Teenage Engineering CM-15 Large-Diaphragm Condenser Microphone (USB/Mini-XLR/Mini-Jack)
Comparing - just on a whim - teenage engineering's slim, pocket-mic CM-15s with thousand-pound-plus Brauner VM1, Wunder CM7-S, Townsend/Sphere L22 versus an original Neumann U47, I found that the CM-15 mics have the 'punch' and low-frequency 'density' of the U47 far more than any of the others! ..They don't quite have the DETAIL of the VM1, and they have a broader pickup pattern than the others, so a pair of them for stereo may blend left and right a bit - depends on how far apart they are - but the overall performance was the nearest to the U47 of all the others which attempt to use a similar capsule, valve/'tube', headbasket and transformer as the old U47.
The CM-15 mic is engineered from a different perspective: to get the best possible sound, and with a built-in pre-amp, built-in battery & phantom power, XLR, 3.5mm and USB-C outputs, and smallest size ..and INCIDENTALLY being the closest to a U47 or anything I've yet heard.
What a bargain! - No power supply needed, no phantom needed, two extra stages of gain built-in, and just slip in your pocket. Buy two for stereo!
June 19, 2026
|
Mic Helangelo
Teenage Engineering TX-6
Great piece of gear - super high quality, robust and great sound. Simple menu system, easy to dive where you want quickly, controls and sliders are quality along with the OLED screen. TE are the masters of UX and have been for a while and its pure joy using this. One big issue - no windows ASIO drivers, in fact you can only record the stereo mix on your PC - you can't record each channel individually 12in/12out e.t.c. (you can on the MAC but not on PC). Doesn't affect me at all since I use it for Dawless and simple guitar stuff - but for the price I would at least expect full ASIO drivers. In Reaper on PC, using WASPI drivers - recording stereo mix and playback is roughly 20-30ms any lower and I get buffer underruns on a Hi-Spec 14core I7. Still great - would be 5/5 if TE release proper windows ASIO drivers for it.
January 31, 2024
|
Great - with a few limitations.