Samson Meteor Mic - Portable USB Studio Quality Condenser Microphone - High Performance, General Purpose/Podcast/Gaming/Music Recording Microphone, 16-bit, 44.1/48kHz resolution, Silver Chrome

This product is exactly what I was aiming to get, a fair priced, high quality studio microphone which is well built and boy does that just describe this mic or what!. The build is fantastic, three sturdy, fully adjustable legs that move directly upwards to sit flush with microphone head to ensure a safe and compact journey if you were taking it on the go, which brings me to another key thing about this microphone, compact, this microphone is, when fully stood up is just higher than a normal sized coffee mug which makes it excellent for a portable microphone to use on the go. The microphone has a very nice look to it, the mesh is fantastic, really well made and cuts down the volume of the 'popping' when saying the letter p and so on. It comes with a microphone mute button which if in skype calls and someone walks in on your conversation, push of a button, the mic is muted and will be shown muted by a orange LED which is usually blue when the mic is on and not muted. Another LED is inside which is red, if you are recording vocals or a guitar, anything really, the mic will tell you if the sound is distorting by popping up a red led every time the sound is distorted. There is a headphone point in the back which enables you to listen to your voice etc. through obviously, your headphones, in which the turning button on the front comes in handy to turn up and down the volume of the sound into the headphones not the mic volume, the mic volume needs to be adjusted within your windows sound options if using a PC like myself. The microphone doesn't come with any software that you need to install, it really is just a plug and use microphone, once detected by e.g Windows, the microphone will be smartly listed as Samson Meteor Mic. I think overall this microphone is absolutely fantastic and deserves to be owned by anyone looking for a fair priced, high quality mic. I this review clears up a lot of questions people might have with the product. If you would like to know more about this product from a daily user, comment within this review and I shall get back to you. If you would like to hear how the microphone sounds from a daily user with no added effects, check [...] for a live show I might be doing or comment and I will sort out a way for us to hear the quality such as using Skype etc. Happy shopping!

After doing some research and listening to the options online this microphone seemed like the best combination of price and sound quality. Another option was the Fifine K670 if you want to save some money (Also an excellent option but very subtly flatter sound). I thought an online sample of the Blue Snowball also sounded more electronic. Certainly for podcasting or videoconferencing the Meteor will do the job. The sound quality varies with how close it is to your mouth with the richest sound if you are within around 20cm, but perfectly decent sound at arm length. It is very sensitive so will pick up fan noise from a PC. I found when on the desk with my computer the fan noise was transmitted though the desk so it sounds better placed on a piece of foam or other insulation if you don't want to go for a mic boom arm. Also with the included USB lead there was a very slight whine audible on playback which was absent when using shorter, or better quality leads. Seems a bit of an oversight to supply a good quality microphone with suboptimal lead. Fortunately most people are likely to have other Mini USB leads around. The compact size is a bonus if you want to keep the microphone out of view and the quirky look is good. It feels solid and good quality. The legs can apparently be removed if you want to put it on another mount.

Positive: I'm no expert but I've always (for 40+ years) had excellent hi-fi speakers and I think I'm pretty discerning. Recordings of my voice both speaking and singing, listened to via my B&W 805 Diamonds, are amazing. I don't think any hobbyist could possibly be disappointed by this microphone. Another great plus-point is that the Meteor has a built-in headphone amp which does away with the problem of latency: you hear your voice at the same time as you speak or sing, without a delay. That makes a huge difference when you're trying to sing along to a backing track. It looks very cute and feels absolutely solid. Negatives: (1) My first one arrived DOA, which worries me a little, especially considering there are lots of complaints about reliability if you care to Google. The second one is working perfectly but for how long? (2) I wish you could fold the legs right down so that they turn into a grip, ie: a hand-held mic. That's a minor point but I think that Samson missed a trick. Conclusion: 1 point deducted for the fact I got a dud and that I don't know how long the new one will live. However, the sound quality is more than good enough for amateur/semi-pro use, and the price is amazing.

Edit: Its been 7 years, I'm still using this microphone. Been using it for a couple of months now and I really like this product. Definitely a 5 Star product. I purchased the Titanium Black variant of this Microphone to sit nicely with my Black and Red themed set up. It looks beautiful. The LED on the Microphone itself is Blue when active and Orange when muted. The LED itself can turn shades of purple right the way up to red when you talk into the Microphone. This is an indicator feature which helps you distance the Microphone appropriately. For instance if you talk loudly close to the Mic the LED will turn red. If you're too far away, it will remain blue. It also indicates direction by changing the LED colour n 1 of 8 directions. What a great feature! I use the Microphone primarily for Team Speak and Audio Recordings and it works great for those two things. I am not a singer and cannot comment on the Microphone for those purposes but it does seem to have a screw hole on its underside suggesting compatibility with a Microphone stand. My reason for purchasing a higher quality free-standing Mic is to rid my recordings from background noise, static etc. Despite my headset being decent, it just wan't up to par. This Microphone has certainly fixed that problem and the sound quality if great. There is a Headphone audio jack in the back of the Microphone as well as the USB cable connection. The Microphone itself is USB and only requires one USB port. There are no plugs or other cables. Just plug and play. 5 out of 5! Already recommended it twice.

This is a great microphone for use in podcasting, internet radio broadcasting or to get rough-cut vocals down. The clarity is second-to-none in this price range and is perfect for limited quality requirements - that's not to say that quality isn't up-to-scratch because most people who have little experience of studio-quality microphones probably won't be able to notice any difference. As a USB mic it's as easy to set up as simply plugging it in and letting Windows sort out the installation (using Windows 7). I cannot comment on using this with any other operating system but for this (now older) version of Windows it's so simple to install and use. Build quality is top-notch the metal body is solid and there must already be some wind protection inside the capsule because I've not had to use a pop-shield yet. I have a higher-spec mic for recording vocals to music but for laying down basic ideas on the laptop this is great. I also use it for podcasts and my internet radio show and it performs as good as if not better than anything else in this price range. If you're serious about getting the best quality for studio recording while maintaining a budget then look at AKG Perception 220 Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone which while more expensive offers even greater value and true studio-quality performance. It's an XLR unit and requires Phantom Power so you will need a soundcard that supports it in order to use with a PC. However the Samson Meteor ticks all the boxes as a portable, easy to use, quality piece of kit which is what I use it for.

Great looking and sturdy feeling microphone. You do get what you pay for in the build of the thing for sure as getting it out of the box scared it - it was cold as ice and heavy - exactly what I like about it. The microphone part of it is great aswell but it is a condenser microphone so it picks up anything that goes on in the room so I had to play with the setting just a tiny bit and it sounds wonderful and doesnt pick up much of whats not needed. What I will sure do to increase the quality even more is get a mic stand so it goes closer to my mouth so I can reduce the input and further away from any computer fans that it might be picking up. In general a great microphone that could have just a few more functions but at this price I am happy for what I got. And also the mute button has a click that is even more satisfying than my keyboard. Great product.

Stylistically, this is as good as you're going to get for sub-£50. The folding legs which act as a stand are excellent, and can even be removed by unscrewing if necessary. The microphone gives a very clear sound which is great for Skype and this is the limit of what I'm currently using it for. All in all I'm very satisfied with what this microphone does. The reason for four stars instead of five. Firmware, and support, or lack of it within the UK. I experienced the red light syndrome associated with these microphones. This means, on a Mac, that the mic is only recognised as an Advanced USB Device and not as the Samson Meteor Microphone. Though the microphone still functioned as per usual on Skype for example, as I use dictation quite a bit this was a nightmare as I had to re-input the microphone as an input source, and it went from being an approved device, to an unknown device. Nightmare. Trawling through Samson's own website I found nothing. I then went to Youtube and found very little until stumbling onto a video in Italian which featured a page on Samson's website I'd never seen before. This only offers a Windows solution, so as I have a Mac I gave the microphone to a friend, who followed all the instructions, returning me with a Microphone with a blue light! The mic is now recognised by my system again, and it's all sorted. Google 'Meteor Mic Fix for Windows' and choose the first result, if you want to fix the red light issue and return to blue heaven. For those with specific Windows 10 issues, you'll also find a link on the Samson page to another with instructions.

I use this for YouTube videos and It's perfect, super easy to set up and you can set it a meter away and it picks everything up perfectly. It looks really nice and is made from metal so is nice and weighted. The cable is nice and long too around 1.5/2meters long and comes in a nice small box with a carry pouch. Audio quality is amazingly clear but I did have a problem with buzzing when I connected it to a USB hub first, as soon as I connected directly to my PC it worked fine. You can listen to what you're recoding directly from the mic as it has a jack or from your PC. TIP: as soon as you plug this in it will change your audio setup, so audio in and out will automatically default to the mic. If you want to change your defaults (via win 7) Control Panel > Hardware & Sound > Sound. Click the speakers or headset you want for output and select Set Default from the bottom. Now Select the Samson mic and select the down pointing arrow next to Set Default and select Default Communication Device, Ok your changes. Unfortunately you'll need to do this each time you plug the mic in

Se siente muy resistente y toma muy bien el sonido, hay que hacer unos cambios en la sensibilidad pero es de esperarse dependiendo de la computadora.

After less than 15 months, the blue led is no longer working, i found it's a known common issue related to losing the firmware and it doesn't have a solid fix. The mic is now useless. Samson has to find a way to refresh the firmware or provide a more reliable product .. very disappointed.

I purchased this mic to use primarily in a home office while on WebEx/Zoom calls. Previously I was using a MS Lifechat LX3000 headset, and the mic quality was excellent. However as a senior member of a very technical team, I felt like a teenaged gamer wearing a headset on camera while my peers all used their integrated mics. Everyone agreed that I sounded much better than them, however I felt slightly less professional. Now with the Samson Meteor, it sits out of camera on my desk, facing me, and I don't have to wear an unprofessional headset anymore. My team says I sound even better than before, and because the cardioid pickup pattern really only captures the audio in front of the microphone, my household family noises aren't heard as much as before. The only drawback and it is a so tiny I almost don't want to mention it, the location of the mute button. All of the applications I use to hold remote meetings have their own mute function, but I don't like to use them, as I am sometimes looking at another window or typing on a CLI elsewhere, and don't want to have to "click" back into the meeting app and un-mute myself to make a comment. The MS Lifechat had an inline mute button and when I muted myself nobody on the call could tell, it didn't make a noise. The Meteor makes a tiny noise when you mute it, mostly because the mute button is located right below the mic pickup. A co-worker said they could hear it, but only when I specifically asked them to listen for it, as a test. Since then nobody has ever commented on the sound, and it's such a small thing to even bring up. All in all I am very happy with this microphone and would recommend it to anyone. My son uses a Blue Yeti and this honestly sounds way better, and it's half the size.

Excellent micro pour pas cher. La qualité du son est là, je l'utilise pour du gaming, sur discord, skype et toutes ces appli, impecable. Le volume est réglé sur 10% et le son est top, presque pas de souffle, il est très sensible de base. En le montant a 75 on entend tout se qui se passe dans la pièce. Tout en métal, il paraît solide. Le bouton mute est très pratique. Du très bon, agréablement surpris par la marque.

Micrófono con una calidad muy buena, yo no lo uso de forma profesional pero el resultado de la grabación resulta muy nítida, tiene interruptor de encendido/apagado con piloto de señalización, regulador de volumen y una conexión trasera para auriculares que resulta muy cómoda es compacto y robusto ya que es metálico y sus patas se pueden regular e incluso plegar para transportarlo sin que apenas ocupe espacio. Resumiendo, si quieres un micrófono bueno, bonito y barato éste cumple a la perfección.