Behringer B-5 Small-diaphragm Condenser Microphone

I just used this as an overhead microphone for the first time in a very small room which reflected sound everywhere. While it did no miracle in completely removing room echo, with a little bit of tweaking in post-production I was able to get great professional quality audio for a video interview. It was definitely a huge step up compared to a lav mic under these conditions. Additionally, it works surprisingly well as a professional voice-over microphone on the go. It's worth purchasing a small shockmount, pop-filter and stand for it so it doesn't capture the sound of your hand holding it. Since it is a cardioid microphone, it sounds much better than using a Tascam or Zoom portable recorder. Additionally, it is an XLR microphone, so of course an audio interface and a proper cable are needed to connect it with your computer and most cameras. It requires phantom power, which most interfaces can provide.

I am sure this is not what it was designed for, but we used a pair of these to mic and indoor equestrian arena so people in the viewing area/room can hear what is going on.The system worked very well. Paired with a basic speaker bar and very simple mixer to deliver the phantom power.Worked great for someone not knowing anything about audio equipment.

I bought this mic as a general-use small-capsule condenser for acoustic instruments like guitar and banjo. My expectations were not high given the price. But upon checking this mic out carefully, I can say that this little mic is quiet, balanced, and sensitive. With the omni capsule in place, it's one of the cleanest, most accurate mics I've ever found under $300. And with the cardioid capsule and windscreen in place, it can even do a passable job as a voice-over microphone, though that wouldn't be my primary use for it. I think it's going to work beautifully on acoustic guitar.One caveat -- DO NOT move the highpass/pad switch without muting the console channel. It produces extremely loud pops that might damage speakers or your ears.

**UPDATE**Ok so about 2 days after I wrote this review, as I had mentioned, I had given up on the support because Behringer makes it pretty hard to request a replacement. So I figured I might as well take the capsule apart and see if I could find what's wrong with it.After MUCH tinkering and trial and error, I ended up realizing that the problem was that the components inside the capsule were screwed in too tighly. The inner component of the capsule has a gold pin that is attached to the actual capsule itself. There is a golden (brass?) ring around that tightens everything in place. This ring is what was too tight, causing the inner components to be pressed against each other. I used some tweezers to loosen the ring just enough so that the center capsule could be pushed in and spring back out. (It doesn't really have a springing mechanism, but what I mean is that the center part of the capsule should be slightly loose from the inside).Doing this completely removed the horrendous noise floor and now the cardioid capsule sounds INCREDIBLE!!!!!! I really like the omnidirectional too, but it is so sensitive to ambient noise while the cardioid is much better at only picking up what's in front of it (as all cardioids should).I will keep my 4 star rating as the initial woes I had are due to poor quality assurance from Behringer. Any other buyer who is not willing to disassemble the capsule would have never found the problem, let alone fixed it.*******************************ORIGINAL REVIEW:The cardioid capsule came unusable out of the box. It has a very loud noise floor that makes the microphone sound as if there was a fan blowing air into it. This causes the voice to sound really low. Using noise removal software isn't enough to reduce so much noise. I attempted to request a replacement, but the manufacturer makes it very difficult and unintuitive, so I just gave up.The omnidirectional capsule, on the other hand, works perfectly and has a very pleasant sound. It is VERY sensitive, so it WILL pick up any ambient noise in your room. The sound quality, however, is excellent especially when you consider the price. This is the reason I am still rating this 4 stars.I am disappointed because I was looking forward to using the cardioid capsule to help reject ambient noise so that I wouldn't have to use noise removal techniques in post processing.

Really a great microphone, and for the money I don't think you can do better.Clear and articulate but with a nice body and without sounding harsh or hyped. A definite sound upgrade over the C-2, which sounds tinny alongside the B-5. I prefer the B-5 on some sources to my Oktava MK-012s.I do wish they sold them in matched pairs though.

I bought my first SDC about a year ago for home recording, but it is too expensive of a mic to just leave out on a stand. I got this mic because I wanted something a bit better for my online meeting audio. I am amazed how good this is for such a cheap mic. I ended up using it on recordings for everything and it it always pretty good as worst. I feel like I made a big mistake on not getting one of these sooner - I ended up buying a bunch more. Now I can leave mics up and not have to worry about them so much. I have used them on vocals, Guitar cabs, close-ish mics on Drums and more. The only thing I don't get now is why others don't rave about this amazing dirt cheap mic?

Bought one of these and found it harsh... bought a second one on sale to see how it sounds as a pair. Have not been successful getting the second order fulfilled for over 3 weeks now. When/if the second one arrives... and it they sound decent as a pair, I'll update my review.

Behringer is such a weird company. Some of their products are super nasty and some are amazing for the price. The B5 is in the latter category. I'd compare the performance of this microphone to SDC Mics costing 4 to 5 times as much. I believe for the same price you can get a pair of C2 microphones, but the C2 doesn't sound nearly as full and detailed as the B5. I find the difference pretty striking and if you need two of these and can swing the extra few bucks, you're getting two nice sdcs for under $100.