High-Quality Sound USB Microphone Ideal for Streaming and Narration

The AT2020 USB+, a best-selling high-quality USB microphone, was released in 2014 and continues to sell well.

From left to right: AT2020USB+, AT2020

The microphone's basic performance is based on the AT2020, a popular XLR microphone.

USB Condenser Microphone

The AT2020USB+ is, as the name suggests, a USB type condenser microphone. It can be connected directly to computers and game consoles using the included USB cable.

The XLR jack used for music production applications requires an audio interface to connect to a PC. Also, audio interfaces basically cannot be used with game consoles.

In this respect, USB microphones can be connected to PCs and game consoles on their own, making them easy and convenient to use in applications such as live game play and live streaming.

On the other hand, for recording in music production, the combination of an XLR microphone and audio interface is strong in terms of noise suppression, sound delay suppression, and sound quality improvement.

Therefore, I recommend that you consider which microphone to purchase according to your application as follows.

Monitoring Function

The AT2020USB+ has a terminal on the main unit to which an earphone can be connected. The connected earphone will play a mix of the sound from the microphone and the sound from the device connected via USB. Two adjustment knobs are provided for the earphone jack.

So the volume adjusts the volume that flows to the earphones. The monitor sound adjustment is for adjusting the balance between the microphone sound heard from the earphones and the sound from the USB-connected device.

For example, you can adjust the balance between the volume of the orchestra and the volume of the microphone when you sing while listening to an orchestra on a smartphone app. Swing over to the “COM” side when returning the monitor from a DAW or app.

It’s rare to find a USB microphone that allows fine adjustments of the monitor sound, as there are very few products that do that. This is a very nice feature for those who use it for live streaming of singing frames or nana. By the way, the sound from the microphone through the earphone is direct monitoring.

If you turn up the volume knob on the main unit, the sound gets louder in your earphones, but the volume delivered to the listener does not change. If you want to change the volume reaching the listener (blue line), you need to change the input volume in the OS properties

Note that the actual volume of the streaming audio and the volume heard through the earphones are not linked. By the way, if you turn the adjustment knob all the way to the COM side, the direct monitoring sound will be set to 0.

Top level sound quality among USB microphones

The AT2020USB+'s greatest strength is its sound quality: it records clear sound at the top level among USB microphones. Because of its flat characteristics, the sound is versatile enough to be used for vocals, instruments, talk, and more.

Here is an actual video of vocals and acoustic guitar separately recorded with the AT2020USB+.

It is at a level that can be used normally for music production purposes.
It is more than enough for use in talk and play-by-play situations. On the other hand, there is a possibility that sound quality that is too good may be a disadvantage. It is difficult to speak in a voice that is easy for listeners to hear.

If the sound quality is good, unnecessary sounds around the mouth or unbalanced vowels and consonants will stand out.

If you buy the AT2020USB+, you might want to be prepared to make an effort to correct such vocalizations and speaking styles.

Another detail is that the sampling frequency and bit rate are supported up to 44.1 and 48kHZ/16bit.
Recently, some USB microphones support up to 192kHz/24bit. If you are not making a high-resolution sound source, there is no need to be concerned about it, so you don't need to be conscious of it if you are doing live streaming or working from home.

audio technica AT2020USB+ Summary

As a long-selling USB microphone, the sound quality and usability were excellent, and I recommend this product to those who are looking for a USB microphone with high sound quality.