This is the review of the comparison between two microphones from two popular brands. The comparison here is between the Blue Yeti and the Audio-Technica AT2020 microphones. There is around thirty dollars difference in their price range. There is also a difference in their features because of the price they are retailing for. To know which one is better for the price, go to the detailed review.

Blue Yeti	Audio-Technica AT2020
BUY NOW	BUY NOW
PROS	PROS
Multiple recording patterns. THX-certified sound quality. Record directly to your PC without an audio interface. Fantastic for the price.	Good sound on vocals and instruments. Extremely versatile and can be used for just about anything. The authentic dynamic response captures the nuances of a recording.
CONS	CONS
No multi-head setup. The wobbly plastic knobs make us wary about durability. No XLR output on the standard version.	Noise level slightly higher than average. Only features a cardioid polar pattern.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Blue Yeti

The Blue Yeti is one of the USB microphones available in the market and there is no need for XLR cables and aux cables in this microphone. This definitely a good microphone for the price of around a hundred and thirty dollars as this is an all-rounder microphone with all four modes of polar patterns.

Audio-Technica AT2020

The Audio-Technica AT2020 is one of the popular microphones in the market, and this is a USB microphone. This microphone from Audio-Technica is retailing for around a hundred and fifty dollars. This microphone is from the 2000 series microphones which looks almost the same as the AT3020 microphone from the 3000 series.

DESIGN: 

Blue Yeti

Underneath, the pop cover here it’s not just one microphone, there are three different microphones facing a bunch of different directions. There’s a switch on the back of the microphone, that will allow you to switch between a bunch of different recording patterns for different uses. Also, in the back of this microphone, there is the gain knob to control your preamps and to control the sound you want to record.

In the front of the mic, there is a physical mute switch with a LED, so you can mute yourself if you want to do and also the LED lets you know whether you are muted or unmuted. Also, in the front, you have got a headphone volume knob which is because this microphone has a headphone jack at the bottom, latency-free monitoring of your own audio. Also, you have the micro-USB port at the bottom of the mic as this is a USB mic.

Audio-Technica AT2020

On the bottom of this microphone, it’s not a normal female end for USB so not like a micro or mini USB, it’s a special kind that usually comes with other audio equipment and other high-end technology like printers. You just need this type of USB to plug it into the bottom of the mic, and the other end normal USB into your computer.

My only major complaint is that there are no controls on the mic itself, there are some mics that have a mute button or a volume dial on the mic, but this one does not have which means you need to do everything either in a program to edit the audio or through your computers of sound options.

FEATURES:

Blue Yeti

This microphone might look a little bit weird but this is a microphone it has its own desktop stand. This is also sort of like a YouTube classic microphone. If you haven’t seen a microphone like this before this has a built-in stand it articulates to face your mouth exactly, and it’s got a whole bunch of features that make it a little bit different from a normal mic, and that’s why it costs more.

You have got four polar patterns in this microphone, so there’s the stereo mode, there’s the omnidirectional mode, a cardioid mode, and a bi-directional. The cardioid mode will pick up the sound from the front and from both the side leaving the back which will be useful for making videos, podcasting, streaming, etc.

If you’re doing an interview or something and there was someone on the other side of the microphone, you could use the bi-directional pattern so that this mic could pick up the voice on the opposite side that is the backside, and your own voice but cancel out the sides. With a stereo pattern, this mic will pick up the sound from the sides that are from the right and the left without recording the sound from the front and the back.

Audio-Technica AT2020

The Audio Technica AT2020 is a USB microphone, they also have an XLR for cheaper but obviously, you can’t use XLR directly to your computer. With USB you can just plug it right in and you’re good to go, and it is one of the best sounding mics for this price range. If you’re looking to use a mic such as this one for a Twitch for doing voiceovers, for your YouTube videos, this one will be really nice to have.

If you use this microphone properly, it is crystal clear, very little static, and a background noise that could easily be edited out. It records in stereo, and the form factor of this microphone is really great. It’s very small, makes it very portable to transfer back and forth unlike something big and clunky like the Blue Yeti. This will fit right in front of your computer without distracting you.

PERFORMANCE:

Blue Yeti

The Blue Yeti performs all four modes of polar patterns very well. With the cardioid mode, it really performs well in picking up the sound in a heart pattern. In fact, the Cardioid mode is the best among all as it works really well for podcasting and streaming. The omnidirectional mode also picks up the sound from all 360 degrees properly. The stereo mode picks up the instruments properly for music and gives a really great output. The bi-directional mode also works well for interview purposes when someone is sitting in front of you and replying to you.

Audio-Technica AT2020

This is much clearer, much higher quality which makes it great for podcasting, voiceovers, streaming on twitch, all that good stuff. The polar pickup pattern for this mic is a cardioid style which means it’s gonna record mainly everything in front of you with some of the sound coming from the sides, it’s it’s more of like a heart shape pattern.

WHICH ONE IS BETTER FOR THE PRICE?

In my opinion, the Blue Yeti is better for the price than the Audio-Technica AT2020 because, for the price of a hundred and thirty dollars which is thirty dollars more than the AT2020, the Blue Yeti does have the four modes of polar patterns while the AT2020 have only one and also the Blue Yeti performs all the four modes very well than the AT2020.

Expert Reviews of Blue Yeti:

By Podcastinsights
Even though the Blue Yeti tends to be popular with beginners (it was the first external microphone I bought), I find that it performs much better in the hands of someone slightly more experienced with audio recording.

By TechRadar
The Blue Yeti is a great option for anyone who just wants to plug in and play without spending hours tweaking audio settings.

By cnet
The Yeti is one of the richest sounding, sonically flexible USB microphones money can buy, but its large size makes it inconvenient for portable applications.

By MusicRadar
For podcasting, streaming, and video conferencing, the Blue Yeti is still as simple and easy to use as ever. Highly recommended.

By the podcast host
I think it’s a great option for someone looking for a simple set-up, but also a decent level of sound quality. The Yeti certainly sounds better than its little brother, the Blue Snowball, which is another popular starter microphone.

Expert Reviews of Audio-Technica AT2020:

By Sound On Sound
As a low-cost, general-purpose capacitor microphone, the AT2020 is hard to fault other than on account of its noise level. I particularly liked the well-balanced sound this microphone produced, both on voice and on acoustic…

By old-time music
We don’t need to spend too much time discussing the positive points of the Audio-Technica 2020, because we have already highlighted so many. Also, we have already discussed that at this price point, it represents great value. It may…

By MusicCritic
It is a sensibly priced microphone for a low-budget set-up. It has an airy sound and captures good clean vocal takes. It has a smooth, crisp, and well-balanced dynamic…

By IGN
The AT2020 delivers super audio but requires more parts to get up and running than a dedicated USB mic. This is for people serious about audio quality, but given the limitations of streaming, the…

By Gearank
The Audio-Technica AT2020 is an ideal budget-friendly condenser mic for home studios that are expanding to capture loud sound sources. It is a great supplementary mic if you already have a large-diaphragm condenser, and…