Best Mic Under $170 – Microphone Shootout

If you had $170 or less to spend on a microphone For your content creation what would you Choose between the king B2 the nt1 Signature series or the Lu LCT 240 pro At the time of this recording the ne King B retails for $169.99 the road nt1 Signature Series Retails for $19 and the L LCT 240 Pro retails for $119 us however in my personal Experience when I wanted the shock mount I had to spend an extra $39 and when I Wanted the magnetic pop filter that Mounts onto the shock mount that was Another $25 which ultimately brings you Up close to $160 now I've heard from other people That they found better package deals However when I purchased it it was not Packaged in that manner this is the neat King B2 going through the roadter duel No processing turned on and there won't Be any in post production either now I'm Going to switch to the road nt1 Signature Series now I'm back on the Road nt1 Signature Series and here's how It sounds the microphone is Silky Smooth In my opinion I love the flat response That you get from a road N1 any variety Road N1 and it does have a great build Quality as well not as stellar and Dynamic as the N King B2 but still Excellent one thing you will have to

Think about is this pop filter around it So I like to just keep it off to the Side just a little bit and still talk Straight into the capsule but here is How the nt1 signature series sounds in Comparison to the neat King B2 now I'm Going to switch over to the LD LC CT 240 Pro when it comes to the look I would Say the least amount of heft out of all The microphones it would be the LCT 240 Pro but it still looks gorgeous I just Love the structure of the shock mount And the Magnetic pop filter and coming In at the lowest price out of all of Them for the base microphone anyway the L LCT 240 does not block your camera View at all yet it still looks gorgeous On screen in my opinion but how do you Like the sound in comparison to the road Nt1 Signature Series now I'm going to Circle back around to the ne King B2 so You can kind of get a taste of this Compared to that as you got the road nt1 Signature Series side by side with the King be we'll do that with this Microphone just so you have a fresh Comparison back on the neat King B and Here's how it sounds in comparison to The L LCT 240 Pro how do you like the Sound in comparison they do have Distinctly different sounds but which One do you lean towards definitely chime In in the comments down below now There's a couple other things I want to

Talk about when comparing these three Microphones one it would be the pop Filter for each of them this is the Honeycomb pop filter for the king B2 but I noticed in some of my videos that Explosives will still get around This pop filter and into the audio Recording so that's something to keep in Mind I also noticed that with the Magnetic pop filter on the L that it was Having the same issue because there's Just not that much space in Between the capsule and the pop filter So I was getting wind burst on the Capsule in some of the videos that I do With that microphone it's something to Think about about whereas with the road Yes you kind of get the big gudy pop Filter but I did not have that same Experience with the road because the Distance you getting between the pop Filter and the head of the microphone The capsule that you're going to be Speaking into you got that distance and Then the pop filter does a good job of Mitigating plosives it's not a deal Breaker on any of these microphones but I'm going to take off the honeycomb Because I've heard people say that the Sound gets different when you take off The honeycomb pop filter all right now There is no pop filter on the ne King B2 So I apologize if there are any plosives Getting into this video but I just

Wanted to do a quick test to see if the Characteristics of the microphone seem To change and in the inar monitors these Are not great in your monitors but they Are pretty decent it does sound like a Tonal shift now if I just hold this up Here yes the characteristics shift quite A bit then if I take it off it does seem To alter the Characteristics when it's on versus when It's off this is with the honeycomb in Front of it and this is with the Honeycomb off of it it could be just my Ears playing tricks on me but in my Opinion it does sound like it Alters the Characteristics of the king B2 chime in In the comments down below what did you Hear on the road N1 I dropped down the Pop filter so I apologize if some Plosives get through to the capsule but Here's how it sounds when you have the Pop filter pivoted down and out of the Way this is the sound you would get when You remove that from the equation to me It doesn't seem to change the sound Characteristics like it did in my ears With the King B2 probably because this Is just some Thin nylon and when we pop It back up it seems to sound the same to Me Pretty much exactly the same in my Opinion again what are your ears telling You chime in in the comments down below Now I've taken the pop filter off the L

LCT 240 so I apologize again if there's Some plosives getting through on here Cuz this is a really wide openen mesh Grill so it's almost impossible to not Talk directly into it and have some wind Burst going in however is it changing The characteristics of this microphone Now the pop filter is on do you notice Anything different with the pop filter On now the pop filter is off here's how It sounds in comparison to when it's on And it's got the cool magnetic Attachment so when you slide it on it Clicks into place now it's back on and Here's how it sounds another thing you Have to keep in mind is the self noise Of each of the microphones the L LCT 240 Has a self noise of 19 DB a weighted While the king be 2 has a self noise of 6 DB a weighted which is phenomenal but Even more phenomenal is the road nt1 Signature series with four DBA weighted Self noise that's outstanding at any Price so I'm going to keep the Microphone open gain matched and I will Do the L LCT 240 Pro first the king B2 Second and the Nt1 last you should hear it Loudest and then tail off and then tail Off a little more that's how it should Go for that test but we'll see and I'll Boost it in post just so we can hear the Results Clearly with my high impedance

Headphones phones on listening back the Kingb2 sounded like it had some extra Resonance or something going on when I Was listening back to it so I'm going to Have to look into that as when it first Came out there was a grounding issue What are your ears telling you chime in In the comments down below where would You rank these microphones which one Would be first which one would be second And which one would be third in my Personal opinion there's not a loser in The bunch I would be fine using any of These microphones for my content Creation if that was all I had I'd be Absolutely okay with the King B2 the L LCT 240 and the road Nt1 Signature Series I do feel like they Have their own different sound to them I've always felt like the king be 2 has Had some sort of processed sound to it Even though it's unprocessed through the Channel I feel like the road N1 one Signature series is just flat silky Smooth this how I've always looked at This microphone it's just smooth what You're putting in is what you're getting Out and it there's no harshness Whatsoever I think it is a great Balanced microphone sounds really smooth In my opinion probably potentially the Smoothest of the three and when it comes To the LCT 240 it's just like a little Bit more of a

Than the nt1 but still really smooth so I kind of go back and forth back and Forth because in my opinion it would be Between these two for best overall now If I had to go which is more balanced it Would be the nt1 giving me the best Balance of blocking explosives blocking Handling noise sounding smooth etc etc I'm going to put the LCT 240 on the boom One more time listen critically all Right now I'm back on the LCT 240 Pro And there's just like a little extra Punch in my opinion just in my inar Monitors here I'm going to use my low Impedance beay dynamic Let me preface this by saying there's Definitely not a loser in the bunch After listening back I think the more Punch would go to the lit I think it Just has some little Extra going on that just makes it sound A Little More Alive than the nt1 but the Smoothest of the bunch in my opinion is Easily the nt1 signature series and then The king b 2 just has its own unique Sound I've said it a million times it Almost sounds like it's compressed in Some form or fashion even though I know I'm not doing any processing and stuff It almost sounds like a processed sound But it sounds great nonetheless but I Think out of the three I think I would Lean towards the L LCT 240 in first the Nt1 signature series in second and the

King B2 in third and that is not to take Away from any of these microphones I Think they're all fantastic which one Would I be most comfortable probably Using more often probably because of the Low self noise and the smooth sound and The better pop filter probably the nt1 Signature series but if it was purely For sound it would be the L LCT 240 Pro And if it was purely for look it would Be the ne King B2 how would you place Them based on sound first and then how Would you place them as an overall Purchase because there's more to take Into consideration sometimes than just Pure Sound