{"id":48952,"date":"2023-07-14T08:16:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T07:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepodcasthost.com\/?p=48952"},"modified":"2023-07-14T08:16:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T07:16:50","slug":"sennheiser-profile-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepodcasthost.com\/equipment\/sennheiser-profile-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Sennheiser Profile Review (or \u2018Who Profiles the Profile?\u2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ah, Sennheiser, my beloved manufacturer of shotgun microphones. I\u2019ve always had at least one Sennheiser microphone in my arsenal (deliberate word choice as it will eventually lead me to destruction) since I started out as a sound recordist on student film sets all the way back in 2012. They\u2019ve always had a reputation, at least in my experience, for high-quality, industry-standard sound.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when the obsidian portal that The Podcast Host requires you to build in your home when you write for them rumbled in a sort of friendly way that it had a Sennheiser microphone for streaming and podcasting for me to review, I was excited to see what it offers at the entry level for prospective audio nerds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sennheiser<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/path><\/svg>\"authors<\/div>

Editor\u2019s Note<\/p><\/div>

Thanks for reading our review of the Sennheiser Profile. Just a quick heads up that we received this unit free of charge, and that we also use affiliate links on the site to products and services we think you’ll find interesting. We’d earn a small commission should you choose to buy through them (at no extra cost to yourself), and this helps support all the free content we put out. This will also never cloud our judgement when it comes to writing reviews – we’ll always give you our honest opinions, no matter what! <\/em><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is the Sennheiser Profile?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Sennheiser Profile<\/a> is a USB cardioid microphone for podcasting and streaming. It\u2019s a little on the expensive side for what it offers, retailing for around $129\/\u00a3108 for the basic set reviewed here. The \u2018Streaming Set<\/a>\u2019 that comes with a boom arm and a mic bag comes in around $199 \/ \u00a3176. It only features one polar pattern<\/a> – cardioid – meaning it only works in one direction (in this case, the side with the buttons on it), which gives it fewer features than other USB microphones<\/a> at this price point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I think the Profile more than makes up for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"buttons<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Look & Feel of the Sennheiser Profile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Profile’s design is sleek, much like the rest of Sennheiser\u2019s range. It\u2019s simple, elegant and sturdy; no cheap plastic thrills here. It is, however, tiny, and the dials are small and somewhat fiddly, even for my wee gremlin hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"the
(other soft drinks for the purpose of comparison are available)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you are looking for a microphone for professional voicework, a boom arm<\/a> is essential; otherwise, the best option is to balance the stand on top of your unread book collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sennheiser<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Setting up the Sennheiser Profile<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I also want to take a second to talk about the Quick Guide that comes with the microphone. While there is a QR code linking to an online manual, the Quick Guide clearly shows you all you need to know to get started – in a manner builders of IKEA furniture will find familiar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dials on the front of the Profile are fairly self-explanatory. There is a mute button, a gain control with a ring light to warn you of clipping<\/a> (turning from green to yellow, and then red when muted), as well as a headphone volume dial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also a third dial which I found really interesting. The Profile allows you to change the balance of mic audio and computer audio in your headphones. I think this is really cool. If you\u2019re like me and you find hearing your own voice during recordings a bit distracting, this gives you the freedom to adjust how much of yourself you can hear. It’s a great feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this is all going pretty well, right? That\u2019s what I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I had to try and record with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The back of the box of the Profile reads, \u2018One simple connection and you\u2019re ready to record, stream and inspire<\/em>.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was not my experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After plugging the microphone in and setting it as an input and output device in my DAW<\/a>, I had\u2026no sound, and the audio that was already in the project would not play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I set it as the microphone in OBS to see how it works as a streaming microphone, and\u2026 no audio. I could play Spotify through it, but that didn\u2019t get me very far in terms of actually using this microphone as a microphone. The official documentation and support pages offered no answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked through forums and settings and went through everything to figure out the problem. The solution I found was that, for some reason, I couldn’t have the Profile as an input and output device, so I set the microphone as the input, and the output as my regular headphones. This, annoyingly, meant I couldn\u2019t use the cool mic audio\/computer audio balance I talked about earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m willing to put this one down to Windows tomfoolery, but, even so, it hasn\u2019t happened with other USB mics, and it shouldn\u2019t have taken me as long as it did to actually record something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[deep breath]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, after all that, how does it sound?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound Quality of the Sennheiser Profile<\/h2>\n\n\n