Purchased the white out edition of the mic and paired it with a white mic arm and white pop filter. Looks really badass all together. Matches my PC build. Though I have quite a few negative things to say about the Yeti, I am just trying to bring the hype about this mic down a bit. It isnt the BEST option for a USB mic, but it is a pretty decent option. If you're on a budget, get the Snowball. Otherwise, this mic is still a good choice. Especially for a USB mic. Context: I purchased this mic for gaming. Not for making videos on YouTube, making podcasts, or recording music. I keep the mic pretty close to my face (probably 3-5 inches away). I initially expected keeping the mic that close to my face to keep noise isolation to a minimum as I want to sound good to my friends in Discord and people in my games. Blue Yeti is a big mic, so keep that in mind. You'll need a lot of space in front of you if you plan on playing games with the mic sitting between you and your keyboard on the stand that comes with it. You should definitely consider an arm to keep desk space free. This will also reduce keyboard noise. My bedroom (where I use this mic) has wooden floors and is fairly spacious. So that means there's a bit of echo normally. The mic is very sensitive to background noise. Even with the mic close to me (and the gain turned very low), it picks up echo. It isn't an annoying amount of echo, but there certainly isnt great noise isolation. I can only imagine how this thing sounds with it far away from you. It also seems to pick up keyboard noise. I own a membrane keyboard (Razer Deathstalker Chroma), so its surprising that it picks up keyboard noise. I'm sure a mechanical keyboard would be quite audible. I'm sure if your room has lots of things to soak up any echo, noise isolation wont be an issue. But I'm not about to put foam padding all over my walls just to get better noise isolation. This also means that background noise (such as loud roommates) is easily picked up by this mic. This mic picks up more bass than I'm used to, so it'll make your voice sound a little deeper than it actually is. It still does sound quite clear, its just bassier than I'm used to. My friend also described that, compared to the headset I previously owned, that this mic has a lot of reverb (not really echo). I dont know if it's the arm that the Yeti is sitting on vibrating because of my voice, or if its because of the Yeti itself. I'm willing to bet it has something to do with the Yeti. If you're looking for a good USB mic, you should consider either the Blue Snowball or the Blue Yeti. My roommate owns a Snowball, and the cable broke not too long after he bought it (which is a drawback to that mic). This mic, however, doesnt seem to have that headache of a cable problem (no extreme bends necessary in the cable). Other than that, Snowball (first impressions) has better noise isolation than this mic, but Yeti sounds a bit clearer overall in my opinion. He keeps his mic much farther from his face than I do and I hear less echo than the Yeti picks up. Snowball is also at a better price point than the Yeti. Idk if the Snowball has a headphone jack, but you can plug some headphones into the Yeti and test the mic noise levels in them. Windows recognizes the Yeti as both speakers and a microphone, which means you can play system sound through the Yeti and plug your headphones in through there as well. That way, you have an instant feedback loop on whether you are being too loud or not. Something I miss about my headset (I switched to this mic and some HiFi headphones for better audio quality all around) is that I could mute myself without making any mic noise. That allowed me to eat and talk at the same time without having to stay muted the entire time or go into Discord and click the software button. I could mute myself quietly, eat, and unmute myself quietly. Doesnt disturb anyone I'm in discord with at all. This is particularly useful when playing audio queue dependent games that also require communication (such as CS:GO). The Yeti makes a loud plastic-clicky noise when you mute it that WILL be picked up. So, no discreetly muting yourself. That's a nitpicky detail for me to complain about, but that's really the only thing that bothers me a great deal. So push to talk or just dealing with it are your only options there. The wire that comes with this mic is a bit short. It doesn't reach when I try to feed the wire through the arm clamped on the left side of my desk, behind my monitors, and then to my PC on the right side of my desk. Be prepared to purchase a USB cable extender if you plan on playing games with this mic (especially FPS games where the arm needs to be on the left side of your desk as to not hinder mouse movements). So overall, I think this mic is a bit overhyped and a bit overpriced. But I dont really regret my purchase. I'm a bit disappointed by it, but not disappointed enough to return it or anything. Sure, with the money I paid for this, I could've gotten an XLR setup and upgraded the mic down the road to something that sounds really good. However, an XLR setup introduces more wires that I'd rather not deal with. The Yeti sounds good and only has one wire to deal with. All the different modes on the mic (front, back and front, sides, etc) are cool, but a casual dude like me doesnt have a use for that. I'd say an XLR setup might get you better quality but with more wires and (down the road) more money, and the Snowball seems to be priced a bit better than this, but you wont regret your purchase if youre looking for a USB mic and you get the Yeti.
