Interesting!
The mic numbers are the same for Piano and Vocals by the way.
So Mic1 one on piano is the same as Mic1 on vocals and so on...

Piano #4 is my favorite and i hope its not the U47...



Thanks for the samples

I only listened to the spoken word a few hours ago but I preferred #4 and #3 .....moon

The experience I'm speaking of is having years of experience mixing audio and refining your ears, as well as knowing what you like. If you guys don't think you can listen to a variety of mics and not know the difference or that somehow you have such limited experience that your bias will somehow be skewed knowing which mic you're listening to, that's your opinion of your abilities. If you think everyone is like you, then I'd say that opinion is skewed as well.
L.

Hmm interesting indeed. I was listening on iPhone speakers, so no idea what I may have been missing sonically, but I would not have guessed piano 4 and voice 4 were the same mic!

I appreciate your input with your experience, but no one escapes their brains tricks. There's no espace from psychological phenomena. It only varies in degree. It's not something you learn, it's wired in your brain. You can to some degree learn out of it, when you acknowledge it, but not completely.

Now some of us want to have fun and take that out of the equation. "Why is it some people on GS think they can speak for everyone." is something that you just said a few posts ago, yet you're doing just that.

You can have your fun knowing what mic you're listening to after the blind test in a couple days. But we can't have a blind test if the files are named by mic. So let us a have a little fun and be patient, your time will come.

Cheers!

To be clear, there is nothing in my replies indicating I was speaking for "everyone". I simply started this by expressing my opinion with regards to blind tests. Zinzin replied "people are always biased when they know brand names. always." I think this is faulty logic. None of us know "everyone". Now you and Zinzin are entitled to your opinion. But they are opinions, not fact. And I'm not trying to trounce on anyone's fun if you find blind tests fun. I'll even grant that some will probably be biased. It's just this absolute thing that people do on gs sometimes. "Everyone says this or everyone knows that". None of us know everyone. I can only speak for myself, unless I know someone first hand..and even then I'd be hard pressed to know what they actually think or how their mind works. I'm of the opinion that if I know it's a $20,000 Neumann and I have that as my base reference, that I'd be better able to judge how well the Warm stacks up against it. And... that if you had 5 people who listened to the same files you would be likely to get 5 different opinions. But that is just my opinion. I don't hold it up as fact.
L.

Here are four more audio files for you!
This time with Emily Intsiful on vocals, about 20cm away from the mics (she's closer than on the picture).

Ps: Here's the song: YouTube

It's good that the mics are unknown. That's my opinion and how I want to judge the comparison.

it wasn't my intention to speak for everyone. it's just a scientific fact that in general "people" live under rules of psychology and marketing works. to every rule there's some exception - congratulation: you are the exception.
can we now please move on OT ...

I don't prefer a blind comparison for myself, which is why I just asked the results. I do like to watch others participate in it though. I have no issue with bias, and it was clear to my ears I preferred the Neumann U47, and the Golden Age U47. If I'm picking between those two, I'd actually choose Golden Age. They're almost the same, but I like the GA47 a tad more. If I was bias I would have liked the Warm version more because I wanted to like it more. It's the cheapest, so of course I hoped to like it most.
This test has me on the verge of getting the Golden Age U47, and by reading about it on their website, it seems this mic is top quality.

sorry but he didn't give away the results by mic...he just says which mics he's using in a random order

Why doesn't he privately PM names to those who prefer them, then let the rest of us listen without knowing in advance. A solution for everyone, no?

Anyone who'd like to know the result is of course welcome to send me a PM.
That's what Thomas132 did

He gave me the results in a private message when I asked.

Thanks for clearing it up and I understand where you're coming.

Still, confirmation bias is a well studied fact and a part of human nature. But of course nothing is black and white and it doesn't mean we always end up with the heavyest price tag or the most vintage looking mic. However, it does still affect sub-conciously on how we perceive things, which is why I think blind tests are essential when the differences are subtle. But that is an opinion, and you are of course entitled to your own.

Sorry if I came off rude in my last post!

My guess from my computer speakers (not studio monitors):
Mic 1 is Nuemann u47
Mic 3 is Neumann M147

GAP / Wa are the other 2

all are pretty close. great to hear how close they are.

Confirmation bias is a thing and I will absolutely listen blind first. I also highly trust my gut feeling with audio gear when I do know the brands when hearing demo files or videos. A lot of reissues/clones of synths/comps/EQs/mics are OK and initially have had me excited until I heard or tried them and they didn’t give me anything. Standard modern hardware equipment classics as well: expensive and/or popular doesn’t mean I’ll like it. I really like new gear with warranty/support if the vibe is there. And I’ll pay the price if the gear moves me and gets me hyped. Also some tools are more important tohave high quality, like my EQ and comp for mix buss or mastering, or a vocal mic, while a comp on a single channel low in the mix or in parallell is not as, or say some of the drum mics. Tools for the intended job.

I have had hopes of getting bargain mics like these but so far not many have convinced me, I’d rather just wait and spend a little more. Everybodys needs and budgets are different though and I welcome gear in all price ranges. You often do get what you pay for.

My guess:
1. U47
2. WA47
3. GA47
4. M147

Curious to get the results. I PMed.

I'm not going to guess (cause that's all it would be, a guess). However, I'll try to rank them:

#3 : My favorite in just about every example
#4 : Next favorite, sounds a bit like 3 but not quite as pronounced in the mids
#2 : This was my third favorite on the piano, but my least favorite on the female vocal, on the spoken word I preferred this to #1
#1 : Liked this on the female vocal, but found it a bit too dark on the piano

Still listening on iPhone cuz I’m a lazer, but gotta say the way the mics treat the vocals is pretty consistent and recognizable. My favorites on vocal are 1 for its mojo / smoothness and 3 for its smoothness/openness. 2 sounds like a less interesting version of 1 to me, and 4 is a bit more piercing than the others. They’re all good sounding though, and that singer is perfect.

I guess the number 3 is the GA-47. Everyone else is too sharp for me. I had the opportunity to test all but the M147. The GA-47 is for me after the BSA UM4X the best U47 clone ever.

Male spoken, I like 3 the best. Then 4 then 2 then 1.

On the samples so far....

My guesses are:
Mic 1 = U47
Mic 2 = M147
Mic 3= GA47
Mic 4 v= WA47

I preferred them in this order:
Mic 2 - sounded classiest to me
Mic 1 - sounded creamiest
Mic 3 - sounded like a blend of 1 and 2 but a bit sterile
Mic 4 - sounded cheapest, brittle compared to the others

Acoustic guitar tracks will be very telling for me!

Preference in order 3, 1, 2, 4.

3 is lovely, has a solidity and suppleness that makes me think it's the U47, 1 I think is the WA47 which sounds pretty great considering the price difference, 2 I guess M147 and 4 the GA47. All sound good but I favour smoothness and the last two tend towards being a bit brighter - this may make them easier to mix, one of my slight concerns about keeping the WA47 is that it's a little dark, but overall (and keeping in mind the price) I really like it.

Hey everyone,

57 high-quality audio files and 9 videos are finally online, comparing the WARM AUDIO WA-47 to the Golden Age Premier GA-47, the Neumann M-147 and the original Neumann U-47!

They are waiting for you over here:
The Big U47 Style Microphone Shootout feat. GA-47, WA-47, NEUMANN U-47 and M-147!

I think it's best to have a new thread in the right section.
And for those of you who prefer not to be biased by brand names, I included a blind shootout for download!

You can also find the videos on Youtube:



Hope you like it!

Thanks so much for putting this together, this was super informative.

I was most impressed by the Golden Age here. It sounded GREAT on both vocalists.

The M147 also surprised me — sounds fantastic and holds up really well for a mic that's subject to so much bashing on GS. Maybe a bit pushed in the upper midrange, but not offensively so, and it also has that naturally "compressed" sound that many other Neumann mics have (a big plus for me).

Overall, I think all of these mics sound wonderful and I could easily get along with any of them. The Warm Audio might have been my least favorite in this particular shootout, but I hesitate to say that, because it still sounds really good.

Very interesting!
My initial guesses based on the female close singing samples were way off, I would never have guessed the U47 to be so much brighter and detailed because I’ve always read its a dark sounding mic, I thought it’d tame the shrillness on the female sung vocal more than it did, relative to the other mics here. I thought the WA47 sounded best on her singing voice. But then on the female voiceover the U47 sounded way better than the others to me, as well as on the acoustic guitars, it was in a league of its own on these sources in my opinion. I liked the WA47 least on acoustic, by quite a bit in comparison to the U47. Compared to the U47 on acoustic the other three mics sounded quite muddy in the lower ends and less detailed.

I was hoping for a different outcome but overall, to me the U47 still leads the pack, by quite a way in some cases, with regards to these particular clones. I can only hope such a comparison is made with the Stam 47 in future as I’ve got one of those on order!

Oh, I would have loved to have a Stam Audio 47 for comparison!

I got this great idea... you can start a studio of only U47 clones in your mic collection... "This one's better on banjo... This one sounds great on trumpets..."