Shure MV51 Digital Condenser Microphone

I work from home and take a lot of phone calls and web meetings using Skype, GoToMeeting, WebEx and Zoom. I also do a lot of web presentations through powerpoint and software. I'm probably not the average consumer for this mic, since I wanted a really great setup to handle conference calls. My bluetooth and usb headsets were irritating me in regards to voice quality. Maybe I'm similar to a streamer?I tested it by connecting to my 2018 MacBook Pro and using QuickTime and Zoom to record simple audio clips.Like all the other reviewers say, this mic is built like a tank. Weighs 1lb in an all metal casing, really nice input and output jacks, touch panel is responsive and everything just feels like it was built with care and pride.Voice quality. I have this about 5-6" away from my mouth, with 50% gain, in neutral mode and my voice sounds really clear. Finally a setup that I can comfortably say it does exactly what I was looking for, which is crystal clear audio. And by crystal clear, I mean crystal clear to a fault.Since this is a condenser mic, it will literally pick up everything that remotely resembles a sound wave. My toddler banging toys around the hallway or whining? Yep. Someone washing their hands? Yep. Talking in the other room? Yep. Birds chirping outside while my window is closed? Yep. BUT my voice is still super clear! Yay!So how to remove the unwanted background noise from a condenser mic when using it in real-time? Remember, I can't do post processing because I'm on a live conference call, not making a recording. Some reviewers will say lower the gain and get intimate with your mic, like really intimate. Um, no thanks. I'm on conference calls 4-5 hours a day. Others will say ditch the condenser mic and get a dynamic mic with XLR connection, run it through a USB audio interface into your computer, and problem solved. Um, no thanks. I don't have the Taj Mahal of desks to add more boxes on it.Solution for noise cancellation? Add a noise gate app, which is a bit of software on your computer that takes your audio, runs it through its algorithm to eliminate unwanted background noise, and outputs a cleaner version. I found one called Krisp AI, and as of May 2019 it is only available in Macs, but there are other noise gate apps available in Windows as well. Basically, under my mac's input and output I have Krisp available as a selection, so in the Krisp app I choose the Shure MV51 as both the output and input but in my web conference app I choose Krisp. And I kid you not, this app worked miracles. And by miracles I mean I was doing a test run and my 2.5 year old started crying in the bathroom next door because he fell in the toilet (still potty training) and my recording picked up zero crying. Zero. And oh yeah it doesn't pick up my keyboard or mouse clicks that are 3" from the mic. Safe to say, a noise gate was the way to go for me.Conclusion? Love this mic. Lots of great USB mics available out there, specially in the $150-200 range. I mainly chose this one because I like the look of it, had good reviews, and there was a touch sensitive mute button. Mostly because there was a touch sensitive mute button. Seriously. But I'm glad I went with this one anyway.

So as a fairly new live streamer I was pushed by friend in the Gaming Content creation towards a specific company, and I picked said mic as my " Starting mic", everyone I know was like once our comfy you should stick with them and step up to the next level lets call it the " Sweati " lol, anyway I was not content going that direction instead I recalled working as an intern at a Radio station in high school and being exposed to good quality audio equipment.Which brought me to Shure I always loved the Super 55 but as I don't want to have to play with XLR and a mixer and the possible need for a cloud lighter etc, I started looking at the USB mics looking for something that gave me the same vibe as the Super 55 , then I saw it the MV51 the fact that it looked so much like the old school shure model 51 sonodyne dynamic microphone sold me almost immediately.So fast forward to the unboxing I love how well packed it was and once you get it in your hand the metal construction feels like I should have paid so much more for this mic, hooking it up and integrating it in to OBS was a breeze, my first live stream my viewers loved the sound quality the built in DSP settings really helped to bring my voice to where I had wanted it all along, I not only get comments on the sound but everyone LOVES the look of this mic, its different its not the " Meta " and I adore that about this mic.My only complaint and its not worth giving it any less then 5 stars in the length of the cable, thankfully I had a rather long cable that worked perfectly fine. I can not say enough wonderful things about this mic , thank you Shure for helping me take my live stream to the next level!

The media could not be loaded. I’m super happy! It is heavy in the hands and I LIKE that! It’s really simple to use. The audio quality on my Zoom meetings have been dramatically improved.Before I started using it for my Zoom meetings I tested it. I tried all settings and played a lot with the mic gain. For me , it works using it with the speech option and gain set to 5. When I use it with the gain set to 6 my voice is clearer and deeper but it has too much noise for my taste. So I set it to 5 and was more than pleased with the audio quality.How did I test it? I used the voice memo app in my Mac. And I started recording saying something like “this is a test with the mic in guitar setting and gain set to 6...” and I continued changing the settings while still recording. After I tried all settings, I knew that the speech option was the best for me. After that, I continued recording my voice and testing the different gain levels. It was like “now testing speech with gain in five, (switched it to six), now testing speech with the gain set to six( or four, three...). It was a little of work but I enjoyed it because I know how people is going to listen to my voice.

The sound card in this is amazing. The recording quality is crystal clear, and the output is superb. I have a 400w Yamaha home theater amp connected to my pc. I had considered new speakers because the sound was not as crisp as I wanted. I changed to the output channel of the mic and it's a totally different sound! It's crystal clear and scales without distortion. I bought it for the mic, which is amazing, but I fell in love with the sound card.