3u Audio now has an M7 capsule!

[C12VR]

I also don't understand the question. Those capsules are good. Well made, made a bit diferent than the vintage "brass one". Capsule sounds very good, of course, not the same as the brass one, but good. The problem or "disadvantage" of some capsules is when manufacturer calls it the same name as the original and claims it sounds the same as the one. AA as I remember correctly, wrote that their capsule is based on the CK12 design but they improoved some details. Does it sounds better than the CK12 brass? I expect to sound a bit diferent, but "better" is really intime, personal opinion.

Yes this is what I meant. Austrian Audio are acting like they have reproduced THE ck12, when they have produced their interpretation of it, an implementation which IMO rends it of the usefulness and versatility that they are invoking by claiming they have reproduced the CK12 sound. They are being deliberately misleading by invoking a respected, archetypal sound for their own sound signature. It's fine to have a particular sonic preference, but this is a little hard to swallow given the prominence of the 5k peak and the corresponding dip at 8k. Boosting 5k is fine on some things, but this is also where sibilance and sharpness lives. Thus it's a mic with usage limitations. What they should have said is that they produced a capsule taking inspiration from the ck12.
It's too bad, because the other technology implemented in the OC818 is genuinely innovative.
EDIT: I've listened to the comparisons on the internet, and for what they're worth, the OC818 sounds pretty good. The AA website clips still sound pretty bad to me. It don't notice any objectionable sibilance in the comparisons, although the OC doesn't have the same proximity effect. Honestly I don't know anymore. What is even good. I may just have to buy one of these things and see for myself.

 

[soliloqueen]

Pretty sure that the upper response of the 818 is due to the housing and has nothing to do with the capsule, so it could be perfectly true that the capsule sounds a lot more like other CK12 derived capsules out there than the 818 does as a complete mic

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

Pretty sure that the upper response of the 818 is due to the housing and has nothing to do with the capsule, so it could be perfectly true that the capsule sounds a lot more like other CK12 derived capsules out there than the 818 does as a complete mic

I think that dip is because of the the headbasket shape and the top being closed.

 

[kingkorg]

I think that dip is because of the the headbasket shape and the top being closed.

+1
A blooper in design. Unnecessary, just so you could stack one on top of another.

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

Yes this is what I meant. Austrian Audio are acting like they have reproduced THE ck12, when they have produced their interpretation of it, an implementation which IMO rends it of the usefulness and versatility that they are invoking by claiming they have reproduced the CK12 sound. They are being deliberately misleading by invoking a respected, archetypal sound for their own sound signature. It's fine to have a particular sonic preference, but this is a little hard to swallow given the prominence of the 5k peak and the corresponding dip at 8k. Boosting 5k is fine on some things, but this is also where sibilance and sharpness lives. Thus it's a mic with usage limitations. What they should have said is that they produced a capsule taking inspiration from the ck12.
It's too bad, because the other technology implemented in the OC818 is genuinely innovative.
EDIT: I've listened to the comparisons on the internet, and for what they're worth, the OC818 sounds pretty good. The AA website clips still sound pretty bad to me. It don't notice any objectionable sibilance in the comparisons, although the OC doesn't have the same proximity effect. Honestly I don't know anymore. What is even good. I may just have to buy one of these things and see for myself.

It's definitely a nice sounding mic, there's something I don't like about the highs, but I wouldn't completely write it off because of the 5K boost, I thought I read somewhere some of the older CK12s had a broad boost like that. Don't forget that CK12s are tuned differently, like plenty of mics with them have big boosts like 4 or 5 dB, but AKG's C12A manual that's floating around online suggests it's incredibly flat like the B-ULS. I'm actually considering picking some up because they're close enough to the sound I'd expect, I think I like a bit darker than the "typical" C12 sound.

 

[maarvold]

Warning: this is not DIY.

I have a pair of AKG 414EBs (silver) with original brass CK12s and, due to the scarcity and prices of more of those mics, I auditioned a pair of AA 818s. 1 recorded a 12 person soprano/alto/tenor/baritone vocal group with them: 3 singers to a mic. I've used most of the 414 variations at this point (and, as well, owned an original C414, as well as an add'l EB/brass CK12 (silver) that sounded good, but different than my current pair). If another mic opportunity had not made itself available to me, I would have almost certainly bought the 818s. They didn't sound exactly like my EBs, but they did seem, to a certain extent, seem 'cut from the same--or fairly similar--cloth'. I would not say the same about other 414 versions except possibly the 414EB-P48 (black and silver) which would typically have a nylon CK12. But it is honestly too far in the past for me to have a strong sonic recollection of that mic, other than remembering liking it pretty well.

BTW, although my exposure to the AA 818 was brief--and only on the one BG vocal session--I didn't feel like there was any unwanted sibilance or hardness going on with it. They seemed smooth, in my recollection slightly less present than the EBs and with somewhat less 'personality' than the EBs.