SAMSON Q2U USB/XLR Dynamic Microphone Recording and Podcasting Pack (Black)

I'm in love with my Samson Q2U! It works great for virtual meetings, podcast recording, narration, etc. It's not a professional mic, but it's as close as you can get to one for under $100. The fact that it comes with an XLR cable is just a bonus, the USB connection works waaaaay better than other USB mics I've tried. I recently used a the Fifine Metal Condenser Recording Microphone (best seller on Amazon) and was sadly disappointed. While it worked for audio recordings, it did not work well for live virtual meetings. It kept cutting in and out completely so people only heard half of what I said. I've also used the Mikme silver for recording, which is much more portable and doesn't require any cords. While the Mikme works great for wireless recording to an iPhone, it does not compare to the sound quality of the Samson Q2U and comes at a cost of $300. The only complaint I have with the Samson Q2U is that when I use headphones through the mic to hear my voice and the system audio (other participants, etc.) there is a lot of digital feedback, almost like their is a poor connection. The good news is that none of that sound comes through on the other end (whether you're recording audio or streaming in a live meeting / game). Overall, best mic I've found yet for under a $100.

This microphone is an excellent choice for just about any use case. It can connect directly to your PC via USB, or to other professional caliber audio equipment vial the included XLR cable. The video shows the excellent audio response, and gives a quick look at the mic in-hand. It feels substantial, and picks up audio cleanly, with minimal popping.

I'm fairly impressed with this microphone. I plugged it into my laptop (a Macbook Air, but running OpenSUSE Tumbleweed because I really dislike MacOS). It was automatically detected and picked as the default input device. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out why sound wasn't coming out before I realized there's an on/off switch. Sigh. Turning it on didn't work. More sigh. Turns out, it needs to be turned on when it's plugged in, then the on/off switch works as a mute just like you'd expect. I've played with it some both as a digital source and an "analog" mic, and it works, again, exactly like you'd expect. It picks up my voice really well, and doesn't pick up any background noise. I'm just in a cluttered office here, not some professional sound studio. I'm simply using USB, not the XLR cable and a real mixer. And it works exceedingly well. It has some real mass to it, so it feels like it's well made. And the volume up/down buttons Just Work on my Linux machine. The audio monitor output also works well; I plugged in my Sennheiser PXC-550 headphones using their wired connection, and not only does all the background noise I can hear (several computers with fans running, etc) go away, but I get what seems to be zero-latency feedback of my voice. I'm quite happy about that. For the fun of it, I moved over to a Windows machine and tested the same - it works just as well there. But who wants to do anything important with Windows? :) Overall, I'm happy with this. Off to record some training material now, and maybe even start up a podcast!

The Samson Q2U sounds really good when I tested it in recordings and when chatting with friends on Discord. I have it fully set up and everything on my Desk (as shown in the picture attached). I haven't had any real issues with it since I bought it at the beginning of November 2020 outside of one issue which is the slider to turn it on and off recently not working properly. I've used it a good bit so I don't have to deal with pressing 2 Hotkeys to mute myself on Roll20 and OBS whenever I play D&D with my friends (or in general when I'm feeling precautious of my Mic being on while in classes). The issue itself is basically when I go and slide it to turn Off, it doesn't actually turn Off. The Samson Q2U is still collecting audio from me. From what I can tell, it just attempts to suppress the audio to the best of its ability but without filters, the audio can come through at low volume sounding very faint which is not good since you're not really mute at all obviously. It's mainly apparent if no filters are applied to it through digital means (maybe through Equalizer APO? haven't tried it) and unwanted noise comes in for others to hear. There's a video attached to this review (I hope) that shows how the Microphone sounds like and also a demonstration of what I actually mean by the Microphone issue. Moving on from that, however, because I know some people may be confused by the Audio Jack on the Microphone like I was, the whole purpose is so you can attach headphones to it and it acts as a Playback Device and the Up & Down Arrow act as buttons to mess with the Volume Percentage on your PC in general (even without plugging in the headphones to the Samson Q2U). Nothing more than that but I hear it's more in sync when listening to yourself by plugging it in through there (which I cannot confirm myself). I think it's a good buy but beware of any issues me and others have mentioned since that is something you may come across. Issues mentioned by others however are something I haven't encountered as of yet. If you're not as picky as me, you can try and find the Silver or Grey Version for cheaper on Amazon or another marketplace.

I love this thing. I cannot gush about this thing enough. I used a fancy and expensive xlr mic for a long time but the sound software, drivers, and audio interface were a constant and tedious balancing act to get the perfect sound. That is the ideal setup for recordings but it was often a nightmare and a half to make sure everything was tweaked correctly when just calling friends or playing games online. This mic offers the best of both worlds. I have the option to run it through the fancy stuff via xlr for recordings or just plugging it into the USB and calling friends without worrying about software settings, or if the audio interface is making a funny sound, or worrying about all the open sound software changing the performance of your game, or the processing stuff causing a delay if you need close to real time vocal call outs. I would also recommend this over mics like the blue yeti (which I also own). Blue makes good mics, but it is a condenser mic. Condenser mics pick up EVERYTHING, which is great in a very nicely controlled recording setting, but very bad with keyboards, mice, roommates, if you have AC/heat running, a window open, anyone in the entire house talking at any point in time. This is a dynamic mic. It is less sensitive overall, and tries to pick up sounds only from about half a foot in front of it while being less sensitive to sounds behind and to the side of it. It will still pick up some background noise, but nowhere near to the extreme as a condenser mic. If background noise is a problem, you can use one of the many, many, many softwares to cancel out unwanted noise in real time. If you want the most simple and idiot-proof noise blocker without installing super complicated sound engineering software with crazy NASA style control panel settings, try "noise blocker" by "closed loop labs". You "record" a noise like your AC/heater/fan or keyboard and mouse clacking, and it will "delete" those noises in real time. Your friends will thank you.

I love this mic it has amazing sound quality and noise cancelation. I use it to stream or just when playing video games with family and friends. Very durable have used it for a about a year now and its amazing and best of all affordable and amazing for the price range. Comes with a usb cable and a Xlr cable Definetly recomend.

Good product easy setup.

Over a year into my podcast with this mic and haven’t had any issues. We’ve been complimented since episode 1 on the exceptional audio quality. I record in a pretty bare bedroom and have no issues with echo or dead sound. Was recording via USB when this pic was taken, but have since purchased and interface and migrated to XLR with no issues. This mic is worth every penny and I recommend it to everyone. Buy it. Add to cart. You won’t regret it.

After tons of research this was the best mic in sound quality, mic quality, adjustability, stability, clarity, and performance.

A great microphone for my editing and vlogging, easy to use and set up.

The USB function makes it a hybrid for XLR and USB/Computer output which is pretty handy. Good sound quality for this price.

After reading many reviews and watching lots of review videos, and finally experiencing it for myself, I can now say without any doubt that the Samson Q2U is the best budget Mic out there today. If you are starting off, and you want something affordable to kick start your journey in podcasting and streaming, this is your gadget. Certainly the best value for money. I am so glad I got this. And oh, I got it like 4 or 5 days ahead of scheduled date, so thank you Amazon team :-)

Product received as described. Microphone seems sturdy and durable. Need to experiment with different environments to see how recording quality affects.