Back in my early days in the cakewalk forums a lot of guys were using the first mic listed (or similar) due to it's super low price. They got really good results.

All of the mics sounded good to me with sometimes subtle differences and other times very distinct differences.

A number of the low end mics sounded nice.

Years ago at a Taxi road rally I had the opportunity while browsing the vendors, to compare Gauge mics, which were inexpensive, side by side in A/B with mics which were 5 to 10 times or more as expensive. Given that the headphones were the same, it was really difficult to determine the more expensive mic by listening.

Does that mean the expensive mics are a waste of money? Oh absolutely not. But for the average person that has a bedroom or basement studio, there's better things that one should be spending hard to come by dollars on to get the biggest bang for the buck.

I use the Rode NT2A for everything audio. I have a Shure SM58 and a few other mics which are rarely pulled out to use. The 58 was the first good mic I bought. $99 at the local music store. It's a road hammer for Shure. Still sounds good.

Anyway.... My 2¢

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