Aphex Mic X USB Condenser Microphone

I wanted a sexy radio-man-voice for my Skype calls. I hoped the Mic X would give me that. (note: I do not actually have a sexy radio-man-vice IRL, and my voice--while deep--needs some help to sound awesome when recorded)Let's back up a bit. I actually KNOW a guy IRL who has an honest to goodness sexy radio-man-voice. He just talks normally and his voice has that booming, full, present LISTEN TO ME tone. You're in line for coffee with this guy and he's talking and it sounds like you're listening to a well-produced podcast. It's amazing.I want HIS voice, but when I'm on Skype calls and recording screencasts and whatnot.I had hoped the Mic X would give me that result. It seemed to have all the prerequisites:* Compression, to even out volume and add some punch* Bass boost, for fullness (called Big Bottom, which reminds me of a certain Spinal Tap song...)* Harmonic exciter, for mid and top-end sheenSo, I happily ordered one.The good parts first. It's nicely built, and feels like something that should cost what it costs. Yeah, the knobs are a little cheesy and squinty to operate. But mic stand it comes with is really nice. For example, the rubber feet it has resist slipping around on my metal desk surface. Nice!It seems like the mic and mic stand would hold up pretty well under normal (desk jockey) usage. It feels like the parts that should be made of metal are made of metal. If it toppled over while on your desk, everything would be OK.A nice touch is how the green LED power light is on the side of the mic you should address when speaking in to it.It's also supplied with a right-length USB cable, a padded carrying bag, and some software.The Windows software--Reaper--is said by MC Frontalot to be THE BEST DAW he has ever used. Something about the summing function kicking the pants off of competitors. I'd link to the tweet, but Amazon doesn't allow links in product reviews.The Mac DAW supplied with this mic--Harrison Mixbus--may be a good DAW, but it is certainly the most skeumorphic mess of an interface I've ever seen since Apple's "rich corinthian leather" desktop calendar skin from... what was it... OSX Snow Leopard? Anyway, I know Harrison has a lot of cache in the analog pro audio world, so maybe it's a good piece of software. The interface didn't draw me in enough for further experimentation.So after the Mic X arrived, I tried it for a few days on a number of Skype calls, and... something's just lacking.I've pretty much tried every combination settings: effects (compression, exciter, bass boost) turned off, some effects on and others off, etc.The compression is very, very, very gentle. This is probably the RIGHT tradeoff for a product like this. But sexy radio-man-voice it does not create. It does, however, create a very transparent result.The aural exciter does add sheen. But it does not add *presence*, at least with my voice. On Skype calls, my voice just did not cut through the "mix" the way I wanted it to.I tried using the mic to just record myself talking. I found that if I used some audio editing software to simulate the same kind of "presence bump" that mics like the Heil PR-40 naturally have by adding 3 to 6dB of gain from 2kHz to 8kHz, BOOM, I got a much improved sound! But this was not going to help me blow my Skype callers away with sexy radio-man-voice, because it's post-processing on a recorded audio file.The Mic X might be PERFECT for work where you can post-produce things. If you don't overdo the microphone's built-in effects, you get a nice clean signal.The Big Bottom bass boost sorta simulated the proximity effect you get with a broadcast dynamic mic like the SM7, but it was very easy to overdo it and just sound muddy.In fact, that's my ultimate bottom line with this mic: on Skype calls, it just made my voice, which ALREADY tends toward sounding muddy, sound very muddy!(I say the following with the caveat that more experimentation might have fixed the issue.) One issue is that I could never get the Mic X to make MY voice sound as loud (in terms of actual gain on Skype Call Recorder's gain meters, not in terms of perceived loudness) as my conversation partner's voice did. So in recordings of Skype calls such as you might use for interviews, etc my voice always sounded distant, muddy, and muted compared to the other side's voice. My voice was consistently 3 to 6dB softer than the other side's voice.When you plug the Mic X into an OSX computer (I'm using Mavericks), the gain is NOT controlled by the operating system's software, it's controlled by the physical gain knob on the body of the mic. This is handy in some cases, but for some reason I was never able to get the gain over about -6 or -3dB (on Skype Call Recorder's meters), even if I maxed out the gain knob on the mic. This seemed to be why I had my low volume issue on Skype calls.Now I know on live Skype calls the OTHER party can crank up their speaker or headphone volume and hear me fine. So it wasn't a problem for THEM, but it was for me because of the volume disparity in my recordings of the calls, which I sometimes turn into published interviews.Anyway, here's the last weird thing with this mic. From reading the product description, I got the impression that the headphone output on the mic was a hardware-level mic monitor. It is not. It is a separate headphone amplifier that is accessed through software, it just happens to be integrated into the microphone's chassis and fed by the same USB cable as the mic uses to feed its signal to the computer.While some DAW software gives you a software-implemented monitor function, such a function always involves some latency. And Skype gives you no ability to monitor *your* mic signal to know whether you should change your approach to the microphone. I was hoping that the Mic X headphone output was a zero-latency monitor of the processed mic signal so I could hear myself during Skype calls, but again, it is not.This may not be an issue for many situations, but it was for my primary application.So the Mic X went back to Amazon.I think the Mic X would be the best thing since sliced bread for:* Voices that are mid-range heavy and lack bass punch. The built-in effects might be the right tool to compensate and give a nice-sounding result.* Situations where some transparent, gentle compression on a live mic signal is really all you need. The Mic X does this very well.But for any situation where you can use post-processing and don't need effects on the live mic feed, I'd use one of the many cheaper USB condenser mics out there because the flexibility of your post-processing effects will certainly outclass the ones built in to the Mic X.Me? I'm ordering a DBX 286s and a RODE Procaster and still trying to get that sexy radio-man-voice happening for Skype calls. Wish me luck!

Works as advertised.To be very clear, and very blunt, if you do poor voice work and expect this mic to turn you into a Mel Blanc, Thurl Ravenscroft, or Don LaFontaine then you will be sorely disappointed. If you do good voice work and want a way to get those little Top Tier tweaks without expensive software or rack of high dollar hardware, this mic is worth a very, very hard look.The mic likes a strong voice and close proximity. It's going to take some retraining, or a good USB preamp, if you have a small voice or like to give the mic a good bit of room.Also... there's no recommendation for a windscreen. After some experimentation I discovered the Shure A32WS windscreen fits like it was custom designed for the mic.Edit to add... After several months the mic is still working fine. Knocking off a star for the poor customer service. Twice I have emailed (Aphex's preferred contact method) and both times it was several weeks before they returned the message. In one case I got a satisfactory answer. In the other, I am still waiting on a reply to a follow-up question. Don't bother calling, all you'll get is the receptionist. Leaving a message with the tech is almost as useless. It took the better part of two weeks for that to be returned.

Disappointed in this product's performance. The Aphex name has been synonymous with high quality audio from mic pre-amps to voice processing. This mic does not live up to that at all. The headphone output contained an audible "whine/buzz". The headphone output could not be configured to allow live monitoring of the mic audio; this is essential in most applications and is available on many similar mics and mic to USB products. The sound of the mic itself seemed dull compared to my current setup. This, despite the Aphex Aural Exciter circuitry that's built-in to this mic. This mic with built-in Aphex processing seemed a good idea, and I had hopes that it could replace my unprocessed mic setup. I depend upon very clear voice audio with strong "presence" to make a living. Unfortunately this mic did not live up to expectations.

I was very disappointed with this USB mic. Aphex is a top name in audio processing gear, so I naturally thought this would be a killer mic. Once I installed the driver (which you don't need to do with other USB mics and mic adapters like Rode, Centrance and Shure) I selected the Aphex mic as my recording souce and was stunned at how poor it sounded.First of all, the signal was weak,(-12 db peak) despite having the mic volume turned all the way up. Secondly, the built-in headphone amplifier did not work. I had it cranked as loud as it would go and could not hear myself. The 'stellar' effects that Aphex is famous for sounded like a tone control for an AM radio. No coloring of sound, which was sad.The selling feature of high sampling rate of 96KHz/24-bit is a non-issue for recording. I've done major recording sessions for broadcast networks and 48KHz/24-bit is standard since there is no audible difference between the two.The Rode NT-USB is a much better alternative at a lower price.

I find it valuable sets up quickly though mine has a stand issue. A screw to bolt do not fit.the Mic is nice to work withe immediately after plugging USB in Mac unit.

Microphone is excellent and picks up sound clearly and accurately. The sensitivity took a short time to adjust to, then worked spectacularly.

This microphone did not work at all and I had to send it back.