USB Microphone Comparison: Rode NT-USB, Blue Yeti & AKG Lyra

USB microphones bridge the gap for those who want a good quality microphone to record, stream, vlog, or zoom from home, but don’t want all the fuss that comes with using a microphone and all the necessary bits one needs to buy, such as an interface, a microphone, XLR cable, preamp and so on). The interface and analogue-to-digital conversion all happens within the microphone, making USB microphones an easy, no-nonsense solution.

With the world of content creation in a boom due to Covid-19, the popularity of USB microphones has followed this trend and have become popular with DIY audio recording. We had a look at three of the most popular USB microphones on the market today:

• Rode NT-USB
• Blue Yeti
• AKG Lyra

All of these USB microphones price sit within $30 AUD of each other on the market, come with necessary cables and have a headphone port for direct monitoring. All three microphones can be mounted onto a conventional microphone stand. This is important as desktop stands pick up unwanted vibrations which result in poor sounding recording or stream.

All three microphones are high-quality products although we if we had to choose, the AKG Lyra edges ahead. It records at the highest quality and resolution, it has more versatile polar patterns for different recording situations, handles the highest amount of sound pressure (SPL), comes with software and is the most affordable of the three.

Check out the video review with audio tests on all three mics.