ZINGYOU Condenser Microphone Bundle, BM-800 Mic Kit with Adjustable Mic Suspension Scissor Arm, Metal Shock Mount and Double-Layer Pop Filter for Studio Recording & Broadcasting (Gold)

I was looking to add a second station to our podcast desk, but we are on a tight budget right now. I came across this kit searching for condenser mics and was a little floored at the price. Considering I was anticipating at least $150 for a lower end mic with shock mount, swing arm, and cables, this really caught my eye and I figured for $35 I could give it a shot. The reviews were pretty high, so I had hope that it would be decent. Boy, was I pleased when it arrived.I will start with the pluses. The packing was very professional, everything came in one box with individual compartments for each major item with the pop filter and cable laid on top. The mic itself is very sturdy and has weight to it when you hold it in your hand (I was worried it would be some light plastic piece of garbage). As a matter of fact, everything has a nice sturdy feel and is very well constructed. As it says in the description, you get a couple of connection options for cables, one XLR to 3.5mm mic and a USB to 3.5mm mic. So for users new to studio/podcasting mic setups, this is great.Which brings me to the minuses (if you want to call them that). The cables are definitely geared towards single person studio or desktop setups, so you are plugging directly to a computer as a single mic. If you are in a studio setting with multiple speakers, you are most likely going through a mixer, so you will need to connect it as such. This kit doesn't come with an XLR to XLR cable, so you will have to buy that separately. I knew this going in and was planning on buying my own cable anyway, so this wasn't that big of a deal for me, but I can see someone new to condenser mics running into this when buying for the first time.Second, the swing arm is a little smaller than I expected. It is roughly 15" per span, giving you around 30" of length, but because you can't really work with it extended all the way out, you have around 20 to 22" of usable length if you want some flexibility. If you have a deep desktop with no mount point to your immediate right or left from where you sit, the swing arm might not work for you. I got lucky in that our stations are open all the way around, so I had freedom of mounting close and it works out great. Again, this isn't a real big deal, but something you should know going in so you aren't surprised when it comes up.Also, regarding the swing arm, there really isn't any instruction on how to put the whole thing together. If you have any experience with microphone swing arms, this shouldn't be a big deal, but if you have never put one together, you might be a little confused. There is a diagram in the instructions showing what all the major pieces are, but here are a couple of things to make the construction a little smoother:The table mount - There is a little knob in the bag with the table mount that you might not be sure what it is for. If you look on the back of the table mount there is a little circle that looks like it is blocked by something. if you screw the knob into that circle, what happens is when you put the stand in the mount, it tightens a plate down on the arm to lock it in so it doesn't swing around freely.The shock mount - to put the mic into the shock mount, you need to squeeze the two hoops sticking out of one side of the mount. You will notice that when you squeeze those together the mount opens up enough to let you slide the mic into the center.Finally, this is both a plus and minus for me, but I can see it being an issue for people new to podcasting and recording. The mic does pick up everything, so you will have to deal with ambient noise. My other mic has settings for unidirectional, bidirectional, and one directional, as well as high and low pass filters, so I can deal with noise right at the mic first. But this one will require you to either soundproof your recording area or deal with noise via some other method, whether that be hardware like a mixer, or software like Protools, Adobe Audition, or some other audio software. Again, for me, this is not a huge deal as I have all of the above in my audio pipeline, but something you should be aware of.Overall this is a great kit and I am going to buy a couple more for my desk at my day job, as well as my home office machine where I do instructional podcasts.

I ordered the ZINGYOU BM-800 Microphone and Accessories I hopes that I could get a little bit better sound quality then what I was getting from the built-in microphone on my laptop and a couple of inexpensive microphones I have accumulated over the years.I honestly wasn't expecting very much for the price and once it arrived I was pleasantly surprised at how substantial the microphone, scissor arm mount, and accessories were. I originally thought that the set-up was going to be much smaller and I would just store it in a desk drawer between uses. So I changed plans and set up a dedicated recording area in a spare room.The installation appeared to be daunting at first, but the microphone, shock mount, cable, and filters went together easily without using instructions. The scissor arm mount was also easy to mount. The cheap desk that I am using for now did not have a lip on the top, so I attached the scissor-arm mount to a shelfing unit next to the desk. (The scissor-arm mount plenty long and adjusts easily so finding a mounting spot should be fairly easy.)After that I just plugged in the power cable to the microphone and then into the included USB sound card, and then plugged the USB sound card into an open USB port on my laptop. My Windows 10 computer recognized the USB sound card immediately and I was up and running.Using the built-in audio editor in Windows 10 I was very pleased with my first recordings. The built-in Windows 10 audio editor is limited however, so I installed a free audio editing software from Audacity that is simply awesome.After experimenting with recordings using the USB sound card I tried just plugging the audio cable directly into my laptop and I was able to use the microphone, though the recordings were not as loud as when using the USB sound card. I'm not an audio expert by any means, but from the reviews I have read it appears that different computers and sound cards will yield different results. Some users use a Phantom Power Supply that is used to supply power to microphones like these and are rather inexpensive and can be found on Amazon.So far I am very pleased with this microphone, mount, and all of the included accessories. Especially considering the price. The only nitpick so far is I don't like having to unplug the USB sound card if I want to listen to my recording thru my laptop's speakers and not a headset. (There may be workaround on this but I haven't figured it out yet.)If I experience any issues I will update this review.

Perfect for someone who wants to get started.