Note re: voltage requirement spec of 10V. Sennheiser’s response: “The ME 2 does not require 10v, but 10v is the typical supply voltage. The ME 2 can operate without any negative effect on the sound quality from 2 - 10v.”
Thank you for the update! I hope they will update their spec sheet accordingly. I understand that mic manufacturers do not want people to use their PIP mics with devices that they do not manufacture (due to the lack of universal standard for PIP unlike P12, 24, and 48), but it would make more sense if they write down the actual requirements/specs on spec sheets. It reminds me of Bandrew's old video on AT2020 running on a Behringer mixer on his second channel (and yes, A-T's website is still showing 48V phantom power requirement and Behringer's website not even showing the phantom power voltage at all).
🤘 OK, you've convinced me, the best lavalier is still the Neumann U87. I've asked my personal jeweller to make me a B.A. Baracus necklace (gold) so I can clip the mic on ... 🤪 (Or I'll stick with the Røde Go. 🤔)
Sounds ok. The ME2 seems to be an easy to replace option that gets you a good base line. Mixing dialogue is my day job, so this is pretty neat. The difference to professional recordings are in the placement, the protection the mic gets (taped/tape-shielding/wind shielding/fabric choice) and of course what the production mixer actually does with his/her gear. It's pretty darn rare that they do nothing. When time is limited, we want the best product at each step to save that precious time, so EQ and protection limiters can be in use. The broadcast mixing folks have some funky denoising gadgets as well. Over ten years ago Izotope put out a box that could get rid of a waterfall you were standing under. The Countryman, Sanken and DPA(you'll often see those in flesh colours on broadway) can be more easily hidden, so if you don't need to hide the mic, just get a kitty shield and grab the ME2. Denoising has come very, very far. Running some compression and some light Accentize dxRevive over a recording will yield an almost finished product by TH-cam/Tiktok standards. Mixing dialogue on a film is a bit more finicky. We spend weeks on the editing, so the expensive part of mixing takes the least amount of time. Nice to see some Lavs getting tested. I'm surprised how well the Rode Lav II did.
I really like the sound of my Rode Lav II mics - for the money I mean. I am not a pro, for what I do, they are perfectly fine. There are some build quality issues with it though and it is difficult to hide them. But if you dont mind having them in clear view, the flat design is actually very elegant and pro-looking.
One thing I like about this mic is the relatively hot signal it provides. If you have a camera or recorder with weak pre-amps, this mic can end up working better than some less sensitive options. Edit: Back when I first got this mic, it was more sensitive than all the others I had. Based on the amount you had to boost your levels in post, it seems many others are as sensitive, or more these days. Must have just been a coincidence with the mics I had that the ME-2 was the most sensitive.
In an educational environment, I bought 15 like this to replace the Rode lavalier mics that often break. The Senheisers are more robust and I no longer have problems with cracking noise. They integrate perfectly with the Rode Link Filmmaker Kit wireless mic set. But this is not to speak against Rode, I like Rode's after-sales service and we have had success with several of their products, wireless me and wireless go are absolutely sublime and work every time with non-technical people.
Thanks 🙏 since 2018 I have been using cheap Agptech lavaliere mic with my canon M50 and R8 directly to the camera with extension lead and in my opinion my £10 mic sounds to my unprofessional ear, better than your $130. This video helped me stay with my equipment and released the pressure of getting new mic as surely must sound much better than my cheap mic from Amazon!
Superb review as always!. Please review the Sennheiser Pro XS Usb C, which i think is comparable to the me2 but with usb c interface (and a flimsier cable, but still think it sounds good!)
Impressive video, Podcastage. Looking forward to your next upload! I smashed that thumbs up button on your content. Keep up the awesome work! Your insights on the self-noise levels of the Sennheiser ME2 were particularly enlightening. How do you think this microphone compares to others in terms of handling ambient noise in more dynamic environments?
Thank you I was looking for a microphone that wouldn't be interfered with by impromptu pho replica looking gas lamps. And the TikTok position really helped me think that there might be some hope for audio quality in handheld microphone videos etc.
Very happy you tested it with the Røde VXLR adapter as well. I've been curious about that adapter! Curious about this microphone too for using when building stuff on a table when I can't talk to the normal microphone properly all the time. I wonder how it compares to a microphone you have mounted around the ear that comes out on the cheek (ala the Røde HS2). Great test!
This came with my XS wireless set and it wasn't my favorite. I thought the intro sounded great! Then you did some tests with the lav on your t-shirt collar and that's definitely the sound I was used to with this. I had to use a pretty aggressive HPF to get the audio to clean up. My main gripe is its physical size, fairly obtrusive though not nearly as obtrusive as those huge RODE and DJI mics everyone is using in their videos now. BLEH. I've typically used the MKE II which is much smaller, sounds better, and also much more expensive. Too bad you didn't have that in the comparison, maybe later! I keep this in my travel bag and have used it a lot to shoot videos or even for video calls while traveling.
Great review, thank you. I got a faulty one for free, it worked but it picked up a lot of RF interference. I took the capsule out and added alufoil into the cage, and now it works even if someone has a smartphone in the room... I am not sure if it is a common issue, just saying.
Hi Bandrew, it looks like you've never had a Neumann with the K89 capsule on your channel. So, a U89, TLM170, or a TLM193. I highly recommend them, you might be pleasantly surprised.
great collection of tests! thank you I like these Allen should lend you some diety lavs though. the tiny one and the standard one (is it called pro?... not the stupid cheap one is what i'm trying to say). kinda missed them for beeing in the same price range btw: thanks for including the countryman and the shure. very helpful to me
this might be nitpicking but when you are doing voice samples with clip-on style microphone pay attention to if the camera can see where it is clipped on your shirt after adding the lower 3rd. There were a bunch of samples I couldn't even see the clip-on.
Xmas vomited on your shirt! Im guessing this is supposed to be part of some kind of wireless setup with the locking ring on the jack. Pretty decent sound either way. Kind of liked it better than the shure that i have. Pretty neat. Thanks!
@@Podcastage I was using the Shure WL183 with the RPM626. Decent sounding mic and pre combo (instead of using the body pack i used the 626 which is a barrel inline pre). I used it for a few videos before I got the shotgun mic.
I have used the ME2 quite a bit for wired and wireless TV news style interviews in field settings. I always thought it was a bit pedestrian sounding but really good for the price point. A while back I replaced them with Countryman B3s. I feel like I get a “fuller” sound with the Countrymans compared to this Senny.
Small diaphragms result in higher noise - but 32dBA? There are cell phone mics that do better than that, and they're MUCH smaller. Other than that, it sounds ok for a lavalier.
Whats with the screw fitting on that? Does the connector come off? Also you can mount these inside the soundhole as an internal mic on acoustic guitars.
That chin position also has a side effect of picking up the resonance of your throat. You'll hear the sound through your trachea as well as your mouth. It's useable, but might need some more tweaking in post beyond other use-cases.
First off wow you compared a lot. Good job. I like the Neumann lav the best 🤡. You have a fair amount of sibilance in your voice so any of the mics with the highs boost don't sound good. The MVL was the worst but even when you put the ME2 on the bill of your cap or hand held the highs sizzled my ears. I agree located on the chest those boosted highs help. The TL48 also doesn't sound good with your voice not terrible but it's very detailed and would sound best concealed under clothing. I believe its used in theater applications because you can paint it to match the performers costume. COS11 was nice, the price is high but your paying for conceivability of the thin capsule, it doesn't sound 3x better but when eq right its a great, again not be a good match for your voice. The expensive mics are tuned to be flat without bass because that can be EQed and for hidden application getting clarity is more important for dialog. I agree that the ME2 is an ok lav. Given its large capsule, anyone looking to conceal it would look else where.
It’s an Omni mic and when it’s 7 inches below my mouth it’s close to the surface of the desk which would have reflections and sound bad. It’s why I do the comparisons away from the desk, and during the conclusion have it on my collar. I want to provide samples in different set ups and situations so the performance can be heard.
@@Podcastage Yeah, that makes sense. I did not hear that kind of issue with your reviews on multi-pattern LDC mics when you use the omnidirectional pattern so did not expect to hear that level of phase misalignment. And thank you for recording using different mic positions! On that note, may I request another mic position in your future lav mic reviews, namely boundary / pressure zone mic position? It's simply laying your lav mic on the desk like a boundary mic and have the gain increased to compensate for the level difference due to distance. I believe most boundary mics on the market are basically an electret SDC capsule soldered onto a PCB in a metal case. Based on your setup, maybe this position may be second to the best way to mitigate phase issues (at the cost of increased ambient pickup) after the Tik Top position.
Rode VXLR+ and VXLR Pro provide 4V DC bias while ME 2 requires 10V DC bias (not sure about other power supplies used in the video). I wonder if that is affecting S/N negatively in your comparison against other lav mics (and U87 lol), especially with its self-noise already being quite high at 32 dBA.
That was my thought when I first read that spec. I emailed sennheiser but never got a definitive answer. The me2 is marketed as compatible with the evolution wireless series and unless I’m misunderstanding those specs the mic/line input of then body pack provides 3V. So unless the mic truly only requires plugin power, then they are marketing it as compatible with a device that under powers it by 7v which I doubt they’d do.
@@Podcastage Thank you for your quick reply! That is interesting. I also checked some spec docs and, yeah, I think you're right about the DC voltage. I even saw spec sheet for a combination of transmitter and ME 2 that said ME 2 power requirement is 7.5V instead of 10V. Also, Sennheiser's mics for wireless bodypacks also work with Shure's bodypacks that provide 5V, not 7.5 or 10V. I'm glad to know that ME 2 works with Rode VXLR Pro. Thank you for trying it out!
@@Podcastage I measured the voltage of evolution wireless trasmitter (G4 112p). It's 9.43V without a microphone connected. It porbably drops a bit when a microphone is connected.
I think technically PIP is around 5 V with some of these manufactures upping it around the borderline of 10v to get more SPL gain. So it is kind of a wide range that they have to work with.
@@imark7777777 Never a fan of PIP as there is no universal standard for voltage or pinout. Would it be fair to say that ME 2 can work with pretty much any 3.5 mm input (except for Sony) but could produce weaker signal when connected to a device providing bias as low as 1.5V?
Note re: voltage requirement spec of 10V.
Sennheiser’s response: “The ME 2 does not require 10v, but 10v is the typical supply voltage. The ME 2 can operate without any negative effect on the sound quality from 2 - 10v.”
Thank you for the update! I hope they will update their spec sheet accordingly. I understand that mic manufacturers do not want people to use their PIP mics with devices that they do not manufacture (due to the lack of universal standard for PIP unlike P12, 24, and 48), but it would make more sense if they write down the actual requirements/specs on spec sheets. It reminds me of Bandrew's old video on AT2020 running on a Behringer mixer on his second channel (and yes, A-T's website is still showing 48V phantom power requirement and Behringer's website not even showing the phantom power voltage at all).
🤘 OK, you've convinced me, the best lavalier is still the Neumann U87. I've asked my personal jeweller to make me a B.A. Baracus necklace (gold) so I can clip the mic on ... 🤪
(Or I'll stick with the Røde Go. 🤔)
Sounds ok. The ME2 seems to be an easy to replace option that gets you a good base line. Mixing dialogue is my day job, so this is pretty neat.
The difference to professional recordings are in the placement, the protection the mic gets (taped/tape-shielding/wind shielding/fabric choice) and of course what the production mixer actually does with his/her gear. It's pretty darn rare that they do nothing. When time is limited, we want the best product at each step to save that precious time, so EQ and protection limiters can be in use. The broadcast mixing folks have some funky denoising gadgets as well. Over ten years ago Izotope put out a box that could get rid of a waterfall you were standing under. The Countryman, Sanken and DPA(you'll often see those in flesh colours on broadway) can be more easily hidden, so if you don't need to hide the mic, just get a kitty shield and grab the ME2. Denoising has come very, very far. Running some compression and some light Accentize dxRevive over a recording will yield an almost finished product by TH-cam/Tiktok standards. Mixing dialogue on a film is a bit more finicky. We spend weeks on the editing, so the expensive part of mixing takes the least amount of time.
Nice to see some Lavs getting tested. I'm surprised how well the Rode Lav II did.
I really like the sound of my Rode Lav II mics - for the money I mean. I am not a pro, for what I do, they are perfectly fine. There are some build quality issues with it though and it is difficult to hide them. But if you dont mind having them in clear view, the flat design is actually very elegant and pro-looking.
Danke!
One thing I like about this mic is the relatively hot signal it provides. If you have a camera or recorder with weak pre-amps, this mic can end up working better than some less sensitive options.
Edit: Back when I first got this mic, it was more sensitive than all the others I had. Based on the amount you had to boost your levels in post, it seems many others are as sensitive, or more these days. Must have just been a coincidence with the mics I had that the ME-2 was the most sensitive.
I love the lav reviews. Keep up the good work!
You mean "I lav these reviews" ?
Lol yes @mokisan
In an educational environment, I bought 15 like this to replace the Rode lavalier mics that often break. The Senheisers are more robust and I no longer have problems with cracking noise. They integrate perfectly with the Rode Link Filmmaker Kit wireless mic set. But this is not to speak against Rode, I like Rode's after-sales service and we have had success with several of their products, wireless me and wireless go are absolutely sublime and work every time with non-technical people.
Love your videos!! And I can't believe the tiktok mic position sounds the best.
Thanks 🙏 since 2018 I have been using cheap Agptech lavaliere mic with my canon M50 and R8 directly to the camera with extension lead and in my opinion my £10 mic sounds to my unprofessional ear, better than your $130. This video helped me stay with my equipment and released the pressure of getting new mic as surely must sound much better than my cheap mic from Amazon!
Superb review as always!. Please review the Sennheiser Pro XS Usb C, which i think is comparable to the me2 but with usb c interface (and a flimsier cable, but still think it sounds good!)
Impressive video, Podcastage. Looking forward to your next upload! I smashed that thumbs up button on your content. Keep up the awesome work! Your insights on the self-noise levels of the Sennheiser ME2 were particularly enlightening. How do you think this microphone compares to others in terms of handling ambient noise in more dynamic environments?
Thank you I was looking for a microphone that wouldn't be interfered with by impromptu pho replica looking gas lamps. And the TikTok position really helped me think that there might be some hope for audio quality in handheld microphone videos etc.
Very happy you tested it with the Røde VXLR adapter as well. I've been curious about that adapter! Curious about this microphone too for using when building stuff on a table when I can't talk to the normal microphone properly all the time. I wonder how it compares to a microphone you have mounted around the ear that comes out on the cheek (ala the Røde HS2). Great test!
This came with my XS wireless set and it wasn't my favorite. I thought the intro sounded great! Then you did some tests with the lav on your t-shirt collar and that's definitely the sound I was used to with this. I had to use a pretty aggressive HPF to get the audio to clean up. My main gripe is its physical size, fairly obtrusive though not nearly as obtrusive as those huge RODE and DJI mics everyone is using in their videos now. BLEH. I've typically used the MKE II which is much smaller, sounds better, and also much more expensive. Too bad you didn't have that in the comparison, maybe later! I keep this in my travel bag and have used it a lot to shoot videos or even for video calls while traveling.
Great review, thank you. I got a faulty one for free, it worked but it picked up a lot of RF interference. I took the capsule out and added alufoil into the cage, and now it works even if someone has a smartphone in the room... I am not sure if it is a common issue, just saying.
Hi Bandrew, it looks like you've never had a Neumann with the K89 capsule on your channel. So, a U89, TLM170, or a TLM193. I highly recommend them, you might be pleasantly surprised.
great collection of tests! thank you
I like these
Allen should lend you some diety lavs though. the tiny one and the standard one (is it called pro?... not the stupid cheap one is what i'm trying to say). kinda missed them for beeing in the same price range btw: thanks for including the countryman and the shure. very helpful to me
this might be nitpicking but when you are doing voice samples with clip-on style microphone pay attention to if the camera can see where it is clipped on your shirt after adding the lower 3rd. There were a bunch of samples I couldn't even see the clip-on.
Xmas vomited on your shirt!
Im guessing this is supposed to be part of some kind of wireless setup with the locking ring on the jack. Pretty decent sound either way. Kind of liked it better than the shure that i have. Pretty neat. Thanks!
Yeah definitely seems that’s the purpose of the locking nut. It’s also on the zoom f2 and rode XLR adapter. Which Shure lav do you use?
@@Podcastage I was using the Shure WL183 with the RPM626. Decent sounding mic and pre combo (instead of using the body pack i used the 626 which is a barrel inline pre). I used it for a few videos before I got the shotgun mic.
Wow it sounds pretty good to me
perfect review, can you please make review for sennheiser mke2
7:04 - Led Zeppelin reference.
Exactly. Stairway in reverse if I remember correctly.
Nice Seinfeld reference. 👍😉
Big fan of a "hang ten" as a unit of measure
I have used the ME2 quite a bit for wired and wireless TV news style interviews in field settings. I always thought it was a bit pedestrian sounding but really good for the price point. A while back I replaced them with Countryman B3s. I feel like I get a “fuller” sound with the Countrymans compared to this Senny.
Small diaphragms result in higher noise - but 32dBA? There are cell phone mics that do better than that, and they're MUCH smaller. Other than that, it sounds ok for a lavalier.
Good review.
The me too movement gonna go crazy with this one 👀
Yay, Lavs!
7:07 Stairway? Of course we rember of the poor Sad Satan in the shed.
Whats with the screw fitting on that? Does the connector come off?
Also you can mount these inside the soundhole as an internal mic on acoustic guitars.
That chin position also has a side effect of picking up the resonance of your throat. You'll hear the sound through your trachea as well as your mouth. It's useable, but might need some more tweaking in post beyond other use-cases.
The TikTok position 😂
please do a review of dji mic mini :(
I got the me 4 that I prefer it's directional cardioid
First off wow you compared a lot. Good job. I like the Neumann lav the best 🤡. You have a fair amount of sibilance in your voice so any of the mics with the highs boost don't sound good. The MVL was the worst but even when you put the ME2 on the bill of your cap or hand held the highs sizzled my ears. I agree located on the chest those boosted highs help. The TL48 also doesn't sound good with your voice not terrible but it's very detailed and would sound best concealed under clothing. I believe its used in theater applications because you can paint it to match the performers costume. COS11 was nice, the price is high but your paying for conceivability of the thin capsule, it doesn't sound 3x better but when eq right its a great, again not be a good match for your voice. The expensive mics are tuned to be flat without bass because that can be EQed and for hidden application getting clarity is more important for dialog.
I agree that the ME2 is an ok lav. Given its large capsule, anyone looking to conceal it would look else where.
Summer time?
Do you split the income from the podcast when you're on other live shows another TH-cam channels? Or do you charge them a extra fee for being you?
What about on acoustic guitar
Do people hear some sort of phase issue when he is in front of his desk? It feels like there's something going on.
It’s an Omni mic and when it’s 7 inches below my mouth it’s close to the surface of the desk which would have reflections and sound bad. It’s why I do the comparisons away from the desk, and during the conclusion have it on my collar. I want to provide samples in different set ups and situations so the performance can be heard.
@@Podcastage Yeah, that makes sense. I did not hear that kind of issue with your reviews on multi-pattern LDC mics when you use the omnidirectional pattern so did not expect to hear that level of phase misalignment.
And thank you for recording using different mic positions! On that note, may I request another mic position in your future lav mic reviews, namely boundary / pressure zone mic position? It's simply laying your lav mic on the desk like a boundary mic and have the gain increased to compensate for the level difference due to distance. I believe most boundary mics on the market are basically an electret SDC capsule soldered onto a PCB in a metal case. Based on your setup, maybe this position may be second to the best way to mitigate phase issues (at the cost of increased ambient pickup) after the Tik Top position.
Rode VXLR+ and VXLR Pro provide 4V DC bias while ME 2 requires 10V DC bias (not sure about other power supplies used in the video). I wonder if that is affecting S/N negatively in your comparison against other lav mics (and U87 lol), especially with its self-noise already being quite high at 32 dBA.
That was my thought when I first read that spec. I emailed sennheiser but never got a definitive answer. The me2 is marketed as compatible with the evolution wireless series and unless I’m misunderstanding those specs the mic/line input of then body pack provides 3V. So unless the mic truly only requires plugin power, then they are marketing it as compatible with a device that under powers it by 7v which I doubt they’d do.
@@Podcastage Thank you for your quick reply! That is interesting. I also checked some spec docs and, yeah, I think you're right about the DC voltage. I even saw spec sheet for a combination of transmitter and ME 2 that said ME 2 power requirement is 7.5V instead of 10V.
Also, Sennheiser's mics for wireless bodypacks also work with Shure's bodypacks that provide 5V, not 7.5 or 10V.
I'm glad to know that ME 2 works with Rode VXLR Pro. Thank you for trying it out!
@@Podcastage I measured the voltage of evolution wireless trasmitter (G4 112p). It's 9.43V without a microphone connected. It porbably drops a bit when a microphone is connected.
I think technically PIP is around 5 V with some of these manufactures upping it around the borderline of 10v to get more SPL gain. So it is kind of a wide range that they have to work with.
@@imark7777777 Never a fan of PIP as there is no universal standard for voltage or pinout. Would it be fair to say that ME 2 can work with pretty much any 3.5 mm input (except for Sony) but could produce weaker signal when connected to a device providing bias as low as 1.5V?
Compare to the ME4 😁
What a cooincidence. I was just thinking about the Sennheiser ME 2.
I can't believe they named a microphone after a pokemon.
Nintendo Lawsuit incoming
Me too
That's not the ME TO that I was thinking of when I hit the video..... But again just the same can't believe they named it that.
5:05 I see your tinfoil hat in the background.
Not bad for a lav Mic,
It seems like on your chest at seven inches down yields the best results.
130 Bucks and not even bubble lined bag? o.0
Has Senny never shipped any of their products ?!
@4:00, this could be a reoccurring halloween theme.. Just sayin
Neumann wins
Oh my sweet sad satan. :(
sounds worse in a treated room lmao
brighter sound is terrible, as high noise is terrible. So, this mic is terrible.