Triton Audio FetHead in-Line Microphone Preamp

If you have a mic with a high noise floor (sounds like hiss when the gain is turned up), this is your solution. I've had a Rode NTG-2 which is a notoriously weak condenser mic that I've never been happy with. I bought a Tascam DR-60D MkII which still resulted in an unacceptably high noise floor. However, the FetHead completely solved this issue both with the Tascam and recording directly into a C100 Mk2. The NTG-2 now sounds GREAT and this purchase has breathed new life into it. This FetHead requires phantom power but does NOT forward the phantom power, so condenser mics either need to use the phantom version of the FetHead or a battery, if supported. Triton Audio recommends this version with a battery for the NTG-2.The FetHead itself is small and plugs inline with the XLR cable. I really like this form factor as it's very easy to use and doesn't require an additional XLR cable. The quality of the FetHead was bad enough I'm not sure mine is genuine - the logo is off center and the FetHead itself isn't completely straight. It seems to work just fine though. All in all, considering the price and form factor this is a must buy if you need some additional clean gain. If you have hiss, buy this before trying anything else and avoid my mistake of buying increasingly expensive interfaces!

This past year, I've struggled with my microphone's gain since I'm practically yelling at the top of my lungs with my Shure SM57. I couldn't seem to get my voice loud enough, even with system wide post processing and my gain set to max on my audio interface. My hope was to use this mic for chat, some streaming, and music production. Thinking back now, I should've conducted more research with my gear and how low of a sensitivity the SM57 was. At the time, I was still a bit new to microphones, and what setup would pair well with each other.At the start of 2020, I had started off with a Shure SM57 & a Native Instruments Komplete Audio 1, and boy did I learn the hard way about how much power was needed to push that mic to the point where people can actually hear me without the mic sitting inside my mouth essentially. Over time I've learned to cope with this handicap. That is until recently, where I started to do more research into my predicament and what possible ways I can go about to remedy this situation.I stumbled upon two choices, the Cloudlifter, and Fethead. Since i'm in a spot where space is limited on my work area, I resorted to the Fethead (I also liked the look of it as well).And man, let me tell you the relief that I had when I first attached it onto my mic. My voice still sounded clear, with just a small amount of hiss, but that is almost inaudible. The Fethead seamlessly attaches to the mic via Female XLR on one side to Male XLR on the other, meaning I wouldn't have to deal with having to use another XLR cable if I had gone with the Cloudlifter. I can honestly say that this was such a massive improvement, without having to buy a whole new setup.I recently switched over to the Motu M2, so I only did some tests between the M2 and the Komplete Audio. I found the M2 to work very well paired with the Fethead, and does sound just as clear without the Fethead (Though you'll still get some humming at higher gains). The Komplete Audio also sounded great, but definitely needed more gain compared.Overall, the Fethead is an amazing purchase if you need the extra boost in gains without sacrificing too much in terms of audio quality.

I love this thing. Truly brings my SM7B to life without adding too much noise. For those weaker DACs with lesser preamps built-in (looking at you Scarlett) this is an excellent upgrade to your setup. It adds very substantial gain and sounds clean. The thing is built well and while I don't think it should be used in a professional environment, I do think it's excellent value for the layperson.

tl;dr version: you'll probably be satisfied, go ahead and get it! If you're using a dynamic mic straight into an audio interface, this will be FAR less noisy than cranking up the interface's built in preamp. The hiss is gone!UPDATE: leaving the original review and four star rating intact, but I have discovered the source of the tapping sound. It's interference from my cell phone. With the interface itself or some other inline preamps the phone needs to be in much closer proximity to create the same interference, but honestly that shouldn't be a deal breaker. If you're streaming, podcasting, recording music or whatever-- put your phone in airplane mode or just keep it far away from all the audio gear.There's just some minor quibbles that I figured were worth mentioning.Build quality is just fair-- the XLR connections don't feel particularly solid and I feel like that MIGHT be a contributing factor to my main gripe, there's a faint tapping sound this device has been making if plugged directly into my microphone. I figured it might be due to a bad connection to phantom power, which should absolutely not be the case when I'm using brand new Mogami cables with Neutrik plugs on the end.Even just touching the cable was enough to get the tapping to stop, but there was no way to consistently get rid of it without holding onto the cable or FEThead.I plugged the FEThead into my interface instead of the microphone and the noise disappeared.If you have this issue it may not even be clearly audible depending on how loud your signal is-- the tapping sound wasn't nearly as loud as the hiss that the FEThead got rid of, but with some soft limiting applied to the recording it could be a real pain.Still decent overall, just not perfect.