CAD vs Blue (mic review/comparison)

Kitcat190

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
is it ok if u specify which mics in the topic title? it made it seem you were comparing both brands in general at first

If the CAD was sensitive, turn off AGC and turn down your recording volume.

Other than that, the CAD u37 is an amazing mic and is worth the price. From popular and well-received critics, most prefer the CAD u37 over the Blue Snowball.

The CAD's unbelievable clarity is outstanding but it can get 'too' clear at times. You'll need to EQ the samples or output.

The CAD is solidly built and I have no problem with it. The price seems to fluctuate... I've seen it get as low as $38, but i got mine at $50.
I dont think I need seeing as in the reviews different cad and snowball mics are mentioned. Also, I think I can only take the last and possibly first thing said because the rest does not read as a experience, but rather a marketing technique(?) I'm blanking on the word, but I'd rather keep the reviews simply on the microphone and peoples experiences with it
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
I have owned both mics so may I say a few things?

Build wise the CAD is about on par with the Snowball, it's a hard plastic shell with a metal center structure, the usb is reinforced by the metal stand mount.
Yes the cable sucks but I've seen worse.

Going into other aspects, the oversensitivity is actually a good thing. It means that there is ample gain for even quieter people. Avoiding overloading the mic is as simple as turning the microphone volume down on your computer and disabling AGC (which is a windows feature).

Both mics have proximity issues, not just the snowball.

The buzzing and humming from both mics is actually caused bybthe ground connection on the usb port and not the mics themselves.

The latency of USB mics that lack ASIO drivers are notoriously bad, this is for both the Snowball and u37. Glitches are often caused by the computer and or driver latency. Faster/more moder. machines generally won't have any trouble with either while older ones may struggle.

The Snowball has a frequency response cueve that is better than the Yeti's, while the CAD u37 has a frequency response curve that is very similar to the Yeti's. This means that the u37 has rolled off bass by default (same as the Yeti) but this isn't an issue primary for female vocalists.
This is also why people sometimes compare the u37 to a Yeti.

The Snowball is muffled while the CAD is harsh, both have flaws.
I for one lean towards EQing the u37 to fix it's issue since you can't really EQ out muffled audio as the detail wasn't there in the first place.

If people wanted a good usb mic then they would have to pay $250+ which is silly. Might as well get a separate interface and go that route.

I'm ignoring the other posts because it's a sticky situation so sorry if I missed something said previously.
 

Zoku

making doper vocaloid music than the rest
Defender of Defoko
ahaaaaaaaaa but naw i just didn't understand what you meant by being too clear, because clarity isn't something you can eq out
I didn't mean EQ'ing out clarity, but rather EQ'ing out the certain points on the higher side of frequency spectrum.

To be fair, I meant brightness, not clarity. Mistake on my parts.
 

Kitcat190

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
Thread starter
I have owned both mics so may I say a few things?

Build wise the CAD is about on par with the Snowball, it's a hard plastic shell with a metal center structure, the usb is reinforced by the metal stand mount.
Yes the cable sucks but I've seen worse.

Going into other aspects, the oversensitivity is actually a good thing. It means that there is ample gain for even quieter people. Avoiding overloading the mic is as simple as turning the microphone volume down on your computer as disabling AGC (which is a windows feature).

Both mics have proximity issues, not just the snowball.

The buzzing and humming from both mics is actually caused bybthe ground connection on the usb port and not the mics themselves.

The latency of USB mics that lack ASIO drivers are notoriously bad, this is for both the Snowball and u37. Glitches are often caused by the computer and or driver latency. Faster/more moder. machines generally won't have any trouble with either while older ones may struggle.

The Snowball has a frequency response cueve that is better than the Yeti's, while the CAD u37 has a frequency response curve that is very similar to the Yeti's. This means that the u37 has rolled off bass by default (same as the Yeti) but this isn't an issue primary for female vocalists.
This is also why people sometimes compare the u37 to a Yeti.

The Snowball is muffled whole the CAD is harsh, both have flaws.
I for one lean towards EQing the u37 to fix it's issue since you can't really EQ out muffled audio as the detail wasn't there in the first place.

If people wanted a good usb mic then they would have to pay $200+ which is silly.

I'm ignoring the other posts because it's a sticky situation so sorry if I missed something said previously.


If you can word this into a snowball and cad review separately, then I can add it to the experience. Otherwise the information provided are technical issues and comparisons rather than personal experience. What was provided were the top ten most complained about issues, as well as examples of reviews. The thread is to compare each microphone so who ever may read it can determine which fits to their needs best. Some things said have been argued in the main post such as build, quality and glitches.
 

na4a4a

Outwardly Opinionated and Harshly Critical
Supporter
Defender of Defoko
hmm, you can EQ out specific frequencies to fix bright peaks in a recording, clearity is often a trait of the microphones's build and electronics. You either got it or you don't.

You can remove but not add what isn't there in the first place.
 
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Blackbird

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
I didn't mean EQ'ing out clarity, but rather EQ'ing out the certain points on the higher side of frequency spectrum.

To be fair, I meant brightness, not clarity. Mistake on my parts.
ah ok ye, I was gonna say, if there's a way to eq clarity then damn i got some research to do
 

FelineWasteland

Feral Catboy
Defender of Defoko
I chose the Blue Snowball because it was the best option in my price range, and it's definitely given me my money's worth. I've had it for a bit over two years and it still works fine, giving me much higher quality results than any headset mic would, so it was definitely an upgrade. This being said, the quality is no where near professional, namely in the high compression, and it does not pick up loud vocals well at all. It also picks up a lot of background noise. I would definitely recommend it for people who do UTAU as a hobby and don't want to spend a lot of money on recording equipment, or people like me who simply can't afford a professional mic.
 

HoneyPai

Defoko's Slaves
Defender of Defoko
I'm just gonna come in and give my input.
I've had the Blue Snowball and snowball ICE, and I've never owned the CAD, but I have used a CAD before, they may have updated the CAD u37 from the last time I used one (I recall using it around 2012-2014)
So since I am speaking of the CAD, I'll start with it. I recall it not sounding too well, pretty low quality, you get what you pay for, but I'd say it sounds like maybe $10-$20 less at the time. Again, this was at this time, but I have still heard many users complain about this mic.

Moving on to the ICE the snowball ice is pretty nice in my opinion, but though the snowball and ice are the same build, just the snowball has a second capsule, the ice was lower quality than the default snowball. It sounded very compressed and picked up quite a bit of bg noise, and turning the mic volume down did not help. But also with that, I must mention that I was using a computer that had many defects in it, the sound card and or audio driver being one problem, as the mic would randomly clip as well as drop in sound all together, but on my pc, it never had issues.

On to the Snowball.
I am very happy with the quality, it's not the best, but it has done it's job very well, I rarely get bg in my recordings, but with most mics, environment is always a big factor. I record in a padded closet, again, bg is rare, but it will pick up bg noise for example:
Someone doing dishes in the kitchen? You should wait that out, I never caught it in my recordings
But I have caught shower water in them. You want to record out in the open/middle of your room?
The snowball will hear the atmosphere (not really but it seems like it)
But besides how sensitive to bg noise it is, even with the -10 db, I'd say it's still pretty good!
I'll also say, though it is good, it personally does not fully fit my voice type, it's really good for my low range, but not so much my base and higher.
But, one small counter "argument" is, in my experience, I think it responds to loud/powerful vocals very well, gave me more than I expected out of Makne Nitton's power bank. With that, I agree, it's not professional, can sound close depending on the voice type, but it's still not professional.
I think it's a nice mic to use if you just want a cheap upgrade
(Also like most mics, I advise to look around on ebay or amazon for deals, bought an xlr mic that sells for $175, I got it for $100 shipping added)
 

EchoCaptil

Ritsu's Renegades
Defender of Defoko
Hmm, well.. I don't know what the Snowball or the U37 are like.. But I find the GXL2400 USB to be great quality for the price and it feels well build too so :P
 
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