greetings earthlings and welcome back to podcastage today i'm back
with another edition of the versus series
the microphones we're comparing today are the universal audio sd1 against the music villa mv3
which are two dynamic microphones that come out of the same factory and use a lot of the same
components so let's talk about the build quality very quickly and then we will jump into the tests
and the comparisons as far as the build quality they are nearly identical they both have an all
metal body they both use the same yoke mount although the nuts on the mounts are different
the mv3 is plastic the sd1s nuts are going to be metal on the rear of the mic everything is
identical xlr port high pass filter presence boost the foam on the mv3 comes off extremely easy so it
may fall off inadvertently while the foam on the sd-1 you really need to want to take it off and
get your nail in there to pry that off once we remove the foam the grilles are quite different
the mv3 is a very thin mesh while the sd-1 is much more durable and similar to that of the sm7b
and then for good measure here are some close-ups of the capsules to my eyes they look identical and
if we look at the numbers on the side of both capsules they do appear to be the same so i'm
going to say both these mics use the same capsule and now let's jump to the audio comparisons
all right we're going to start with something that i haven't done before and that is a blind
microphone comparison currently you are hearing microphone a three inches off gain at 100 percent
and now you are hearing microphone b again i am three inches off my gain is at 100 percent the eq
switches on both microphones are set to neutral again here is microphone a so you can hear how
this sounds to see if you like this better and here is microphone b so you can hear how this
sounds in the neutral mode again and determine if you like this one better and again because third
time's a charm here is microphone a one more time so you can get a really good feel for it and here
is how this mic sounds and here is microphone b one more time so you can get a really good
feel for it before we do the massive reveal which will be done in three two one microphone a was the
music villa mv3 and microphone b was the universal audio sd1 which one did you like better let me
know in the comments down below and let's move on with the video now now let's talk a little bit
more about the microphones first up we have the universal audio sd1 this costs around 300. it has
a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of 50 hertz to 16 kilohertz a sensitivity of around
negative 58 db and an impedance of 200 ohms then we have the music villa mv3 which goes for 175
dollars the specs look very similar it also has a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of 50
hertz to 16 kilohertz a sensitivity of around negative 58 db and an impedance of 200 ohms
now i am spinning around the uas d1 to 90 degrees so you can hear the off axis rejection
and coloration continuing around the microphone to 180 degrees here what it sounds like from the rear
then we will rotate around to the second 90 degree angle and then we will rotate and end at the front
of the microphone and now we have the mv3 moving around to 90 degrees so you can hear
the off axis rejection and coloration continuing around the microphone to 180 degrees here you go
continuing around to the second 90 degree angle there we go and then rotating and ending at the
front of the microphone now i am speaking on the universal audio sd1 and typing on a keyboard
with gatoron blue switches to see how much of my voice versus how much of the keyboard it picks up
and now i am typing on the music villa mv3 while typing on a keyboard with the exact same switches
to see how much of my voice versus how much of the keyboard it picks up
now i'm right on top of the ua sd1 and here's how it's sounding and now i am right on top of the mv3
so you can hear the proximity effect on this thing and here's how it sounds about one foot away from
the universal audio sd1 and one foot away from the music villa mv3 about two feet away from
the sd1 two feet away from the music villa mv3 and four feet away from the universal audio sd1
and four feet away from the music villa mv3 and here's how it sounds now i'm going to engage the
switches on both microphones so that we can hear how they sound first we'll start on the
universal audio sd1 in neutral mode and here's how it sounds now i am on the music villa mv3 with the
eq settings in neutral and here's how it compares to the sd1 in the same eq setting now i've turned
on the presence boost on the sd1 and here's how it sounds now i've turned on the presence
boost on the mv3 and here's how this microphone is sounding now i've switched on the high pass filter
on the sd1 with the presence boost disengaged and here's how it's sounding now i have turned off the
presence boost and turned on the high pass filter on the mv3 and here is how this is comparing
to the universal audio sd1 and the same eq setting and lastly this is the sd1 with the
presence boost as well as the high pass filter engaged and here's how it's sounding now we have
the mv3 and probably my least favorite setting of every single microphone inbuilt presence boost and
inbuilt high pass filter engaged and here is how this sounds that is the quick test and comparison
of the eq switches on both microphones i also want to see if there's a difference in handling noise
so i'll tap on each of the microphones and handle them to see if there is in fact a difference
do
are these mics at all the same
or do they differ at all do they differ at all
are these mics at all the same
or do they differ at all do they differ at all
i can tell you just by listening to them briefly while recording yes they are different sounding
they may have similar components but they do not sound the same they are a different sounding
but let's go to the conclusion and the winner of this versus series drum roll please is the
universal audio sd1 now although the microphones the sd1 and the mv3 do use the same components
the sound quality that i hear is significantly different so those components appear to be
implemented and finished very differently now let's dive a little bit deeper on my opinions
on the electric guitar i think the universal audio one out that's because of the added top
end on this microphone compared to the mv3 the mv3 is workable it's just a bit dull and dead sounding
the ua adds a lot more top bend and it gives me a bit more of that aggressive sound which
is something that i like on the electric for more punk metal or overdriven sounds on the acoustic
guitar i don't think there was any competition the universal audio won out again the mv3 just
sounded dead and dull and boring and you can see how easily that just flies off i just bumped it
and the foam just went flying but it sounded dull and dead and uninteresting and boring the sd1 on
the other hand has a lot more extension and a lot more focus in the treble and air especially for a
dynamic so it makes the acoustic much more lively much more exciting and much more interesting so
the sd1 was the pick no competition next up for singing again i preferred the sd1 over the mv3
yes the mv3 can absolutely work if you want that darker sound but out of these two microphones i
just preferred the brighter more articulate more modern sound of the sd1 and finally for spoken
word i think that for this application it is much more of a toss-up i would personally be okay with
either of these microphones because i do also really like darker microphones for spoken word
but out of these two microphones again i do think that i personally prefer the sd1 because it does
give you a little bit more articulation and a little bit more clarity compared to the mv3
there you have it that is my comparison of two microphones that come out of the same factory
and seemingly use the same components as soon as i got pushed back as soon as i got those comments
i bought every single microphone that i could i got the music villa mv3 the advanced audio dm7 on
the way and then the towman bc 500 but that won't ship for maybe two and a half months so once i get
all of them i'll do a full comparison as well but i had to do it i had to compare him to c
if it was just a plane re-badge if they took this microphone and slapped their logo on it
and i guess that is kind of the case because the universal audio is using the same capsule
same body same yoke as a microphone that is 125 dollars cheaper but if i didn't know that these
microphones came out of the same factory and use the same components based on the sound alone
i would not guess that they are the same microphone so they have done something different
they've implemented the components differently to get a different sound and in my opinion make a
slightly better sounding microphone than the music villa mv3 is it worth the additional 125 dollars
i can't tell you that that's for you to decide if you think that additional sound quality is going
to be worth the additional price but to beat a dead horse out of these two microphones i did
prefer the universal audio there you go that was my first versus series and maybe one and a half
years long time coming let me know in the comments down below what two microphones you want to see in
a head-to-head match up and if you see a matchup that you like go ahead and give it a thumbs up
so i know people want to see that and maybe i'll do one in the near future because i really enjoy
doing this instead of just doing another review this is much more fun for me i don't know why i
don't do these more i'm stupid i guess it just doesn't make any sense but that's all that i've
got for you today so if you found this video fun interesting or helpful go ahead and give
me a thumbs up hated it big old thumbs down these people over here are amazing they are wonderful
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join button or patreon.com podcastage i'll talk to you in a week or earlier i don't know bye-bye