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Chinese Mic VS German Gefell
What are they like and are they as good as a
US$2500 mic ?
Introduction
Recently I had the pleasure of taking home
a hand made German Gefell US$2500 mic and a Chinese copy mic
home to compare. I wont name the Chinese mic, the reason being that the same mic
is made in the same factory and copied in other factories under different
brands. Naming 1 or 5 of these brands would be unfair to those brands. I will
name the Gefell simply for the reason as I could not fault the mic and this
article wont hurt the name Gefell. After reading online reviews, hearing lots of
sales people and owners of this mic rave about its sound. I wanted to put these
claims to the test to find out if they really are as good and/or better than a
Neumann mic as some people are claiming. Unfortunately I did not have access to
a Neumann u87 but I did have a mic which was just as good as Gefell was once
part of Neumann before the company was split up and sold to Sennheiser.
There's more on the ties between Gefell and Neumann on their web site.
The Gefell mic tested was the one at this
link.
http://www.gefell-mics.com/grp_1_prod_3.htm
Overview of test
Both the Gefell and the Chinese mics
looked very similar. Both were valve mics, and both had a very similar looking
power supply with multiple switchable patterns on the supply. The test was done
through all monster cable and a mindprint dtc preamp. The test was very simple,
record both mics with nothing changing other than the mic.
Results
What did they sound like ? Well At first
there was little difference between the two mics, they both sounded great. Warm
detailed and had nice natural compression due to the valve. The Gefell had a
much faster transient response after listening closer and a smoother top end.
Every little lip movement I made was picked up, as I switched the Gefell away
from omni it did loose this extra top end ever so slightly which was not due to
the top end changing but the increased proximity effect. Other wise the quality
of the two mics sounded very very similar and for a home studio I found it hard
to justify the price difference...
That was until I looked/listened even
deeper which most people testing a microphone side by side in a store would most
likely not do. To test the mics patterns I wanted to hold the mic in my hands
and rotate the mic whilst speaking at the same level and distance from the mic,
this was to test the different pick up patterns. Straight away I noticed that
the Gefell had next to no handling noise, the capsule is shock mounted meaning
when in the spider shock mount there's no mechanical connections to the room as
the mic has essentially two forms of shock mounting for the vibrations to
overcome. This was a huge difference as the Chinese mic boomed with the
slightest movement. When in the shock mount the Chinese mic was fine however the
rejection of the gefell is worth mentioning.
Listening to the polar patterns I noticed
that the frequency response of the Gefell in omni was perfect, all the way
around the mic the freq. response was the same with only small treble deviations
of less than -3db on the sides, next to no change at all in the sound. The
Chinese mic was all over the place, the only thing which stayed similar was the
output level but the top end suffered heaps around the mic. The same went for
cardiod and when I tested the figure 8 pattern the biggest differences between
the mics were shown clearly. The Gefell's figure 8 was perfect, the response was
exactly like a figure 8. Speaking at the sides of the mic was about -30 / 40db
lower than the front and rear with both front and rear sounding the same. I was
blown away by how smooth and perfect the pattern was, smooth tapering of the
sound as you moved around the mic. The Chinese mic's figure 8 shape I almost
wouldn't call it figure 8 after using the Gefell, talking on the sides was
around -10db down and the pattern was very unsmooth. Not to mention the freq.
response changes as you moved around the mic.
For room micing or classical recordings
where you want a good room sound captured, this is a huge weakness of the
Chinese mic. Even in cariod pattern the mics frequency response changed greatly
around the polar pattern, the gefell showed an even response which explains why
these mics are valued greatly by classical recording engineers.
To summarize what the difference's are...
- The biggest is figure 8, there's no
comparison if your wanting to use
MS then the
Chinese mic wouldn't cut it at all.
- The omni mode is much smoother and
truer in a high end German mic like the Gefell.
- Shock mounting of the capsule and a
supplied spider shock mount. The Chinese mic had no internal capsule shock
mounting and the spider shock didn't stay upright as the weight of the mic
made the mic keep drooping.
- The quality of the mic cable, cables
DO matter to the sound. As its a valve mic you have multiple pins to supply
power and better cables are not available for either mic unless custom made.
The Gefell had a very nice cable and was terminated with heavy duty plugs.
All of these points made me reconsider why
I was looking for another mic. Did I want a cheap Chinese mic that sounds great
only on axis but is similar to the other fixed cardiod Chinese mics I already
own. Or did I want a mic with a useable figure 8 pattern and a smooth omni
pattern ? Yes I would consider a fixed cardiod Chinese mic if I was starting out
and wanting a quality mic on a budget. But after a few mics in the collection
then a good figure 8 is what you may want.
If
your looking at buying a Chinese mic make sure you hear what it sounds like on
and off axis and check that it really is as good as other mics that cost more
and that it fits what your wanting to purchase.
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