the t.bone SC 440 USB Black

Received it today and tried it immediately. First, background noise is extremely low, not even sure you'd have to bother with a noise canceller at all. A new neighbor happens to be a singer and a former stage tech, so I asked him to try it, and compare with his Shure 57. He found it very clear, didn't register any of the background noise from the street, we had left the window open for a test.

Only the source close to the mic was recorded, and recorded well. Causing distortion on purpose getting the source too close made it happen at the expected distance, good. At the regular distance clarity and dynamics are very good. Hum is nearly absent, shooting the recorded sound through loudspeakers we didn't hear any, it was below normal listening range.

The mic is built well, very well cut shapes, the suspension is great, quite professional gear, and the strong cable is long enough for any purpose in a studio, I suppose, it will never be too short for me. My computer (updated with Windows 11) recognized the mic instantly and I could record on the spot.

Set the computer's recording level at 100% without clipping, for the computer's own mic it has to be 80% or sources a half-meter away distort. A few trials with a classical guitar proved very transparent and nothing unpleasant was heard. Clarity across the spectrum is it strength. A bass played with the pick did the same; without getting into too much detail, nothing disappointing was ever heard. For some reason the bass played with the fingers seems to have more clarity and sharpness, headphones made that apparent.

The case is a little big but reasonably tough and well padded. The threaded nut for attaching a stand is reversible, no need to bother with orientation, it's always right. It's chromed steel, not aluminium, and the angle-setting knob does its job but you have to tighten it to the max.

Both ends of the cable lock without looseness, and it's got a strong shielding, but not so much that it's rigid and difficult to deploy.

Just listen to the standardized tracks in Thomann's website and you'll hear other microphones make the "rt" at the end of the word "heart" sound like a "d". The sound is rounded off, but the SC440 makes the "rt" well articulated, like the very best XLR mikes, you don't have to believe me, just listen for yourself.

Choose an unprocessed track and watch for words with sharp consonants, the clarity of the 440 is not wishful thinking, other mics under 150€ (I listened to them all) just don't perform as good.

USB microphones used to be a compromise but as usual technology finally made convenience and quality compatible. I see no reason to get anything else for quality recording.