Shure Nexadyne 8C vs SM58, E835, V7, KSM105, M88, Beta 58a

Video: http://podcastage.com/rev/nxn8c-comp

This is a supplemental demo to my full review of the Shure Nexadyne 8C (http://podcastage.com/rev/nxn8c). The 8C is a handheld dynamic that seems to be primarily designed for stage use where you are going to be close micing with your lips touching the grill. So I wanted to demo how that sounds compared to a number of other options.

TONE

I found that the tone of the mic with the lips on the grill was quite nice compared to a lot of the others. It has a more exaggerated bass roll off and a very dominant upper mid & treble boost which keeps the mic sounding less muddy and a bit brighter and more open than much of the competition. The only mic in the lot that really competed with it in that regard was the Sennheiser E835, which is another microphone that I dislike when used at any kind of distance.

PLOSIVE REJECTION

With lips on the grill, pretty much every single one of these mics performs identically so there was no winner in that regard.

HANDLING NOISE

I found the handling noise of this mic to be pretty bad. It doesn’t ring like a bell, but it does have a bit of a resonant frequency to it which exacerbates handling noise. Also, it may be the coating on the mic, but if you rub it with your hand it can create extremely loud sounds that will make it into the recording and sound really bad.

CONCLUSION

When close micing with your lips on the grill, I think this sounds pretty nice. Farther away than 1-2” I think this mic starts to sound kind of bad. Also if you’re really aggressive with your hand holding of the mic, this may not be the right fit for you. For more tests and demos, check out the full review.

00:00 - intro
00:17 - spoken word test
02:38 - plosive rejection test
03:43 - tap rejection test
04:13 - rub rejection test