Blue Blueberry vs. NT1a- Can you tell which is which???

[beergineer]

I just picked up a blueberry used for $475 from GC and wanted to do a shootout with my existing NT1a to make sure it was worth the money.

I setup both mics into a UA4110 and set all the gain settings the same for both mics. I played a martin acoustic about 3 feet away and had the mic capsules next to each other a few inches apart. I used an 1176 plugin to make the volume similiar on both samples. Happy guessing.
BB vs NT1a 2.mp3
BB vs NT1a 1.mp3

[NEWTON IN ORBIT]

Listened once, one pass via pc speakers. Ain't spending a lotta time on this one.

I'm going to guess 2 is the blue...stick my neck out there...airy top, kinda wide pickup.

Three feet is a lot in that room though. I hear a lot of room and reflection galore, and it frankly isn't doing the sound any justice in these clips.

Makes it hard to tell what is going on, and makes neither clip sound very good.

Sorry.

Is this blue a made in Latvia or assembled in China model? This makes a difference, If you got the old Latvian model for $475, good on you!

john

[gideon352]

Never heard an NT1a.....but...

2-Blue
1-NT1a

Clip 2 is brighter, but it also sounds better (overall) to me.
If clip 1 is the Blue, something may be wrong with that particular microphone.

[beergineer]

thanks for the input. I was being lazy and recording at my desk. I'll setup in my treated room next time so it's alot drier and controlled. I haven't done many tests like this at all so your insight is appreciated.

the mic says made in usa with latvian parts. The manual seems old so I decided to call blue to see if they cane date it with the serial #.

[Gax]

1. - is NT1a.

but why did u post 192 kbps MP3s?

[beergineer]

I figured wav would take too long to upload or be more than max filesize so I figured a relativly high bit rate mp3 would do.

[beergineer]

sorry forgot about this. number 2 is blue, you guys were right