- Should you buy a USB microphone
or an XLR microphone?
You can tell both types of microphones
come in a variety of shapes and sizes,
they have a ton of different pros and cons.
So we put this video together to help you decide
which is the best for you.
In this video we're using two identical microphones,
just slightly different variations.
On the USB side, we're using
the Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ microphone.
If you hear this microphone throughout this video,
you'll see an icon of a microphone up in the top corner.
And if you're listening
to the Audio-Technica AT2020 XLR version of the microphone,
you'll see a photo of an audio interface in the top corner
indicating that this microphone
is connected to the audio interface here
and that is being sent onto the computer for recording
and that's what you're listening to.
In this video if you are looking for pricing or specs
for anything that you see here,
we have all kinds of links down in the description below
to help find you current up-to-date pricing
from a variety of online retailers,
and as a disclaimer before we get into the nitty gritty
talking about each type of microphone,
just know that I am gonna be using
general broad definitions,
I'm using my experience to tell you
which is the best in either category,
but just like anything else in life
it's not totally black and white.
You can't simply say all USB microphones
are better or worse than XLR microphones,
and you can't simply say all XLR microphones
are better or worse than USB microphones.
It is nuanced, there are some gray areas,
but we're gonna break those gray areas down
and help give you better context
so you can make the best decision for you
as to whether or not you need a USB microphone
or an XLR microphone for your home studio setup.
Okay, so first of all, let's talk about a USB microphone.
A USB microphone is an all-in-one plug and play device.
Not only will this device have a microphone in it,
that'll give sound for your computer,
your computer will recognize it as a microphone,
but your computer will also recognize your microphone
as being a headphone jack.
Most of these microphones have a headphone jack on the back
so you can connect your headphones to it.
So this will do all the heavy lifting of audio
for your computer once you connect the single USB cable
or the bottom of your microphone
and connect it to your computer.
Now, all these microphones
come in different shapes and sizes
and have different features and benefits.
All of them generally are class compliant,
that means that your computer
will always recognize them as a microphone.
Some of these microphones do have their own software suite,
where you'll firmware updates or added features
or benefits or tools or anything like that
so you can improve the sound of your microphone,
but that being said,
you generally don't need to install those
and they will all be plug and play with your computer.
Now, even though this is extremely easy to use,
there's a whole bunch of things going on
inside of microphone.
There's the microphone itself that captures acoustic energy
and creates an electric signal.
There's a preamp that will boost that signal
so your computer can hear it at a louder volume.
Then that small boosted electric signal
needs to be converted to a digital signal from analog,
so there's an analog to digital conversion,
and then it gets sent over a USB cable for your computer.
Your computer will also send a digital signal back
for the headphone jack,
and your microphone here will convert
that to an analog signal for your headphones
that you can connect right into the back of the microphone.
So there's a lot going on here,
but it's all been simplified for you.
You don't have a lot of control over all those components,
it just kind of works,
which is really great for a lot of people.
You don't have to understand
each one of those concepts individually,
you can just connect this to your computer
and it'll work and it'll sound better
in online meetings and recordings.
So there are a lot of benefits of a USB microphone.
First and foremost, it is generally less expensive
than its XLR microphone counterpart.
By the time you add up everything
you need to make an XLR microphone work,
a USB microphone will be less expensive.
It's easier to use.
Like I said, you don't have to understand
how all those components work.
Generally, if you know how to connect a USB cable
from your microphone to your computer,
you're in business and you don't have to know
much more than that.
And lastly, it's extremely portable.
You don't have to worry about bringing
a whole bunch of different things to make it work,
you just throw your microphone in your backpack
and if you're traveling
or going back and forth from home and office,
you can easily bring this with you.
I know a lot of people that travel
with there's all the time and it works really well
because of it's small compact form factor.
Next, we have an XLR microphone.
A workflow with an XLR microphone
has all the same things that a USB microphone has,
but it's all broken out and separated
so you have more control over all the individual elements.
An XLR microphone only does the first step
that I described with the USB microphone.
It will capture acoustic energy
and create an electric signal,
that's all these microphones will do.
They will send that small electric signal
to an audio interface, to a audio mixer,
to a external recorder,
to a video camera,
to a whole bunch of different devices
that they can connect to,
and those other devices will be responsible for the preamp,
the analog to digital conversion if you need any,
it'll send it to powered speakers
if you're running a live sound system,
and those other devices will handle all the processing
of the sound from the microphone.
So you can look at an XLR microphone
and think that it is a lot more modular
and you get a lot more control,
but the counterpoint of that is obviously
that it is also a lot more complex
and you really need to kind of find the equipment
that will work for you.
Do you need an audio interface?
Do you need an audio mixer?
Are you gonna connect it directly
to an external recorder or a video camera?
You have a lot more decisions that you need to make,
and then you need to find the best product
in those categories to meet your needs
to make the microphone work.
So what are the benefits of an XLR microphone?
There's a whole pile of benefits
to going with the XLR route.
You can connect many microphones
to an audio interface or audio mixer.
You can connect multiple USB microphones to a computer too,
it's just more of a pain in the butt,
there's more issues, it's harder to do,
it's not as simple,
with an XLR microphone there's a lot of different devices
out on the market to optimize that
to give you the best control.
Also generally, you'll get better preamps
and better processing.
You'll have access to tools like EQ and compression
on these other devices to give you more control
for your XLR microphone.
You can also connect multiple outputs,
so if you do want studio monitors
at the same time as headphones,
some of these other tools will allow you to do that.
Plus generally you will get a better
analog to digital conversion as well,
so higher quality recording on your computer.
Okay, so let's run down some comparisons
between USB microphones and XLR microphones.
First up is cost, everybody cares about cost.
Generally speaking, a USB microphone will be less expensive
than an XLR microphone by the time you get all your cables
and audio interface or an audio mixer
and everything that you need to make the microphone work.
Next, let's talk about overall quality,
which one will give you the best quality possible.
Both of these microphones in front of me,
both microphones that you've been listening to
throughout this video,
have the exact same microphone capsule.
You have a good variety of quality options on either side.
But generally speaking,
you'll have access to better preamps
and better analog to digital conversion
if you go with an XLR microphone,
you get more control over these things,
and generally you do get access to better equipment
for better sound throughout the whole signal chain
if you go the XLR route.
Now, what about portability?
You simply cannot beat the portability of a USB microphone.
There's one microphone and one cable.
A simple workflow with an XLR microphone
would be microphone, cable, interface,
and then another USB cable.
There are oftentimes that you'll have an inline preamp
or other outboard gear that's required
to make the XLR microphone work properly,
so it can get quite complex,
it's not nearly as portable as a USB microphone.
If you're always traveling or flying
or going back and forth to work,
a USB microphone is clearly the way to go.
That being said, in terms of connectivity,
an XLR microphone is a much better platform.
If you know that you're gonna wanna connect
to live sound audio mixers,
an audio interface, a video camera,
an external recorder, all those things,
an XLR microphone is a much better platform.
You can connect multiple microphones to multiple devices
and do whatever you want.
A USB microphone is not nearly as flexible.
Generally, you will be connecting one USB microphone
to a computer and then you're maxed out.
You can't use them for live sound.
You can use multiple USB microphones
at the same time on a computer,
but there are a lot of workarounds and hoops
that you need to jump through to make that work properly,
so generally it's not a good idea.
If you're connecting multiple devices
or you want multiple options,
or if you have a modular setup,
an XLR microphone is a much better way to go.
Okay, now let's break down some real world use cases
and I'll give them my recommendation
as to which one of these platforms I recommend for you.
For video conferencing,
I think it is hard to beat a USB microphone.
If you're just wanting to sound better in online meetings,
on Microsoft Teams or Zoom or anything like that,
a USB microphone is a great solution.
It's less cluttered,
it's less technical than an XLR microphone,
it's plug and play,
you can use it with your laptop,
whether you're at home or at work or traveling
or whatever you're doing,
I think a USB microphone as a general rule
is the best option for video conferencing.
If you're into live streaming all the time,
this one can go both ways.
If you're just getting started,
I recommend getting a USB microphone
because honestly a lot of live streams
will go hard for a month or two and then they fizzle out,
and a USB microphone is a less expensive way
to find out if live streaming is important to you,
or you can justify a bigger budget
for something like an XLR microphone system
and all the processing that's required for it.
And USB microphone is simple,
it'll let you focus on your live stream,
you won't get bogged down in technical details
trying to make your microphone work properly,
it'll just get your project started,
so you can see if it's something
that you wanna continue with.
That being said, if you are a gearhead
and you know that you're gonna wanna tinker and experiment
and try a whole bunch of different things,
if you're gonna be wanting to upgrade various components
and you really like learning about electrical stuff,
then by all means go with an XLR microphone,
because it's a much better platform for that.
If you know that you're gonna be experimenting
with microphones and interfaces and mixers,
and you want the best sound possible,
then you can go with an XLR microphone.
In terms of podcasting,
there's two different recommendations that I have
because there are two different types of podcasts.
If you're a solo podcast or you're traveling
or doing a lot on the road type stuff,
a USB microphone is a great, easy to use solution.
That being said, generally most podcasts
will have multiple people and multiple guests,
and XLR microphones are much more scalable
for whatever size your podcast may grow to be,
so for that reason I recommend going with an XLR microphone
for the majority of podcasts unless you're a solo podcast,
because it will be much more flexible and expandable
and will ultimately give you more control
over the audio of your podcast.
For music production,
there's really no discussion about this,
an XLR microphone is the way to go.
You're gonna be mixing and matching a lot more things
and experimenting with a lot more pieces of equipment.
A single microphone will not cut it
even for a singer songwriter
who's just doing acoustic guitar and vocal,
this just won't give you the control
that you need for those types of productions.
So if you're doing music production at all,
I would go with the XLR microphone,
it's a much better platform for those types of things.
And last but not least, of course, if you're in live sound,
you need to go with an XLR microphone.
Everything in live sound, in live events,
is optimized around an XLR platform.
We used to run a production company
and out of our 10,000 events that we ran,
I think I saw one person one time bring a USB microphone
and we just politely told him no.
So an XLR microphone is a much better way to go,
it will allow you to connect to a lot more things,
especially in a live environment,
it's a no brainer that you will need an XLR microphone
for a live environment.
If you are looking for recommendations
for anything that you've seen in this video
or what we recommend for podcasting or live streaming,
we have all kinds of links down in the description below.
If you have any questions about anything
that you've seen here,
please leave a comment down in the comment section below.
And if you wanna see more videos like this in the future,
please like and subscribe.
Thank you for watching.
(upbeat music)