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From the company that brought you the Snowball, and the Snowflake, comes the Yeti--a $149 USB microphone destined to ravage and plunder desktop-recording studios.
If you're wondering why Blue Microphones would name its microphone after a mythical abominable snowman, then you should see the Yeti in person. This thing is huge--like, disturbingly huge. It measures a foot tall, weighs 3.5 pounds, and makes most microphones look like Happy Meal toys.
But beyond its intimidating size, the Yeti moniker is just as fitting a way to describe its sound. Compared with similar microphones, such as the Samson G-Track or even Blue's own $99 Snowball, the Yeti's sound quality offers noticeably better depth and detail. It produces a big sound from a big microphone.
From a features perspective the Yeti offers zero-latency headphone monitoring, headphone volume control, and a handy little mute button that's perfect for those times when you need to clear your throat. On the back, you have a knob that allows you to directly control the mic's gain. Beneath the gain dial is the real crown jewel of this mic: a multipattern selector switch with four recording modes. Like the Snowball, you have an omnidirectional mode, for picking up sound from all directions, and a cardioid pattern, for focusing on sound directly in front of mic. Because the Yeti uses a unique, three-capsule design (instead of the two included on the Snowball or the single capsule used by most other microphones), the microphone offers two more recording patterns: a stereo mode, and a bidirectional mode that pulls sound from directly in front or behind the mic.
While not as flashy a feature as capsule count, the solid-metal man-shaped stand does a better job than the G-Track or Snowball at placing the microphone at mouth level. That said, if the cutesy-ness of the stand is overwhelming, a standard mic mount is also included on the bottom of the Yeti.
Unfortunately, the wobbly plastic knobs used for volume and gain control seem out of place on the otherwise brick-solid Yeti. During our few weeks of testing, the flimsy-feeling knobs never let us down, but their seemingly delicate design should probably be handled with care. If you're a chronic klutz, a two-year warranty against defects is included.
