Sorry to keep piling on, but I continue to be amazed on this one. Swapped the B8 into an NT1 gen 4, sounded marginally better than stock but both were unimpressive beside the NT1A. As an aside, swapping the NT1 cap into the NT1A sounded like the NT1A stock although mine are clearly different capsule iterations.
So I swapped the B8 back into the NT1A and also added a bit of foam as KK had suggested elsewhere. I also just got a TLM 170 that I've been super excited for. Ran it through all my standard tests, then gave the NT1A another round with the foam.
The NT1A results were consistent with before. I've listened to every mic in this project next to the NT1A, including every polar pattern on the 170, and for my voice and for my tastes it is superior to all of them. I paid $27 freaking dollars for this thing and threw in a capsule I had sitting in a drawer (albeit a nice capsule).
Even stock it sounds better than several much more expensive mics in my tests, but has a recessed area (to my ears) before the rise in the high frequencies that makes it feel a bit off. Again, I hear every flaw in every other mic next to this.
It is not flat, there is still a bump in the upper range but it sounds right, natural, unhyped. The lift is balanced with the rest of the freq response so it doesn't feel as though the lift detracts or makes it have less body as can often be the case when there is a bump in the highs.
Okay, I'll stop beating this dead horse now. I just wanted to come back as I am astounded. I know there are a lot of mixed feelings on Rode, I share those mixed feelings having owned multiple K2s, NTKs, and various other mics that I've always ended up selling (though my first K2 was a favorite for a long time). This particular NT1A will remain with me henceforth.
