The Sennheiser Profile USB Microphone is the brand’s latest offering by the legendary audio brand, Sennheiser. Aimed at podcasters, streamers, and gamers, the microphone offers a variety of features that are aimed at making the audio recording experience better than ever for these individuals. I got the Sennheiser Profile USB Microphone delivered to me at the Digit Test Centre, and I spent some time using it in games, calls, and some of our voice-over recording experiments, looking to find out, if it warrants a price tag of around ₹10,000 (for the mic alone) or are there some other microphones out there that beat it to the finish line of the carts of potential customers? Here’s what I found out –
The Sennheiser Profile USB Microphone looks great out of the box. The metallic body, coated in black paint, gives it a robust feel. I got the Streaming Kit, so it also included a mic stand, and a table mount, all of which carry the same robust build and design. On the mic, you get three knobs, a clicky button, which I will talk about later in this article, a 3.5 mm audio jack and a USB-C port for power.
The KE 10 Cardioid Capsule is covered by a metallic mesh, with a metallic strip running across the whole thing. The Sennheiser branding also makes an appearance on the microphone, as well as the boom arm. As for the movement capabilities, the mic itself is capable of moving about 60 degrees front and back, and when you take the movement of the boom arm into account, the possibilities are endless. Now, let’s look at the features.
In the Streaming Kit, you get –
The Profile USB Microphone comes loaded with features. The three knobs on the microphone’s body provide ample control over all aspects of your microphone input. The first one is the gain control, with an LED ring around it that changes colour if your mic is muted or not. The LED ring around the gain control knob also changes colour depending on whether your audio is clipping or not. Green means the mic is unmuted, and there is no clipping; orange means that the mic is unmuted and the audio is clipping and red means that the microphone is muted. The second is the mixing control, using which you can mix the audio coming from your microphone and your PC. The last one is volume control, using which you can change the volume levels of the monitored audio.
In terms of compatibility, the microphone works with devices running on Android, iPadOS, Windows, and MacOS. Note that there is no compatibility with iOS devices, so you should keep that in mind when considering this microphone. There are no additional software requirements as well. Just plug the mic into the device of your choice. Now, it would be a real shame if the product is loaded with features but misses out on the performance front. So, let’s look at how the microphone fared in terms of performance.
In terms of the performance, the microphone holds its ground well. We used it for in-game communication, and amidst all the sounds of the gunshots and footsteps in some of the craziest scenarios, and the compression added to the audio by the game, we were able to relay messages clearly. In more quiet environments like video calls and Discord calls, where we sat around talking without much going around, the audio was clear.
However, when we introduced some external background noise, things did get shaky. During one of my recordings, which I was doing just after receiving the mic, it kept on picking up on the whining sounds of our air conditioner at around 50 per cent gain. I had to move closer to the microphone and reduce the gain by a bit to get rid of that sound pickup.
In terms of working across apps and platforms, the microphone did well. The time between the mic being connected and being picked up as an input device was almost instantaneous, and we had no complaints when using it on our PC or the lone MacBook which I carry around in the office.
In my time spent with the Sennheiser Profile USB Mic, the complaints were few and far between. After the periods of lockdown over the last couple of years, the audience on which this mic is focused has grown a lot. And, there are more options than ever. You have offerings from brands like Audio Technica like their ATR2500 and the trusty old Blue Yeti Nano that will be the biggest competitors of this mic. And, from what I found out in my time with it, it should hold up well against the competition. If you are looking for a compact and well decorated package, go for the Yeti and for a front profile mic, go for the ATR2500. If you are in need of a an awesome microphone, without any preferences in mind, then the offering from Sennheiser makes the most sense.
The package overall is solid and offers a good selection of features and performance for the price that you are paying. Keep in mind, though, that the Streaming Kit costs much more, and you would be better off getting a third-party boom arm for a cheaper price to add to your microphone.