where on a quick keyboard background test.
So what do you think?
I think the Limelight sounds great and it does a good job of canceling
background noise.
So let's see how the Skylight handles both these tests.
Right now we are using the 512 Skylight
and like the Limelight test, I have this plugged into the Maono E2.
And right off the bat, I can tell from previous tests that I find
this sound to be a bit muddy, which is shocking as I feel a microphone
that's targeted specifically for vocals would need to be crystal clear.
So let's do a background keyboard test once again.
How does that sound to you?
I will say it now.
I'm not as impressed with the Skylight as I am with the Limelight.
I think the build quality is way above the Limelight,
but the sound just doesn't seem to match it, which is a shame.
I feel like these two microphones are polar opposites
when it comes to that audio and build quality.
One has a better build and one has a better sound.
Now the pop filter does do its intended purpose to stop plosives,
but I'm not going to go run through another
Peter Piper pop test like I do in many videos, I'll just say it now.
It does what it's supposed to do.
What does all of this cost though?
The Limelight retails at $149.99.
The Skylight is $199.99
The boom arm is a competitive $79.99.
And if you do go for the optional pop filter, that's an additional $39.99,
which to me seems quite expensive.
So to conclude, I love the sound of the Limelight,
I think it's a great sounding microphone for the price and it looks great.
I just wish the build quality was a bit better,
but I'd assume the price would shoot up if that were the case.
The Skylight to me was a bit of a disappointment,
especially as it's more expensive, but the build quality is fantastic.
And it does look great.
So that's it for this video.
If you found this helpful, please let me know.
And if you haven't subscribed already, I'd greatly appreciate it.
So thank you for watching. And as always. Take care