Great Condenser Mic for the money and it's purpose.

I feel like for the money I paid for this item I love it.The product is made by Sony a reputable name worldwide for Good products.The purpose I use it for is recording with my Digital Recorder(Boss Micro Br) and it works Great.There really isn't any competition for a small stereo condenser microphone for personel use on the market that works as well as this one.You can also use it on your laptop or desktop computer with a cable extension and record in stereo which is a much better quality over mono.This mic is very good about not picking up other noises except what it is aimed at.I highly recommend it to the musician or hobbyist or just for video conferencing.

It's good, but not for what I got it for...

Why I got it:
Sony has a reputation for quality. That was a big plus for this microphone. I have noticed with Sony products that the audio tends to accentuate the high-mids in the spectrum. Even knowing that, I couldn't resist the compact size of this stereo microphone.

What I wanted it for was to use as an extension to the microphone on my video camera (Canon - not Sony). Video cameras tend to pick up my voice and breathing really well... too well... while moderately more distant subjects, say like the people I'm filming, are too quiet. Using an external microphone, and one pitched forward will fix some of that problem.

What went wrong:
Just plugging in the microphone into the camera proved that it was not going to work at all. Everything was silent.
I used the Sony microphone in my laptop and it worked fine. I have recording software that I use for my guitars and in a pinch this little microphone would work great to capture a musical idea or for a field recording where I could use my laptop to record room noise. So, as a stereo microphone, it worked great, but not for the application that I got it for.

Where it will work:
The Sony ECM-DS70P needs to plug into a device that accepts mic level inputs.

Bill Jehle
www.CigarBoxGuitarMuseum.​com

Decent microphone for general use.

I assembled a home theater computer.
I installed voice command software and
wanted to find a decent microphone to use with it.
This one works at about 3 feet distance.
This is a good microphone for general use.
It is very sensitive and the price is right.

It is not going to work out for the long run
with my home theater as the range is too short.
The audio from the TV tuner can also overpower the mic,
but that is more of a need for good background sound filtering.
With room micro phones going for $200+,I will
probably go with a wireless microphone later.

This is a stereo microphone,so if it is used
on a computer,it will need to be set to stereo
in the recording properties for full sensetivtiy.

Little mic performs nicely

I did not do any frequency response testing, but simply used it to gather ambient and foley sounds for short movies into a portable digital recorder. It recorded quiet streets, loud passing cars and low level noises with good fidelity, and the stereo separation is excellent for hearing traffic move as well as getting a sense of "space" in the sound. I would say the mic is more than just good "for the price." It is good. Specifically, it was not overly sensitive to handling noise, did not exhibit boominess or strong audio coloration. It seems reasonably well built. Remember that this only works on a recorder that can provide a low voltage bias to the mic (not 48V phantom power). This is generally 1.5 to 3V. Many, but not all, portable recorders have this ability.

You can use it for more than just recording lectures...Guitar anyone?

I'm a guitarist by trade and I've been an independent recording artist/engineer for over 15 years since I got my first 4-track recorder. I've always loved experimenting with different recording techniques using different microphones. I've gotten some amazing results with the most unlikely pieces of gear.

I needed a simple stereo mic to record some ambiance to accent some acoustic guitar parts. I have matched tube condensers and upper end mics of all types but wanted to see if I could capture quality guitar sounds. I was surprised at some of the recordings. There was a certain organic presence to some of the parts that were captured with this mic, and blended perfectly with the other parts.***

---Now for the reality of use: I needed to place the mic in about 10-12 different spots (some movements as small as 1 inch) to get usable sounds. After all, this is no Neumann. Don't expect to get $2k quality recordings from a $5 mic. Although, I've let plenty of people hear what was recorded with this mic, and they can't believe it. If you're willing to experiment and take your time to find an ideal mic placement, if wouldn't hurt to have one of these around just to play with.***

---Background: I play/record everything from Balalaika, steel string acoustic, warm jazz, modern rock, to high gain metal, and specialize in female pop vocal. This mic was used for Balalaika and steel string acoustic and even ambient "crowd" for layering.