mkh-416, rycote super-sofite, or...

B

Bruce Watson

Veteran
I lucked into a really nice sounding MKH-416 at a steal so I bought it. Now I need some wind protection for it. I don't need (nor can I afford) a full blimp system -- if it's that windy outside I'm not going to be recording anyway. What I need is protection from light breezes outside. Where I am in central NC, USA really windy days are fairly rare, aside from the occasional hurricane, and I'm not interested in suffering that much for my art.

I see that Rycote has this new thing called a super-softie. B&H has it shipping on 25-May-2014. Anyone had any pre-release testing experience with it? If not this, then is there a favorite slip on furry? I've spent hours searching around (yes, including this forum) with no conclusive results, so I thought I'd better ask before I got myself into (yet more) trouble.
 
I have a (original) Softie and Softie Windjammer cover which is adequate for a breezy conditions. Don't know if Windjammer cover is an option. Either way, I would not expect a low-cost Zeppelin substitute if that's what your thinking. Rycote makes quality gear, I would expect the Super Softie to be very good .
 
I've compared the current Rycote softie and the K-Tek Fuzzy and they perform exactly the same. I haven't tried the SuperSoftie since it isn't out yet. I'm sure it will work well. Rode makes a copy of the Rycote softie, and Reinhardt also makes a slip on windscreen very similar to the Softie. In the end they are all pretty much the same when it comes to performance. I know Rycote is going to drop the price on the current Softie, but I'm not sure if that has gone into effect or if that will happen with the super softie comes out. I can't remember what the price will be, but when they showed it to me at NAB I remember saying "Wow, that's a good price" for the current softie lower price. You may want to contact DVeStore to see what they have and what they say.
 
Rick R said:
Trew Audio's Softie/SuperSoftie demo. With a sub woofer, the difference is apparent.
http://youtu.be/-H_H9uGvmOw
Click to expand...

Cool. I can really hear the improvement with my headphones. But of course in the field I'd be rolling that bottom end off as much as possible, with both the mic (if available, and it's not on the 416) and the mixer high pass filters engaged. Still, sounds like the SuperSoftie might just be worth waiting for. And right now I've got time to wait.
 
I was just going to link to that video. Looks like the super softie is a good improvement. A little low end roll off and that shot would have been just fine. I got my hands on one at NAB and the build quality is very good, in case anybody is wondering.
 
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