• We hope you have a fantastic holiday season to close out 2025! Thank you all so much for being part of the Tom's Guide community!

Unsure About Which Mic I Should Buy for Voiceovers and Narration

TaylorNotThatSwift

Honorable
Jun 15, 2014
8
0
10,510
I currently have a Blue Snowball ICE and the audio quality isn't exactly as good as I'd like it to be. It's attached to a boom arm with a pop filter already, so if a microphone doesn't come with a stand I have no problem with it. I'm torn between many different audio solutions currently, but I'm leaning toward an XLR mic because they supposedly have better quality than USB microphones, and I'd be using the Alesis MultiMix 4 Four-Channel USB Mixer along with an XLR mic.

I make YouTube videos where I narrate over gameplay and images/video, so no singing. I'm wondering whether to go with a Sennheiser E835, a CAD GXL2200, a Samson C01U, or a Blue Yeti.

My microphone budget is anything under $100. What do you think is the best sounding microphone for narration and commentary for under $100?
 
the samson c01u has volume level issues similar to the snowball.

the yeti is a good mic but is more expensive than $100

perhaps the at2020 from audiotechnica?n
 


I looked at the AT2020 and noticed it was better at highs than lows, maybe better for vocals and singing, but not giving as much of a bassy warm radio announcer voice, that is present in the Yeti.