Header banner
Revain logoHome Page
Desmin Dickerson photo
1 Level
1314 Review
35 Karma

Review on ๐ŸŽค UMIK-1 USB Measurement Calibrated Microphone by miniDSP by Desmin Dickerson

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Works better than expected!

I bought an Emotiva XMC-1 processor about 7 months ago. Below that I have an svs ultra tower 7.1 surround sound system and an svspb4000 subwoofer. Nice setup or so I thought. The microphone supplied with emotiva produced too many different results and too many disappointing playback results, in particular it was too bright in the sub-zone almost every time. I chose the Behringer ECM8000 because it was cheaper than the $55 UMIK-1 instead of the $100. ECM800 $55, drivers $45, phantom power $25 and last but not least HDMI $8, total $133. The ecm8000 had a flat response but again the subwoofer was too lean until I went to Dirac and changed the subwoofer settings which wasn't the best sound. Although not bad. So far I have not been satisfied with Dirac. I could send all the extra crap for the ecm8000 back down to the mic. If anyone has an Emotiva processor for $2500 or more. Get umik-1. The emotiva microphone was too sensitive. So when working with a Dirac, he wants the subwoofer to be very thin. Setting each calibration is out of date, but I was able to get it to work. Now UMIK-1 was a completely new ball game. The first calibration made adjustments to dirac. I'm just used to doing it. Played a few movies and the music sounded good but wanted to play more. Went to dirac omg my file was not saved. 2 nights later I started dirac again with umik-1. Same results again. This time I decided not to touch that subsection and just twisted it. Wow, what a whirlwind. This mic is less sensitive, so it needs subwoofers, and there are plenty of those. It goes up to 8 Hz or so. Now it sounds like a real cinema. I missed all that thunder and for all the detail for what! Minidsp offers other sound editing programs and tuning guides. I think it's a very nice gesture to "just buy" their microphone.

Pros
  • Confident
Cons
  • Out of fashion