greetings earthlings today I'm back with another edition of the vs. series so today we're going
to be comparing these two microphones the rode nt1 and the nt1-a in order to determine which
one is the best and which one is right for you now for all of these tests I will be connect
to direct to the to I to second gen with 48 volts on and my gain set at about 11 o'clock I won't do
any post-processing but I will boost each of the microphones separately so check the doobly-doo to
see how much I boosted them but first let's talk about the build quality both of the microphones
have an all-metal construction with nearly in identical body however the NT one feels
significantly heavier and that is really the only difference between the two microphones now let's
go ahead and jump right into the tests right now I'm speaking into the rode nt1 kit which will set
you back around 270 dollars this thing has a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of
20 Hertz to 20 kilohertz a sensitivity of around negative 29 decibels an output impedance of 100
ohms a max SPL of 132 decibels a self noise level of 4.5 DBA and a signal-to-noise ratio of 90 DBA
and now I'm speaking into the rode nt1-a which will set you back around 230 dollars this also
has a cardioid polar pattern a frequency response of 20 Hertz to 20 kilohertz sensitivity of around
negative 32 decibels and impedance of 100 ohms a max SPL of 137 decibels a self-noise of 5 DBA and
a signal-to-noise ratio of 88 DBA now I'm spinning around the nt1 to 90 degrees to show you what it
sounds like from this side we will continue rotating around to the rear of the microphone
180 degrees continuing rotating the microphone to the second 90 degree angle show you what it
sounds like here and we will continue rotating and Ed at the front of the microphone spinning
around the nt1 to the 90 degree angle to show you the off-axis rejection and raishin we will
continue rotating around the microphone to 180 degrees show you what it sounds like from the rear
continuing around the microphone to the second 90 degree angle this is what it sounds like and
continuing to rotate and ending at the front of the microphone now I'm right on top of the rode
nt1 to show you the proximity effect on this thing and to now I'm right on top of the nt1 to show you
the proximity effect on this microphone two feet away from the nt1 about two feet away from the
road nt1-a typing on a keyboard with cherry MX blue stu see how much my voice burst how much
of the keyboard the rode nt1 picks up now I'm doing the exact same test for the road nt1-a
I don't wanna be bored now
so I'll grab a microphone and try to ride really stupid song
success and the winner of this versus series is just barely the rode nt1 I'll start this by
pointing out a couple of specifications on the NT one that I think make it the winner the NT
one wins in terms of sensitivity with a few extra decibels coming in at negative 29 DB as opposed to
negative 32 decibels of the nt1-a the NT one also has a self noise that is 0.5 decibels lower than
that of the NT one but to be quite honest that is going to be imperceivable to almost anybody and
lastly I do want to point out that the nt1-a does have a better max SPL at 137 decibels as opposed
to 132 decibels of the NT one so if you're going to be recording anything that is insanely loud
over a hundred and thirty-two decibels the nt1-a maybe the microphone that you have to go with
and then when we look at the frequency response graphs of both of these microphones it becomes
pretty apparent that the nt1-a is a bit more colored as you can see the nt1-a is slightly
more recessed below 100 Hertz but it also has a boost focused around 150 Hertz so this is going
to limit a little bit of a rumble or plosives below 100 Hertz but it also will beef in it up
a little bit in the low end by boosting it 150 then when you look at the presence region you
do see a similar trend where there is a gradual boost but the nt1-a has some additional boosts
and Peaks around 3.5 kilohertz and 5 kilohertz and the nt1-a doesn't start to roll off in the
air frequencies immediately it has quite a drastic peak in the air frequencies to give you a little
bit more of an open sound and now we get to the more subjective portion of this review and on
the electric guitar I actually prefer the nt1-a and that's because the added treble in an air
make the guitar sound a little bit more exciting in-your-face and ultimately a little bit more
modern the nt1 on the other hand just gives you a little bit flatter more neutral sound and a little
bit more of a vintage sound on the acoustic guitar again I did prefer the nt1-a because to my ears it
just sounded a little bit more finished the added boost to the air frequencies just seems to open up
the guitar a little bit more and the boost to 150 Hertz gives a little bit more low-end body to the
acoustic then for singing it was very close but I did lean a little bit more towards the nt1 and
that is because it does have a more natural and smoother sound that is a bit more uncoloured but
the nt1-a on the other hand does make your voice or really pop out of a mix if that's necessary and
it gives you a little bit of added crispness up top if that's what you're looking for and
lastly for spoken-word again I prefer the NT one and that is because of the flatter more neutral
frequency response which is just something that I am partial to now I will admit that the nt1-a
gives you that brighter more modern tone but when I compared the microphones next to each other it
did seem like that added presence treble and air boost of the nt1-a just overpowered the mids a
little bit more than I would have preferred so to summarize very briefly I think that the nt1-a is
going to give you a brighter more modern more finished sound while the NT one on the other
hand is going to give you a more natural flatter smoother sound that is ultimately more malleable
and lets you do a little bit more with it and post alright well that is going to do it for
today that was slightly more difficult than I was anticipating so I would love to pass the question
off to you which camp are you in are you NT one or nt1-a let me know in the comments down below
if you do want more videos you can subscribe to me by clicking that logo beneath me and clicking
that Bell button if you want to hang out in the discord server I'll throw a link in the
description and I will see you all next time thank you so much for watching thanks for listening bye