This was posted 1 year 5 months ago, and might be an out-dated deal.

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Behringer XM8500 Ultravoice Dynamic Cardioid Vocal XLR Microphone $33.32 Delivered @ Amazon AU

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Behringer XM8500 Ultravoice Dynamic Cardioid Vocal XLR Microphone $33.32 Delivered @ Amazon AUAffiliate
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Look Up on 29/11/2022 - 12:53 amazon.com.au (1746 clicks)
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Second ever deal for this mic and still the giant slayer for vocal mics
When setup correctly with a pop filter, cheap stand and some EQ, this mic gives 90% of the Shure SM7B sound for 5% of the price
Good info here, here and here

Solid build quality and bundled with a nice case
Requires an XLR cable and audio interface for connecting to a PC (someone in the comments can confirm XLR/USB adapter usage)

If you're disturbed by the SM7B's price and don't want to risk the thousands of cheaper fakes that now litter eBay, get this

Price History at C CamelCamelCamel.
Electrical & Electronics Behringer Microphone

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closed Comments

  • Heaps for Cheaps on 29/11/2022 - 13:10
    +3

    Speaking of mics… What ever happened to that OzBargain podcast that a 3rd party approached Scotty about… I would have loved that…

    • cerealsmok3r on 29/11/2022 - 13:53
      +1

      oooh whos this? i planned to but won't be anytime soon haha

      • Heaps for Cheaps on 29/11/2022 - 15:54

        ohhh…. I never ever listen to podcasts but this was going to be cool… Not because of the deals, I thought it would be a great place to hear the people/characters behind the names and just chat about deals, near-deals, awesome finds….

    • BROKENKEYBOARD on 29/11/2022 - 14:44
      +1

      Was jv and brodin invited?

  • waggat on 29/11/2022 - 13:11
    +2

    I've got one and I've been told the sound quality is awesome (I use it for comms in Overwatch and several people have commented that I sound like someone on a radio show). From all my research it was a very good budget alternative to the Shure SM58.

    I use it with a Focusrite Scarlett Solo. I ended up also buying a Triton Fethead in-line amp to get better sound quality (higher volume without the static).

    • [Deactivated] on 29/11/2022 - 13:36
      +3

      Shure SM58

      The SM58 is a bargain basement, basement band beater mic. It revolutionized the industry at it's pricepoint (and I know, I know, USA Presidents have spoken into it's cousin the SM57 forever, yada yada) but there's an entire galaxy of better mics out there.

      This however is compared to the SM7B, which is generally 5x more expensive than the SM58.

      If that's even remotely true, it's astonishing, particularly given you don't need anything to drive this (amp etc).

    • jasswolf on 29/11/2022 - 13:52

      That's a lot of investment to clean it up… should have just grabbed a competing interface that didn't have as much noise. Focusrite and Steinberg tend to be massively overrated.

      If you had any intention of recording for content/music/etc, you're now at the point of needing to look into mic upgrades.

      It's a great budget mic, but yeah, this seems excessive.

  • taker312 on 29/11/2022 - 13:26

    Well I have mic which itself would be good but connecting wihtout a usb interface like the one @waggat is using is not a good idea.
    I tried three XLR to USB cables & all ended up not giving any results, then I used XLR to 3.5 mm whihc worked but kind of hit & miss as either XLR side or 3.5 mm is very sensitive to connections & gives static at times, in short not pratical
    So better be ready to spend if you don't already have XLR interface

  • Fergy1987 on 29/11/2022 - 13:32
    +7

    i mean - its a saving of $1.68? - not sh1tting on the mic because I've heard its good. but……..$1.68?

  • samwyze on 29/11/2022 - 13:32

    I have a Samson Q7, another budget mike, I use it mostly for voice and occasionally for instruments/amps. Has anyone used both? Is this better?

    • jasswolf on 29/11/2022 - 13:54

      It is, but probably best used for spoken word some lower register vocalists.

      I defer to somewhere like Gearspace in terms of how session artists and staff would make use of it.

  • Misha Bakunin on 29/11/2022 - 13:40
    +2

    Noob question but what's an XLR interface?

    • brokeneither on 29/11/2022 - 13:50

      USB audio interface that has XLR inputs.

      E.g focusrite scarlet 2i2, Steinberg ur22 etc

    • [Deactivated] on 29/11/2022 - 14:36
      +2

      Short answer : USB sound card with profession audio connectors, called XLR's. XLR connections usually offer better sound. Less interference. More sturdy.

      Long answer : In the audio world you're primarily lookin at "Balanced" or "Unbalanced" connections between devices (well, nowadays moving more to optical laser, digital, wireless, etc). But anyway. In the wired world, these will either use 3 wires, or 2 wires.

      An example of unbalanced connections are the white/red RCA connectors you've probably seen (or yellow, for video, back in the day). They have a pin and a sleeve. 2 wires. But also very flimsy.

      A "Balanced" connection references a shared ground on a 3rd wire to help reject noise and interference inducted into the cable or the result of mismatched power circuits between devices (hissing, hums, etc). The sound quality is vastly superior, and instantly "pickable" to a trained ear. I can walk into a club and instantly know if someone's playing off a usb on balanced gear, or has plugged in their shitty $200 dj controller going out into the system over unbalanced RCA's.

      There's multiple types of connecter that can use this 3 or 2 wire philosophy. The "XLR" connectors are the round, 3 pin plugs you see in the audio world a lot (google it). They come in male/female version, but you can also get the big 1/4" jacks, or the small phone headphone style 3.5mm jacks. Some jacks will have a tip, ring, and sleeve contacts, some just have tip and ring. 3 contacts or 2 contacts. 3 wires, or 2 wires. These jacks are known as TRS or TS respectively.

      Anyway all of these can be used to connect devices together, or connect microphones to devices, or guitars into amps, etc. When it's used to connect a microphone to a device, it often only uses 2x of the wires, which is "unbalanced". Still, the thicker cable and beefier connectors have their advantages, primarily in the fact that it's a far, far more sturdy connector than the usual tiny 3.5mm headphone jack you'd use to plug into phones etc.

      So. You can get USB sound cards, that have XLR connectors on them, to let you plug a fancy mic in. Or output to self-powered speakers, but instead of using a phone headphone jack or the white/red rca's you're used to, they use the bigger, more sturdy connectors, and when they do, usually a balanced connection.

      It's also why a lot of headphones have a smol jack, with a screw casing so you can plug on a big jack, but it's not a big adapter hanging off the smol boy. Like this (https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0358/1611/2172/products/wh…)

      You'll often see these with XLR/TRS "combo" jacks (https://www.pennelcomonline.com/Images/Models/Full/4439.Png) so you can use either type of physical plug into the device, for the same actual connection.

      • eug on 29/11/2022 - 16:44
        +1

        A "Balanced" connection references a shared ground on a 3rd wire to help reject noise and interference inducted into the cable

        Balanced audio connections actually use differential signaling and don't require referencing ground. That would be single-ended signaling which is how unbalanced audio connections work.

        The - wire carries an inverted duplicate of the source signal in the + wire. Any interference will be coupled equally to both wires, also known as common-mode interference. The receiving side has a differential amplifier that takes the difference between the two wires which nulls the interference, and that's the clean output signal. That's called common-mode rejection.

        The 3rd wire is the screening in a cable. It adds extra shielding against EMI or RFI. If you're in a lower EMI/RFI environment you can actually run balanced audio perfectly fine through two wires - that is how devices like this can send 4 channels of balanced audio through a single unshielded CAT5/6 cable which has 4 pairs - 2 wires per balanced audio channel.

        The sound quality is vastly superior, and instantly "pickable" to a trained ear.

        Balanced audio connections by themselves don't necessarily result in vastly superior audio - unless your cable runs are long or you're in a very EMI/RFI-heavy environment.

        I think the main problem is that shitty $200 DJ controllers simply use cheap DACs or processing and won't sound good even if they had balanced outputs. Balanced outputs are typically only found on more expensive devices which would sound better even if you used unbalanced connections.

        Another possibility is those people might just be using the free RCA cables that came with the device with poor shielding. I've taken many cables apart, some are absolutely shocking with just a suggestion of shielding.

        or the result of mismatched power circuits between devices (hissing, hums, etc).

        A balanced connection can help avoid ground loops that result in hum and weird noise but it depends on how the equipment is designed. You can still get ground loop problems with balanced connections.

        When it's used to connect a microphone to a device, it often only uses 2x of the wires, which is "unbalanced".

        Dynamic microphones are inherently balanced from the way the coil works. Some include a transformer for impedance matching as well. It can be converted to unbalanced by bridging pins 1 and 3 which grounds the - pin. The signal will then be on pin 2 referenced to ground.

      • lunartemis on 29/11/2022 - 18:42

        Average Joe wouldnt be able to tell the sound difference between XLR connected mic and USB plug -n-play mic though

    • BewareOfThe Dog on 29/11/2022 - 15:52

      3 Pin Balanced. Designed to offer less noise than a standard Phono 6.5mm Plug. ')

  • FrugalFrella on 29/11/2022 - 13:42

    Good mic but mine is extremely quiet plugged into my umc202hd. Had to crank up the gain and audio really high to get to a usable level mainly for Discord
    This might be an issue with my setup though since I've only seen one or two other people with the same issue on this mic

    • jasswolf on 29/11/2022 - 13:56
      +1

      I mean if you're not using phantom power - which you shouldn't - you will need to crank the gain a bit.

      Also, check you haven't got the pad engaged for your input.

      • FrugalFrella on 29/11/2022 - 14:00
        +1

        I just played around with my setup a bit and I think it's actually one of my USB ports that's stuffed. Plugged my interface into a different USB port and the input levels are significantly better.

        Real weird because my speakers and headphones never had any issues, just the low input levels from the mic.

        • jasswolf on 29/11/2022 - 14:03
          +1

          There you go! Hopefully that's due to a wiring issue with the associated port (eg. front panel or USB header panel), and not a motherboard issue.

          Keep in mind if you had a demanding device on the same port set, it may have been hogging the power.

  • confidantduk on 29/11/2022 - 13:43
    +1

    I use this for personal use, just buy a xlr to USB cable and you're all set! Keep getting compliments that I must be a streamer but I'm just an ozbargainer at heart 🤣

    • vv4rhead on 20/12/2022 - 17:20

      Am i supposed to be choking on the cord for the volume to be usable without an external XLR interface? I can't get more than a few percent mic volume (On the windows volume test) with either of the XLR to USBs i've tried this mic with now, needed a new mic for work meetings and discord and this seemed to fit the bill based on the comments here but with all the trouble i'm wondering if i don't go and try find a used blue yeti or something.

  • jasswolf on 29/11/2022 - 14:01
    +1

    Really glad that I helped pushed the barrow on this mic when people were doggedly recommending the Samson and other crap, as well as the AT2020 at higher price points.

    90% of the SM7B is a stretch - particularly if you have an audio chain that lets you hear the more ragged signal of the XM8500 - but in the hands of an audio engineer or with the right stage gear this is a great cheap option to have spare or for a different sound.

    For spoken word - and by extension basic comms - this is unbeatable value even when it's hollowed out a little by an XLR-to-USB cable.

    Cheapest I've seen it on Amazon was $23 via the UK.

  • narcoleptic-haze on 29/11/2022 - 14:12
    +1

    Gigged with a live band (on the cheap) with 6 or 7 of these for 3 years and never had one fail. Watch out for cheap cables though! That'll be your fail point 90% of the time.

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 29/11/2022 - 15:57

    Behringer Mics are a decent cheapie from what a friend of mine who teaches Audio Engineering/mixing says.

  • porterble on 29/11/2022 - 16:18

    I really like these mics. I have 8 of them for live podcasting, and the best bit is that I care very little if TSA make me check them and then lose the bag… (which totally didn't happen a week ago… 🤣)

  • drprox on 29/11/2022 - 16:40

    darn just saw this and missed out :( Looking for something to pair with my MPC Studio to add some vocals (against my own better judgement)

  • Cludo on 29/11/2022 - 19:17
    +1

    I though this was a mic waffle maker at first :S

    • OZKap on 29/11/2022 - 19:22

      My first thought was "weirdly rectangular for a jaffle iron. might just be the perspective though"

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