Blue Microphones SnowBall iCE USB Microphone - Black

Hi, The Blue Microphone- Snowball iCe Wired Cardioid USB Plug n Play Microphone was purchased last June 2021 for my podcasting. It's a great microphone with a great sound card for the price, however, This February 03, 2022, It stopped working in the middle of my recording. I am heartbroken without it because I can not afford a replacement right now and can not reach the company to see if they honor an exchange. Laverna podcaster.

It’s good bigger than I expected so get it if you want it

Once upon a time, I had an interest in starting a YouTube channel. But, I wasn’t really sure about it and also wasn’t sure exactly what I could make videos about. But then, I came across podcasts, and I was immediately interested. Knowing my phone would have pretty bad quality, I knew from the start I would need a good microphone, because if I don’t like the audio on a podcast, I’m going to leave, because that’s the only feedback I get! When I started researching microphones, the first one I found was the blue yeti. I knew it wasn’t the financially best choice, but couldn’t resist the classy look of that mic. But then, after watching unboxing after unboxing if the blue yeti, I found this video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZufYPL0XcVk And in it, I was totally convinced that in the blind audio test, the yeti was option 1. But surprise, surprise! It was this thing. So I immediately fell down the rabbit hole that is me and my over active sense of happiness that I got when I managed to convince myself I could get something from the screen. Anyways, I heard more audio, and immediately realized that this was a MUCH smarter choice financially. So before I did this review, I wanted to make sure I had decent experience. I’ve had this mic now for about 7 weeks, and it’s been great! The body is surprisingly durable. Even though it’s a hard plastic, every time it’s accidentally fallen over, I’ve seen no damage. The one thing that is meh about this is the stand. It’s very flimsy and essentially has two different positions. I am definitely planning on getting a boom arm to replace it. Also, I would recommend a pop filter to accompany it. I also want to mention to other mics you might prefer. First is the regular blue snowball, which has an Omni directional mode and a sound dampener setting, I would recommend this if you plan on using the one mic to record two voices. The other honor mention is the blue yeti, which is still probably the best beginner mic if you can afford it. It features a cardioid (in front), Omni directional (all around), as well as bi directional (in front and behind) and stereo (both sides). These extra settings would be beneficial for both music recording and interviews. Blue also offers the yeti nano, which sounds just as good but with half the polar patterns (only Omni and cardioid) Overall, I am very happy with my purchase and would definitely recommend to anyone just starting out in the industry of YouTube voiceover, podcasting, or music recording.

Bought it to record conferences and works quite well. The room is about 40 x 50 ft with all hard surfaces, nothing to absorb echo and hum from overhead fluorescent lights. Not a good location to record meeting discussions. The mic that was replaced picked up quite a lot of hum and echo. The Blue snowball was a noticeable improvement using the same input settings on the recorder. It may not be quite as bright as the replaced mic but lighting hum was much lower, as was the echo effect. Voices were clear and easy for the person doing the transcription to hear and identify each speaker by voice. Although the pickup pattern is cardoid, voice quality and levels were good even behind the microphone.

I bought this mic along with a really nice pair of headphones, as the headphones didn't have a mic, to replace my old headset - had heard fairly good things from friends about it, and I don't regret my choice. 99% of the time, it has great audio quality - but, with some VoIP programs, it seems to get a bit of static, and is unpleasant to those on the other end. Have tried numerous different USB ports on my computer, but usually requires a restart of my computer - haven't had this problem with any other headset or mic, which tells me there's some kind of conflict with the mic. For intents and purposes, though, this is a great mic.