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Review

Review - Blue Snowflake USB Microphone

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 6:00 AM - by

The Blue Snowflake USB microphone is a great sounding, inexpensive microphone that's great for podcasting, audio or video chatting, or recording. As a bonus, it also happens to be quite small, ultra-portable, and intelligently designed.

Here's what it looks like folded up and ready to travel.

Its USB cable is stowed conveniently inside the molded case.

Here's how it looks set up as a desktop mic:

And finally, here's how it looks attached to the top of your laptop display:

You have to admit, it's pretty cute and smartly designed, isn't it? But that wouldn't matter if it didn't also sound great, but it does.

I do a couple of podcasts regularly, both recorded over Skype. My usual podcasting setup relies on the Snowflake's bigger and more expensive sibling, the Blue Snowball. For my most recent appearances I substituted the Snowflake for my usual Snowball without telling the hosts in advance. Both of them -- Gene Steinberg of the Tech Night Owl LIVE and Chuck Joiner of MacNotables -- said I sounded as good as usual when I informed them I was using the smaller, less expensive Snowflake.

You can listen to the Tech Night Owl session recorded with the Snowflake here, and the MacNotables session recorded with it here.

I only have a couple of very minor gripes. The first is that I wish I could tighten the bearing that allows the microphone to tilt and swivel. It's not really a problem but I'd prefer it to be just a little bit stiffer.

The other thing that could be better is the clip-on portion of the enclosure, which you can see in the picture with the MacBook Pro above. It could have been a little wider. While you can hang it on a MacBook or MacBook Pro display as shown, it's not quite wide enough to sit that way on the 24-inch Westinghouse LCD display I use with my MacBook Pro at home.

But both of those things are mere quibbles. Overall, I find the Snowflake to be a great mic, especially at the price I saw at Amazon.com while researching this review. Although the Snowflake's SRP is $79, Amazon.com has it for a mere $59 with free shipping [click here]. If you need a good portable USB microphone, or even if you just need a good USB mic regardless of size, that's a good deal.

P.S. If you're wondering, no, that's not an affiliate link, nor do I make a cent if you take advantage of this deal. I'm merely a satisfied Snowflake user sharing an excellent price with a few million of my closest friends.

The Bottom Line

The Blue Snowflake sounds great, packs small, and won't break the bank. I don't know of another USB microphone priced like the Snowflake that offers such excellent sound quality, superb portability, and an intelligent, stylish design.

What's not to love?

Just The Facts

Snowflake from Blue Microphones

MSRP US$79.00

Pros: Sounds great, nicely designed, very portable, reasonably priced.

Cons: Pivot bearing could be tighter; clip-on portion not wide enough for some desktop displays.

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Dave said:

member since 11 Jun 2001 with 227 posts, TMO Staff, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:44 am

When I saw the 5-star review Bob gave for this, I have to admit I was shocked. Then as I read it, it made sense: Bob was comparing the sound quality to the Snowflake's cousin, the Snowball. He said they both sounded great doing podcasts, and gave a few examples. I listened to both examples, and felt a little better about the rating. No, neither sounds great, but when compared with the Snowball as the baseline, the Snowflake sounds fine.

Both mics, however, have a huge problem for most podcasters, Bob among them: Both mics are condenser mics. The big problem with condenser mics is that they pick up tons of ambient/room noise, often making a podcaster sound like they're on speakerphone. Bob, if you listen to the two examples you provided, they both have exactly that same characteristic. Sure, you could fix this by putting up some Auralex tiles and deadening the room you're in, but a much simpler fix -- though often more expensive than a condenser mic -- is to go with a dynamic USB mic for podcasting (the approx. US$229 R0DE Podcaster is my favorite, and sounds fantastically clean). Yes, this requires a bit more mic technique in that you have to address the mic and drive the element with your voice, but it provides for a much cleaner sound without all the bouncy room noise behind you.

For condenser mics, though, I have to say that the Blue mics DO sound fantastic, and you can't beat them for the price. If you're in a situation where you need to record a bunch of people with just one microphone, or are in an acoustically dry environment, condensers will give you a very clear sound without worrying too much about technique.

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:11 am

I bought the Snowball becuase it is a condenser mic - better quality and more versatile than a dynamic mic. I do podcasts with it as well as recording interviews and song ideas. It picks up my voice and acoustic guitar nicely, especially in "Omni" mode. when I podcast, I move closer to the mic, which helps lessen the room effect.

The Snowflake looks cool and far more portable than the Snowball. If it sounds similar, that's great for a mic at this price. I think the 5 stars are accurate when you consider what this is: a portable USB mic for $59. Oh yeah, and a great conversation piece!

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Lavode said:

member since 03 Dec 2001 with 147 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jul 22, 2008 11:48 am

"Intelligently designed?" Does that mean it's so complicated that it couldn't have evolved, and had to have a divine origin?

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A guest said: (hide)

Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:00 pm

No it does not mean made by GOD. It was created by an someone with inteligince. Now it could have fallen from the sky as its immensly less complex than the universe or most anything in it, but people only suspect that when they couldn't do that and want to deny an outside force.

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LaurieF said:

member since 15 Jun 2001 with 3547 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:13 pm

Just when I think that USArians do get irony after all, someone comes along and makes a stupid comment that shows to me that there's always one who just can't get a joke. Sigh.

Nice one, Lavode!

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Intruder said:

member since 07 Jul 2004 with 3149 posts, TMO Mac Specialist, send him a message or view his profile

Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:29 pm

LaurieF wrote:
Just when I think that USArians do get irony after all, someone comes along and makes a stupid comment that shows to me that there's always one who just can't get a joke. Sigh.

Nice one, Lavode!

Interesting that you think it was an american that replied. The IP address is in Amsterdam.

Methinks you are stereotyping, Laurie.

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LaurieF said:

member since 15 Jun 2001 with 3547 posts, TMO Forum Mod, send him a message or view his profile

Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:05 pm

I apologise. I was being ironic.

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A guest said: (hide)

Thu Aug 07, 2008 1:20 pm

Frankly I'm not impressed by those recordings. Just listen to the MacNotables session, Bob with the Snowflake sounded like as if he was speaking in a can. He can be easily understood for sure, so in that sense the sound is clear, but it simply does not have that "tightness" and is not anywhere even remotely close to a high quality microphone should deliver. The other interviewer must be using a much better microphone (which itself is not the highest quality either).

Compared to the average computer headsets, the only advantage of the snowflake is probably its convenience of not having to wear it. But still, it looks like something very much with its price. I just think that the reviewers like Bob don't have very discriminative ears to microphone quality.

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