Originally Posted by Guitarhacker
I'd only add that I would recommend passing on any USB based mic.
As a general recommendation I second this. However, there are some USB mics that include their own ASIO drivers and have a headphone jack, which help to minimize any of the issues you mentioned. I still recommend avoiding them, as it can be cheaper in the long run to have an audio interface and multiple microphones rather than multiple USB microphones, not to mention all the different drivers...

On Mac it doesn't matter as much, since CoreAudio does all the heavy lifting that makes drivers basically irrelevant, provided the mic is class compliant (nearly all are).

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