greetings earthlings today I'm back with a review of another one of those vintage microphone clone
knockoff things air quote air quote air quote the microphone we're looking at is the tech zone
audio product stellar x2 vintage which uses ak-47 style capsule so it's going for a u47 style sound
if you are interested in this microphone it will set you back around two hundred and fifty dollars
like always I'll throw some links down below and for this review I have the microphone connected
directly to the Focusrite 18 i 22nd gen my input gain is set just at around one o'clock and i will
not do any kind of post-processing but i may boost it and post so check the doobly-doo to
see what I did Lee did and now let's talk about what comes in the box first off everything comes
in this hardshell flight case you'll of course get the microphone a shock mount which does have
a 5/8 to 3/8 inch microphone stand adapter a foam windscreen a leather pouch and some documentation
then as far as the build quality the microphone feels pretty well put together it has an all-metal
body as well as a metal mesh grille which has a tiny bit of give to it it also has some pretty
substantial weight to it or at least a lot more than you would expect in this form factor as you
move around the microphone there are no switches or dials and on the bottom you'll find the XLR
port and if you're interested here is what the PCB looks like in case that's something you want
to know about and maybe compare it to an actual u47 PCB I don't know then as far as the specs the
microphone has a single cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of 20 Hertz to 18 kilohertz a
sensitivity of around negative 31 DB a self-noise of 10 DBA a max SPL of 130 DB an impedance of 120
ohms and a phantom power requirement of plus 48 volts right now I am spinning around the stellar
x2 vintage to 90 degrees to show you the off-axis rejection and coloration we will continue around
the microphone to 180 degrees here's what it sounds like from the rear continuing around
the microphone to 270 or the second 90 degree angle and then we will rotate and end at the
front of the microphone now let's go ahead and test the plosive rejection of this thing please
bring Pizza pronto please bring Pizza pronto please bring Pizza pronto now I want to see how
the provided foam windscreen affects the tone of the microphone so right now I am 6 inches
off of the x2 vintage without the foam windscreen installed and here is how the audio sounds and now
I have installed the provided foam windscreen and here is how the audio compares to the audio from
the microphone without the foam windscreen now I am right on top of the microphone to show you
the proximity effect on this thing 3 inches off of the microphone with a pointed at the corner of my
mouth and here is how it sounds 1 foot away from the microphone 2 feet away from the microphone
microphone now I am typing on a keyboard with cherry MX blue to see how much of my voice versus
how much of the keyboard it picks up and for you elite gamers now I am typing on the sad W keys
here's how the microphone sounds in a well treated room and here is what the microphone
sounds like in a completely untreated room now I want to go ahead and do a very quick comparison
between the stellar x2 vintage and a bunch of other microphones so you can see and hear how
it compares to those and first up I have the stellar x2 connected to the 18 I 20 second
gen with the gain set at around 1 o'clock it is about 6 inches off of my microphone and here is
how the microphone now I am on the super budget knee were NW 706 inches off of my mouth with
my gain on the 18 I 20 at the exact same level and here is how the audio compares to make the
comparison easier I am back on the stellar x2 vintage 6 inches off of the microphone with a
gain at one o'clock here's how it sounds next I am on the audio technica at2020 6 inches off of
my mouth with the gain set at 1 o'clock and here is how the audio compares make sure to check the
lower third to see how much I boost it because I may have to boost each of these microphones
a little bit differently again we are back on the stellar x2 vintage so you can hear how this
sounds before we jump to the next microphone next we are on the road and t1 six inches off
of my mouth gain at one o'clock on the 18 I 20 and here is how the microphone compares to the
Tech's own audio product stellar x2 vintage catchy name guys back to that other microphone I don't
mind saying the same thing over and over again so we are back on the stellar x2 vintage Before
we jump to whatever the next 2 microphone is now I am on the techs own audio product stellar x2
non-vintage version I am 6 inches off of the mic with my gain at one o'clock and here is how the
sound compares to that of the stellar x2 vintage version goodie goodie goodie I am so happy to be
back on the stellar x2 vintage so you can hear how this sounds before whatever's next comes
right now next I am on the Noi Minh TLM 102 which is a $700 microphone I'm six inches off of this
mic with the gain set at one o'clock and here is how the audio compares compared to the stellar x2
vintage make sure to check the lower third to see how much I boosted it surprise surprise we
are back on these stellar x2 6 inches off of my mouth connected to the 89 20 second gen with the
gain at around 1 o'clock if you had forgotten and here is how it sounds next I am on the 11
or $1,300 gnomon TLM 103 6 inches off of the mic gainsaid at one o'clock and here is how the audio
compares from a very expensive industry standard microphone to the new stellar x2 vintage I wonder
what microphone I am speaking into could it possibly be the stellar x2 so you can hear
what it sounds like Before we jump to the next mic and because over here on the podcast enchant
we're crazy boys I am 6 inches off of the $3,200 no menu 87a i gain set at 1 o'clock check the
lower third to see how much I boosted it and here is how the audio compares to a $250 you 47 clone
I've got another mic I've got a test some time won't anybody send some help this I am stuck in
my person or or maybe not I mean I've got horror movies and pizza and popcorn and microphones and
you right okay is it a you 47 I don't know I don't have a you 47 to compare it to so I can't say with
any amount of certainty but my estimation would be probably not but as a standalone microphone I
did rather enjoy it and first up in terms of pros although this microphone is very mid forward at
this price point I found it to be surprisingly smooth is it the smoothest microphone of all
time no but it's much smoother than you would expect it to be I also found these sibilants on
this microphone to be very under control I have heard much worse performance in terms of plosive
rejection and it comes with a really nice flight storage case and then in terms of cons on certain
sound sources I did hear the lower frequencies of this microphone start to get a little bit out of
hand and to get nitpicky the off-axis and rear coloration on this microphone were not the most
pleasing so if you're in a room with a lot of reflections where you want to capture those you
will need to take that into consideration so what are my overall thoughts of this microphone on the
electric guitar I did find it usable but on that instrument there was a lot of low-end information
and that led to its sounding muddy and boomy and just kind of gross so I played around with it in
logic and I found that a high pass around 90 to 100 Hertz as well as a cut around 200 Hertz really
cleaned that up a lot and then it gives you a very mid forward and aggressive and biting tone for the
guitar then on the acoustic guitar it definitely is not my favorite sounding microphone for that
instrument because I personally prefer to have a little bit more air to the sound but all around
it is still a pretty usable microphone for the acoustic next up for singing that was actually
my favorite application for this microphone it does have a nice amount of detail to it without
sounding top-heavy and it's also got a very mid forward and smooth and punchy sound to it which
I personally really like on vocals and lastly for spoken word again this is a very mid forward
microphone which does tend to accentuate a little bit more of those nasally tones in your voice so
if you're looking for a super modern v-shaped sound this isn't going to offer that but it does
still have a good amount of detail and clarity to it making it easy to understand what is being set
into it and in a well treated studio I would be perfectly happy using this unspoken word so what
I recommend to these stellar x2 vintage yes but first off is it a u47 I don't know because I don't
have one to compare it against but my guess would be probably not because this is a 250
dollar microphone and the u47 is a ten thousand to twenty thousand dollar microphone I highly
doubt that they will be able to get an accurate representation of a u47 in people's hands for
two hundred and fifty dollars but as a standalone microphone without all of that marketing hype and
to those comparisons to the classics that costs ten twenty thirty thousand dollars I think it
offers a very nice and usable tone that I prefer quite a bit more than the non vintage version of
the stellar x2 so if you're looking for a more mid forward and punchy sounding microphone with some
tame rolled off higher air frequencies I think at two hundred and fifty dollars this is a very nice
option all right that's gonna wrap up for today so if you found this video fun interesting or
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