Rode NT5-S Small-Diaphragm Condenser Microphone

All that came to my house was the microphone box. Usually Amazon packs things nicely, and things come in a amazon box/envelope for added protection (even if the product already has a box.) The box looked like it has been sitting in a warehouse for 10 years, which it very well might have been. I usually order audio gear through sweet water because I never have these sort of problems. Also the mic is new obviously because the warranty worked when I punched it in. It just worries me when I buy a new mic and receive a package that looks like it has been returned or sitting somewhere for a very long time. I recommend buying this mic on Sweetwater to avoid any issues like this.Update: I got another one from amazon, this time packaged nicely, in a brand new box. Im now using 2 nt5 mics for my acoustic and a rode nt1a for vocals. The sound i get is incredible. Only plugin i use is a little bit of reverb. I only do a touch of eq. Rode mics are very high quality. If you are in a home studio. These are the only small diaphragm mics you will ever need. Every rode mic comes with a 10 year warranty once registered with rode.com. That alone makes it worth the price tag. Most other brands give a 2 to 3 year warranty at best.

There's a definite difference in sound quality of recordings between this and an SM57 (which is the only other mic I have experience recording with, I'm a noob). With the SM57, there was a lot of "boominess" concerning string attack, but vocals sounded pleasant enough. With this mic, the boominess is much less noticeable, and it even feels like a good accented part of the attack of the instrument (which is generally how it should be). On vocals, I noticed a lot more warmth and richness in sound.I have tried some voice recording as well as acoustic guitar. Bought this to mess around with and eventually get a second one to try stereo recording for fun. So far it's all that I expected it to be!

I'm a content creator, not a musician, so my bar for sound quality isn't that high--I just want something that makes my voice sound good and easy to understand in videos and on conference calls/videoconferences. The good news is that this mic plugged into a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (with air mode disabled) absolutely delivers on that front, which honestly shouldn't be so high a bar to clear at this price point.I selected the NT5 mic for two reasons. First, multiple reviews suggested that the sound quality was great, and the main limitation was that the cardiod pattern maybe wasn't as good at noise rejection as some other alternatives like the Oktava MK-012. However, using directional mic patterns for noise rejection can be a mixed bag indoors. If your own voice bounces off the walls and ceilings, it can end up canceling out the mid frequencies and making you sound really "boomy", which is more tiring to listen to. Moreover, software solutions such as Mozilla's RNNoise suppression algorithm, now shipping with OBS, actually do really well, while giving you the option to turn them on and off. Again, I'm not a musician, so you probably wouldn't want to use RNNoise to record singing, but to my untrained ear it sounds really good for spoken voice and does a great job of eliminating fan noise and even typing that would be well within the pick-up angle of a cardiod mic.The second reason I selected the NT5 is that it promised an omnidirectional pattern if you swap out the capsule with an NT45-o. This appealed to me because it might allow me to move around and gesticulate in front of my green screen without worrying quite as much about mic placement, as well as potentially allowing two people to speak into my one microphone on a conference call. An omnidirectional pattern would also make it possible to use the mic with RoomEqWizard to figure out the best places in my room to place acoustic panels. It might even turn out that an omnidirectional pattern sounds better in my room, since I have good enough noise suppression. (I'd at least like to try the experiment.)Unfortunately, the NT45-o is very hard to get. It's impossible to find new in this moment, and the only one I found used sold before I could make my offer. In retrospect, I wish I'd gotten the NT55, which comes with both the cardiod and omnidirectional capsules. (Hey, even if you don't want the omnidirectional capsule it comes with, you could always scalp it...) The inability to get the promised omnidirectional pick-up pattern is why this drops from 5 stars to 4. Otherwise, if you only want the cardiod pattern, or if the NT45-o is back in stock somewhere, then I would wholeheartedly recommend the NT5 for content creators and as a dialogue mic. Others plausibly endorse the NT5 for musical applications as well, I just don't have the experience to comment on that.

I don’t know a ton about mics but this was a significant improvement over our old gear.

This microphone does not pick voices up well, unless a person is loud. Also it picks up most background noise. From the description, we believed it would not. I tried to return this microphone, but the company charges huge restocking fees. First you have to pay to send it back, then they charge 20% handling, then they charge up to 50% restocking. So, you get less than 30% of your purchase price back. I do not recommend purchasing from this company.

Works great! Definitely picks up the whole room as a cardiod mic, so beware of ambient noise. If you want ambient noise, it sure does pick it up, which is what I wanted (dice rolling and table sounds while filming D&D). Super strong mic. Make sure you know what Cardiod means!Fantastic product.

This mic does not perform well inside especially against hard surfaces. You have been warned.

Very sensitive microphone. May need a bit more guidance on the use of its sensitivity as it seems to have a bit of an after crackle if the gain is off. N Ed’s more guidance in recording for instruments.