[j3ffr0]

Originally Posted by Fran Guidry

Please be aware that the M201 is a dynamic mic, and as a very rough rule of thumb the flatter the frequency response of a dynamic, the lower the sensitivity. The M201 will require an excellent preamp capable of 70 dB of clean gain and the signal will still be low.

I listened to a few of the sample clips at that link. The first thing I noticed with the lack of level matching. Since our ears are not linear with respect to volume, that immediately causes differences in what we hear.

Please give these clips a listen - these four mics were carefully level matched and used to record a single performance:

http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/20090626-F.wav
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/20090626-G.wav
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/20090626-H.wav
http://www.homebrewedmusic.com/audio/20090626-I.wav

These mics range in price from $150 to over $1500, they're US, European, or Chinese in origin. Some are large diaphragm, some are small.

Do these sound as wildly different as the mics in the OP's link?

Fran

Absolutely not. They all sound good too (very nice playing). I think I prefer F while my least favorite is H.

Yes -- you are right the levels are quite a bit different, so in reality it would be hard to tell anything from that. It's easy to see now that all of the samples I liked had some of the higher levels.