Earthworks ETHOS Streaming and Broadcasting Microphone — Silver

Product Information

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The Earthworks ETHOS XLR is a Broadcasting condenser microphone with a Super Cardioid Polar Pattern.Another reason for the Ethos mic's excellent performance is its super-cardioid polar pickup pattern. With years of experience testing and reviewing technology products, Bruce has become a trusted voice in the tech industry. Studiocare Professional Audio Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, registration number 778381. We’ve had this superb microphone on long-term review and are now ready to share our thoughts and impressions of this charismatic and stylish microphone with you. Sensitivity is a comfortable 20mV/Pa, self‑noise is specified at 16dBA, and the ETHOS is said to be able to cope with sound pressure levels up to 145dB, though the level of distortion this represents isn’t stated.

However, those good looks would be nothing without the specs to match; without a doubt, the ETHOS tech specs utterly astound! The trade-off to opting for a condenser instead of a dynamic is that they can also sound thinner, but that’s just not the case with the ETHOS. It's not too difficult to be swayed by shoddy cords that talk big but could lump you with shoddy components that may diminish the Ethos' performance.The frequency curve seems really tuned to VO work, with a slight deemphasis in the 'ess' regime which is really nice.

I wanted someone to be able to throw it onto a mic stand without having to get the mic into a shockmount and position the windscreen. It plays well with all types of voices and offers the sharpness of broadcast with the clarity that is expected from an Earthworks microphone. For acoustic guitar, I recorded with a high-pass filter and applied EQ to reduce some of the warmth range around 500 Hz while boosting a touch of highs, but it sat right in the mix and was sounding very nice. They’re designed to capture the transients with the utmost clarity, allowing the mic to sound more true to life and realistic to the source.

That also means it should be a perfect fit for podcasters, content creators, voice-over artists, and more — assuming you’re at a level where such a prestigious mic makes sense. Like the ICON, it’s described by Earthworks as a “broadcast mic”, and its industrial design clearly references one of the titans of that world, the Shure SM7B. However, with the many inexpensive options to choose from when it comes to audio interfaces, this shouldn’t be a problem. Its versatility goes far beyond just recording vocals and might be a little excessive for your average content creator.