A new vision for 2020 and beyond. The limited-edition AT2020USB+V
adds a reflective silver finish to theAT2020USB+, celebrating the
mic’s clear, studio-quality sound and mirroring its true creative
force –you! Ideal for podcasting, streaming, home studio
recording, and voiceover use, the AT2020USB+V gives you the power
to present your vision with the convenience of plug-and-play USB
operation. The AT2020USB+V features a built-in headphone jack
with volume control that allows you to directly monitor your
microphone signal with no delay. It also offers a mix control
that blends microphone and pre-recorded audio. The microphone’s
cardioid pickup pattern delivers excellent off-axis rejection,
while its A/D converter with a 16-bit, 44.1/48 kHz sampling rate
ensures extremely articulate sound reproduction. This
limited-edition microphone comes with an AT8458a shock mount to
attenuate noise, shock, and vibration, a 5/8"-27 to 3/8"-16
threaded adapter, a 10' (3.1 m) USB cable, and a soft protective
pouch.
Review: Old Reliable - Condenser mics are usually super sensitive
which can sometimes cause lots of problems when you go cheap. The
AT2020 and the rest of the line swerve this issue by just being
less sensitive than usual. This makes them good all-rounders that
are less prone to background and room noise while still retaining
the detail and clarity that condenser mics are known for. Any
model of AT2020 is plenty of mic for amateur podcasts, youtubing,
broadcasting, streaming, homebrew voiceover work, home recording
etc etc. For any professional recording work that feeds your
family, especially singing, you probably are looking at
other/better mics to begin with. Though this mic IS intended for
vocals and should be quite decent for singing if it's set up
right. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's basically intended
for amateur/beginner usage. As for the USB+ version it's intended
to fill a pretty specific niche. For anyone looking at a Blue
Snowball/Yeti, Various Generic Mics, Gaming Mics, etc, this is a
great alternative from a very trusted audio-centric brand. I
already use a few different mics for my amateur studio stuff but
I needed something that would interface with my main PC directly
for gaming, video calls, some minor recording stuff, etc. USB is
limited to what you are able to do with your PC. If you
understand the limitations and you know what you want to do,
there's nothing wrong with the USB version of this mic. However
if you are trying to do anything more serious you probably want
the analog XLR version and a separate external interface. A few
tips to get this sucker working at its best. 1) GET A MIC BOOM.
These mics capture best from the side(or direct front if you
will, as opposed to the end) and suspended as opposed to standing
on a solid surface. So a full boom mount that lets you suspend
and position the mic properly will make a big difference. 2) FOR
THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS AUDIO GET A SHOCKMOUNT. Even though these
are on the less sensitive end of condenser mics they're still
very prone to vibration, floor noise, etc. Microphonics if you
will, haha. Even a very cheap cage-style shockmount will negate a
LOT of this. Things like vibrating hard drives, footsteps, and
movement noises will carry through to this mic. The more
suspended and disconnected it is from the room the better. 3) GET
A POP FILTER. Any sort of pop filter will make an immense
difference with these mics due to their sensitivity. I prefer the
foam stretch-cover styled ones because they have a very slight
noise cancelling effect, preventing far away noises from picking
up so clearly. Most importantly though pop filters prevent
plosives. 4) DO SOME ROOM TREATMENT. It doesn't need to be much.
Just a couple cheap 12 packs of foam panels will do 99% of the
job. There is no magic "one-size-fits-all" trick for acoustic
panels. In my computer room I treated the wall immediately behind
me and the wall immediately in front of me behind my speakers. It
prevents a lot of room reflections outright and will likely also
improve your speakers if you are a music person. Overall this is
a cheap but capable mic that can be used for a lot with enough
prep. It is definitely not a toy mic and is the real deal. A lot
of currently HUGE professional artists got their start with an
AT2020.
Review: WOW! AMAZING for the price - I have to say I am SHOCKED
at how good the quality is for the price on this microphone.
Background : I don't work in "the business" or anything. I am a
bit of an audiophile (I know good sound when I hear it), but am
admittedly NO expert on these things. At one point in my life, I
was an on-air voice, and my father was life-long on air. I know a
fair amount about audio quality. That said, I never made it my
career as my dad did. And so I know more than the average person,
but FAR less than the experts. I do have a high-end Neumann, but
as I don't have day-to-day need of these things, that requires a
bit more preparation to use. I wanted something a little easier
to deal with. I have to say I was VERY PLEASANTLY impressed with
this microphone and without need of any additional amplifier.
Included shock mount isn't super robust, but also not cheap
plastic or anything. Definitely serviceable. It does the job
nicely. I do not have a "quiet room" ... just my office with a
laundry room not that far down the hall. For my test, the
microphone did pick up some background from the laundry room, but
that was as expected, and to be honest, FAR better than it could
have been for a condenser. Overall sound quality was buttery. I'm
not that great explaining tonal profiles. I'll leave that to
someone that knows those things. But my baritone voice came very
cleanly. Microphone picks up nice bass notes, if you have a
higher pitched voice, you may want to see someone's review that
more aligns with yours. No real setup required on my Windows 11
PC. Plugged it in, went to sound settings and set "Microphone
2020" as the active profile to use, and boom it worked. I did
have to bump up the input volume on my PC, it defaults to 50%
which was ludicrously low leveling. Excellent product. I LOVE
THIS THING.
