Podcast & Voice-Over Audio Interface – MikeHero Review

Hey here with my review of the mic hero From audio Sigma Inside the Box you get The mic hero a USBC to USBC cable a USB C to USB a cable a USBC or usb-a to Lightning adapter and of course Documentation at the time of this Recording the price of the mic hero is 199 US Dollars full disclosure the unit That I'm using right now is more of a Demo slash prototype unit but has the Exact same functionality of a unit that You would buy audio Sigma sent me this Device for the purpose of this review I'm sending the device back you've seen In my newsletter if you're subscribed to That that I've been talking about this For the last couple months so I Appreciate audio Sigma for sending this Out build wise currently the mic hero is Hand crafted and has a one-of-a-kind Design the size of of the device are not Enclosed so at least on this unit that I Have on hand the knobs on the top have a Bit of give when it comes to Specs the Device is 16 bit and has a sample rate Of 48 kilohertz the gain range is a Whopping 70.5 DB with a signal to noise Ratio of minus 115 DB a weighted and a Dynamic range of 98 DB a weighted the Device also has an auxiliary port which Is a 3.5 millimeter inner positive outer Negative polarity 5 volt DC that you can Use to offload power draw from the USB On the top of the device you have three

LED lights one is for the power being on One is for 48 volts phantom power and The third is a clip light indicator you Have two knobs on the top as well one is The microphone game the other is the Headphone gain and there is a mute Button as we go around the sides of the Device we'll start on the front you have An AUX in Port which I was not expecting And works perfectly with your cell phone Or tablet or even a secondary computer Coming in you have a mic out Port which You can feed right into a camera or a Video switcher or something that will Take an audio signal in a USBC and then You have the five volt power port on one Of the sides you have a switch for Normal high pass one and high pass 2 for Listening back via headphones and then On the other side you have two switches One is for dynamic or condenser and the Other switch is normal eq1 eq2 I did ask Fernando exactly what frequencies those Affect and he wouldn't tell me he wants To keep that close to the vest right Right now on the back of the device you Have two eighth inch headphone Jacks now They operate together which I found fine I wasn't expecting to get two headphone Outputs and it makes it easy because Right now I have my monitor headphones On and then I'm also plugged in with my High impedance Studio can headphones at the same time I

Don't have to unplug and replug so I Found that to be pretty cool and then of Course you have a raised XLR only Port When you plug into a Windows PC the Computer recognizes the mic hero its Name comes right up in the sound sources Test wise you're looking at one of the Tests right now on this particular unit I have the dial for the gain set to About 10 o'clock I haven't gone any Further than that it drives the Shure Sm7b easily when I initially plugged it In I thought I would need to be at 12 1 O'clock two o'clock something like that So I had it set to 12 o'clock and it was Just clipping constantly in OBS so now I'm going to switch over to my high Impedance headphones and give that a Whirl the headphones provide a ton of Gain now when I have an open microphone As with any interface and I crank up the Game I hear the ambience of the room More obviously however when I'm playing Music and stuff and I turned the open Mic down I have no issues whatsoever and The sound is so loud like it is be Careful cranking it up loud it's very Loud it drives these high impedance Headphones easily but it reminds me of The zoom headphone output where you Would hear stuff but it does not go into Your recordings I think because it's Providing so much gain and you don't Have to go very far on the dial like

Right now I'm at about 10 o'clock on the Headphone and when I play music it's Almost too loud I tried the filter Switches while listening back to music And I really couldn't discern what Frequencies I may be cutting out or or Adding to or posting so I'm not sure What impact the filter switch is on the Headphone port are having when I switch Back to low impedance in ear monitors I Have to turn the game way down because It is just really loud now I'm going to Hit the microphone filter switches and Let's see what we're getting out of the Device when I do that right now I'm on EQ setting normal and here's how it Sounds now I'm on EQ setting one and Here's how it sounds this is the sound Of EQ setting number one now I'm on EQ Setting number two and here's how it Sounds can you notice the difference in The sound the switch clicks appear to be Audible in the recording so you would Want to have that set before you get Going but as I cycled through those I Did hear an increase of background noise And it greatly reduced when I go back to Normal when it comes to Pros I'd have to Start with the gain range this device Provides a ton of gain and it easily Drives the sure sm7b and therefore I Think any microphone that you could Throw at it it would easily drive and in The vein of gain I would also have to

Say the headphone output is Extremely Loud for me the design style is a pro I Showed pictures of this before I Reviewed it on my channel and on social Media and the reception was all positive I didn't have any negative comments About it it's definitely a conversation Starter another Pro is the device has Way more functionality than I Anticipated you've got the microphone Switches you've got the headphone Switches you have aux in and out I Really wasn't expecting that at all you Get two headphone ports and a five volt Port that you could use with a like a Battery pack or something to make this Baby truly portable plus the ability to Plug it into cell phones as well as Laptops and computers that's very cool Another Pro is the tiny size of the Device it is so compact it is sure to Satisfy even the most staunch minimalist And I really wasn't ready for the device To have a mute button included but we'll Come back to that On the cons front I'll have to come back To the mute button while it's awesome It's included if you were live streaming You do get an audible click And you can clearly hear it in the Recording so that's fine for Pre-recorded use where you're going to Do some edit points and you don't want The dogs barking to come in and you you

Know you're just going to cut that out Anyway but for live you hear that Audible click and that does get into Your recording another con is at least On this particular unit which I told you At the beginning of this review is a Prototype more demo type unit the knobs Do have the wobble to them so I'd be Curious to see if the release version Has that or not but I miss unit alone I Do have to point that out and lastly I Would have to say that the since the Device is 16 bit you'd have to keep that In mind my workflow because I do a lot Of video is 24 bit so you have to keep That in mind this device is clearly Geared towards voiceover and pod casting So with no such claims about being used For music then the 16 bit should not be A deterrent however from a workflow Standpoint some people like to stay in 24-bit 48 kilohertz because they're Doing a lot of video or what have you And I'm one of those people that likes To stay in that format if at all Possible overall I think this is an Excellent device specifically for Podcasters and voice over artists I Think it sounds fantastic I think the Noise floor is really good it's just Been awesome because it reminds me of The beginnings of podcasting when Podcasting was more like Pirate Radio or Ham radio when podcasting was a movement

This device doesn't feel like big Conglomerate company makes next audio Interface buy it it feels like an Independent movement almost like that Feel you get from the little Raspberry Pi computers and and that type of feel To it and I love it I just think it's a Breath of fresh air and I thank Fernando And audio Sigma for sending this out to Me it exceeded my expectations easily Exceeded my expectations now they have a Step up version that is two channels and That has more control so to speak and I Do think in the future I'm gonna check That out as well but I'd like to ask you If you would just share either this Video out or if you don't want to do That share the link to the product page At the time of this recording I'm not an Affiliate with BSW so it's not a money Play I just want to get as many eyeballs On this device in the podcasting space As we can get I want to thank Todd Cochran from blueberry hosting he was The person that initially showed this Device on his social media this is a Long time ago and I was like what the Heck is that and ever since I saw those Images I was really interested in Finding out more about this device and So now that it is in the market I Encourage you and others to check it out I appreciate you watching this long as Always thank you