Written by: Alex Green

(Photo courtesy of Audio-Technica)

Audio-Technica

AT2020USBi

Cardioid Condenser Microphone

$169.00

Founded in Japan back in the early ‘60s, Audio-Technica have always been one of the most innovative audio companies around. More than fifty years after their inception, Audio-Technica remains at the forefront of designing wireless headphones, microphones and phonographic magnetic cartridges.

Audio Technica’s AT2020 USBi Cardioid Condenser Microphone is truly one of the most dynamic, crisp and portable units on the market today. Ideal for everything from field recordings to podcasts, the AT2020 is unencumbered by superfluous features and offers a stealth setup that yields a sound that is nothing short of crystalline.

How stealth is that set-up? About as stealth as plugging the mic into the USB port on your laptop, iPad, iPod or iPhone and hitting record.

Employing a classic, yet wholly modern look, the microphone element has a cardioid polar pattern and an attractive blue LED light. The sound is bright and clear, and even captures multi-instruemntal home studio recordings with shockingly perfect fidelity. The gain control is decidedly handy, the frequency response is superior and happily the A/D convertor supplies a 24- bit (and up to 96 kHz) sampling rate.

The microphone comes replete with a pivot mount and tripod desk stand, and the wide stance of the tripod’s legs not only hold the microphone steady, even an unintended brush with your hand or a jostling of the desk find the unit unmoved. The rugged metal of the microphone seems like it could take a solid hit or remain intact after an accidental drop.

Stereo Embers has already recorded three podcasts with the AT2020 and we’re so pleased with the sound quality–it’s natural, lively and incredibly responsive.

Also worth mentioning is the versatility of this mic—it functions beautifully with any recording software you prefer. We used it with Garageband and Logic Pro and found it to be perfectly suited to either.

The USB cable and lightning cable, along with the pivot mount/tripod desk stand are all housed in a leather pouch, which is packaged simply next to the microphone in the box. Audio-Technica engineer some of the most sophisticated audio equipment around and they juxtapose their leading technology with simple packaging, presented with their own brand of spartan elegance.

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