Audio-Technica AT2022 X/Y Stereo Condenser Microphone

Another wonderful product from AT (I am partial to AT having long enjoying its headphones). Clean bright sound pick up with no interference from the battery operation (as noted in Rode NT4 in my experience) with the additional benefit of the microphones two angle mode option. However, when recording grand piano this unit was not as stellar as AT headphones I have grown to love -- the sound is somewhat thin and not succular as you would hope to get from recording a piano. Unquestionably this is a high quality mic for a variety of applications, but not for grand piano in my judgement.

I record community theater and orchestra as a second job. No formal AV training, but I'm very tech (R&D engineer by day), and a lifelong audiophile. The sound quality from this mic is at least as good as anything else I use*, and probably better.The XLR connector is misleading. A standard 3-lead XLR carries a monaural signal, with one hot lead carrying the original signal, a second hot lead carrying a 180° inverted signal (the "balancing" signal, that cancels cable-derived EM noise when inverted and added back into the main signal at the receiver), with the third lead serving as ground. But in this mic, one hot lead carries the right channel audio, and the other hot lead carries the left channel audio, with the third lead again serving as the ground. The provided cable maps this nonstandard usage of the 3-pin XLR connector to the usual TRS configuration of the 3.5mm jack at the cable's end, to deliver an audio signal.The experts say that for such short cables, any EM interference (from the cable acting as an antenna, picking up ambient EM waves as audio noise) is too minor to notice or worry about.I wish this had an an LED to indicate battery "on" and/or health (minus one star for that). But batteries seem to last forever in it, so if you change the battery at the start of even a LONG day of shooting, and just leave the mic on, you will not run out of power. I've left it on by accident for >24-hours, and it still had plenty of battery power left (I removed the battery and put it in a tester). (I'd almost give the star back for that, but a battery/on LED is such a basic feature to omit.)The storage bag is decent, but so far I've kept the product packaging foam -- which is nice grade foam, and is perfectly die-cut to cradle the mic -- as the ideal storage (I just need to trim it down a bit, so it's not so huge).This mic seems ideal for run-&-gun video work, to capture reasonable directed sound (cardiod), with spatial information (stereo), and at a good quality. (I need to find a good shock mount cradle for such use, since in general I hate camera handling noise from any camera-mounted mic.)__________________________________* Sure PGA81; Rode Stereo Mic Pro; Rode Pro [short shotgun]; Zoom H5 capsule mic; some unknown theater house mics; ... so, my comparisons are not hard-core recording studio gear, but above consumer-grade.

I'm a masters student in music (as of this writing) and I've spent some time working in recording studios too. As a musician, I frequently record myself both for practice and in concert with portable recorders. When the built in mic's on my zoom h4n went bad, I faced the choice of either replacing the unit or finding another mic source. I decided to invest in this stereo mic as opposed to a whole new unit because I figured, a mic that costs almost as much as a whole recorder simply has to have better quality than the onboard mics most recorders come with.I was absolutely correct in my assumption and these mics are quite wonderful. It puts out a line-level stereo signal and is MUCH more accurate and sensitive than the built in mics from my Zoom h4n. I think their frequency response is larger as well. Long story short, I'm quite pleased feeding this mic into the line-input on my zoom. I only have a few complaints: 1.) I wish the cord was a little longer (beware! this takes a special little chord even though it looks like a standard 3 prong mic wire!) 2.) I wish there was a battery strength indicator led so you would know how healthy the battery is 3.) a hard or molded case would have been nice. These cardioid capsules are mounted on little shock-mount type rubber bits and I have a feeling they could be easily damaged if they are jostled too roughly. Then you would be out a good few pennies. It does however come with a faux-leather zippered pouch so at least it's not completely free floating in your bag. I would not advise this as a handheld mic since it is very sensitive to vibration.All in all, it is an excellent mic for the price, and has the added benefit of outputting a genuine and accurate stereo image. I would definitely buy again!

Really good sound quality out of this mic. very well balanced and clean sound. A must have if you record live musicians.

My advice is to save up a little longer and get a VP88 but make sure you have phantom power my friend.

The product itself is fine. It needs a right/ left xlr cable out instead of the proprietary cable out that it uses.

Perfect for nature recording. The hairy wind shield is effective up to about 15 mph at preventing frosh noise. Sensitivity is great and noise level low. Too sensitive for loud gig recording. Microphone holder does not fit standard performance mike stand. Shockmount is a must. I use with Microtrack II; supplied XLR-3mmTRS is perfect. Durability to be determined but feels like well built.

I use it all the time. The multi-directional pickup range makes it the perfect choice for many situations. Best to isolate it from vibrations. It's sensitive.

Rápido y fiable, todo en orden!

Ottima risposta in frequenza per un microfono con questo costo. Da acquistare!

Great Microphone but only for UNBANCED INPUTS such as DSLR and CONSUMER CAMCORDERS.I built a unit to balance them so I can use them with pro gear. The stereo image is great and the micssound so realI own 3 so you can tell I love them.I can custom build a balancing unit for around £ 75 so if you are interested email me.

Il microfono tutto sommato è molto buono, ma se intendete utilizzarlo per catturare suoni ambientali ad ampio raggio, si rende obbligatorio un amplificatore. Ne ho acquistato uno non alimentato che funziona egregiamente, tuttavia sono soldi extra da aggiungere (e neanche pochi visto che l'amplificatore costa attorno agli 80). Per un microfono di questa fascia di prezzo mi sarei aspettato un'amplificazione superiore. Il problema non persiste se si vogliono registrare suoni vicini o parlato vicino. Solo che a me serviva principalmente per la cattura di suoni ambientali nel bosco.

This poor review is probably only relevant on my set-up, but beware in case it is true for other set-ups. I have a panasonic Camcorder HC-X1000E, which has 2 XLR inputs. I therefore needed to split the stereo signal coming out of the microphone into two separate , L+R, mono inputs. After spending a huge amount of time and money on buying pre-built cables, and then getting custom cables made up, NO combination of this mike, my various cables and my camera would screen a noise that appeared when I was using the external , flip out monitor. ALL of the other mikes that I tried did not suffer from this problem. Best to check if you have the same issue before buying