Ok…caught by surprise again.
I know I have raved on and on in previous reviews of other “cheap” condenser mics. Still, the Pulsar II deserves its props.
I picked up my pair as a “scratch -n- dent” special from a certain online retailer. Got what I consider a good deal, on par with what you might pay for a used pair of Studio Project C4′s or Oktavas.
They came in a very nice (though cracked) hardwood jewelers box complete with clips, wind screens and a nice T bar. I was surprised to find a riser for use in coincident and ORTF methods where one mic must be above the other. Impressive…good thinking. Also included was a matching polar plot for each mic.
So far, they seem fairly well built. Not too heavy, not “empty” feeling either. They are a little longer than a KM184, but not by very much. The sound….., however.
Ok, let me preface with (my opinion only). Please feel free to express your own.
I find these mics to be very smooth. Excellent bass response that is not sloppy. Not exactly razor sharp, but nicely defined and perhaps a bit rounded, though they claim to be full range, 20hz – 20Khz rated. Moving to the other end of the spectrum, the high end is fairly even. I expected it to be spitty, as many of the Chinese built condensers tend to be for my ear, but they seem to capture a very cohesive representation of shimmering cymbals w/o the grainy crap cheap mics can through back at you. The mid range is where its at though. These suckers are pretty fat, and with the big bottom end they tend to lean towards just south of neutral sounding, whereby neutral is 100% transparent to the real source. The result …to my ear, is a wonderfully balanced and musical sounding microphone. The well matched stereo pair will give you solid imaging and a good sense of spaciousness and presence.
Overall…., an *excellent value* setup. Match it with a good preamp (Ive been running mine with a V3 and Oade ACMod Edirol R44..as well as stock R44) and they’ll sing. Whatever drawbacks their are, be it life expectancy, customer support from M-Audio…etc etc, the cheap entry into this kit and their stellar performance makes them nearly a moot point to me.
You can give them a listen here:
