Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I purchased this specifically to see if I could use this with Dragon Naturally Speaking and hopefully improve my recognition accuracy by some tiny amount. I can't say if it succeeds at that or not; Dragon is one contrary beast of a program. Nonetheless, when I use this for other purposes, such as simple voice recording, I've noticed nothing but clean sound and plenty of gain.
There are a number of presumably comparable devices out there made by the likes of OSP, Marshall, Alesis, Lightsnake, and others. I started by purchasing Marshall's XLR-USB adapter and found it had a really weak signal that usually needed to be normalized at a MUCH higher volume. I sold that at a small loss on eBay so I could try something else and this was it. (To be fair, it appears that Marshall has re-designed their USB adapter and I think the second version may have addressed this concern.)
The reviews I've read on the OSP and Lightsnake adapters seem to indicate they are not really balanced input, and that inside the box the 2nd and 3rd pins (hope I recall that correctly) are soldered together just like in a simple bal-unbalanced adapter. I don't believe that's the case here.
So far I totally disagree with other reviewers here claiming it's noisy. I've observed no noise.
Sturdy, solid construction. Has some heft to it; in fact, a bit heavy for its size. You really don't want to attach it to a mic directly if you intend on holding it very long, especially if you're a young aspiring starlet. :-)
My only minor detractor is I wish the phantom power button were designed so it's difficult to press by accident. This is the single most overlooked design flaw in mic preamps in general. You can press the phantom power button by mistake and according to some authorities, destroy a very expensive mic by accident. I can't afford many quality mics and so this isn't much of a risk for me. :-)
I have tried and presently own a handful of mic preamps and USB adapters, including the ART USB Dual Pre and an Edirol UA-25EX, and have tried a variety of higher-end USB soundcard devices. This compares pretty favorably with any of them, given its simple purpose. I think as far as usb-powered mono xlr-usb adapters go, you're not likely to do much better presently. You can certainly get a cheaper one, but this is clearly built to Shure's solid design standards and will outlast any of them.
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Shure X2u XLR To USB Microphone Adapter; Give your favorite mic a USB Connection. The X2u Signal Adapter gives you the opportunity to go direct from mic to computer without the need of a hefty audio interface. Record live from anywhere you can bring your computer using any mic you choose. Now you can use your most trusted microphones for all your digital recordings. The X2u features built-in headphone monitoring with zero latency making it the perfect choice for multi-track recording. It's Easy to use you can balance microphone and playback audio from the controls on the face of the adapter. Plug-and-Play this genius device and you can get a sound quality that rivals CDs. Shure X2u Features USB Plug and Play connectivity for convenient digital recording Integrated pre-amp with Microphone Gain Control Zero Latency Monitoring for real-time tracking and playback Headphone jack for monitoring with 1/8 inch connectivity Monitor Mix Control for blending microphone and playback audio 16 bit, up to 48 kHz sample rate for better-than-CD quality audio Compatible with Windows Vista, XP, 2000, and Mac OS X (10.1 or later) Includes Padded, zippered pouch and USB cable Any Mic - Any Time - Anywhere Slim, portable and simple to connect, the X2u adapter makes it easy to record whenever you want, anywhere you take your computer -from the home studio, to the garage, to the road. AmericanMusical.com is an authorized dealer of Shure products.
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