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Comment by supernova87a | Hacker News Reader

What is amazing to me is that, just like cameras have become so accessible to the masses everywhere, cheap condenser microphones that do a pretty tolerable job are now within reach of everyone who can click on Amazon for $20. And unless you're really an audio snob or someone recording for archival / professional purposes, the $700-3000 microphones that were the reference standard of the past are no longer necessary to sound pretty good. (Maybe they're an aspirational equipment just like the big DSLRs are/were).

The miracle of modern manufacturing.

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Mics are still pretty simple though. Cameras have all kinds of onboard computing, and often built-in mics are more advanced although lacking the quality you can only get with larger size.

If mics advanced like cameras, wireless handhelds would have IR time of flight sensors that adjust the EQ to cancel out proximity effect, remove handling noise, and automatically detect feedback. They'd probably also have a tuner since they'd need a display anyway for all the extras, and they'd have modeling to pretend to be different mics built in.

But at least VocoPro made decent wireless mics affordable.

I wonder if our eyes being a more discerning sense compared to hearing drives how much (or some maximum) technology investment that will go into audio improvements, before people evaluating the price of some new microphone say, "eh, can't really tell at this point".

"pretty tolerable" is a bit vague. $20 is too low for any recording project but you can get a decent microphone for around $100 nowadays. However, it's not going to sound good without a treated room (or emulating one in a closet, etc.).

The $20 models are all marketed at podcasters, where the audio requirements are not super high. I think the explosion in podcasting has done more for lower prices than any big advancement in manufacturing.

Trouble is figuring out which of the cheap ones are actually good. I went through several that were "meh" to garbage, now using a more expensive Elgato Wave3.

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