greetings earthlings i got a little bit bored doing all of these reviews and figured
let's compare two of the most popular voice-over microphones see what the differences are and see
which one i prefer so i'm back with another edition of the versus series
the microphones we're comparing which you can tell from the title are the neumann tlm 103
and the neumann u87ai before we do any of the tests let's talk about the build quality both of
the microphones feel absolutely outstanding they both have a nice metal body as well as a metal
mesh grille the grilles do have a little bit of give to them so you will need to be careful there
both of them have the xlr ports on the bottom of them as you can tell the u87 is about twice
as long as the tlm-103 on the u87 you have a polar pattern selection switch on the front
a high pass filter and a pad switch on the rear the tlm-103 on the other hand has no switches
or dials on it the capsules and the microphones are different but the capsule in the tlm-103 was
inspired by the capsule in the u87 and u67 but it is different also the tlm-103 is transformerless
while the u87 does have a transformer in it and if it matters to you both of the microphones
are made in germany all right now let's go ahead and start listening and testing the microphones
okay i like doing it so much last time we're going to start with a blind test currently i
am on microphone a six inches away and here is how this mic is sounding and now i am on microphone b
again i am six inches away and here is how this sounds back on microphone a and because
both of these microphones are higher end i'm running both of them into the universal audio x8
i have level matched them as close as i can and here is how microphone a sounds again
back on microphone b and the gain for this is set at 30 db while the gain for microphone
a is set at 32 db so very close in sensitivity and i am going to do the big reveal in three two one
microphone a is the neumann tlm-103 gain set at 32 db and microphone b is the neumann u87ai gain set
at 30 db there you go which one did you like did you guess them right let me know in the comments
let's move on with the regularly scheduled video we're going to start with the neumann
tlm-102 this goes for about 1200 now it has a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of
20 hertz to 20 kilohertz a sensitivity of around negative 32.5 db a self noise of only 7 dba a max
spl of 138 db and an impedance of only 50 ohms now we are on the neumann u87ai the price on this
ranges from 3 300 up to 3 700. it has a cardioid omnidirectional and figure 8 polar pattern
a frequency response of 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz a sensitivity of between negative 31 and negative 34
db a self noise of between 12 and 15 dba a max spl of 127 db and an impedance of 200 ohms now
i am spinning around the tlm-103 to 90 degrees so you can hear the off-axis rejection and coloration
continuing around the microphone to 180 degrees here's the rear of the mic continuing to the
second 90 degree angle here we are and then rotating and ending at the front of the microphone
and now i'm spinning around the u87 to 90 degrees so you can hear the same thing on this microphone
continuing around to 180 degrees here's the rear of this mic continuing around to the second 90
degree angle here we are and then rotating and ending at the front of the u87ai on the cardioid
polar pattern had to turn to say polar pattern now i am typing on a keyboard with gateron blue
switches to see how much of my voice versus how much of the keyboard the tlm 103 picks up
and again i'm typing on a keyboard with gateron blue switches to see how much of my voice
versus how much of the clicky keyboard the u87 ai picks up on the cardioid polar pattern
and for the gaming folk i am typing on the sad w and space bar keys on the tlm-103
and for the gamers i am typing on the sad w and spacebar keys with the u87ai
now i am right on top of the tlm-103 to see what kind of proximity effect this thing has
and now i'm right on top of the u87 ai so we can hear what kind of proximity effect
this microphone offers compared to the tlm-103 now i'm six inches away from the tlm-103 six
inches away from the u87ai about one foot away from the 103 and one foot away from the u87ai
two feet away from the neumann tlm 103 and two feet away from the u-87 ai
and finally about four feet away from the tlm-103 and about four feet away from the u87ai
if i had a million mics to go we could find out which is bad
but i know you'll always disagree cause it's always my opinion
that i share yeah that's why i include all of these recording samples my life would be a lot
easier if i didn't do that but i want you to be able to hear what i'm talking about
and say yeah i agree with you or no you're an idiot shut up stop talking i disagree with you
that's why i include all of these samples let's go to the conclusion all right i thought this
was going to be really cut and dry but i found it quite difficult to select a winner but if i
had to pick one of these microphones as the winner of this versus series it does have to be the u87ai
but let's go ahead and be frank if you're using either of these microphones you're the real winner
in this versa series because you're using a great microphone now before i share more of my thoughts
i do want to point out that the tlm-103 does have some really impressive specs it beats out the u87
in terms of max spl so if you're recording really loud sound sources the tlm-103 may be the right
pick and also it has a better self noise at only 7 dba so if you need really clean recordings the
tlm-103 will also probably be the better option there but if you are looking for a general purpose
studio microphone i think that the multiple polar patterns and the high pass filter make the u87
a bit more appealing because it makes it quite a bit more versatile but now let's discuss the
different applications that i tried both of these microphones on on the electric guitar i preferred
the tlm-103 because i like the less mid-forward sound it does have a little bit more of a sizzly
top and which i'm not the biggest fan of i like this softer and smoother top end of the u87
but overall i did prefer the tlm-103 sound then on the acoustic guitar it's the exact same story
i preferred the 103 over the 87 mainly because of the top end the tlm-103 i hear it being quite
a bit brighter and also sounding a little bit faster and that makes the acoustic guitar sound
a little bit more lively and exciting and i just enjoyed that a bit more than the smoother more mid
forward sound of the 87 on the acoustic then for singing i would pick the u87 every day of the week
that's because i prefer the smoother character of this microphone it's not as bright it's not as
harsh sounding as the tlm-103 a lot of people will like the brighter more modern sound of the tlm-103
sounds quite a bit faster but i like the smoother more vintage more mid forward sound of the u87 for
singing and finally for spoken a word i do think it's a toss-up between these two microphones
i do want to say that neither of these microphones are going to be doing your voice any favors if you
have a bad voice if you have a bad sound source it is going to be captured by these microphones
do not look at either of these mics thinking oh i have a bad voice these mics will make
me sound amazing it will just accentuate how bad your voice is i'm looking at me me
yeah it captures exactly what you put in front of it both of these do but with that being said if
you do want that more modern brighter less mid forward sound i would say go with the tlm-103
but if you want a smoother sound if you want a slightly more mid-forward sound
then i would recommend the u87 but personally i prefer the u87 over the tlm 103 because i do
have a slightly harsher voice and the smoothing that the u87 does is a little bit more pleasing
in my opinion all right those are my thoughts on the neumann tlm 103 versus the neumann u87ai
what do you think did you like the 103 or the u87 ai better if you like the u87 ai better do you
think you're getting two thousand dollars better performance over the tlm 103 or do you think this
is a perfect example of the law of diminishing returns let me know in the comments down below
if you found this video fun interesting or helpful go ahead and give me a thumbs up hated it big old
thumbs down i love these people they are amazing that's all i've got i'll talk to you later bye