Thanks for all the comments. Yes, yes, yes, the EV RE27 was found to be broken. It went back the the manufacturer and is now repaired. It sounds proper. I should do a new video!
Hi Kirk ... Just my two cents as a recently retired CBS Broadcast Engineer (Philly market) ... BM-8000, too much mid-range / high end; BM-700, good overall well balanced; Sennheiser MKH416, excellent, well balanced, not practical for broadcast studio; Electro-Voice RE27, Sucks big time, must be broken; Heil PR40, excellent well balanced, I would like to hear it compared to an EV RE20; Violet Globe, nothing to write home about.
Steve Church = CE at WFBQ who later did Telos. He did quite a bit of the early development work while he was at WFBQ. A friend of mine was this assistant at the time Skip Pizzi = engineer whose name I used to hear all the time on NPR broadcasts when I worked at WBAA.
yeah biggest problem is, do we know what settings are being used? the RE27 offers 3 independant switches that quite radically change the sound so yeah...
I wouldn’t know if it were broken - I’m new to the game -, but it sounded awful on your voice. A real shame, because you’ve got a great broadcasting voice. Mike, Booth Junkie, used it, and he sounded superb.
I think it's amazing that they are all very usable! Yes the Heil for me too but seems like one might be able to taylor with EQ to make most sound great. The EV was a big disappointment for me. Really appreciate your work work Kirk.
Great fun! Thanks for doing this -- it was very well done. I was frankly shocked by how mediocre the EV sounded. The Heil PR40 always comes off well in these comparisons, and I share your views on it. Thanks again.
The Sennheiser MKH416 Sounded the best! The Heil PR40 was easily tied with the Sennheiser! The Violet Globe was second! The BM-8000 would be Third. The BM-700 was fourth. The EV RE27 was really small and pinched sounding. Bang for the buck though the BM-8000 was really impressive when looking at the price!
Ohhhhh thank god the RE27 was broken, I’m currently using an RE320 and watched this video to hear the 27 compared to other mics. When I heard the 27 I said out loud “oh my ducking god, is that even close to what I’ve sounded like for the last year, and I’ve just been missing it somehow????? Ohhhhh crap!!!!” This was followed by a number of indecent words and vulgar grunts, I am SO glad the mic was defective. Also, The Heil sounded really really good, but I was most taken with the Globe as I’d never heard of this microphone, much less heard one. Thank you, great comparison.
Your voice was clearest with the Heil. Your voice is very professional and musical sounding. The highs and lows seemed to be more balanced with the Heil, I can see why you like it. The cheap Chinese mics can be sent out with the trash, their very rough sounding. The other microphones were ok, nothing special, they just seem to muddy of the highs and lend themselves to the lower part of your register. You immediately noticed a positive change with the Heil, for me the Heil was the winner in the comparison.
Maybe I’m just ignorant, but from this video alone, the BM 8000 was my favorite. I’ve no objection to putting the money down for a higher end mic, but I liked BM 8000 more. From your experience, how long do they last? Have you found any faults with it? I’m really looking forward to using it for a podcast/vlog project that I’m working on. Thanks!
I'd love to see the EV RE27 now that it's fixed. Maybe put it up against the Heil and Violet Globe (the Globes are 50% off right now and am tempted!). Thanks and great video!
Thank you Kirk. I love the look of the Globe; it is gorgeous and out of my price range. To my ears and listening on this platform with all the changes applied to the recorded media, and with your natural timber, I liked the Heil the most and one I have my heart set on. Do you do any electronic work? I mean to ask have you ever taken a cheap unit, say the BM-8000, and have taken the elctronic board apart and have tried upgade the internal compoents? That is one thing that I like to do and dont see much of done on RUclips. I guess I am the one who needs to do it. I love DIY stuff.
Reza, thanks for the kind words. I do - or have done - a lot of electronic work, but my work in electronics has usually been to put equipment back to factory status. In other words, get rid of the dumb mistakes and repairs that others have made, and troubleshoot the actual failures, then returning the equipment to the condition that the designers intended. I do enjoy making equipment work better than originally designed, but I let others lead that effort and I copy what they've done or follow their instructions. IOW, I'm not a design guy myself. As to cheap mics, I don't know that there is a component or two, or three, that, if replaced with something better, would make a big improvement. One guy who does modify cheap electronics to get better performance is Dana Puopolo. You can find him on Facebook and he posts some projects from time to time.
It sounded like the 12db filter was engaged on the re27ND. No way that mic sounds that thin, flat. Thanks for this, it was cool to hear this particular group of mics back to back. I think the last one wins for a natural sound. The sennheiser had a familiar sound that seems like an industry standard for voiceover work.
I've heard an RE27 demo'd and it sounded far better than that one did. I'd like to do a shootout with a PR-40, RE20, RE27, and U-87. I use a U-87 as my main VO mic in my studio but also have a Sennheiser MK4. It's less than $300 and it sounds SO freaking good... I did a shootout with the MK4 & U-87 on my voice and they were pretty much identical (both on axis about 4 inches from the mics). The capsules, I'm told, are made in the same factory.
The Sennheiser MKH416and PR40 both sounded about equal to me with a bit more low response or warmth coming from the Heil PR40. The BM-8000 though sounded really really good and for the cost has to be the best bang for the buck. Since your environment was quite with no background noise the difference between condenser and dynamic elements was not that great! The EV RE27 was easily the worst sounding out of the bunch it definitely needs to have some EQ. The Violet Globe was better than the BM-7000 and 8000 but only by a small margin and look at the cost difference! It would be interesting to see how the BM-8000 and RE27 can sound with just a little EQ. Thanks for sharing this! It was a lot of fun. I used headphones not my computer speakers to listen. I agree with your choices 100%!
The RE 27 does not sound like that. I think there was something wrong with that mic or you weren’t putting enough gain into it. Somethings not right with that.
Wish the Audio Technica AT2005USB or ATR2100-USB was in the test. FYI, for those who don't know it's been a favorite for inexpensive mics. And it does have XLR on it despite the USB in the name.
Use a cheap Behringer UB 802 mixer and EQ any of these. I've played music, professionally, for over 40 years and have used about every microphone out there. Actually, the "BM8000" sounds pretty darn good, just increase the bass a bit on the mixer and you're darn near the Heil Pr40. I use a Behringer B1 condenser microphone in my studio and also for HF ham radio. I've received excellent audio reports.
the heil sound the best good for am fm use, the electro voice is more narrower highs in tone good for ssb use to cut through the qrm and if your received weak to your contacts you can be heard, but i heard people with those the electro voice mics they usually sound in lows almost close to the heil
Sennheiser is best for my ears. The Heil was a huge surprise and second on my list. Remarkable performance from those $10 mics. The EV is busted. Has no low end.
There's no way that the re27 sounds that bad. I have heard the re27 and the pr40 side-by-side in other videos and they sound almost identical. Something is wrong with that microphone that you have or the preamp. Or maybe it was a marketing Ploy for heil.
ChannelDico, the camera is a webcam. it's a Logitek C920. The lights are Studio Pro Softbox lights. search for them on Amazon. I use my office as a studio almost daily, so I have two of these softbox lights mounted to the ceiling.
You sure you just didn’t have the filter set on the RE27? I have that mic and it sounds JUST like that when you have one of the filters set. “Broken”? Hmmmmm
dannon2010 I’m perfectly familiar with the filter settings. The mic was patently defective. It was repaired and sounds fine now as has been stated in these comments.
I prefered the Violet mic, i dont like that pr 40 sound, sounds like there is some goffy presence boost going on. Sounds quality, i just dont care for the sound.
BM-700 is the clear winner in my ears. Nice warm sound with clear extreme top end, sounds virtually identical to the Sennheiser -- for 20 bucks?? I'm getting that one :)
butt_woman Mix-minus feeds. Axia consoles generate a backfeed (usually this is a mix-minus feed) for every source that has some kind of return audio path.
So you;re telling me that with so many of today,s radio programs relying heavily on phones and remotes, an important feature and a source of frequent misunderstanding by operators is that live wire mixing consoles generate mix-minuses _automatically???_
Violet Globe sounds best to me. But I'm listening through 3/4 inch speakers on a laptop PC so it's meaningless. I always laugh at sound comparisons that aren't being done in person. I once had a salesman at an audio store try to sell me a set of speakers based on how they sounded playing an album of electronic music. :) BTW, I'd use the Heil for noisy environments and ham radio.
i will think for some reason the RE27N/D is not getting a fair share, I guess this is to promote Heil over the EV27 , I owned the RE27 and never sound like out it sound in this review, something is definitely wrong.
@@KirkHarnack Will like that you compare the latest in the industry "The Icon Pro from earthworks will like to see how it compare with the Heil, EV RE27ND, and Sennheiser MKH416.
Aaron Friedman It was, indeed, connected correctly. In actual fact it was internally defective as has been noted in the comments. It has long since been repaired.
Out of phase with what? A mono source with no other sources cannot be wired out of (relative) phase. As stated in other comments, the mic was defective and was later repaired by the manufacturer.
Thanks for all the comments. Yes, yes, yes, the EV RE27 was found to be broken. It went back the the manufacturer and is now repaired. It sounds proper. I should do a new video!
Kirk Harnack That being the case, you might consider adding a note to that effect in the description.
What is your mic shock mount?
Oh man, yeah. Please do. I almost threw the idea of purchasing the RE27 out the window.
Yes, it would be great to edit this video or redo it. Thanks!
I agree, that segment should have been cut out or reshot and this video reuploaded.
Hi Kirk ... Just my two cents as a recently retired CBS Broadcast Engineer (Philly market) ... BM-8000, too much mid-range / high end; BM-700, good overall well balanced; Sennheiser MKH416, excellent, well balanced, not practical for broadcast studio; Electro-Voice RE27, Sucks big time, must be broken; Heil PR40, excellent well balanced, I would like to hear it compared to an EV RE20; Violet Globe, nothing to write home about.
I have a Heil PR40 and I love how it sounds. I also have the Rode NT1A which to me sounds better than the Heil. Both great microphones.
Bought the Heil PR40 the year it came out after trying it at the NAB. Used it for years for all the billboards, narrations, and other vo work.
Man that shotgun mic sounded amazing.
Steve Church = CE at WFBQ who later did Telos. He did quite a bit of the early development work while he was at WFBQ. A friend of mine was this assistant at the time Skip Pizzi = engineer whose name I used to hear all the time on NPR broadcasts when I worked at WBAA.
Yeah, something is way wrong with the RE27.
yeah
The RE27 sounds like you are speaking through the telephone...
yeah biggest problem is, do we know what settings are being used? the RE27 offers 3 independant switches that quite radically change the sound so yeah...
I think he enabled the midrange roll off
He said no switches on. It's flat. This mic rly sound that way.
There’s no doubt that the RE 27 microphone was broken.
I wouldn’t know if it were broken - I’m new to the game -, but it sounded awful on your voice. A real shame, because you’ve got a great broadcasting voice. Mike, Booth Junkie, used it, and he sounded superb.
I think it's amazing that they are all very usable! Yes the Heil for me too but seems like one might be able to taylor with EQ to make most sound great. The EV was a big disappointment for me. Really appreciate your work work Kirk.
my favorite EV Electro-Voice RE20 and the Neuman U87A
Great fun! Thanks for doing this -- it was very well done. I was frankly shocked by how mediocre the EV sounded. The Heil PR40 always comes off well in these comparisons, and I share your views on it. Thanks again.
The Sennheiser MKH416 Sounded the best! The Heil PR40 was easily tied with the Sennheiser! The Violet Globe was second! The BM-8000 would be Third. The BM-700 was fourth. The EV RE27 was really small and pinched sounding. Bang for the buck though the BM-8000 was really impressive when looking at the price!
I keep going back and forth in the video. Bm - 700 is so awesome for how much it is worth!!!
Ohhhhh thank god the RE27 was broken, I’m currently using an RE320 and watched this video to hear the 27 compared to other mics. When I heard the 27 I said out loud “oh my ducking god, is that even close to what I’ve sounded like for the last year, and I’ve just been missing it somehow????? Ohhhhh crap!!!!” This was followed by a number of indecent words and vulgar grunts, I am SO glad the mic was defective. Also, The Heil sounded really really good, but I was most taken with the Globe as I’d never heard of this microphone, much less heard one. Thank you, great comparison.
Maybe I'm a sucker and I love dynamic mics too much, but I preferred the PR40. Can't wait to pick one up and test it out.
great video, thanks, if you could find a way to get even more mics to test in the future I would love it :)
Your voice was clearest with the Heil. Your voice is very professional and musical sounding. The highs and lows seemed to be more balanced with the Heil, I can see why you like it. The cheap Chinese mics can be sent out with the trash, their very rough sounding. The other microphones were ok, nothing special, they just seem to muddy of the highs and lend themselves to the lower part of your register. You immediately noticed a positive change with the Heil, for me the Heil was the winner in the comparison.
John T Davis Thank you for your thoughtful comments, John.
Maybe I’m just ignorant, but from this video alone, the BM 8000 was my favorite. I’ve no objection to putting the money down for a higher end mic, but I liked BM 8000 more. From your experience, how long do they last? Have you found any faults with it? I’m really looking forward to using it for a podcast/vlog project that I’m working on. Thanks!
I'd love to see the EV RE27 now that it's fixed. Maybe put it up against the Heil and Violet Globe (the Globes are 50% off right now and am tempted!). Thanks and great video!
Have you tried the Tech Zone X2? Awesome condenser right under 2 bills.
The Heil PR40 sounded surprisingly unpleasant, given it is your favorite.
Kirk commented in response to someone below - the RE27 was broken. That is certainly not what an RE27 sounds like.
Thank you Kirk. I love the look of the Globe; it is gorgeous and out of my price range. To my ears and listening on this platform with all the changes applied to the recorded media, and with your natural timber, I liked the Heil the most and one I have my heart set on.
Do you do any electronic work? I mean to ask have you ever taken a cheap unit, say the BM-8000, and have taken the elctronic board apart and have tried upgade the internal compoents? That is one thing that I like to do and dont see much of done on RUclips. I guess I am the one who needs to do it. I love DIY stuff.
Reza, thanks for the kind words. I do - or have done - a lot of electronic work, but my work in electronics has usually been to put equipment back to factory status. In other words, get rid of the dumb mistakes and repairs that others have made, and troubleshoot the actual failures, then returning the equipment to the condition that the designers intended. I do enjoy making equipment work better than originally designed, but I let others lead that effort and I copy what they've done or follow their instructions. IOW, I'm not a design guy myself. As to cheap mics, I don't know that there is a component or two, or three, that, if replaced with something better, would make a big improvement. One guy who does modify cheap electronics to get better performance is Dana Puopolo. You can find him on Facebook and he posts some projects from time to time.
Yep, it doesn’t sound like a normal EV RE27 to me. But the HEIL PR40 just sounds so lovely!!!
It sounded like the 12db filter was engaged on the re27ND. No way that mic sounds that thin, flat. Thanks for this, it was cool to hear this particular group of mics back to back. I think the last one wins for a natural sound. The sennheiser had a familiar sound that seems like an industry standard for voiceover work.
Jesse Broman, thanks for the note. the mic was definitely set "flat”. Seems it's defective.
I've heard an RE27 demo'd and it sounded far better than that one did. I'd like to do a shootout with a PR-40, RE20, RE27, and U-87. I use a U-87 as my main VO mic in my studio but also have a Sennheiser MK4. It's less than $300 and it sounds SO freaking good... I did a shootout with the MK4 & U-87 on my voice and they were pretty much identical (both on axis about 4 inches from the mics). The capsules, I'm told, are made in the same factory.
@@robreiderjrnow that would be awesome!! Can you do that??
The Heil sounded amazing.
You know what to explain, I like your explanations, they are very good on microphones, thanks greetings from spain
I would go with the Sennheiser 416.
The Sennheiser MKH416and PR40 both sounded about equal to me with a bit more low response or warmth coming from the Heil PR40. The BM-8000 though sounded really really good and for the cost has to be the best bang for the buck. Since your environment was quite with no background noise the difference between condenser and dynamic elements was not that great! The EV RE27 was easily the worst sounding out of the bunch it definitely needs to have some EQ. The Violet Globe was better than the BM-7000 and 8000 but only by a small margin and look at the cost difference! It would be interesting to see how the BM-8000 and RE27 can sound with just a little EQ. Thanks for sharing this! It was a lot of fun. I used headphones not my computer speakers to listen. I agree with your choices 100%!
I would love to get my hands on a Violet Globe... It sounds by far the best out of all of them to me.
What do you think of the Studio Projects large diaphragm condenser? Have a modified version.
Thanks, I don't need a microphone, but now, maybe I should buy one.
The RE 27 does not sound like that. I think there was something wrong with that mic or you weren’t putting enough gain into it. Somethings not right with that.
I know the RE27, it sounds like you didn't put the switches back to normal.
I'll stick with my Heil Goldline Pro. Thanks Mr. Heil.
Wish the Audio Technica AT2005USB or ATR2100-USB was in the test. FYI, for those who don't know it's been a favorite for inexpensive mics. And it does have XLR on it despite the USB in the name.
Use a cheap Behringer UB 802 mixer and EQ any of these. I've played music, professionally, for over 40 years and have used about every microphone out there. Actually, the "BM8000" sounds pretty darn good, just increase the bass a bit on the mixer and you're darn near the Heil Pr40. I use a Behringer B1 condenser microphone in my studio and also for HF ham radio. I've received excellent audio reports.
I agree with Jim, the Re27 must have an issue... unless it actually sucks that bad... its been a while since I've used them.
the heil sound the best good for am fm use, the electro voice is more narrower highs in tone good for ssb use to cut through the qrm and if your received weak to your contacts you can be heard, but i heard people with those the electro voice mics they usually sound in lows almost close to the heil
The Sennheiser MKH416 is still a world standard. 👌
Sennheiser is best for my ears. The Heil was a huge surprise and second on my list. Remarkable performance from those $10 mics. The EV is busted. Has no low end.
I love the $1500 one
There's no way that the re27 sounds that bad. I have heard the re27 and the pr40 side-by-side in other videos and they sound almost identical. Something is wrong with that microphone that you have or the preamp. Or maybe it was a marketing Ploy for heil.
See the pinned comment at the top of all comments.
Interesting comparison! Thanks
I understand this is a video about microphones but could you share what kind of video camera and lights you are using ? thank you,
ChannelDico, the camera is a webcam. it's a Logitek C920. The lights are Studio Pro Softbox lights. search for them on Amazon. I use my office as a studio almost daily, so I have two of these softbox lights mounted to the ceiling.
Thank you for your response, I can't believe a 60 dollars camera can produce this quality....
Not sure what you did with the RE27. Does not sound Iike my RE27. See Booth Junkie RE27 N/D review sounds like the Sennheiser 416
You sure you just didn’t have the filter set on the RE27? I have that mic and it sounds JUST like that when you have one of the filters set. “Broken”? Hmmmmm
dannon2010 I’m perfectly familiar with the filter settings. The mic was patently defective. It was repaired and sounds fine now as has been stated in these comments.
You should put links to the start of each paragraph so comparing them is easier.
I prefered the Violet mic, i dont like that pr 40 sound, sounds like there is some goffy presence boost going on. Sounds quality, i just dont care for the sound.
BM-700 is the clear winner in my ears. Nice warm sound with clear extreme top end, sounds virtually identical to the Sennheiser -- for 20 bucks?? I'm getting that one :)
It unconscionable that this video is still posted with the broken RE-27. I will never trust a word out of this guy’s mouth.
Wait, what do live wire mixing consoles generate automatically??
butt_woman Mix-minus feeds. Axia consoles generate a backfeed (usually this is a mix-minus feed) for every source that has some kind of return audio path.
So you;re telling me that with so many of today,s radio programs relying heavily on phones and remotes, an important feature and a source of frequent misunderstanding by operators is that live wire mixing consoles generate mix-minuses _automatically???_
It sounds like you are using a noise gate?
Violet Globe sounds best to me. But I'm listening through 3/4 inch speakers on a laptop PC so it's meaningless. I always laugh at sound comparisons that aren't being done in person.
I once had a salesman at an audio store try to sell me a set of speakers based on how they sounded playing an album of electronic music. :)
BTW, I'd use the Heil for noisy environments and ham radio.
With your voice, I thought the RE27 would sound the best. You have the switches on or something? It doesn't sound right.
Karl Rabaya It’s broken, seems. I need to have it repaired. Not a fair test.
Kirk Harnack That's very unfortunate. Sorry about that. I hope you get it all sorted out. Looking forward to more content!
There's something wrong with that 27N/D
i will think for some reason the RE27N/D is not getting a fair share, I guess this is to promote Heil over the EV27 , I owned the RE27 and never sound like out it sound in this review, something is definitely wrong.
Yes, Prince. The “pinned comment” I made at the top of the comments tells the story about the EV RE27.
@@KirkHarnack Will like that you compare the latest in the industry "The Icon Pro from earthworks will like to see how it compare with the Heil, EV RE27ND, and Sennheiser MKH416.
Heil sound the best. And the Electrovoice is the worst. Congrats on this test!
Yeah that's not a happy RE27. Something is wrong with it Kirk. Maybe someone switched the capsule with a BM600.
I've heard a bunch of tests of the RE27ND, and none of them sounded like this. At all. Without question, something is very wrong here.
The RE27 was not connected correctly.
Aaron Friedman It was, indeed, connected correctly. In actual fact it was internally defective as has been noted in the comments. It has long since been repaired.
bm-700 vs senheiser
sounds the same, but 1000 bucks difference. LOGIC!
Just took a BM...
The Heil PR40 sounded best.
Sennheiser #1
Violet
Heil ..3
The rest... toss.
Ekectrovoice .. unless you're rush ... forgetaboutit
The EV is definitely broken. Sennheiser is best, but still not ideal.
Heil PR40
The RE27 sounds like its wired out of phase.
Out of phase with what? A mono source with no other sources cannot be wired out of (relative) phase. As stated in other comments, the mic was defective and was later repaired by the manufacturer.
The RE27 must have been defective. It sounded dreadful.
RE27 was a disaster for EV. Just goes to show if it ain't broke don't fix it.