Hi John. You already have some great suggestions above. I like the Shure Beta 58 a lot, and also the regular 58. The next step up would be a ribbon mic, rather than the condensers, to avoid that metallic sound you already discovered, but those are quite a bit more expensive.

It sounds like you need to spend a little time adjusting the ASIO driver for your soundcard, to set the buffers correctly to avoid clicks/pops. However, you mentioned reverb. It will tax your system more to have the VST reverb on while you record, and if that's what you are doing (because it does sound better) try not using the reverb to see if that helps avoid the clicks/pops. Then apply the convolution reverb during playback.

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.