Audio Technica ATH 2020 VS Blue Yeti

[Static]

Hello,

Just got me some awesome headphones (Audio Technica M50X), and I'm currently only missing a microphone. Both microphones are well known to be great quality as far as I know, but I'm not quite sure which one would be more suited for my needs. I'm mainly using Skype and Team Speak for communications, and I'd like to have my voice be heard very clearly, without any background noise and whatnot. What do you guys suggest?

Thanks.

[DeltrusDisc]

You should give the Blue Snowball a chance. Here's one of my own most recent examples:

(Unrelated to computers for a subject material in the video, but it's a good example of the mic's capabilities, especially when it comes to just simple conversational use. Watching the video, imagine the microphone a little bit over to the left, so my right (guy in green) and Mike over to my left is probably about 5 or 6 feet away from the mic and you still here him rather clearly.) Enjoy!



I often also Skype with a friend of mine who is a huge audiophile and we both have Snowballs and we both love them. :P Bit of a better deal also, the ones you're looking at are screaming for musical use.

[Tradewind]

I personally have the ATH 2020USB and from what people said after I bought it, it's clearly awesome. But I have no real way of confirming it lol...but 30 mumble users can't be that wrong!

[DeltrusDisc]

I personally have the ATH 2020USB and from what people said after I bought it, it's clearly awesome. But I have no real way of confirming it lol...but 30 mumble users can't be that wrong!

I will say I had my eye on it, but being able to get the Snowball for like $70 was a better deal for me, at that time at least. :P

[Static]

Very helpful video, Deltrus. Thank you! Guess I can't complain about the audio quality after I watched your video. I'm actually leaning more towards the Snowball now. I found two colors; Black and White. Which one do you have? I think I'll get the white one since I got my white PC desk yesterday.

@Tradewind, thanks for your response. A friend of mine is also using the 2020 and he sounds very clearly when talking with him on Skype. Off topic: Who's the guy on your avatar?

[DeltrusDisc]

Mine is chrome. :P

Older picture, but gets the point across:

[Tradewind]

I will say I had my eye on it, but being able to get the Snowball for like $70 was a better deal for me, at that time at least. :P

Don't doubt that, the 2020 is certainly not cheap. Even less cheap when I bought it D:

Off topic: Who's the guy on your avatar?

Mel Brooks in Blazing Saddles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzbhbetwYFU

[BruceG87]

Blue Yeti user here.

When I bought it, it was on sale and I had some amazon gift cards (courtesy of my bank) which made the purchase at the time all the more sweeter. I use it in combination with a $20 desk mounted scissor stand.

Having said that, here are some crucial things that anyone considering buying a Yeti should know.

SIZE
The Yeti is absolutely huge compared to the ATH-2020, and heavy as well. This is important to consider if you are going to purchase any third party mount/stand setup. Most shock mounts will not fit the Blue Yeti, though it's not hard to find ones that do. The weight can possibly present an issue as well with cheaper scissor stands and possibly your preference on how you mount/use your mic in combination with said stand.

BACKGROUND SOUND
The Blue Yeti is going to pickup every little bit of background noise even when set to Cardioid. If you are not using push-to-talk on your applications, you WILL need a noise gate else your audience will hear every bit of your keyboard/mouse with absolute clarity. Personally, I run a basic noise gate application for skype and OBS. After a bit of tweaking, I feel the noise gate works flawlessly.

On the topic of background noise..this is, by far, less of an issue when using the ATH 2020. Make no mistake, both are amazing mics. While many trade off arguing that one is better then the other, the general consensus is that any difference in sound would be marginal at best.

OVERALL
I listened to dozens of side by side comparisons of the ATH-2020 vs the Blue Yeti. Overall, both sounded great but I personally favored the sound presented by the Blue Yeti. Still, I wish it was not so damn big. The background noise was painful at first, until I setup my noise gate making that issue non-existent. Then of course I picked up my mic on sale, and paid nothing out of pocket for my mic/stand setup. All in all, I am extremely pleased.

Armed with my knowledge and experience today, if I had to purchase a whole new mic/stand setup with no discounts available.. I would buy an ATH-2020 in a heartbeat. If anything, for the convenience of not having to setup a noise gate, sheer size and weight.

[mojo6912]

Hmm, you have peaked my interest. What noise gate are you using exactly?

[Gaebryel Quintyne]

I know that this might be off-topic but since you are talking about mics, I wanted to suggest another mic... The Samson Go Mic. You can also buy a software for it that's called Samson Sound Deck Noise Cancellation Software. I am planning on getting it so I don't have it yet... So I can't really tell you if it is better or not but you can look into it if you want some other options.
http://www.samsontech.com/samson/pro...ophones/gomic/

[DeltrusDisc]

I've personally use a few of Samson's mics, did not like them. They just felt cheaper and sounded worse.

[BruceG87]

Hmm, you have peaked my interest. What noise gate are you using exactly?

There are various options for noise gates out there. I ended up going with NoiseGator, a relatively simple and straight forward program that works quite well given my mic settings and environment in which I use my mic.

I've personally use a few of Samson's mics, did not like them. They just felt cheaper and sounded worse.

I feel that putting the Samson Go Mic in the same category as the Blue Yeti and Audiotecnica ATH-2020 is a pretty faulty comparison. The Samson Go Mic is in a completely different category below the Yeti and ATH-2020, which are often argued as performing relatively neck and neck as entry level podcast mics.

A more accurate comparison would be the Samson C01U, and even that is easily defeated by the Yeti and ATH-2020.

- - - Updated - - -

That is not to say that Samson does not make quality mics. They absolutely do, but for different roles at different prices.

If you are looking for entry level podcast quality, Samson is not the place to go.
If you want to stream, break into podcasting or record music then the Yeti or ATH-2020 is arguably the starting point for mics.

[Samfisher]

I have both on my table right now

[DeltrusDisc]

There are various options for noise gates out there. I ended up going with NoiseGator, a relatively simple and straight forward program that works quite well given my mic settings and environment in which I use my mic.



I feel that putting the Samson Go Mic in the same category as the Blue Yeti and Audiotecnica ATH-2020 is a pretty faulty comparison. The Samson Go Mic is in a completely different category below the Yeti and ATH-2020, which are often argued as performing relatively neck and neck as entry level podcast mics.

A more accurate comparison would be the Samson C01U, and even that is easily defeated by the Yeti and ATH-2020.

- - - Updated - - -

That is not to say that Samson does not make quality mics. They absolutely do, but for different roles at different prices.

If you are looking for entry level podcast quality, Samson is not the place to go.
If you want to stream, break into podcasting or record music then the Yeti or ATH-2020 is arguably the starting point for mics.

I completely agree, BruceG87, I had the C01U a while back and hated it. It was returned in a very quick period of time... :P

[Bigbazz]

I've heard good things about Samson' mics as well. I've not tested them, but I've not heard much bad about their quality. AT2020, Yeti, and Snowball seem to be the go-to mics for people looking for something plug and play but better quality than a boom or desk mic (because boom mic's on headsets tend to be fucking awful by comparison). The Samson meteor is a good choice, and it's USB as well.

I love my MXL990 but the mixer requirement puts people off (for good reason - desk space, cost, tuning it), though since I'm learning guitar too it wasn't a bad investment. I do like being able to tune though, but I figure not everyone is interested in that much control. The 990 does need a proper pop filter, it's larger than most others so standard head-filters don't fit, nor do most standard shock mounts (thankfully one is supplied with the mic itself). You do get a slight 'ting' on voice recordings but you can eliminate this with tuning. You tend to get a slightly better range with it compared to the 2020.

AT2020 was my second choice. I've not used it but I've listened to some sample comparisons from professional artists. It sounds muted, but it also seems to focus on foreground noises better so while sound isn't as rich (particularly at the high end), it does lend itself very well to not picking up every little sound that goes on around you.

I think both have USB versions available, but since the 990 is phantom powered, I didn't trust it to hold up on USB power alone. Felt more comfortable buying an Alesis MM4 USB mixer which has support for it, takes a mains connection and has a USB input-output (i.e. you can hook up a headset to it and use it as an output while also using it as an input for mics, guitars, etc).

In short: MXL990 for vocals or professional work, AT2020 for high quality chat podcasting or professional video recording voiceovers. If you're going into it for just VOIP and perhaps some Youtube voiceovers, then go with the Yeti, Go or Meteor. No sense in going for anything more expensive if you don't need it.

For all intents and purposes though, if it's AT, Marshall/MXL, Blue or Samson, you're in for decent quality whichever model you settle on.

The AT2020 is a Cardoid Condensor, it is designed specifically to pick up every little detail of what is going on around you (the opposite of what you're suggesting here). It's an entry level mic aimed at home studio artists. I've owned one and I really didn't like it for studio use (it was harsh, toppy sounding) even though I love the AT4040 (still own). Either way, it's not designed to be a nice quiet mic that you can stick in a busy gaming room next to PC fans. It's designed to be in a completely quiet space where it's used to record vocals/instruments and pick up every detail... You'd be wanting some noise gate software to go with it in your average gamer room.

I'd recommend something more directional, a mic designed for filming in outdoors perhaps (as they do well at not picking up wind noise).

[Tradewind]

Isn't the whole point of cardioid microphones that it only picks up what's directly infront of it? Not "everything around you?"

Cardioid pattern:



My AT2020 picks up very little, if any, background noise. Not even from the 5.1 speakers on my desk.

[Bigbazz]

Isn't the whole point of cardioid microphones that it only picks up what's directly infront of it? Not "everything around you?"

Cardioid pattern:



My AT2020 picks up very little, if any, background noise. Not even from the 5.1 speakers on my desk.

It will pickup from all directions aside from the back, but the point is that the front is so sensitive that it will pick up everything going on from all directions, just not directly via the back. Preamp settings depending It will pick up cars half a mile away outside your house, you can set it via the preamp to pickup less but it's not a very good directional mic because it's not designed to be directional. It's the type of mic that you can hear a pin drop with. I owned one for a good while, and I own an AT4040 now. Cardoid Condensors are exceptionally good at picking up absolutely everything, despite the fact that the little graph shows them mostly picking up from the front, the front is what is picking up everything behind it.

AT2020 pickup pattern.




If you want a nice high output directional mic that doesn't pickup background noise you'd probably go for something like an AKG D5 (Dynamic), or something designed specific for the purpose like a Shure SM7B (popular with radio stations). You know, you want something specifically designed for that kind of job. An AT2020 is designed to pick up the finest of details, It's a bizzare choice for a gamer to use as a mic, that's aside from the fact that it's not really even a very nice studio mic for it's intended job.. I get that it's cheap and that, but plenty of other cheap options out there.