greetings earthlings today I'm back with a review of the brand new USB microphone from
rode the microphone we're looking at is the rode MT USB mini and if you are interested in this
mic it will set you back around 100 dollars like always I'll throw some links down below
and in the sake of full disclosure I do need to let you know that rode sent me this microphone
for the sake of doing this review but for this review I have the microphone connected directly
to my Mac my gain is set at around 25% I am recording at 24-bit 48 kilohertz and I will
not do any kind of post-processing to the audio but I may have to boost it in post so check the
doobly-doo to see what I did Lee did now let's talk about what comes in the box of course you
are going to get the microphone it comes with a previously installed amount the desktop stand a
5/8 to 3/8 inch microphone stand adapter a USB C to USB a cable and a QuickStart guide next
up as far as the build quality it feels pretty good I think it has a metal and nylon body and
the grille has quite a bit of give to it but it bounces right back without denting and the
amount that is attached to the microphone is made out of metal and it allows for 360 degree
rotation then on the front of the microphone first thing you'll find is two lights first one being a
zero latency monitoring indicator light to let you know if that is on or off and then you'll
find a USB connection light to let you know if it's receiving power and is successfully
connected to your computer then beneath that you'll find a volume dial which only controls
the 3.5 millimeter output on the rear of the microphone but it also doubles as a button to
turn on or off the zero latency monitoring then on the back of the mic you'll find a three-and-a-half
millimeter headphone output which does allow for zero latency monitoring as well as computer
playback and you can have both of these playing at the same time and then you'll find a USB C
port to connect this to your device then when we look at the mounting system you are able to
magnetically connect to the desktop stand but if you want to mount this to a boom arm you'll need
to pop out this little rubber bit and then you'll find five eighths inch threading or you can throw
in the five eighths to 3/8 inch adapter to put this on a boom arm next up as far as the specs
this microphone has a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of 20 Hertz to 20 kilohertz
a max SPL of 121 DBA a bit depth of 24-bit sample rate of 48 kilohertz and as far as
the headphone amp goes I was able to drive the HD 650 s although the volume was near 100% now
I am spinning around the road NT USB mini to 90 degrees to show you the off-axis rejection and
coloration will continue around the microphone to 180 degrees show you what it sounds like from
the rear continue around the microphone to the second 90 degree angle or 270 degrees here's how
it sounds and then we will rotate and end at the front of the microphone now I am right on top of
the microphone to demonstrate the proximity effect on this thing now I'm about three inches off of
the microphone with it 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 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 am typing on a keyboard with cherry MX blues to see how much of my voice versus how
much of the keyboard it picks up and for you leet gamers now I am typing on the sad W keys
this is how the microphone sounds in a well treated room and here's how the microphone
sounds in a completely untreated room now I have the row 2 NT usb on a boom arm and I am tapping
on the desk so you can hear how much of that it picks up when you have it attached to a boom arm
and then I will tap on the boom arm itself so you can hear how it rejects that kind of noise now
I have the NT USB mini on the provided desktop stand it is set directly in front of me maybe a
foot foot and a half away from my mouth and here is how it sounds I did have to increase my gain
to about 50% now I will go ahead and bump the desk to show you how it does it rejecting that
kind of noise with the provided desktop stand and now to demonstrate why you probably should use a
boom arm with this mic if you plan on gaming I am typing on a keyboard with the microphone on
the provided desktop stand and here is how much of the keyboard it picks up versus my voice next up I
want to do a very quick comparison between the NT USB mini and a bunch of other microphones around
the same price point to see how the audio of this microphone compares to all of its competitors will
start with me speaking 3 inches off of the road NT USB mini with my gains set at 25% to show you how
this sounds Before we jump to the first microphone now I'm about three inches off of the Samson q2u
which is typically a forty to sixty dollar USB and XLR dynamic microphone it's connected directly to
my Mac and my gain is set at around 50% and here is how the audio compares to the NT USB mini now
I am back on the road NT USB mini so you can hear how this microphone sounds Before we jump to this
next mic that we're comparing it to next up I'm three inches off of the blue Yeti Nano on the
cardioid polar pattern with my gain set at around 75% and here is how the audio compares back on the
road NT USB many three inches off of my mouth gain at 25% and here is how it sounds Before we jump to
the next microphone we're comparing it to now I am about three inches off of the audio technica
at2020 which is a $100 XLR condenser mic her phone I have this connected directly to the 18 i 22nd
Gen 48 volt phantom power on and to my gain is set just at around one o'clock and here is how
the audio compares to a $100 USB condenser the NT USB mini good we're back on the road NT USB
mini here is how it sounds Before we jump to this next microphone which we will start the sample of
right now I don't know why I said we it's only me here but here's that next microphone now I am
speaking into the $100 rode pata mic which is a dynamic XLR microphone I am 3 inches off of this
thing it's connected directly to the Focusrite 18 i 22nd gen my input gain is set just shy of
100 percent and here is how the audio compares hey I'm back on the road NT USB mini so you can
hear how this sounds when I'm 3 inches off of the microphone with my gain set at around 25%
let's jump to the next mic now I am 3 inches off of the blue Yeti in the cardioid mode the
gain on the microphone is set at 25% and the gain on the computer is set at around 75% and
here is how the audio compares to the road NT USB mini to make the comparisons a little bit
easier I am back on the road NT USB mini so you can hear how this sounds Before we jump to the
next microphone to compare it to that to that next up I am speaking into the Samson G track
Pro which is another multi-pattern USB condenser microphone I am set on the cardioid mode in the
mono mode and my gain is set at around 11 o'clock and this is connected directly to my Mac and here
is how the audio sounds when I'm 3 inches off of the mic okay back on the NT USB mini again so you
can hear how this microphone sounds 3 inches off of my mouth gain at 25 percent Before we jump to
this next microphone next up I am speaking into the big brother of the NT USB mini the
standard Road NT USB I am three inches off of the microphone with my input gain on my set at around
40% and here is how the audio compares and in case you're wondering I am NOT speaking into
the rear of it I have just rotated the pop filter around to the back what an absolute shocker we are
back on the road and to USB mini so you can hear how this microphone sounds Before we jump to the
next microphone how many of these are we going to do now I am speaking into the rode videomic
ntg running it over USB directly to my Mac I do have the 20 decibel pad engaged and my gain
is set at around 50% and this is how it sounds when I'm three inches off of this microphone I
think we're finally near the end of the comparison section but I am back on the anti USB mini again
so you can hear how this microphone sounds before this comparison this coming right now and lastly
I'm speaking into the rode nt1 three inches off of the microphone this is a $260 XLR condenser
microphone it's connected directly to the 18 i 22nd gen 48 volts turned on and my gain set
at around 11 o'clock and here is how it sounds and I didn't realize until now that I compared
the USB mini to mainly other rode microphones that was unintentional these are the mics that
people requested I compared it to on Twitter now I am going to throw the NT USB mini in the box of
doom and then we will measure the noise floor to see how noisy this microphones preamp really is
you
now the NT USB only has a single sample rate of 48 kilohertz and with
an i/o buffer size of 64 samples we have a round-trip latency of nine milliseconds
or four and 1/2 milliseconds output when we jump up to 128 samples we have 11 and
1/2 milliseconds round-trip or five point seven milliseconds output and when we jump
up to 256 samples we have 17 milliseconds round-trip or 8 and 1/2 milliseconds output
it's all about that wrapped I'll live basking in the Sun shape-shifting for fun mind-controlled the
general population from the Dark Side of the Moon humans are my food I will rule the world
um probably shouldn't have said any of that should I have feel like this is gonna be awkward this is
gonna be a problem sorry okay so at $100 I think this is a very interesting competitor
in the USB condenser microphone market and first up in terms of pros this microphone is USB class
compliant so you will be able to use it with Windows or Mac or even a tablet as long as you
can plug it into that device I'm also happy to see that they included zero latency monitoring
in this microphone the headphone amp was also capable of driving even the HD 650 s which are
very difficult to drive and I am so happy that they did not cram a bunch of different capsules
and polar patterns in this thing and they really focused on a single capsule and a single polar
pattern and focused on making that sound as good as they could but then in terms of cons
I do find the noise floor of this microphone to be a little bit higher than I would typically
want I also would have liked to have seen a mixed dial to mix between zero latency monitoring and
computer playback and lastly I would like to have seen a longer USB cable to make it easier to mic
up instruments and stuff that isn't directly at your desk and now what are my overall thoughts
of this microphone on the electric guitar I really wasn't that impressed because in the
higher frequencies it started to get a little bit trill and grading and just unpleasant to
listen to so for electric guitar it would not be my first choice and it's not something I would
reach for very often then on the acoustic guitar it offers a very mid forward sound with a good
amount of articulation without sounding brittle or harsh and I would be perfectly happy using
this microphone to record some acoustic guitar for a YouTube video or for some music demos
next up for singing I think that's my favorite application for this microphone it just offers
an incredibly smooth mid section and then in the treble and air frequencies there's this really
nice Sheen to it without sounding brittle and in the lower frequencies it is still there but it's
not overpowering and it doesn't sound too thin and lastly for spoken word the main thing about
this microphone is that it is very mid forward and it does tend to accentuate some of those
nasally frequencies so if you have a nasally voice this may not be your best bet and also if you are
just looking for that modern v-shaped sound with a lot of bass and a lot of treble and somewhat
of a recessed midsection this microphone is not going to offer it for you and to wrap up what
I recommend this microphone both yes and no the first thing I need to point out is that I think
you need to buy a boom arm with this microphone because the provided desktop stand simply puts
the microphone too far away from your mouth and it picks up far too much room tone and if
you're typing or gaming or if you're somebody who bumps the desk a lot the microphone will
pick up all of that if you're using the provided desktop stand and throwing it on a boom arm will
get you much better sound with that being said if your max budget is $100 and you are set on a
USB condenser microphone I think this sounds are really good and I like the fact that it offers
a different tonality compared to its competition like the blue Yeti and blue Yeti Nano and Samson G
track Pro this offers a very different much more mid forward sound so if that is your budget and
that's the type of microphone you're looking for and you like the mid forward sound then
100% I would recommend this mic but on the other hand if you are willing to spend between 100 to
200 dollars and go the XLR route I think that would ultimately be better for you because in
that price range there are some amazing sounding XLR microphones and with a USB audio interface
you have a lot more control over the sound and you would get better noise performance
and if that is going to wrap up this video but I want to hear from you I did so many comparisons
between different mics in this video let me know in the comments down below which microphone was
your favorite but other than that if you found this video fun interesting or colorful go ahead
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so much and until next time thank you so much for watching thank you so much for listening ok bye