This is the review of the comparison between two microphones from two different brands popular in the market. The comparison here is between the Blue Bluebird SL and the Rode NT1. There is around thirty dollars difference in their price range. To know does the difference in their price range brings the difference in their features and performances or not, and in that way, to know which one is better for the price, go to the detailed review.

Blue Bluebird SL	Rode NT1
BUY NOW	BUY NOW
PROS	PROS
Excellent in loud volume situations. Smooth but detailed frequency response. Tight overall response, tunable. Looks much more expensive than it is.	The Integrated shock mount and pop shield is a good design. Stonkingly good value for money. The NT1 is able to produce crystal clear sounds with its ability to pick up the smallest vocal nuances in any kind of performance.
CONS	CONS
No 3/8-inch thread adaptor.	Lack of pad makes close-mic’ing loud sources tricky. None worthy of mention to be honest.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Blue Bluebird SL

The Blue Bluebird is one of the popular XLR microphone in the market. This microphone is retailing for around three hundred dollars currently on Amazon. This microphone has one condenser capsule which performs the cardioid polar pattern. This mic almost looks the same as the Blue Bottle microphone from the flagship line-up microphones from Blue.

Rode NT1

The Rode NT1 is the another version microphone of the Rode NT1-A. This microphone is retailing for around two hundred and seventy dollars currently on Amazon. This is an XLR cardioid condenser microphone and it is also one of the quitest microphone in the market. This mic can be used for home studios, voiceovers, etc.

DESIGN:

Blue Bluebird SL

They kept the Blue Bluebird SL with a bit of silica gel to keep it nice, and you get a good look. On top of the mic, it has a great wire mesh and the front of the microphone looks really good with a Blue logo underneath, and a couple of controls there for the low roll-off, if you want, and minus 20 dB reduction if you need that as well. It’s a condenser, so 48-volt phantom power is required if you going through a mixing border, you’re going through an audio interface. It pretty much looks the same as the Blue Bottle which is a flagship microphone from the Blue line-up microphones.

Rode NT1

The Rode NT1 microphone is a condenser microphone which means that it will need phantom power provided to it from the interface in order for it to work at all. This microphone has a cardioid polar pattern, which means that it’s mainly built to pick up sound from one direction primarily, which is from the front of the microphone. It’s indicated by a little Golden Circle on the front of the microphone from where you need to talk.

FEATURES:

Blue Bluebird SL

The Blue Bluebird SL microphone is like for vocals. This is modeled and looks very similar to the Blue Bottle microphone which is their flagship microphone from the Blue microphones. The Blue Bottle microphone comes in at three thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars and this microphone the Blue Bluebird SL looks and has a similar design as the Blue Bottle. This microphone has the large diaphragm, its condenser microphone, so it’s got all the hallmarks of this nearly four thousand dollar mic that is the Blue Bottle but it comes in at about a tenth of the price.

The Blue Bluebird SL is nicely packaged, when we take off the case the box claims that inside there is a microphone a suspension shock mount as well included, and a protective wooden box to keep your mic. By seeing the packaging on this itself we can assume that it will be very high-quality goods inside, so it is extremely well packaged. Inside the box, we’ve got the instruction manual there, we’ve got the beautiful wooden box that contains your mic, and we’ve got the Blue Bluebird SL Quality Control certification for you. It has been certified as having good frequency response, noise specification, and the last thing on there it’s a good fit and finish.

Rode NT1

This microphone comes with a whole kit and the whole kit is well-packaged. The box of the Rode NT1 claims 10-years warranty which proves its quality. Inside the box, you get some manusls, I love Rode sticker, a shock mount which feels really nice, a pop filter to decrease the plosives, a metal attachment ring, you microphone itself, that’s it. When you take out the microphone from the box, you can actually feel the quality of it nd you can feel how heavy it is, it is built with high quality metal which gives great feel to it.

One of the best features of it is the low noise floor what that means is the buzz or hum produced by the microphone from simply being on is practically non-existent. When you open the box, you’ll notice that the packaging is pristine, when you pick this thing up it definitely has some weight to it, it is built solid, it’s made out of metal, with a metal mesh grille, it comes with this fantastic shock mount, and it has a removable pop filter that does a pretty good job of eliminating most if not all of the plosives.

PERFORMANCE:

Blue Bluebird SL

I tested out this mic that how it sounds like in two environments in the studio environment in the vocal booth, and in the echoey workspace that I’m in. The Blue Bluebird SL is a pretty decent sounding microphone. Certainly, if you’re in a good recording environment, if you sound-treated your room, and you’ve not got any echo reflections going on, as is the case with most condenser microphones they won’t be very forgiving when you have echo or noise around you. But if you’re in a nice treated environment, the Blue Bluebird SL just sounds awesome.

Rode NT1

You will be able to hear things in the microphone if they’re coming at it from the side or the back but you will notice not only a decrease in the overall volume of whatever you’re recording but the sound quality as well.This is mainly built to pick up sound from one direction only but as long as you point this microphone in the direction of whatever it is you want to record, this is an all-around fantastic microphone.

WHICH ONE IS BETTER FOR THE PRICE?

In my opinion, the Rode NT1 is better for the price than the Blue Bluebird SL because it is an amazing well-rounded microphone, and if you’re looking to upgrade to something that sounds on par without a $3,000 microphone price tag then I would definitely recommend the Rode NT1. But if you’re a beginning artists or podcaster this may not be the best microphone to purchase then you can go for the Blue Bluebird SL.

Expert Reviews of Blue Bluebird SL:

By guitarcenter.com
The Bluebird SL flatters any sound source. Its proprietary hand-tuned capsule and transformerless design deliver tremendous upper-end clarity, smooth midrange frequencies, and rich lows that make every detail of your sound…

By americanmusical.com
Bluebird SL delivers a pristine, highly versatile sound that makes every detail of your performance come to life. With a high-pass filter and -20dB pad, Bluebird SL is ideal for capturing standout…

By performermag.com
Blue re-vamped part of their microphone line at NAMM and the new Bluebird SL takes a lot of its cues from some of their more high-end microphones. Yet it delivers to a much more affordable price point, perfect for small commercial…

By vintageking.com
Blue Microphones Bluebird SL delivers a pristine, highly versatile sound that makes every detail of your performance come to life. With a high-pass filter and -20 dB pad, Bluebird SL is ideal for capturing…

By bhphotovideo.com
Featuring a proprietary, hand-crafted capsule, the Blue Bluebird SL is a studio condenser microphone that builds upon its predecessor to offer a switchable 100 Hz high-pass filter and…

Expert Reviews of Rode NT1:

By music radar
The performance from this affordable large-diaphragm condenser is truly exceptional, making it a smart choice for vocals, guitars, and more.

By makingmusicpro.com
Rode knows a thing or two about designing and manufacturing cost-effective, high-quality products. This is just a great all-around cardioid condenser microphone that excels on vocals…

By TVS
The NT1 is an excellent microphone if you are looking to record studio-quality vocals at home. All you’ll need to get is a preamp and an interface and you will be ready to go. While there…

By Musician on a mission
All-in-all, I’d recommend the NT1 if you’re looking to expand your mic closet. Its presence boost could add a nice “sheen” to your recordings.

By Tape Op
The original NT1 was a big deal when it hit the market. Back then, most large-diaphragm studio condensers cost over a thousand dollars. Australian company RØDE aimed for the small studio and recording enthusiasts, and the NT1…