Introduction
The CAD Audio U9 is a budget-friendly USB microphone designed for seamless plug-and-play use. Let’s dive into its features, performance, pros, and cons.
Design & Build
- Compact and lightweight
- Sturdy build quality
- User-friendly USB connectivity
Performance
- Decent sound quality for the price
- Omnidirectional pickup pattern
- Suitable for basic recording needs
Ease of Use
- Simple setup, no additional drivers required
- Compatible with various operating systems
- Ideal for beginners and casual users
Pros
- Affordable price point
- Hassle-free USB connection
- Portable and durable build
- Easy setup for quick use
- Decent sound quality for basic needs
Cons
- Limited advanced features
- Not suitable for professional-grade recording
- Average sound quality compared to higher-end mics
Conclusion
The CAD Audio U9 is a good pick for newbies or people with limited money to spend. It’s simple, not fancy, but it’s cheap, durable, and does a decent job for simple recording tasks. Overall, it’s a reliable option if you want something straightforward without spending too much.
michael –
This is a great upgrade form the on-board mic on my Macbook Air. When using the on-board mic I would have to bump the input all the way up to be able to hear the lecture afterward. When using the U9 I can actually lower the input to a setting below the default position. The U9 provides much better sound quality. It also isolates the audio from the sound of typing that I would get from the on-board mic.
There are only two downsides for me. I use the U9 with a Macbook Air and the thickness of the microphone won’t allow the Air to sit level without putting stress on the USB port. My solution was to purchase a retractable male-to-female USB extension. This is not a problem with the U9, rather it is a problem with the Air being too thin. The only aspect of the U9 that I don’t like is the illuminated ring below the microphone. But I’ll simply cover it with electrical tape or hobby paint.
Dulce –
I bought this mic after several others usb mics displayed ultra low audio when plugged into my computer. This one is loud and clear. In fact I had to go into my mic settings and turn it down! I have it plugged into a usb port about 2ft from my mouth and it picks up clearly and without a lot of background noise. The mic can be turned any direction and seems to be solidly built. The only bad thing I can say about it is that I wish it had come with a foam wind screen.
j2c –
I bought this mic for a project that really doesn’t require high-end equipment. I basically just wanted something I could stick on my Raspberry Pi for sound detection for use in scripts. If sound above a certain threshold is detected, then do something… that kind of thing…
I really didn’t care what it sounded like, so long as the pick-up pattern was, in fact, omni-directional.
Well, turns out it’s actually a quite directional cardioid. Nothing omni-directional about it. Quite peaky as well.
It might sound slightly better than the microphone in your budget laptop or tablet, though not by much. I honestly think the mics in my 2014 MacBook Air are better, though awkwardly placed on the left-hand side, facing away from generally anything you’d want to record. Plus, like almost any laptop microphones, they pick up typing quite nicely. If you need a quick solution, the U9 will be a step above that to some extent.
I, personally, would have included a windscreen in the package. It needs one badly.
Borris –
This was an interesting product shown to me by one of our Application Coordinator’s. I was hating wearing a headset mic set because sometimes I need people to hear what’s going on on the other side of the call. The mic picks up fairly well but I don’t like that I have to plug in speakers to hear the sound. That’s an issue. I have a monitor speaker plugged into my docking stations and had to get another monitor speaker to plug into this so I could the other end of the conversation. That means I have a lot of wires running around the docking station. If it wasn’t for the that issue, this would have been 4 stars.
j2c –
For my win10 PC connected to my flatscreen in my living room (lets call it a HTPC+), I love using Cortana with this microphone. My constraints were that it had to perform like the amazon echo (eg. omni-directional, work from a large distance, etc), but it needed to be much cheaper than the echo dot itself. At the time of writing, echo dot was ~$50 and this mic was ~$25
In my opinion, the mic works great. For example: I spoke “hey cortana …show me images of el conquistador in puerto rico” (which, by the way, is an awesome place) as well as other visually interactive phrases (“…start subnautica”, “…how do I fix a toilet”, etc) and it picked up every word of my very american voice from 15ft away from center. The mic is advertised as omni-directional, but it has a swivel head which makes it seem directional. Regardless, I stood 15ft away then 7 feet off from center (ie. 25 degree angle from the mic according to some trigonometry) and cortana was also able to interpret what I was saying without issue. The device also “looks” wide, but fit comfortably into my usb hub without interfering with my other plugs.
Some caveats: 1) this device has a 3.5 jack for headphones; if you use it only as a microphone, be sure to disable this device as a speaker in device manager. 2) be sure to use a powered USB hub. I received the error “USB controller resource exceeded” after I plugged in the mic, even with my powered USB hub. I have an xbox wireless receiver, a keyboard dongle, and a bluetooth dongle plugged in there already. After a bit of research, I realized I was plugged into a USB-3 port on the PC; indicated by a blue-colored USB port. I moved the USB hub over to a USB-2 port on the PC, indicated by a non-blue-colored USB port, and everything seemed to work ok eg. keyboard, xbox controller, mic. Admittedly, I never really stress all peripherals at once.
Next step for me is to try some cortana scripts. Happy New Year!
Cliente Amazon –
Perfect very good quality
Rex S –
Loud , too much sensitive , great for chating and all
I dont use it , tried to record some songs , didn’t work.
Jeffery –
This Microphone picks up sound in a room much better than the internal microphone in my Macbook Pro. What really disappoints me is that it is horribly sensitive to wind. Just sitting near a window with a light breeze, totally ruins a recording. When there is a breeze, I cannot hear anything of what I’m recording. So if you will use this in an area with little to no draft, it should work very well. The mic itself also has the ability to rotate around the usb so that its target receiving area can be either toward the computer user or away.
Amastro –
I used this microphone to record my lectures for one of the most boring classes I’ve ever taken. I used it to record stuff using the Notability app on Mac and I could hear my professor just fine. It was like I was sitting on the front row. The only problem was that when I used it on the OneNote app, the recordings had a high pitch sound on them which was annoying at times. I guess it depends on the app you are using.
Sue B. –
Un peu encombrant pour l’usage que je souhaitais en faire. Cependant, le son transmis est clair, même à distance (raisonnablement). Attention cependant, un éclairage sur la base du micro est présent et ne se voit pas sur les photos.
HILTON –
Works well vocal recording in a closed space. Anything else sounds mediocre.
Amazon Customer –
Handy little device that doesn’t take up much space and seems to pick up sound very well.