Blue Microphones' Yeti Pro adds XLR sockets, and the promise of pro-quality results, to the USB-only original. It has three capsules, with settings for stereo, cardioid, omnidirectional, and bidirectional recording; a built-in headphone amplifier for latency-free monitoring; and dials to control gain and headphone volume. There's also a mute button.
The most striking thing about the $250, 24bit/192kHz Yeti Pro is its huge size compared to most mics: it's as big as a beercan and weighs 3 1/2 pounds when attached to the bundled desk stand. It's pretty, though, and looks and feels extremely sturdy.
The quality is far better than inexpensive audio-jack mics, and audibly so compared to USB models I've used such as M-Audio's Producer. It is more expensive, however, and the differences will be most clear to musicians rather than, say, casual podcasters. Indeed, unless you're already planning to wed it to studio gear for one reason or another, the XLR outputs (which require 48v phantom power from a pre-amp) will only sit there encouraging you to buy some so that you may.
It worked on Windows and OSX without any faffing around, though on the Mac, the monitoring jack also worked as a 24bit/192kHz audio output for the
computer, which is nice.
The only problem I had was it recording too quiet at first, even with the gain up. The fix was to turn the mic gain and headphone volume to zero and cycle the mute button. Since then, it's been fine.
Blue Yeti Pro Multipattern Condenser Microphone
(Amazon link)
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