Tech Zone Audio sent me their Stellar X2 to check out, and (spoiler alert) I’ve been extremely impressed.
The X2 can do quite a lot- instruments or vocals, for example… but of course I wanted to see how it handled for YouTube or podcasting type use. I switched it back and forth with the very popular Shure SM7B, which costs more than double the price of the Stellar X2 ($399 vs $199). In short, what I found was:
The X2 needed less gain than the SM7B even with the Cloudlifter signal booster, and was therefore quieter.
The X2 had a slightly warmer sound on the low end in most cases, more noticeable with my deeper voice.
The SM7B had a bit more clarity with the built in presence boost turned on.
Generally speaking, the X2 sounds great, has a great build quality, good accessories and a nice hard case, but no extra filters or anything like the SM7B has (low cut and presence boost).
These mics are obviously not identical, but I was surprised with how good the X2 handled this type of use. At 3x the price when you include the Cloudlifter, is it still worth going for the well known SM7B?
Check out the video to hear and decide for yourself.
Check pricing, availability and more here:
Stellar X2: https://geni.us/stellarx2mic
Shure SM7B: https://geni.us/shuresm7bmic
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