Review – George Lucas said, “Sound is 50% of the movie-watching experience.” You may not make the next Star Wars movie, but if you are streaming games, working in endless Zoom, recording Your own music, or just want to provide better audio for any project you are doing, a good microphone is essential. The KMAG M11 USB microphone is a good low-cost choice for capturing audio for your next media project.
what is it?
The KMAG M11 USB microphone is a tubular condenser microphone with cardioid directivity. The cardioid pointing means it picks up sound from the front and sides of the microphone, but rejects most of the sound coming in from the back. Compared with the usual omnidirectional microphones in laptops or mobile phones, this is a very typical microphone pickup pattern. Picking up sound from any direction may increase noise and background sounds in the recording.
What’s in the box?
- KMAG M11 USB microphone
- Foam windshield
- Tripod microphone stand
- Popular filter
- USB-A to USB-B cable
- USB-A to USB-C adapter
- User manual
Hardware specifications
- Sampling Rate: 48KHz
- Bit rate: 24 bits
- microphone: 16mm large diaphragm condenser
- Polarity mode: Heart-shaped
- Signal to noise ratio: 90 decibels
Design and features
The KMAG M11 USB microphone is a tubular black aluminum device with a length of 4.3 inches. The microphone, stand, and pop-up filter feel sturdy. The screws used to tighten the bracket and pop-up filter are made of plastic, so you need to be careful, otherwise it’s not cheap.
The microphone has a volume knob and an echo knob. Volume is used to increase or decrease the volume to be recorded. Echo will add reverb to your voice while recording. In post-production settings, you usually add it after recording your voice during the mixing process, but for live streaming, if you need to add reverb to your voice or instrument, this will be a convenient way.
There is also a headphone jack on the microphone for listening to your audio without the delay inherent in listening to the computer’s audio output.
The last control on the KMAG M11 USB microphone is a button. This button can be used to turn the microphone on and off (for example, if you don’t want to be heard during a Zoom call). This button is also used to activate noise reduction; just press and hold the button for three seconds to turn it on, and press the button again for three seconds to turn it off.
Installation and setup
Installation is as simple as plugging in a USB cable (you can also plug in a USB-C adapter if your device requires it). Once recognized by the computer, it will be displayed as a separate input and output device, each device is marked with M11 (allows the use of microphone as input and headphone output).
When I first plugged the KMAG M11 USB microphone into my MacBook Pro using the included USB cable and USB-C adapter, I heard a few seconds of audio, then a strange distorted sound, and then nothing. I had to unplug the microphone and plug it back in to restore audio. This happened several times, and I had another cable, but I was finally able to get clean audio from the microphone and recorded the samples included in this review. I’m not sure if this is just a problem with this particular microphone, or if all of these will have the same problem. I guess this is a problem with my settings, but I’m not entirely sure.
The KMAG M11 USB microphone is also compatible with some mobile phones and tablets that support USB-C.
I used this microphone and Shure MV7 for test recording, which is a popular new USB microphone for podcasting and video work. I tried to record two other XLR microphones with the audio interface, but my computer cannot use it.
KMAG M11 USB microphone audio example:
Shure MV7 audio sample:
what do I like
I like the feel of the KMAG M11 USB microphone, its weight, the accessories that come with it, the ease of plug-in and recording, the built-in headphone output for monitoring audio without echo, and the reverb option.
What will i change
Regarding the M11 microphone, I haven’t changed much. I’m not entirely sure how useful reverberation is on a microphone like this. I might remove the reverb knob and put a headphone volume knob there.
Final thoughts
In terms of price, the KMAG M11 USB microphone is a strong competitor of external microphones and can provide you with better audio quality than the built-in microphones of laptops or headsets. Considering the importance of audio quality in a video conference, YouTube video, game streaming, or the next blockbuster, this is a good place to start improving the quality of production.
price: 29.99 USD
Where to buy: Amazon
source: The sample for this review was provided by KMAG.
