Sennheiser, a name long synonymous with high-quality audio, including a large line of microphones meant mainly for field production, has entered the streaming game with a new USB mic, the Sennheiser Profile USB Microphone.
The Sennheiser Profile came to me as a beautiful microphone kit that included the microphone and a boom arm—which appeals to my number one philosophy of mics for content creators; get that microphone up near your mouth. In addition to the microphone and arm (with desk clamp), you also get a carrying bag for the mic and a 3-metre USB-C to USB-C cable. There is no USB-C to USB-A adapter, so if you don’t have a spare USB-C port on your PC, you may want to pick one up. It is worth noting that they do offer a version with a desk stand instead of the boom arm as well.
The build quality of the Sennheiser Profile USB microphone is great. The whole body is metal and has some weight to it. An interesting and unique design choice was to shape the mount as part of the mic capsule, so while you feel like you are just holding the microphone in your hands, you can see that the mic can tilt back from the mount by about 30 degrees, giving you even more flexibility than even the mic arm can offer you.
On the front of the mic, you’ll see a mute button and three knobs, controlling microphone gain, monitoring the balance between PC audio and mic audio, and headphone volume. On the back, you’ll find the USB-C port and headphone jack. There is little RGB on the mic, letting the stark, black aesthetic of the Sennheiser Profile speak for itself.
The only lights you’ll find on the mic are indicator rings surrounding the mute button and gain knobs, letting you know whether you are muted or live, with the ring around the mic gain turning yellow if it is clipping, so you know when to lower your gain. I would also have liked to see a better placement of the USB port and headphone jack as, for someone using the mic for video content, the cables jut out of the back of the microphone and are very visible on screen. A nicer way to transition the cables from the microphone to the boom arm would have made for a perfectly clean look.
The boom arm for the Sennheiser Profile is strong and well-designed. It has good resistance at the joints, so you won’t need to worry about the arm sinking on you when you adjust it. The most unique part of the design is a bevel along one side of the microphone that allows you to tuck in the USB cable along the length of the arm. This is a very cool design with a simple, clean solution for cable management. My only gripe is that they should have included a similar bevel on the other side to allow for similar management for the headphone cable.
The Sennheiser Profile USB microphone has no software to speak of, and there are no drivers to install. It is a completely plug-and-play device. The setup was complete within seconds of plugging in the microphone and was available on OBS and all of my audio software. While I have been a fan of many microphones that offer their own software solution for some processing and, in an ideal scenario, some mixing/recording UIs, there is still something to be said for a simple mic that is just ready to go.
“When you hear the Sennheiser profile USB microphone out of the box, ready to go may be the best possible description for it.”
When you hear the Sennheiser Profile USB microphone out of the box, ready to go may be the best possible description for it—it sounded fantastic out of the box. I loved the way my voice sounded right off the bat, and I can honestly say that this microphone is good enough to broadcast without any VSTs at all. This is a godsend for beginner content creators or people who just don’t want the hassle of the extra setup.
If you choose to be a little more nit-picky with your audio, you’ll have the opportunity to add VSTs at the level of any software that you use with the Sennheiser Profile USB microphone. I would recommend a noise gate or noise reduction just to remove the small amount of ambient noise that comes with the territory for condenser microphones. I can say that the room noise is fairly quiet compared to other condenser mics I’ve reviewed, enough that playing some music should probably cover it sufficiently.
Any EQ or compression that you may want to do is going to be very specific to your own vocal preferences. As I said, the vocals are ready to go, but you might like to slap a little more bass on your voice or drop the mids because you find your voice a little nasally. But, aside from people trying to alter their natural voice, the amount of work being done on this end should be minimal at best.
The Sennheiser Profile USB microphone launches today at a price of $199 USD for the kit that includes the boom arm and $129 for the mic with a desk stand. At these prices, I would rank the value of this microphone quite highly. The build quality plus the vocal quality makes the base price of $129 a steal. Adding only $70 does get a really well-built boom arm that you simply wouldn’t be able to buy on its own at that price point. I would definitely recommend the boom arm version if you don’t already have one that you love.
To accomplish what they have with the Sennheiser Profile USB microphone on their first attempt says everything about Sennheiser’s consistent quality across the board.
