Review: Samson C01U USB Condenser
Posted Thursday, March 27th, 2008 3:43 pm by Dave Moyer
SUMMARY:
Price: $169.99 list, around $80 at online retailers
The good: Fairly cheap, good quality audio. Powered through USB so no other hardware is required. Good for the low budget, hobby podcaster.
The bad: Can’t be used with any other hardware, as it’s USB. The fact that the microphone is USB causes some latency and may make it hard to monitor for more inexperienced broadcasters. Less than stellar off axis noise rejection, preamp software can freeze up.
Bottom line: The C01U is a good mic for podcasters looking to upgrade their setup without spending too much money, and could be helpful in tight spaces where standard equipment wouldn’t fit. However, the lack of features and extra sensitivity of this microphone could easily be a turn off to more experienced podcasters.
REVIEW:
Samson’s first USB condenser is still one of the most popular mics in that category currently on the market, and is often a common choice for podcasters looking for an inexpensive setup that yields satisfactory audio quality, just behind the Snowball microphone in popularity.
When bought alone, the C01U ships in a plastic package, sporting a sticker that it’s “perfect for podcasting!”. The package includes a nylon drawstring bag that does absolutely nothing more than protecting the microphone from dust, and a 10 foot USB cable. It also includes a standard mounting clip which attaches the mic’s screw-on connector to a stand. This microphone is fairly heavy, weighing in at just a little over a pound. Proportionately, it really isn’t like any other condenser microphone you’ll see. The actual microphone portion is fairly small, compared to the rest of the body housing the processing equipment for the USB connection. It has a small LED light on the front that illuminates when the mic is connected and functioning. The C01U also is shipped in more expensive packages including stands, software, and/or shock mounts.
I found the noise factor of the C01U to be a little bit dismal. During some tests, a small hum would be picked up, and the off-axis noise rejection is exactly the opposite. It doesn’t reject anything, so keyboard and mouse clicks show up very strongly in unprocessed recordings. However, it sounded fairly good for a stand-alone microphone. It has a fairly flat tone, and doesn’t have much proximity effect until you’re almost eating it. Popping was a problem, but moving the mic a bit off axis and above in a standard plosion-rejection position seemed to do the trick.
The C01U uses a special preamp download from Samson’s website that they call SoftPre. It allows you to amplify the microphone just as you would on hardware, right down to the texture on the slider. It also includes a phase inversion switch and low cut filter, but neither seemed to do a very good job. It’s an okay program, but it froze up a bit when recording and isn’t the most convenient way to adjust this microphone’s volume. I tend to like hardware setups particularly more in this area, as they give you much more control.
Overall, this is a pretty good microphone. The price and usability makes it an easy candidate for a quick recording in a hotel room, or to be used in a space where mixing hardware and other equipment isn’t possible or wanted. The noise factor makes it low on my list for professional recording studios, but having a quick and easy setup like this that yields audio of this quality makes it a great choice for a podcast wanting fairly good audio at a low price.
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