As an newbie videographer, probably the most constant and recurrent challenges I’ve confronted has been audio high quality. The video high quality was fairly easy: Simply file with my iPad’s back-facing digital camera. However the sound high quality when recording this fashion is horrible. It’s each overly delicate, selecting up noises far and close to and excessively quiet, with no technique to successfully improve achieve whereas sustaining constancy. To get by, I had nabbed my PC’s microphone that I take advantage of for issues like Zoom and Discord. This mic was enough, however nonetheless omni-directional, that means it picked up every little thing else in the home, from the dishwasher to folks blowing their noses. So when Monoprice reached out, in search of a evaluation of the Darkish Matter Sentry Microphone, I used to be intrigued, to say the least. Let’s have a look at the nice, the dangerous, and the ugly for this product.
Be aware: I’ll check with the Darkish Matter Sentry Microphone by Monoprice because the DMS in the remainder of the article, because of the size of the identify of the product.
The Good
Value
The worth of the DMS is difficult to beat. The Blue Yeti is the closest competitor, which runs at $129.99 MSRP. The DMS runs $99.99 MSRP. However for those who examine the product numbers, options, and product photographs with the Monoprice Vocal Condenser Microphone on Amazon, it’s clear that the 2 merchandise are one and the identical. This itemizing makes the Vocal Condenser a extra reasonably priced possibility, costing a diminutive $50 on Amazon, making it 40% of the price of the Blue Yeti, and 50% of the MSRP for the branded itemizing on Monoprice’s web site.
Ease
The mic is sort of immediately absolutely practical, as long as your drivers are updated. On certainly one of my computer systems, I plugged within the mic, and instantly was ready to make use of it. On one other, I needed to replace a single driver (which my PC did robotically) and the mic was absolutely practical in lower than 30 seconds.
Kind
The DMS has a button on the underside which lets you cycle the LEDs via totally different colours, which lets you barely customise the texture of your desktop. The mic, its housing, and the spiderleg stand are all jet black, so the lights give a splash of shade to the design. Lights within the housing are affected, in addition to the polar sample indicators on prime of the mic.
Performance
The important thing options of the DMS embrace 4 polar patterns, permitting you to pick which instructions the microphone accepts sound from, supplying you with management over how and what the microphone picks up. To cycle between them, merely push the button on prime, and the LEDs will point out which sample is engaged.
- The cardioid polar sample lights up a single LED, indicating the “entrance” of the microphone, and it rejects sounds from the again and sides.
- The bidirectional polar sample lights the back and front LEDs, indicating the microphone is recording back and front, like one would wish when interviewing somebody.
- The stereo polar sample highlights the left and proper facet LEDs and information from the edges, making it simpler to file stereo audio for initiatives like ASMR recordings.
- Lastly, when all 4 LEDS are lit, the omnidirectional perform is engaged.
The cardioid polar sample is the one I take advantage of probably the most, and it’s exceptionally helpful. I don’t fear about different folks shifting round the home, together with folks working, cats getting as much as hassle, and even conversations and calls. This simplifies my video modifying course of, as a result of I can normally skip the noise filtering steps to take away background noises.
The Unhealthy
The first concern for utility when utilizing the DMS is the omnidirectional polar sample. Once I’ve tried to make use of this perform, I find yourself with a recording of every little thing in my home, and typically outdoors noises and even the neighbors. If I flip down the achieve sufficient to filter out this noise, the audio is sort of too quiet to make use of in any respect. A extra skilled content material creator could possibly make extra use of this perform, however I merely haven’t found out a technique to make this work for me.
The Ugly
LEDs
The primary ugly issue is the LEDs. The LEDs are stunning colours, however they’re manner too shiny. There isn’t any technique to scale back the brightness, and there are a restricted variety of shade choices. This could imply it’s troublesome for some folks to focus when the mic is lit up. Fortunately, you can disable the LEDs altogether, which is a saving function.
The second situation is the spiderleg stand. The microphone itself is about 2 inches throughout. The stand, nevertheless is about 5 inches in diameter. Right here’s a graphic as an example my concern.
The diameter distinction between 2 and 5 inches is important. A 5-inch diameter circle is greater than 4x the house taken on a desktop. You may, in fact, get round this by utilizing a special stand or increase, however one shouldn’t want to purchase a separate piece of kit to get full performance from the primary product. That stated, in case you have a moderate-to-large desk, this gained’t be a priority in any respect. Working at my studio desk, nevertheless, the actual property is treasured, so it’s a concern for me. That is solely a matter of comfort, which is why it’s within the “Ugly” class, as an alternative of the “Unhealthy.”
Lastly, the USB-C charging port isn’t deep sufficient to permit the cable to plug in flush. This isn’t actually a priority for those who’re utilizing the spiderleg stand, as a result of the cutout within the stand hides the port. Nevertheless, for those who decide to make use of every other stand or increase, you’re going to have the eyesore of a half-plugged cable to deal with. Added to that is the priority of dropping or hitting your mic and having the port or cable break. Once more, this isn’t a priority with the spiderleg stand as a result of it’s fairly protecting, but it surely does imply that for those who don’t like that stand, you will have to deal with this situation.
TL;DR
The Darkish Matter Sentry Microphone by Monoprice is an exceptionally reasonably priced various to the Blue Yeti microphone, when evaluating MSRP. The microphone information excessive constancy audio with an adjustable achieve, customizable polar settings, and distinctive cardioid and stereo recording. The omnidirectional polar setting is usually a bit oversensitive, however the high quality of the opposite polar settings makes up for this. Finally, the Amazon price-point of simply $50 justifies the few sub-optimal options, and it’s a nice start line for content material creators particularly. Aside from video recording, this mic would excel at ASMR, meditation, and narration recording, because of the highly effective stereo and cardioid polar sample features.
Disclaimers: Monoprice despatched a unit of this product for this author to check, consider, and evaluation. The producer has not seen or influenced the contents of this publish. Hyperlinks on this article embrace affiliate hyperlinks, which can provide compensation to the writer of the publish for those who make purchases after clicking on stated hyperlinks.
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