Home Reviews ,,,,,YouTubers who want to improve the quality of their videos or musicians who want to record vocals and acoustic instruments with a higher quality than that of a common microphone will find great benefits using Aukey MI-U1, a condenser microphone that our editorial team has had a way to try recently.
Compared to others tested in the past, it stands out for the high quality of the materials and for the cleanliness of the acquired sound, also proving to be very practical in management thanks to the knobs and switches available that allow you to act on some parameters directly from the microphone.
As did
As mentioned, constructively speaking it is really good. It is made entirely of metal, with a pleasant external satin finish for most of the aluminum chassis. It is sold together with a tripod also completely made of metal: the only plastic part are the feet which thus avoid scratching the surface on which it will be placed.
The double mesh lining that protects the microphone capsule is large and well constructed. The two knobs for adjusting the Gain level and the volume of the headphones are also made of metal and precise in handling thanks to a slight friction.
Near them there is the headphone jack input to be used as a monitor while on the upper edge there are two switches, the first that allows you to reduce distortions by cutting the decibels (-10 dB) while with the other it is possible to cut the low frequencies in an instant.
In addition to the tripod, the package also includes a sponge cover to protect the internal parts from dust, also acting as an excellent anti-wind filter.
How does it work
As this is a Plug & Play device, no drivers are required to use it. To confirm we tell you that our Mac recognized it in a flash, even if it was necessary to go to the System Preferences in the Sound panel in the Input tab to be able to select and use it instead of the microphone integrated in the machine.
The other precaution to keep in mind to obtain an excellent recording quality is to place it vertically with the Aukey logo in front of the source to be recorded (your mouth or the hole of the acoustic box of a guitar, for example): in this way the microphone capsule will be in the correct position to be able to record to the best of its ability.
How is it going
We tested it with GarageBand on Mac, recording mainly our vocals and, on another occasion, some chords played on the acoustic guitar by placing it near the sound box hole. The recording quality is remarkable. Comparing it with what is normally acquired through the microphone integrated in the Mac or with that of the EarPods earphones, the difference is perceptible even to an untrained ear.
With Aukey MI-U1 you gain in overall yield. The sound seems “alive”, moreover the microphone is able to exclude external noises in a better way, especially when you activate the switch that cuts the low frequencies, eliminating any background noise (whether it is the traffic in the street below or the buzz of the TV on in an adjacent room).
Aukey's microphone acquires all frequencies very well, especially the medium-high ones, which are precisely the most important for a good performance of the voice and acoustic instruments.
Works with iPad, but on one condition
The user manual confirms that you can also use it with an iPad, as long as you own or purchase an MFi-certified Lightning-USB adapter separately. However, as we do not have one available, we cannot confirm the functioning of this option.
Furthermore, the company writes that it is also possible to use two microphones simultaneously, as long as the software with which they will be used supports this possibility.
Conclusions
In the past we have dealt with professional microphones and we do not hide that Aukey MI-U1 has nothing to do with them, not so much for the build quality, which is still high, but rather for the final yield, impossible to compare with. microphones that cost up to twenty times as much. However, for the price for which it is proposed, it is in our opinion an excellent purchase for those who want to significantly improve the quality of the recordings made with the integrated microphone of the computer or the one in the headphones, ensuring a decidedly superior sound performance of voice and acoustic instruments.
Retail price
Aukey MI-U1 is on sale on Amazon for 46.99 euros.
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