New BM-800 PCB from Neewer? (edit: Nope...)

[Pariah Zero]

I just bought a couple of additional Neewer NW-800's from Amazon - aside from some shenanigans from the delivery person, I noticed something: all new packaging.

<gulp>. The big thing I bought it for (donor body) is still metal.

It also has a completely new PCB - all SMT. The back side of the PCB has no visible traces - only vias.

I'll do more tear down later tonight.

It will be interesting to see if cleaning all that flux changes the noise level.

BEHOLD!

 

[yikelu]

FWIW, I just bought 2 of these for donor bodies as well, and I A/B'd versus my Aston Origin. Very similar in sound. Stock they were quite usable, which was a big surprise. Capsule seems to be the 165, circuit was fine from that brief test.

To contrast, I also got some Zramo 700s at a similar price point and they were really bad -- crazy scooped and noisy. That was mostly from the circuit, I swapped for JLI OPA Alice and it became usable again.

 

[Pariah Zero]

FWIW, I just bought 2 of these for donor bodies as well, and I A/B'd versus my Aston Origin. Very similar in sound. Stock they were quite usable, which was a big surprise. Capsule seems to be the 165, circuit was fine from that brief test.

To contrast, I also got some Zramo 700s at a similar price point and they were really bad -- crazy scooped and noisy. That was mostly from the circuit, I swapped for JLI OPA Alice and it became usable again.

In July, I bought Pyle's BM-700 and the slightly older NW-800. Pyle's BM-700 was also really bad. The July 2022 NW-800 had an identical PCB and capsule to Pyle's BM-700; the NW-800 had maybe 4 dB less noise, in spite of the same PCB (and identical part values).

I'm interested to see how this new PCB compares.

I'm going to have to see if I can find some good threads on measuring microphones on the cheap...

 

[Khron]

I'm going to have to see if I can find some good threads on measuring microphones on the cheap...

It's not difficult at all, as long as you have a known reference (say, a calibrated measurement mic, although those are usually omni; @kingkorg uses the Line Audio CM3 / CM4 cardioid SDC's as his reference).

 

[Pariah Zero]

It's not difficult at all, as long as you have a known reference (say, a calibrated measurement mic, although those are usually omni; @kingkorg uses the Line Audio CM3 / CM4 cardioid SDC's as his reference).

I've got a miniDSP calibrated measurement mic; the trick is it's a USB mic so combining its measurements with what comes from an audio interface may be trickier (though I've read REW and others use tones to help time align everything)

I *also* have a super cheap Dayton iMM-6, which is also a small capsule electret mic - but it's calibrated (and I have the offset curve as well).

I'm a lot more experienced with measuring speakers than mics.

 

[Khron]

Works the same as with measuring speakers, with the "make cal" option, just instead of swapping speakers, you swap mics. And it should be safe enough to assume audio interfaces nowadays are pretty much ruler-flat in response (compared to mics or speakers).

A quick googling revealed this thread, although it looks a bit (overly?) complicated for what you're trying to achieve. But it may well get you where you need to get. The quickest path somewhere is the one you know, even if it's not the shortest.

 

[analogguru]

The pcb appears to be the same what they already produced in the last couple of years. What is more interesting would be if Neewer still has el cheapo 9,7mm electret capsules repacked in a fake 16mm case inside....

 

[Icantthinkofaname]

The pcb appears to be the same what they already produced in the last couple of years. What is more interesting would be if Neewer still has el cheapo 9,7mm electret capsules repacked in a fake 16mm case inside....

I wouldn't be surprised, I can't imagine Neewer cares much. The only one I find even remotely interesting is their NW-410 (which is a pair of iSK CM-10s), and they're quite noisy (advertised as 24 dBA), I assume it's capsules, but my iSK BM-88s are also pretty noisy for something that's supposed to have 16 dBA self noise, and they have bigger electrets like the TSB2555.

If they used the electret capsules kingkorg likes they could probably be really decent mics. I wish I could say it's worth buying the NW-700/800 kit with the boom arm just for the accessories, but that thing's not good. I've seen people wedge foam in the boom arm to try to cut down on the resonance a bit, and the shockmount I got wasn't great, I've found better shockmounts for a couple bucks.

 

[Pariah Zero]

The pcb appears to be the same what they already produced in the last couple of years. What is more interesting would be if Neewer still has el cheapo 9,7mm electret capsules repacked in a fake 16mm case inside....

You've definitely been doing this longer than I have. (There's a reason the original post had a question mark!)

The PCB is entirely different from the one I received in the NW-800 I received last month. (Link has a pic of the PCB). That one also had an actual '165 capsule in it. I didn't have time last night to open the head basket.

I suppose it's yet another case of whatever parts keeps the factory line running.

 

[rogs]

Buying 'BM800' style mics for use as donor bodies has always been a bit of a lottery -- and is now much more so with the recent introduction of plastic bodies.
I bought one of THESE in error for example. The body is described as 'metal' in the sales blurb, but it's not.
It also - by definition - needs to be supplied with an internal FET electret capsule.
And it is indeed fitted with nasty noisy 9mm capsule, mounted in a fake 165 style case.

The giveaway that's it's going to be plastic in the sales pictures (assuming those are always accurate!) are a black XLR surround, and non welded vertical head basket components (the head basket is a plastic moulding)
The one I got had a black head-basket, but it's the same construction.
Couple of photos attached.
Totally useless as a donor - except for use with internal FET capsules maybe?....

 

[Flatpicker]

I bought several of these and just rolled my own Schoeps circuit board. They're all metal and very inexpensive. The capsule isn't all that bad either. I mostly use them for live sound.

https://www.amazon.com/Condenser-Re...pd_rd_i=B07CDW5QB6&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_rp_1_t

 

[Pariah Zero]

I bought several of these and just rolled my own Schoeps circuit board. They're all metal and very inexpensive. The capsule isn't all that bad either. I mostly use them for live sound.

I've also rolled my own board, and I'm waiting on the fab for that and a couple of @rogs et. al.'s RF condenser boards.

So more donor bodies would be good - I've got some work buddies I'm sure would love to have a decent mic they mostly DIY.

 

[klem]

I bought several of these and just rolled my own Schoeps circuit board. They're all metal and very inexpensive. The capsule isn't all that bad either. I mostly use them for live sound.

https://www.amazon.com/Condenser-Re...pd_rd_i=B07CDW5QB6&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_rp_1_t

Do you, or others, happen to know...
of the two listed: the black version comes with a shockmount (at a whopping $0.40 extra) and the silver does not?

Is the shockmount also metal / moderately usable?

See, I'd prefer silver, but if shock mount is not disposable, may as well get it and put in some elbow grease and huff some acetone to remove the black paint.

Odd that one is labeled TH901 and other is 'silver'. No other appreciable differences beyond color and shockmount?

 

[yikelu]

Do you, or others, happen to know...
of the two listed: the black version comes with a shockmount (at a whopping $0.40 extra) and the silver does not?

Is the shockmount also metal / moderately usable?

See, I'd prefer silver, but if shock mount is not disposable, may as well get it and put in some elbow grease and huff some acetone to remove the black paint.

Odd that one is labeled TH901 and other is 'silver'. No other appreciable differences beyond color and shockmount?

Shock mount is very usable. I have some Studio Projects mics that came with a very similar shock mount.

I can't speak on the silver mic, but the TH901s I ordered had a very bad circuit -- I swapped for an OPA Alice from JLI and was happy with the difference. The capsule is very usable. They're fairly scooped sounding.

 

[klem]

Great to hear. I plan on taking the stock PCBs to the electronics section of local dump (or send to anyone here for postage), but will be interested in auditioning the capsule for sure.

 

[Clintcleveland]

I just got the one Flatpicker recommended above and it’s a pretty great deal for $17.
Out of curiosity, I plugged it in and naturally it doesn’t sound *good* exactly, but it’s surprisingly quiet and nearly usable.
It’s a pretty great deal for a microphone-shaped project box with some free guts to play with.
The shockmount is quite adequate, too

 

[MikelLikesIt]

Do you, or others, happen to know...
of the two listed: the black version comes with a shockmount (at a whopping $0.40 extra) and the silver does not?

Is the shockmount also metal / moderately usable?

See, I'd prefer silver, but if shock mount is not disposable, may as well get it and put in some elbow grease and huff some acetone to remove the black paint.

Odd that one is labeled TH901 and other is 'silver'. No other appreciable differences beyond color and shockmount?

I order the silver mic, just got one last week. Comes with shock mount and foam windscreen and storage bag. Solid body for the price, and comes with a 25mm element that isn’t too bad. Good deal for the price.

 

[klem]

Even better, as seems black is back ordered till mid Oct. Thanks!

 

[Pariah Zero]

Good deal for the price.

Absolutely. Shock mount, donor body, capsule, wind screen. I've wanted to try that capsule style.

I don't know if it comes with a free female XLR and some cheap cable, but I'll find out Thursday.

 

[MikelLikesIt]

Absolutely. Shock mount, donor body, capsule, wind screen. I've wanted to try that capsule style.

I don't know if it comes with a free female XLR and some cheap cable, but I'll find out Thursday.

Unlikely. Mine don’t. But they used to, but those cables didn’t last at all. So no loss.