Review of very low cost condenser mic's on e-bay

Those mics with the interchangeable capsules are exactly the same as the 100 I bought a year ago, apart from the colour - mine were silver and they sold really well. Then I reordered and they had run out of the omni and hyper capsules. Meant to order some more, but never got around to it.

In the video, the sound of the Cad vs the cheap one really doesn't justify the price difference. Perfectly useable (as long as you ignore all the silly eq that guy added).

The price of the Chinese electret capsules is now pennies - and they're not bad at all. The days of claiming the cheap Chinese mics sound rubbish has certainly gone.

I've got a few samples of these mics here and I like to compare all my condensers to the most hated mic in the world, the AKG C1000, and they sound better!
 
graywolf said:
Don't quote me when you are not writing about something I was writing about. That is not a shotgun mic you linked to.
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This Utube link goes to the BM 800 Copy Floureon BM-800 Mic Review not to a shotgun.

It is clear that it hase some colorations. I ordered one formy self and googeld al ot + it need for shure to some mods:

...here these links

http://audioimprov.com/AudioImprov/Mics/Entries/2015/12/20_Modding_a_BM-800_Mic.html
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/1086628-bm-800-capsule-mod.html

and here it goes for a real big bottle king 4 less $ then german ones like Neuman Schoeps Gefell Telefunken

http://www.oktavamodshop.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_28&products_id=189
 
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headroom, greywolf took a left turn on this thread and what you quoted was in reference to a plastic shotgun mic he owns not the BM 800. It's kind of confusing since nobody else was talking about shotguns.
 
I'm intrigued by these BM-800 mics.
They are specced closer to SDC pencil mics like the ISK CM20
They are some form of electret condenser with a 16mm diaphragm supposedly

And when you consider that, the super cheap price tag doesn't seem so insanely low. Yes, its still really low, but something like the CM20 sells for around $30, so the 800 fits into that ballpark

I bought a BM-800 a week or so ago, so when when it comes through, I plan on doing a comparison between it, an ISK CM20, an rode NT5, and for shits and giggles, if I can, I'll set it up with the Nueman u87 we have in the office.

I don't expect it to be awesome, but as long as it works at least OK, then I'll consider it a success.
 
I can concur the BM-800 sounds similar to a Takstar pencil mic I have but seems to have a more open sound and I can imagine tat this is down to the way the capsule is mounted in free air rather than the tube of a pencil type mic.

I compared it to my Rode NT2000 and SE X1 and the mid range and top end are similar but the LF is limited but fine for speech.

Will be interested to read what others think of them and I am happy to now use them as generic overhead mic's or for instrument and speech recording.
 
Noiz2 said:
headroom, greywolf took a left turn on this thread and what you quoted was in reference to a plastic shotgun mic he owns not the BM 800. It's kind of confusing since nobody else was talking about shotguns.
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Sorry, I thought the tread was about "very low cost chinese condenser mic's", not a specific model. Sorry, if I posted off topic.
 
Richard Crowley said:
But they were so good, they bought four more of them and I am going to buy at least another pair. Remarkably good for the cost (US$49) complete with omni, card, and hyper capsules, foam gag, and clip.
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Reading that comment from you made me buy a pair myself!
 
I now have 8 of these condenser mic's in my home studio for general use on drums and for location recording of acoustic instruments etc.

A review of the three different types in the USA branded Neewer can be found here: https://youtu.be/D4G24U5fTZ4

I have four of the 800 and two of the 700 which seem to sound identical the 1500 model has a more focussed sound and I assume this is down to the blue type basket design.

As a sidenote the boom mic suspension arms are also great value for less than $10.
 
I would bet that all three of those mics have identical mic capsules and identical electronics. The only difference being the case/basket.

From the YouTube comparison demo, the 800 clearly has a better high end than the 700 or the 1500. It would be interesting to do a "teardown" video and open them up to see how they are different (or similar). I presume that the design of the baskets accounts for the audible differences.

BTW, that was one of the better mic comparisons I have seen on YouTube. Kudos to "Podcastage"
 
I agree Richard and they all do look the same construction apart from the capsule basket.

I think there were some older reviews that complained about noise and the cheaper ($8 each) 1500 mic's I got seem to be lower level requiring more gain therefore potentially increasing the noise but as these are being used on drum kits this level difference is actually an advantage and noise is not a factor.
 
I modded the 800 2 electrolyte Condensors ( al lot to small 22uf) to 470uf /220uf 50 V Type. A high hiss is still present after the Mod a tad better. I made a test with my modded SE3 Mic ( all caps to polypropylen and all electrolytes to Rybycon Z plastic removed). 48 Volt Phantom Power.
It's not bad for Live singing with a band good cardoid pattern no feedback loop.

Check link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zj10nvnaw31hclw/Test Mics.zip?dl=0

At first I hear this background noise: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8wo6c5a8wlwtgc/BM noise 8000.mp3?dl=0
 
Richard Crowley said:
I bought a couple of ISK "Little Gem" mics and donated them to a worthy cause who needed them. But they were so good, they bought four more of them and I am going to buy at least another pair. Remarkably good for the cost (US$49) complete with omni, card, and hyper capsules, foam gag, and clip. But no rosewood box with gold-plated hinges and clasp.

http://www.iskproaudio.com/collections/microphones/products/little-gem
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Thank you.
Based on what you wrote here, I purchased 1 'Little Gem', which arrived last week.
Though I heard recordings using it on iSK Pro Audio website and had an idea of how it sounds, when it arrived and I made a test recording with it, I was amazed by how good it sounds. So, I ordered another one right away, even though at present I have no use of a second one. On the prospect that I'll need 2 in the future, or even as a backup, it definitely worth the money.
Right now, each of the 3 capsules is being 'burned-in'. Once it will be over, I intend to make comprehensive tests in various recording situations, compared to other 'budget' mikes, and write a review about it. My estimate is that it will take over 2 months to upload the tests results.

Richard Crowley said:
They also have a model called "Pearl" which may be the tooling from the company that was counterfeiting Oktava.
But they appear to be "Sold Out".
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It is expected back in stock within about a month.
Based on the recordings on their website, the 'Pearl' has less bass response than the 'Little Gem', however that may make the 'Pearl' better suited for indoors dialog recordings. Once it will be back in stock, I intend to purchase one and add it to the comparison tests.
 
graywolf said:
Richard, you never did report on this. I just ordered a pair of LyxPro SDPC-2 from Amazon which appear to be the same as the Isk Little Gems. Interesting the pair was about $115 on eBay but only $80 on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012OHZJ8O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Indeed, they look similar to the iSK 'Little Gem' and the published specs are also similar. They may be the same mikes under different brands, and they may be different. There are many cases of mikes looking the same, sounding totally different. Only listening tests (to recordings tests) can tell what is the case here.
 
GaryNattrass said:
I just bought a couple of these very low cost chinese condenser mic's off e-bay just to see what they were like as I have used the Takstar brand for a few years now with good results.

I paid £8.99 each for two I bought and that works out around $12 USD inc delivery.
…
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I ordered one and tested it. Though it sounds okay for podcasts, I wasn't overwhelmed with its sound quality. To my view, it worth its money for podcasts, for one who doesn't have a better mike, but that's it.
YMMV.
 
Joshua_G said:
I ordered one and tested it. Though it sounds okay for podcasts, I wasn't overwhelmed with its sound quality. To my view, it worth its money for podcasts, for one who doesn't have a better mike, but that's it.
YMMV.
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It's all relative at the end of the day and I have heard mainstream mic's that cost over £150 and have sounded far worse. The AKG C1000 is a prime example!
 
Joshua_G said:
Indeed, they look similar to the iSK 'Little Gem' and the published specs are also similar. They may be the same mikes under different brands, and they may be different. There are many cases of mikes looking the same, sounding totally different. Only listening tests (to recordings tests) can tell what is the case here.
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No doubt! Lots of Little Gem reviews out there, only those on Amazon for the LyxPro. In fact LyxPro does not show them one their website, no mic's at all. I guess I will find out in a week or so...
 
GaryNattrass said:
It's all relative at the end of the day and I have heard mainstream mic's that cost over £150 and have sounded far worse. The AKG C1000 is a prime example!
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Indeed, price is no indication for sound quality. There are examples of low cost microphones of all types sounding better than more expansive ones.
Moreover, different people evaluate differently sound quality; different people pay attention to different characteristics of the reproduced sound - in all sound products, not only in microphones.
I only commented about the potential use of that microphone, to my view. For a low budget podcasts, it does the job well, however, given a choice, I wouldn't use it for voice-over. Again, other people may well have different preferences.
So, there is no debate here, only expression of different perspectives.
 
graywolf said:
No doubt! Lots of Little Gem reviews out there, only those on Amazon for the LyxPro. In fact LyxPro does not show them one their website, no mic's at all. I guess I will find out in a week or so...
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Unless I didn't get you correctly, it looks like you are convinced that the LyxPro mikes are identical to the Little Gem ones. I'm not convinced either way. Do you have a Little Gem to compare to the LyxPro?
 
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