Audio-Technica AT2020USB Cardioid Condenser USB Microphone (Discontinued)

TLDR; Both mics provide excellent audio quality at an affordable price. If you're looking into purchasing an entry level microphone for your gaming/commentary needs, the AT2020 and Blue Yeti are probably the most recommended microphones. If you're like me, you're probably undecided on which one to purchase. I originally purchased a Blue Yeti (you can check my review on it by clicking my name) and it worked great, but it eventually failed within 6 months (eventually got it fixed through warranty). At the time, I didn't want much downtime so I ended up purchasing this Audio Technica mic to keep me company in the meantime. After using both for gaming/Skype, I can say that both microphones generally provide excellent audio quality with high sensitivity. The AT2020 is physically a whole lot smaller than the Yeti. It's unobtrusive size is easy to handle and will probably be easier to use on a scissor mount arm if you decide to go that route; the Yeti is huge in comparison. However, a big plus of the Yeti is that it has on-board controls for gain sensitivity, a mute button, and headphone input so that you can use the mic as a speaker by plugging in your headphones and getting zero latency feedback. If you want these features in the AT2020, you'll need to get the PLUS version. Also, the Yeti has a few different recording modes to suit different recording styles such as regular commentary, interviews, etc. Both mics are plug-n-play through USB (please note that there are several versions of the AT2020, so make sure you get the USB version if that's what you want) and both had no problems connecting to my PC and Playstation 4. Build quality on both mics are good, with a good weight to them. They definitely don't feel cheap in any way. Note that the AT2020 has a blue LED within the mic that shines through the grill, which may or may not bother some people. On the Yeti, the mute button will flash red when muted and display a solid red when active. In summary, both mics provide excellent audio quality and you can't go wrong with either one in my opinion. The only small difference I noticed was that the Yeti does tend to sound a bit brighter/crisp while the AT2020 sounds a bit more warm. Both mics are highly sensitive so some type of scissor/shock mount is necessary to keep keyboard/mouse vibrations to a minimum if you're PC gaming. As for keyboard and mouse clicks, you can hear my Cherry MX Brown switches. You probably won't be able to completely remove all the clicking sounds from a mechanical keyboard, but to help minimize it, you'll definitely want to play around with the position of the mic, the sensitivity gain, and invest in a windscreen of some sort. In either case, both are great entry-level mics for your gaming/commentary needs and you can't go wrong with either one. I'd say just go for whichever you can find cheaper or whichever one looks better to you.

I had used the XLR version with a 42 channel mixer at my technical school. It worked quite well and I figured that I wanted one for myself. At that point, I did not know that a USB version existed. When I realized that I could use the same mic with my computer, I ordered it as soon as possible. The mic works great with my Acer Aspire V5 which I upgraded with an additional 4 gigs of RAM running Windows 8. That being said, the mic's preview latency was off by a considerable margin, even with the amount of processing capabilities that my computer has. It was instantly recognized by Audacity [and Ableton]and the gain controls inside Audacity were well enough for my needs. The mic is very sensitive. My intended use for the mic was for voice over and reading purposes but I once found the occasion to use it with Skype. It worked, but easily picks up the noise that a computer can make. If the fan turns on or you click your mouse, you will hear it. For studio and professional purposes this is no problem however, for no other noise making devices would be used in the same room or studio. And as always the saying 'we'll just fix it in post' applies. Again, this is only for close sounds, a car going by outside of my room would not be audible. With the mention of foreign sounds, I would like to state that this mic is perfect for correction. By that I mean that audio recorded with this mic can easily be filtered and noise removed with close to no distortion. The mic carries a warm sound with most voices. I have used the AT2020 to record my friend playing a ukulele and it gave the instrument a smooth, rich, tone. With the audio and sound aside, the mic is built sturdy and fairly heavy. We students have knocked over the XLR version of the mic several times and it is still in working order. The only other problem aside from bad latency that I could imagine is its sensitivity to absorbed sound. Any slight knock or bump of the table or stand containing the mic will clip the audio badly and be impossible to correct in post. The tripod is good enough for my uses but I would recommend purchasing a stand and shock mount to use with the AT2020. For $100 price range, this is the best mic available on the internet that I have come across. I would definitely recommend this mic to anyone. Seriously. ANYONE. This is the best mic for any vocal or light instrumental recording. BUY IT! BUY IT NAW!

First of all here are some important things you'll want to know: | THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS 1) This mic sounds fantastic for the price. You will, however, want to consider the AT2020+ / Plus version if you'd like to hear yourself along with your computer's audio straight through a single jack on the mic. 2) It's plug and play with everything, or at least as close as it gets. If it's got a USB port it's pretty likely that this mic will work. I personally use it with my PlayStation 4 and it requires zero setup. The PS4 instantly recognizes it as a microphone only and not as a mic/headphones combo. | BACKSTORY I love this company and have several of their products at this point (which will come up in this review). With that at the forefront I'll give a little backstory to explain why I got the mic. I devised a super complicated setup with which I can split my PlayStation 4's HDMI to my TV as well as my computer's monitor. I do this with a ViewHD HDMI matrix with 4 inputs & 2 outputs. I can watch the same thing on both screens or separate things simultaneously. With this HDMI 'splitter' I can also have the audio split off through a standard 3.5mm headphone jack which I run into a line level input on my M-Audio Fast Track C600 audio interface using a 1/4" to 1/8" adapter. The reason I do this is because I also have another Audio-Technica mic, the AT4040 XLR, running through this mixer. The 4040 is for recording my voice on my PC, and the 2020 is for voice chat on the PlayStation 4. So to mix it down for you - here's what I end up being able to hear in a single pair of headphones (which just so happen to be Audio-Technica, the ATH-M50): 1) PlayStation 4 audio - via the HDMI splitter above 2) Desktop PC audio (anything playing on my computer) - using the audio interface as the ASIO soundcard 3) AT4040 Microphone - to hear my own voice with no delay and also record to the computer All these things go through my audio mixer's realtime monitoring output, which means there is no delay or 'latency', it's a beautiful thing to hear yourself the entire time you're chatting on PS4 (or any other situation for that matter) for those who haven't experienced it. I'm used to it from recording rap vocals. This is why depending on your usage, you might want to look at the next model up, the AT2020+ which has monitoring built-in. | GENERAL CONDENSER MIC INFO & CLOSING OPINIONS Still with me? I know that was a lot but I wished there was more information similar to this when I was setting this all up. If it helps out one person over the course of the next thousand years, I'll have done my job! In terms of being a condenser microphone, be aware that this has a 'proximity effect,' which is sometimes useful and sometimes not. It's basically the idea that if you're very close to the mic, your voice will sound very much like you're broadcasting on the radio - deep and punchy. If you're farther away, you're going to sound that way - distant and quiet. Also be aware that you'll probably want a pop shield to reduce 'plosives' like that burst of air when you say P's and B's. Essentially all mics will need that plosive control. Like I said, I'm a big fan of Audio-Technica and their products have always been of the highest tier in terms of quality. I've never needed to contact support but I'm confident they'd be as awesome as the products themselves. Big recommendation for AT here from me. Good luck!

The Audio-Technica AT2020 USB is an awesome microphone for spoken voice. I heard about the AT2020 from broadcasters on Twitch.com who use the mic for game commentary. I was always impressed by the recording quality and decided to put aside integrated headset microphones for good. Upon receipt of the mic the first thing you will notice when holding it is the weight. This thing just feels rugged and well made. Inspection of the mic physically shows some slight bubbles that appear around a portion of the alloy used to construct the housing. I wasn’t sure if the mic was second-hand or if this was a manufacturing defect. I am willing to bet it is the ladder. It isn’t terribly noticeable so I will not deduct any points there. The mic will come with a USB A/B cable, and some documentation in a well-padded box. This mic does not come with any software. No cd. Instead, Windows Update automatically detects the driver and installs it. This can be a good and a bad thing. I personally like to have backups of drivers either on disk or USB, but windows will install it within seconds. When the mic is communicating with a machine there is a vibrant blue led that lights up on the front. It is very pretty and is an attention grabber, but I wished that there was a way to disable the light temporarily. I have gotten quite a few comments about the audio quality from my recordings and they are all positive. My friends/viewers immediately noticed the difference. The mic is meant to be used in a quiet setting. It will pick up background noise, but it is better than the Blue Yeti or the Metormic in my humbling opinion. The first week I started using the mic I started having intermittent connectivity issues. The led would not light up and device manager showed the mic as an Unknown USB Device (device descriptor request failed) code 43. This would happen every now and then, but the issue was only resolved by reconnecting the cable(pain in the ass). I did a serious amount of research and troubleshooting before calling it a hardware failure (which is what a code 43 usually indicates). Over the next month the issue got persistently worse to the point where it would not recognize the mic at all. After connecting it to 5 different machines all with various operating systems and using a different A/B cable (I even connected it to a Mac) the issue continued. I gave up and decided to use the 1-Year manufacturer’s warranty. I sent it to AT via UPS ground, and they returned the Mic within a week after they received it. I may have been without the mic for a week to two weeks. They did not opt to replace the mic, instead it was repaired. They had to replace the usb assembly and bottom fixture. They sent it back to me with all of the documentation and accessories I provided and I did not have to pay anything except the shipping(they took care of the return). The mic itself was identical to the one I purchased off of Amazon with no additional scuffs or defects. The mic is now working without any issues. Do not let my experience with the warranty repair sway your decision, the audio quality of the AT2020 is amazing for the price and overall a well-designed piece of equipment. Sometimes you just get a bad egg and I believe that is what happened here. If this happens again I will be sure to update my review.

I have had this mic for well over a year now, and it has done nothing but impress me. When used in conjunction with a Nady Clamp On Pop Filter, the results are impressive, to say the least. Now, I only use this microphone for voice over work, so I cannot attest to how it performs for instrumentals and singing. However, for VO work, it is a stellar little mice. The construction is sturdy. It feels very solid in your hand. The pic up pattern is very nice, too. I get a strong, rich sound when I use it to record. Throw in a hint of bass boost, and the end results are fantastic. I also love that this microphone comes with a well made leather travel pouch. This has come in handy on more than one occasion. It does a great job of protecting the microphone while also making it convenient to take on the road or on location to do some last minute VO work or fixes. One of the only caveats I have for this microphone has nothing to do with the mic itself. The stand it comes with, as others have stated, is pretty much garbage. It does work, and will do in a pinch, but if you are serious about your recording, then you will want to replace it as soon as possible anyways with a decent micstand, shockmount, and popfilter... all of which you cannot use with the tiny little stand that comes with the mic. All in all, it is nice that it came with the stand, as it gives you an "out of the box" option, and a portable solution for travel... but I am uncertain that I would want to record for a client without a pop filter anyways. All in all, it is hard to beat this mic. It has a great price point, and it gets phenomenal results. The plug-and-play reliability of the USB plug is also a nice touch. It keeps my external equipment to a minimum, and it has worked flawlessly on both my Mac and PC without the need to download and install drivers on either machine. I would definitely recommend this microphone for anyone starting out in doing voice over work, narration, or video presentations. You will not be disappoint​ed.

Full disclosure: I'm not a audio technician or a professional musician. I bought this to use in conjunction with Audacity and FL Studio for my passion projects. I've been really pleased with this microphone. It plugs into your computer through USB. The mic sounds great and is quite sensitive. I don't stream, but I've tried using this to game with some friends over Skype and they could hear my keyboard pretty loudly. I've used this mic with a stand and a pop filter to record vocals and acoustic guitar. Like I said, I'm not a professional, but the sound quality is amazing to me. The blue light that glows when the mic is connected looks cool, too. There are a couple things I don't like about this microphone, but they are pretty minor and frankly, the excellent sound quality of this mic overshadows them. The first thing is that I'm not a huge fan of the mechanism use to connect to a mic stand. It screws on, but with the weight of the mic sometimes the mic stand is difficult to balance. I feel like some kind of clipping mechanism would be more versatile and useful. The mic is also kind of heavy, but maybe that's just the sign of a quality mic. I have to give 5/5 stars for the sound quality. It works great for a hobby musician. I imagine it would also be good for a home podcast, or for a videographer that needs high quality voice-over for their films or Youtube videos.

Summary: I expected this mic to produce audio that would be at-a-glance superior to that of my 15$ computer headset. I was disappointed, if anything It seems lower quality to me, because this mic does such a great job of picking up the sound of my quiet computer fan in the background. I've seen this mic used to great effect in youtube vids from people who clearly have a nice quiet studio to record in, it's not the mic's fault that I expected something that in retrospect might have been unreasonable. None the less, I paid a bunch of money for something, and it did not do what I wanted it to do, so I'm dissatisfied. It's like if i bought a fridge with the expectation that I could use it to cool my house, and it failed to do so. :) yes, I'm an idiot, but that doesn't change the fact that you, too, might be an idiot, who will benefit from my mistake. So, in a carpeted room with only the sound of a barely audible computer fan, i have this mic on a tripod on the carpet about 3 feet from the computer, using a screen/etc. when I record with this mic set at 50% volume, I hear the fan so loud in the background it's annoying/distracting. The audio quality is "fine" again not being a professional I can't really tell the difference btw the quality on this 100+$ mic and the quality on my 15$ computer headset, and that also disappoints me quite a bit. You know when you hear a good studio recorded audio clip, and it just sounds so deep and smooth and amazing? recording with this mic does not give me that same feel.. I can hear what was said, and it sounds fine, but it isn't as smoooth, it doesn't contrast with silence the way, for example, listening to professionally recorded music or whatever would. And maybe that's because normal studio recorded sound is post-processed to make it have that cool sound, maybe i'm just not cool enough to have high quality audio. but again, it disappoints me. I'm torn on leaving this review, on the one hand, clearly, people who know what they are doing are able to produce great results with this product, but on the other hand, it did not meet my expectations. For 10x the price, it produces (by default with no post-processing) a worse sounding result than my computer headset. If you think my review is unfair, and that people don't deserve to be warned that 'out of the box with no knowledge this mic will not improve the quality of your audio compared to a 15$ computer mic' then I'll delete the review. just trying to be helpful and prevent someone else from making the same mistake as me.

I've been in several recording situations from hand-held mics to $50 headset mics to $5k+ recording studios and this mic tops them all. I have played for hours with the mic situating it above my head, to the side, at an angle, and just about every other way I can think to position it. And I'm very pleased with the results. My purpose in buying this system is to record professional-level training videos that I stream online (and some are sold on DVDs). With that said, this mic is perfect for my needs. I love that I don't need any special equipment to get the sound to really sound robust and professional. I literally opened it from the box, said "Wow this looks cool", plugged it in, and had a test recording done within just 5 minutes (I confess, most of that 5 minutes was actually holding it in my hands and turning it over and over in admiration). The construction seems very durable. Some mics I've played with seem cheap. That's not the case with this Audio-Technica mic. It doesn't feel "heavy" but it feels substantial enough that I'm not scared it will fall and break. The USB cord is plenty long to run from my desktop down to the wall and around a cabinet to my computer. I read all the positive (and negative) reviews here on Amazon carefully and decided to go for it. I'm very happy after a month of use. I use this in conjunction with the following products to make a killer home recording studio. And I bought it all on Amazon for a great price. On Stage DS7200B Adjustable Desk Microphone Stand, Black Samson SP01 Shockmount Spider Mount for Condenser Mics Nady MPF-6 6-Inch Clamp On Microphone Pop Filter

The Audio Techinca AT2020 is a great all-rounder! From it's professional and simplistic design, to it's outstanding performance in audio output; this is the best you can find! I have a YouTube gaming channel, (subscribe to it - HeyItsGamingTime), and I am looking to upgrade my previous microphone, (built-in headset), and I found that this product displays the most positive series of reviews, I have yet to discover. I find that this does remove 99% of background noise, (though if you have a noisy hardware, it will be heavily lessened), so this is quite useful for podcast as well as gaming videos. Even thhough, on YouTube, the audio is automatically compressed by the YouTube servers, there is a huge difference in quality; it'll enhance your videos for sure! For Skype and other similar programs, this is still excellent - as it features crystal clear audio whilst keeping a great cardiod pattern. Many popular YouTuber's such as Pewds used this in the past, and have suggested it! Cons: In my opinion, there are a low amount of options added into this microphone, which could pose as an annoyance for some. For example, you can't plug in a headphone in order to monitor your audio; whereas this functionality is available in other microphones such as the Yeti. Also, there are only one pattern of audio; cardiod. This would mean that you can only speak into the microphone, from the front. In other microphones, (mainly Blue products), there are many options such as omnidirection, bidrectional, etc. This would be a nice finishing touch for this microphone. Lastly, there are no options to increase/decrease the gain, (you'd have to purchase a separate audio interface, or you can edit in software), which would be sometimes annoying. But nothing major! All in all, this is a great microphone embodying the most crucial principles concerning a good microphone as well as combining people's need into one great device! This would give off a much nicer setup, encouraging a more professional appearance and performance. You can not wrong this microphone.

Ce microphone est juste parfait, aujourd'hui sa fait env. 2 ans que je l'est et je n'est jamais eu de problème avec lui! Je le conseil à toutes les personnes dans le monde du gaming !

I recently bought this microphone to use instead of my Blue Yeti. As of yet, a few weeks after purchase, it fixed all the downsides I had with the Yeti. - My first big problem with the Yeti was its size. The Yeti is a gigantic microphone and it's very hard to find accessories that can fit or hold its weight (aside from the official ones which, honestly, are overpriced for their quality). The AT2020 is very compact and very light. You won't have any problems finding accessories for it. - My second big problem with the Yeti was its default base. If you don't plan on buying an arm to hold it, you'll be using the default base included with your microphone and the Yeti's base was terrible, picking up any noise that touched the surface on which it rested. The default base included with the AT2020 is much better. It's a simple tripod, but it does the job much better and pick-ups less noise from the surface it rests on. I even managed to fit my Samson SP01 shock mount on it, but it wasn't very stable. If you plan on doing that, attach the tripod to your desk with something. - My final huge problem with the Yeti was its gain. It picked up everything in your room, even at the lowest possible gain setting while speaking directly into the microphone. That's not a problem with the AT2020. While it will pick-up loud noises it won't pick-up everything else, like someone walking behind you or just moving your chair around. This reduction in gain, however, comes at a price: you must speak directly into the microphone, which is around 6-8 inches max as far as I can tell. To me it means nothing since it was already what I did with the Yeti. There's only one downside to it and that's multi-pattern. The Blue Yeti offers a good variety of them (Omni, Cardiod, Bi, and one more I forgot). With the AT2020 you have one: Cardiod. This is the pattern used to record podcasts, and also the pattern used by about every single Youtubers and Twitch streamers that exist. This is a non-issue for me since it was the only one I would have used anyway. If you need a microphone for something else, don't buy the AT2020, you will regret it. - ACCESSORIES RECOMMENDATION: I personally recommend the Samson SP01 shock mount, it fits the microphone perfectly and can hold it upside-down safely if that's how you want it. To use this shock mount you'll need an arm, I personally use the Rode PSA1 but if you're on a budget you can use anything since this is a really light microphone. If you don't want to use a pop filter, consider the MXL WS-002 foam windscreen, it fits the AT2020 like a glove.

El micro es un poco caro, pero es una maravilla. Calidad óptima y de momento ningún problema. Es super sencillo de utilizar, no tiene ni un botón y solo tiene un cable. Es simplemente enchufarlo y usarlo.

Ich habe mir dieses Mikrofon aufgrund anraten eines Freundes gekauft, da ich urpsrünglich damit Musik und gelesenes aufgenommen habe. Dieses Mikrofon hat mich tatsächlich nicht enttäuscht. Es ist einfach hervorragend. + Absolut gute Tonqualität + Klares Stimmbild ohne Rauschen + Einfache Bedienung + Hochwertig verarbeitet Positiver Nebeneffekt: Das Mikro hat bereits zwei stürze vom Schreibtisch sehr gut mitgemacht und keinerlei Schaden davon getragen. - der mitgelieferte Tripod ist meiner Ansicht nach etwas zu klein und verliert hier und da etwas halt, so dass es in einer ungünstigen Position schon mal vorkommen kann, dass das Mikro kippt wenn man blöd dagegen kommt