Shure MV7 USB Podcast Microphone for Podcasting, Recording, Live Streaming & Gaming, Built-in Headphone Output, All Metal USB/XLR Dynamic Mic, Voice-Isolating Technology, TeamSpeak Certified – Black Musical Instruments

I’ve been using the Electro Voice re20 for a good while now, but I originally wanted to get the sm7b. When I found out about the mv7 and checked out the price, I had to buy one and see what it was like for myself. There’s been many reviews on YouTube that were mixed in thoughts. For me I primarily use xlr over usb, it sounds amazing with the focusrite 2i2, but similar to the re20 and sm7b, a cloud lifter would help increase the gain so you won’t have to boost the gains too much or just use a mixer with a good pre amp. This mic can still be pretty quiet, but with the right adjustments it sounds great. I don’t intend on using or even trying out the usb functionality even though it was made for it, but from the reviews I’ve watched on YouTube it works and sounds fantastic.

If you dont really know what you are doing and just want to be able to stream or talk to your friends or in game with others while sounding “good”, without picking up your keyboard and mouse clicks and what not…this is a good choice! you just need a boom arm to keep it near ur face so you can get the best sound. Also can use it for singing or broadcasting through the phone cos it can be directly plugged into your usb-c phone.You can also get the Rodemic and it will basically do the same thing but with more tinkering.. What this mic is good for, is its auto-adjustments supported through the firmware and software. Its a very, very simple microphone. It really should be priced closer to $200 for what it is and even at that price it is still at the high-end for competing microphones. I believe the brandname and appearance of this microphone is what bumps up the price…take off the foam cover and you will see its like a short version of the cheaper dynamic mics you can find on amazon for like $80-120.It does not require the 48V phantom power by the way. i havent been able to test out XLR functionality but thats what it says on the interblebs.

Very low noise floor. Works great directly into my mac, and also into a Zoom H5 without need for a cloudlifter. In the zoom volume around 7 I get clean great sound. Both ways with volume normalized to -20 rms I get ~70-75 db noise floor. Good for acx and long form narration in a less than perfect (untreated) environment. Also makes it good for narration while traveling. It also doubles as a great mic for zoom calls. I even use it for dictation with mac voice control. (One mic to rule them all?) I have the app but i do not really use it as I like a clean unprocessed signal. I did use it to update the firmware.The build is quite good, with all metal construction like all shure mics. The only ding really is the micro usb plug. We will have to see if that holds up or if not if it can be disassembled and repaired. As you see in the picture I use a velcro strip around the body to give strain relief to the micro usb plug.

I’ve been podcasting for about 5 months now. I was using a ~$30 USB mic that I found on Amazon, and I spruced up my sound quality a lot during editing. I recently purchased the Shure MV7 as a present for myself, and recorded my first episode on it today. I was attracted to this mic because it has a USB option. I have no idea how to set up an XLR mic, but I do know that if I wanted to use XLR I would have to buy other pieces of equipment beyond just the mic. This mic was also extremely easy to set up, and the MOTIV app is really useful.I’ve received a lot of compliments on my sound quality from my listeners, and I thought I was doing a really good job too. When I listened to my new episode recorded with the MV7 I immediately felt embarrassed about my previous episodes. I didn’t know I could get such a crispy recording! This mic also cut my editing time in half. Now, I just have to cut out long pauses and weird breaths.I’m very happy with my purchase. Highly recommend.

I’ll start right off by saying that the Shure MV7 is an excellent USB microphone, as the vocal clarity and general audio output are an (obvious) upgrade over your average laptop’s internal mic. This is marketed as a podcast microphone, though even I am not one of the users in that camp. Instead, I just needed a quality USB microphone for both video conferencing meetings and to record lectures at my college. My previous USB mic was a Zoom H1 recorder, and after weeks of online meetings day in and day out, I started to realize how much better these meetings would go without being asked repeatedly by a coworker to repeat myself or intermittently telling me that they have a hard time hearing me. So by no means am I an audio engineer with enough knowledge for a deep critique on the MV7’s audio output (I’ll let the other Amazon reviewers handle that area!), but Shure’s creators don’t intend for this to replace their higher end mics, such as the SM7B. Despite the fact that there is an XLR connection here, the MV7 isn’t meant for those trying to get perfect, industry studio-quality sound or music recordings, but that’s the point. Instead, if you’re needing a mic for podcasting, live-streaming, or surviving Zoom calls, this is one of the best options out there, with enough monitoring options and room for configuration to get the most out of this gorgeous piece of hardware.The whole construction of the mic, right down to the attached mounting bracket, feels incredibly sturdy and premium. Despite only a few days of usage as of writing this review, I have very little concern about its long-term durability. Even the back, metal-rimmed headphone jack port has better quality than what you’ll find in most laptops these days (if they include one, of course). Knowing users may opt for a desk microphone arm stand, the included USB cables are thankfully long. When you plug it in via USB, it takes a few seconds to register on your computer each time; there’s a row of green lights that breathe while this happens. As a small note, I plan to purchase an arm stand in the future, but for now I have an On-Stage desktop stand that fits perfectly with this mic. It’s a simple stand, but I recommend it nonetheless.As I mentioned earlier, I can’t speak to the nuances of the MV7’s audio quality compared to those who’ve actually had experience in the studio or recorded with decent sound mixing knowledge. But from my perspective of being the average person working from home and having a day filled with online meetings and lectures, I’m very impressed with how my voice sounds from this mic. Not only does my voice sound crystal clear, but even the echoes bouncing from my high ceilings and the inevitable street noise from outside my window are nowhere to be heard when I record audio from the MV7. Vocals are top priority for this product, hence the brand’s naming of this being a podcast microphone. I do agree with Engadget’s Devinda Hardawar – one of the first tech writers who wrote about the MV7 – that the plosives, or the “p” sounds, don’t sound as perfect as you’d hope compared to what you normally hear in broadcast audio vocals or some high-profile live streamers, but that could very well because of my own loud, bright voice. Likewise, an additional pop filter mask may alleviate this very minor distortion. The software Shure recommends you use is ShurePlus MOTIV, a desktop app available for free on their website. The desktop app is useful enough for users like me, as they include Auto Level settings, which includes configuring for vocal tone and adjusting for microphone position, and Manual settings that allow you adjust the audio gain, EQ, and amount of sound compression. You can save presets and, for macOS at least, the MOTIV app automatically recognizes the Shure MV7 device once you plug it into the computer. Those looking to configure every single frequency and fine-tune the settings even deeper should look beyond MOTIV. In the near future, I hope to update this review with more scientific audio tests, ones that include both USB and XLR output (I’m still looking for the right audio interface).If there’s one gripe I have to make about the Shure MV7 so far, it’s that I’m not a fan of the touch interface built on the mic. There were plenty of instances where I had to tap an icon or swipe the volume slider multiple times in order for it to respond. The buttons, themselves, also could be bigger, because they were small even for my slim fingers to tap without accidentally touching the adjacent volume slider too. Though not entirely bad, I question why Shure didn’t just go with physical controls, such as the volume dial seen in the Blue Yeti Pro. Buttons, whether touch-enabled or physical, aren’t exactly needed, since the aforementioned ShurePlus MOTIV app is available, and contains the same controls along with a whole lot more options. Even the location of the touch panel won’t suit everyone. I imagine some users might be used to grabbing the middle of the mic to adjust the angle – and the middle just so happens to be where the touch panel is located. Fortunately, you can actually go without ever needing to use the controls if you end up not loving them like me: holding both the Mute icon and the Monitor mix icon for at least two seconds will lock the whole touch panel, indicated by a red light next to a lock icon on the same panel. Of course, it’s a matter of successfully getting those two icons to respond first! Perhaps Shure may release firmware that improves these touch controls in the future.Everything else about the Shure MV7, though, is near-perfect. I think having a microphone like this for your computer really makes working with meetings from home much more manageable. The $249 price tag is a worthy investment and easily beats whatever laptop internal mic or cheap, uncomfortable headset you’ve been stuck with. I’ll update this review as time progresses, but for now I give it my highest recommendation![An important warning when first unboxing: for me, the screws holding the mic to the mounting bracket were NOT tightly fastened out of the box. One could easily hold it by the bracket and unknowingly cause the mic to wobble out and drop. Hopefully this is not the case for everyone, but you should keep that in mind when before grabbing the mic from the packaging for the first time; hold it by the mic, not the bracket!]