Is the iUKUS PC Microphone an electret mic?

[Videogamer555]

Is the iUKUS PC Microphone (which on the product itself it says "condenser microphone") a classic condenser mic just with a builtin battery and phantom power supply (if it is a phantom powered condenser mic, I can tell no external power supply is required, because it has a standard 3.5mm stereo audio plug, instead of an XLR microphone plug)?

Or is it a more modern electret mic (one that has an electrostatic charge put on its diaphragm at the factory)?

I would like to know, because if it is a classic condenser mic but with a builtin battery, then that means I might need to replace the battery at some point, and so it would be helpful to know this.

This is the microphone I'm talking about. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T9ZPLYX/

[super8rescue]

having heard someone on youtube demonstrate it I wouldn't touch it.
Sounds horrible. At the price point I am not surprised.

[Cornucopia]

My 2 cents:

1. It isn't a stereo mic, but is using a stereo plug (aka TRS), leading one to wonder if it might be using plug-in-power. But ultimately, ANY electret condenser, whether PiP or internal battery or pre-charged/polarized, is not going to be as good as a true condenser, regardless of what manufacturers want to claim. In practice, there IS a difference.

2. Specs show a SNR of just over 36dB!!! That is truly T*E*R*R*I*B*L*E. Compare that with a phantom condenser mic I have had for a decade, an M-Audio NOVA, which I bought then for $100/each (bought a pair for live stereo rig). It has a max SPL of 128dB and a self noise level of 14dB (pretty good, but not amazing). That equals 128-14=114dB of dynamic range. With a sensitivity of -36dB, giving a SNR of 114-36=~78dB.
36dB is worse than most AM radio signals (30dB is minimum allowable with max at ~50dB).

I agree w super8rescue on this one. There's a bargain, there's inexpensive, there's cheap, and then there's CHEAP. If you are going to go that cheap, just get a throwaway one at a thrift store/flea market for $1.
There are actual real bargains to be had: I just saw a Logitech Blue Yeti mic on sale on ebay for $30.


Scott

[Videogamer555]

My 2 cents:

1. It isn't a stereo mic, but is using a stereo plug (aka TRS), leading one to wonder if it might be using plug-in-power. But ultimately, ANY electret condenser, whether PiP or internal battery or pre-charged/polarized, is not going to be as good as a true condenser, regardless of what manufacturers want to claim. In practice, there IS a difference.

2. Specs show a SNR of just over 36dB!!! That is truly T*E*R*R*I*B*L*E. Compare that with a phantom condenser mic I have had for a decade, an M-Audio NOVA, which I bought then for $100/each (bought a pair for live stereo rig). It has a max SPL of 128dB and a self noise level of 14dB (pretty good, but not amazing). That equals 128-14=114dB of dynamic range. With a sensitivity of -36dB, giving a SNR of 114-36=~78dB.
36dB is worse than most AM radio signals (30dB is minimum allowable with max at ~50dB).

I agree w super8rescue on this one. There's a bargain, there's inexpensive, there's cheap, and then there's CHEAP. If you are going to go that cheap, just get a throwaway one at a thrift store/flea market for $1.
There are actual real bargains to be had: I just saw a Logitech Blue Yeti mic on sale on ebay for $30.


Scott

Keep in mind that the reason for the stereo audio connector is that PC soundcards have stereo inputs. A mono-mic needs to output its mono signal to both left and right channels of the PC soundcard. This mic is intended for PC use, which by the way is my use for it. And by the way, you can't use a mono audio plug in a stereo audio socket. Because a mono plug is TS and the stereo socket is TRS, the mono plug's extra long sleeve connector shorts the socket's ring connector to ground, disabling the microphone circuit (the circuit for the mic-in port on the soundcard) entirely. To get a mono plug to work in a stereo socket, you need to plug it not all the way in, and also not have it too far out. So yes, that way of getting a mono plug to work in a stereo socket is a really hacky setup, so it shouldn't be used for any professional use. That's why this microphone has a stereo plug, even though it's a mono microphone.

Also, while this mic has a bad SNR, it's MUCH better than my laptop's builtin mic. The builtin mic has TONS of noise from the internal cooling fan in the laptop. I bought this iUKUS mic specifically to get rid of that fan noise. And that noise gets REALLY bad when playing a game. especially a processing intensive game like Fortnite, because the CPU and GPU are basically maxed out, and that generates a lot of heat, so the fan REALLY SPEEDS UP and makes TONS OF NOISE. People in the game Fortnite were often mocking me for having a really noisy mic, whenever I used voice chat in the game, so I decided to buy an external mic. Almost any external mic has a better SNR than my laptop's internal mic, especially when the fan is running at full speed to keep the CPU and GPU from overheating.



But none of that was really what this thread was about. Is this an electret mic? Has anybody taken one of these iUKUS PC Microphones apart to see what type of mic it actually is? It's working fine for me, so I don't want to take it apart and risk damaging it, but I am curious to know if it's actually an electret mic, or if it's a standard condenser mic with an internal battery powered phantom power supply. It says "condenser microphone" on the microphone, but I can't find any better description, and I know that technically an electret mic is actually a type of condenser mic. So I'm hoping maybe somebody took one apart and can tell me what type of mic it actually is.