A few weeks ago we decided to put the PreSonus PD70 microphone (which costs just over one hundred pounds) up against one of the most popular dynamic broadcaster mics around, the Shure SM7B. Shure SM7B and PreSonus PD70 Comparison audio
Remember the cost of the PD70 is around a third of the Shure SM7B, but with similarities such as dynamic, cardioid polar pattern and end address, we think it’s a useful shootout.
The Preference Winner
So which microphone won in our preference shoot-out? Well the answer is complicated. In the aggregated result it was pretty close.
Shure SM7B v PreSonus PD70 Aggregated Results
The Results In Detail
Shure SM7B | PreSonus PD70 | |
Spoken Word | 74% | 26% |
Male Vocal | 75% | 25% |
Strummed | 74% | 26% |
Picked | 50% | 50% |
Clean | 34% | 66% |
Crunch | 35% | 65% |
Distortion | 33% | 67% |
Summary
As you can see the results are mixed across the range of materials that an SM7B would normally be used on.
For spoken and sung voice the SM7B was the preferred choice. The votes swung in the other direction when the mics were used on electric guitar with the PD70 the clear winner.
In the comments left on the test the reason people stating for preferring the SM7B for spoken word and other vocals was that it had a richer bottom end, although oddly enough no one commented on the plosives present in the spoken work examples on the Shure. These can be removed using the built in low end filter, however for the test all filters were turned off, ironically had they been used the SM7 would have sounded far more like the PD70.
Given that the PD70 is aimed at the podcaster and home recording market we think PreSonus has a winner on their hands, at just over £100 it’s a no-brainer purchase.
However, in the final analysis the PreSonus PD70 stood its ground in the overall test and in some cases came out as the preferred microphone. For a microphone costing just over £100 that demonstrates the quality of microphones is improving whilst the cost is coming down. In our book that makes us all winners!
Discuss