Maono PM500 – HONEST Microphone Review
When purchasing a new microphone, most producers try to find a product that gives the best possible sound quality with a reasonably low price tag. However as you would expect, most of the cheap, “budget” microphones out there don´t sound great. Plus, not many producers want to spend a huge amount of money on a “high-end” microphone, especially if you’re building a home studio on a budget.
So what is the solution?
With their release of the XLR condenser microphone “PM500“, Maono aim to provide the best of best worlds; a high-quality, professional microphone at a very affordable price. So let’s take a closer look at the brand new Maono PM500 to see if it can deliver on its promises.
First Impressions
Upon opening the Maono PM500 box, you’ll notice that it comes packaged with a ton of accessories. The box contains the microphone, a sturdy shock mount and a metal pop filter that clips nicely onto the shock mount. It also comes with an adjustable, robust desk stand which is a huge benefit for streamers or podcasters, as well as an XLR cable. The desk stand allows you to adjust the height as well as tilt the microphone up or down. This is a very generous amount of extra goodies from Maono, and it means you have everything you need to get started from the get-go.
The microphone itself has a gorgeous, sleek appearance with its simple, professional design. It also has an incredibly high build-quality, and it feels robust and durable. In home studios, microphones are occasionally knocked over during recording sessions, so the impressive durability of the PM500 is a huge positive.
Plus, the microphone is made almost entirely made of zinc alloy, and is treated with multi-layer coatings. According to Maono, this allows the microphones body to behave like an electromagnetic shield, which in turn helps to keep the audio signal cleaner with less audio artefacts and imperfections.
The Sound
So now let’s move on to the most important question: how does this microphone actually sound?
As we said earlier, the PM500 is very affordable, currently sitting at around $150. Given the amount of extra accessories included, this is very cheap for an XLR microphone. So with this in mind, we weren’t really expecting the recording output quality to be anything special…
It turns out that the Maono PM500 has incredible sound quality. The sound output is clean, crisp and has a very natural, full sound. On top of this, it responds extremely well to sudden “bumps” and harsh dynamic changes in the audio input, which helps to reduce any unwanted resonant frequencies such as sibilance.
On top of this, the microphone gives a noticeably detailed response, picking up every small, subtle nuance of the human voice. Maono clearly have found the “sweet spot” for producing dynamic, detailed audio while keeping bloating and resonance to a minimum. In all honesty, this level of pristine, professional sound quality is very rare for a microphone in this price range.
As you would expect, the microphone has the a wide frequency response of 20Hz to 20kHz, meaning you get the full frequency scope of the human voice, from the deep, warm low body of the sound as well as the crispy, airy high-end frequencies.
Another impressive feature of the PM500 is its ability to process and reduce ambient noise. Its ultra-precise cardioid polar pattern does a fantastic job of minimising any background noise, giving an even clearer vocal sound. Granted it is a condenser mic, so some low-level noise is sometimes still present in the recording, but it doesn’t amplify these sounds further.
Who Is This Microphone For?
When it comes to vocal recording, the Maono PM500 has a wide range of suitable applications. Spoken recordings (such as broadcasting, podcasting, streaming etc.) work particularly well, given the warm, full presence of the sound output. Vocal recording such as singing or rapping also sounds fantastic, considering the dynamic response and detail of the PM500. We then tested out the microphone on instruments such as acoustic guitar and piano, and while the audio was still impressive given the low price, the microphone is clearly better suited for vocal recordings.
It’s also important to note this microphone requires phantom power, and cannot be used as a simple USB microphone. With this in mind, make sure you have an audio interface to hook up this microphone to your computer.
To Conclude
Overall, the quality and durability of this microphone is far beyond most other XLR microphones in this price range. The sound is rich and natural, capturing the detail and nuance of vocal performances. Plus, the various microphone accessories are a really nice touch.
This is an exceptional microphone for producers looking for the sound quality of high-end microphone, while keeping costs low.
Build Quality
Sound Quality
Value for Money
Maono PM500 is currently available for $150. For more information, check out this product on maono.com
