This is my personal review and demonstration of the Blue Snowball and Audio Technica ATR2100 microphones. For product links, see the links below the YouTube video. I have owned the Blue Snowball microphone for a number of years and have been very pleased with it. After developing an interest in Podcasting recently, I decided that the quality of my audio should be slightly improved and that was when I discovered the Audio Technica ATR 2100 microphone. For it’s price, it rivals other microphones that cost $300 and the difference in sound quality is almost nill. Watch my video, listen to the audio samples, and decide for yourself.
In this video I demonstrate the Blue Microphones Snowball USB microphone and compare it to my Audio Technica ATR 2100 microphone using it’s XLR connection into my M-Audio Fast Track audio interface on my iMac using GarageBand.
Buy your own Blue Snowball now using my Amazon affiliate link below:
Buy your own Audio Technical ATR2100 now using my Amazon affiliate link below:
Is the quality of the ATR2100 through XLR and USB roughly the same?
The large difference between the snowball and the ATR was impressive, but I would like to know how much of that was attributed to the different connection.
Thank you in advance.
Hi Gannon. In my opinion, there is very little difference in most applications to the ATR2100 through XLR and USB. I record a podcast at http://msipodcast.com which I use the ATR2100 primarily connected by USB to my MacbookPro. I will try and do another video soon that demonstrates the difference between XLR and USB. Thanks for the question.
Your review was great, thank you! Do you use a pop filter or a foam ball windscreen over the ATR2100 mic? I’m trying to decide which of those to purchase with it. I’m new to audio recording, so I apologize if I screwed up the terminology. Thank you in advance!
Hello Preslie, and sorry for the delay replying. You probably already have your microphone and filter now 🙂
To answer your question though… I personally use a foam windscreen and it works great. I hope to do another video review of a very affordable lavalier microphone very soon.
Thanks for the note and let me know if I can assist further.
Dave
Curious if there is a better option now. I’m looking to buy a microphone that beats the Snowball in audio quality but isn’t too much more expensive. Curious if there are more competitors in 2019.
Hi Thomas. Yes, there are lots of great options for good microphones these days, but as far as I can tell, the best brands are still Audio Technica, or Blue Microphones.