Yeti USB Microphone – plug and play high-end audio

The oddly-named Yeti is a THX certified USB microphone from Blue. With microphones built into almost anything with a USB port these days (I have 6 built-in microphones in my direct line of sight) the Yeti has some serious work to do to justify its £129 price tag.

Pulling the Yeti from the box your first impression is that this thing is hefty. Weighing in at approximately 1.5kg, the Yeti feels like it means business from the get go. The look of the Yeti is incredible – like a lovely 50′s style radio station mic. I found it hard to talk into it without doing a Bill McNeal/Phil Hartman impression. The Yeti comes with a built in stand that allows you to position it on a desk and retain easy access to the onboard controls.

The Yeti is ridiculously easy to use – you simply plug it in and your computer should recognise the microphone. It works effortlessly with PCs, Macs and even a Linux distro I had lying around. I had a Skype call up and running instantly on all the platforms I tested with minimum hassle.

There is a large Gain control on one side and a Mute button –that flashes when you activate it. There is also a connection for headphones – you can monitor your levels, and there is a headphone volume knob.

The most exciting knob is the dial at the front, which enables you to switch between 4 different modes.
Cardioid, Omnidirectional, BiDirectional and Stereo. Simply switch the dial to adjust your settings. The little icons on the front make it pretty easier for novice users to decipher the different kinds of recording modes and there is a handy illustrated guide that helps you set up for podcasting, musical recordings, interviews or VoIP calls.

Hassle, looks and weight aside, the sound quality from the 3 Blue-proprietary 14mm condenser capsules
is undeniably excellent. I ran some tests comparing the sound quality to the internal mic on an iMac and the difference in was clear. I then compared to an AKG C-1000S mic running through a Joe Meet VC3Q via Pro Tools and it wasn’t quite as good. But that’s over £1000 worth of audio equipment. The Yeti does a pretty good job for something that is £129, reasonably portable and stress free to set up. If you take your audio seriously, I would have to recommend a long, hard look at the Yeti.