CAD AudioM179 Variable Pattern Condenser Microphone

Excellent sound quality with silky smooth highs. None of those peaky piercing highs of lesser microphones. Unbelievably low noise with plenty of output for more distant pickup. 20dB attenuator for closeup work. Nice consistent performance on continuously variable pickup patterns. Must use supplied isolation mount as microphone is sensitive to handling noise and microphone stand vibrations otherwise. Dream mic for a dream price.

I love the mic i was skeptical at first but 4 months in I have had no problems and the mic sounds excellent. the look is beautiful and solid would highly recommend there are places still selling this mike for 799$ in other parts of the world so snatch it up if you can. you wont regret it! I bought an arm that is rated for 5 pounds for like 20 bucks and it has been working fine.

I bought this microphone just or one purpose: Tom miking.Prehistory:After having read raving critics about the CAD - mainly from US engineers at Gearslutz - I couldn't resist any longer and wantedto make my own picture.Since I'm located in Germany, having done a search for shopping resources over here quickly revealed: Nothing.No CAD M179 was available in Germany at that time, which seems to be strange because CAD produces in China.Anyway, I finally found it on Amazon.com in the U.S.Buying experience:Although I've always been a bit skeptical about customs, delays and whatever else can go wrong with oversea transports, I ordered the price reduced bundle of 3 units.To my greatest surprise, the package arrived quite fast (10 days, 2 of them in the customs), was safely packed and 100 % as described.Import tax was very low by the way, only 2.5% of the microphone price plus shipping (tax for Germany, other countries in the EU may vary).Packaging:The CAD comes in a very large, cube-like package, printed with the-more-the-better zillions of colors, mainly in purple, red and blue.One could say the carton design looks cheap, but as always, taste is a personal thing and in the end it's the content that counts, isn't it?Although not my piece of cake, I must admit that the microphone seems to be well protected by this giant package.Construction:The microphone is sturdy built, with a anodized metal surface while being surprisingly heavy.The capsule is placed safe inside the solid metal windscreen.Part of delivery is a ring clamp plus a professional shock mount - highly recommended to reduce vibrations when miking drums.The overall construction is very good, in my opinion even exceptional for the given price.The CAD M179 offers a pad switch, which is a must for drum miking or the capsule could tend to distort.Both, variable pattern wheel as well as the pad switch, are easy accessible in front of the mike.Overall impression: No bells and whistles, but a solid workhorse, built for pro's.Sound:The CAD offers a warm, natural sound, that perfectly fits for Toms, but also for clean Guitars and even background vocals.I personally wouldn't use it for Lead vocals, but what can you expect for the price.Of course, the CAD wasn't built to be a concurrence to Neumann and other high end brands. But it does its job extremely well.The main purpose for me was Tom-miking, so the following research is covering only my experience with Toms.Set to cardioid, surrounding sounds from back and side are successfully suppressed, quite important when dealing with bleeding HiHats or cymbals.The Toms immediately sounded really big, not to say huge, without messy crash sounds coming through.Although having used Sennheiser MKH-40 for Toms before (one costs 10 times the $$ of a M179 ...), the results were doubtless significantly better then ever!You can turn up the Tom tracks in your mix, really push them in breaks and the like, and at the same time your mix won't suffer of the typical cymbal bleeding as known from other microphones (like the MKH-40 or MD421).Amazing.In Short:Pros:* very good and sturdy crafted* exceptional good sounding results, specially with Toms* low priceCons:* heavy weight that demands for mic stands* typical microphone clamps will place the CAD more over the center of Toms, not at side, due to it's size. I can live with that, although your setup will be cluttered even more when using stands.Conclusion:I love this microphone! My dream of a perfect drum sound has become more true, day in and out.A clear recommendation: Buy it!

The mic has an quiet and airy sound. Mine came in wired backwards, have to record with the back facing other than that seems fine. cardioid has neumann (103) like sound to it. Bright maybe not good on alot of things but for darker voices or instruments it will work just fine.

I bought two of these on behalf of a choir. I mix the sound for their shows and after renting and auditioning several more expensive brands, these mics are the clear winners. The polar patterns and the padding options are accurate, the pickup range on wide cardioid is phenomenal, the tone is very true on the flattest setting, the spider shock mount is of very good quality and the price... the price for this level of professional quality is absolutely unbeatable. They made my job easy and the choir very happy!I must add also, that Amazon had a misstep in the shipping and when it was brought to their attention they did not quibble, were most apologetic and refunded 100% of the Express shipping cost on BOTH microphones, even though one had arrived at the promised time. They even expedited the 2nd mic at no charge! Great service from Amazon... crucial in a fiercely competitive online marketplace.