Neewer SDC microphones

[RuudNL]

Out of curiosity, I ordered a pair of Neewer pencil microphones. (Though 'Ali')
I paid 73 Euros, including shipping.
The microphones are remarkably good and are delivered with 3 capsule heads: omni, cardioid en hyper cardioid.
Microphone capsules are electrets, but they sound good. Microphone bodies are made of brass.
Self noise is specified as 24 dBa, but from what I hear the self noise must be lower than that.
Electronics measure flat down to 30 Hz. Circuit looks like the well known 'Schoeps' schematic.
I think it is a good deal, especially with the six capsule heads.
It seems the price is a bit 'elastic', it varies from day to day...

 

[cyrano]

Interesting...

A nephew of Behringer B5?

 

[Khron]

Any frequency response measurements incoming? :

 

[kingkorg]

Great, thanks!

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

These seem to be the same as the iSK Little Gem and Lyxpro SDPC2. In my experience the iSK Little Gem was certainly quite noisy. Definitely over 20 dBA, but maybe it's inconsistent quality control, or maybe the Neewer is better quality for some reason. Glad to hear someone has a good experience with them though, almost makes me want to give the Neewer version a shot.

If anyone is wondering I never got any interference on mine, though I did only point them at a couple computers, my router and modem, cell phones, and anything else in my house that could cause interference. If you were to try to use these as spot mics for a play or something, or for a cheap backup mic for videography I'm sure there's a chance to pick up interference.

I will say that for the price the super cardioid had pretty good rejection from the quick tests I did. I don't recall comparing them to my MK-012s in that sense, though I did compare them (Little Gem version) on axis. No contest, but one is $50 with 3 capsules and one is $230 with one capsule.

I'd also love to see a measurement, since I don't trust the frequency response charts from iSK and Neewer.

In any case, I wouldn't recommend buying them individually from iSK given my experience, but the Neewer samples I've heard haven't been too bad. Usable at the very least and not as noisy. The electronics looked decent to my eyes, a bunch of film caps, I think there's a picture of the PCB in my iSK Little Gem thread.

This is a sample of them that is more or less what I experienced. Though I think my Little Gems were noisier https://youtu.be/JWdkhkGafOI

 

[RuudNL]

In general, I am pretty critical when it comes to self noise of microphones.
The Neewer NW-410 set I have here now, is very 'quiet'.
I once had a set of Samson CO2 microphones here, that I have sent back to the seller the same day I received them... They were so noisy that you had the impression that you were standing close to Niagara Falls...

I measured the capsules of the NW-410 set and the conclusion is that capsules of the same sort (omni, cardiod etc.) are not really identical. Certainly no 'matched pairs'. But nevertheless good enough for a lot of applications.
(The differences were most obvious at lower frequencies.)

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

In general, I am pretty critical when it comes to self noise of microphones.
The Neewer NW-410 set I have here now, is very 'quiet'.
I once had a set of Samson CO2 microphones here, that I have sent back to the seller the same day I received them... They were so noisy that you had the impression that you were standing close to Niagara Falls...

I measured the capsules of the NW-410 set and the conclusion is that capsules of the same sort (omni, cardiod etc.) are not really identical. Certainly no 'matched pairs'. But nevertheless good enough for a lot of applications.
(The differences were most obvious at lower frequencies.)

I remember you mentioning the Samson C02s in the Little Gem thread I made. My Little Gems were probably close to the C02 in noise level, maybe not "Niagara Falls" bad, but certainly audible. The samples I can find are all over the place. Some are pretty quiet, as in I would guess they're sitting at around 20 dBA or so, and some are really noisy like what I had. That's to be expected when a 3 capsule mic costs $50. My test was basically throw it up against something that I'm familiar with the self noise of, and they had much more audible noise than my MK-012s, and just a lot of general audible hiss, so I sold them. The capsules on the Little Gems weren't the nicest either, but I've pretty good sounding ones on the NW410s. The Little Gems definitely had a brighter but somewhat muffled sound compared to the iSK Pearl and Oktava MK-012 (though I didn't expect much comparing them to the latter).

I've heard varying degrees of quality between the cardioid and supercardioid capsules in tests too. Some where they're almost identical, and some where the supercardioid has noticeably better side rejection (which was my experience as well). Of course I don't trust YouTube gear tests too much, but It's interesting to see different experiences with the same cheap mics.

I actually considered them as a Christmas gift for a friend who's going to doing some video projects (because they'll still be much better than camera audio), but I know they don't have a recorder or higher end camera with decent pres or anything so I figured I'd get them something else.

I do think they'd make good instrument mics though. But because they're SDCs with a supercardioid capsule most people (at least reviews and samples) seem to be looking at them as location audio mics, and iSK specifically demos the Little Gem on vocals.

 

[MicScharf]

Microphone capsules are electrets,...

Are you sure they are electrets?

 

[RuudNL]

Are you sure they are electrets?

The capsules work on another microphone body that uses an electret capsule, so they must be.

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

Are you sure they are electrets?

They are electrets. They're identical to the iSK Little Gem (CM-10), which is also electret.
This is likely what the frequency response is like, this is a measurement from Monoprice's version of these mics which doesn't come with the supercardioid.

 

[RuudNL]

Unfortunately, the microphone capsules have a fairly large tolerance.
A friend of mine bought the same set, but he was less 'lucky'...

 

[FetMe?FetU!]

I remember you mentioning the Samson C02s in the Little Gem thread I made. My Little Gems were probably close to the C02 in noise level, maybe not "Niagara Falls" bad, but certainly audible. The samples I can find are all over the place. Some are pretty quiet, as in I would guess they're sitting at around 20 dBA or so, and some are really noisy like what I had. That's to be expected when a 3 capsule mic costs $50. My test was basically throw it up against something that I'm familiar with the self noise of, and they had much more audible noise than my MK-012s, and just a lot of general audible hiss, so I sold them. The capsules on the Little Gems weren't the nicest either, but I've pretty good sounding ones on the NW410s. The Little Gems definitely had a brighter but somewhat muffled sound compared to the iSK Pearl and Oktava MK-012 (though I didn't expect much comparing them to the latter).

I've heard varying degrees of quality between the cardioid and supercardioid capsules in tests too. Some where they're almost identical, and some where the supercardioid has noticeably better side rejection (which was my experience as well). Of course I don't trust YouTube gear tests too much, but It's interesting to see different experiences with the same cheap mics.

I actually considered them as a Christmas gift for a friend who's going to doing some video projects (because they'll still be much better than camera audio), but I know they don't have a recorder or higher end camera with decent pres or anything so I figured I'd get them something else.

I do think they'd make good instrument mics though. But because they're SDCs with a supercardioid capsule most people (at least reviews and samples) seem to be looking at them as location audio mics, and iSK specifically demos the Little Gem on vocals.

I’ve been considering buying a pair of ISK Pearls or the EU version but can’t find any for sale at a reasonable price. I missed buying a pair of the used Tascam versions on Reverb and can’t find them either. Reached out to both ISK and Tascam but have been ignored so far. Any thoughts on how the Neweer compare sound wise. I know the capsules are larger on the ISK/Tascam (25mm) I’m pretty sure they are also electret.

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

I’ve been considering buying a pair of ISK Pearls or the EU version but can’t find any for sale at a reasonable price. I missed buying a pair of the used Tascam versions on Reverb and can’t find them either. Reached out to both ISK and Tascam but have been ignored so far. Any thoughts on how the Neweer compare sound wise. I know the capsules are larger on the ISK/Tascam (25mm) I’m pretty sure they are also electret.

The Neweer is identical to the iSK and whatever other brands sell it. As far as the Pearls (iSK BM-88), yeah those are difficult to get. They were pretty quiet, but they were bright, but they did sound good. The Little Gems/CM-10/NW-410 were noisy as hell, and they didn't sound great.

I ditched most of my iSK stuff, I still have the dynamics and one BM-600, but I have access to a lot better things now, I almost never record though (noisy family living below me, small apartment, need to figure out a solution).