Review on 🎙️ Enhanced Shure MV7 XLR/USB Dynamic Microphone for Podcasting (Black) by Rachel Williams

This microphone works primarily on a Linux laptop. I mainly use a very recent Lenovo T14 with 5.8 and 5.10 kernels running Ubuntu OS (specifically Kubuntu based on Debian). On Windows and Linux computers, I often have to go in and adjust the playback sample rate, otherwise the pitch is very low. The Shure website has an official page for setting this up for Windows. The Linux solution is lengthy and painful. The microphone comes with two cables: USB Micro to USB-A and USB Micro to USB-C. When connected directly to a Lenovo laptop or MacBook Pro via a USB-C adapter, neither cable delivers enough microphone performance, no matter which port it's plugged into. A sure sign of this is the LEDs on the microphone will alternate between amber and green, all flashing slowly between full brightness and off. The microphone receives sufficient power when connected to an external powered USB hub. I tried two different hubs to confirm this. Once plugged in, the microphone and headphone jacks mostly work fine. Both are listed as supported audio interfaces with KDE (screenshot attached). I was able to use the mic with Audacity and Discord with no issues. By default, when connected, KDE uses the headphone jack as the default audio. I always hear myself through the mic through the headphone jack since it's mixed in hardware. I was able to download and install the Shure Motiv desktop software via Wine, but unfortunately the software complains that the microphone cannot be found and thus cannot be configured. When I connect a microphone to a Windows desktop PC and install the Motiv desktop software, I am able to set up the microphone correctly. These settings are retained when switching back to Linux. I am very impressed with the sound of this microphone. I would probably deduct half a star for using USB Micro instead of USB-C on the device as it offers better power delivery compatibility with laptops. I would also prefer that the documentation mentions the low power LED pattern, the meaning of which I had to figure out after much trial and error. Update 1: I connected it to a computer running macOS Catalina 10.15.7 and it worked initially. But I installed the Motiv software and the headphones plugged in made a very loud continuous sine wave that sounded like someone was even. After that the computer freezes completely for a moment every second until I force close Motiv. I tried running it again and the same thing happened. After that, all microphone settings were erased and the headphone jack stopped working. After plugging it back into my Windows computer and starting Motive, I was able to reconfigure it and get the headphones working again. One star deduction for that. Update 2: downgraded to 3 stars. I constantly struggle with power issues, even when using an externally powered hub. In this case, Windows might recognize the headphones but not the microphone, which requires a bit of port juggling. It's also frustrating that the documentation doesn't state current requirements. I'm also annoyed by the lack of documentation on whether it's okay to leave it on all the time; I'm currently trying to think about unmuting or unmuting every night, but am concerned about the long-term effects. Update 3: downgraded to 2 stars. I can't use Shure MV7 with my Dell XPS 13 laptop without other USB peripherals either. I was trying to use a 65W laptop PSU, which is larger than the 45W PSU that came with it. I'm even trying an 8.5A Thunderbolt 3 dock. The same TB3 dock works great for the mic with my MacBook Pro. Even with a basic USB-C dock, I can use the mic with the same MacBook Pro and Thinkpad laptop, but not the XPS13. Both docking stations are powered docking stations, but all of these docking stations seem to depend to some extent on being powered by the host system. Update 4: Review upgrade to 3 stars. Dell XPS 13 issues seem to be driver related. Specifically, I suspect that the kernel module loaded for this Dell laptop conflicts with the microphone and that driver is not loaded on the Lenovo machine. Who knows, maybe the mic will work fine on an XPS 13 laptop running Windows. A Windows desktop computer never has power issues when I connect it directly to the motherboard via a USB 2.0 port.