Full of features and quality this is a USB microphone that lets you do your audio project with style and without the heavy price point.
All of the audio you will hear right in the video was recorded on the Thronmax MDrill Pro USB Mic. It wasn’t adjusted it in any way, in fact, it’s plug and play, so I’ve plugged it in and just started talking. As you can hear the sound sounds really impressive.
When it comes to USB mics it’s hard to go past some of the big names like Blue or Rode, but the Thronmax is surprisingly competitive and in some regards outclasses the competition. Some.. but not all.
In Australia right now you can pick up this mic from some stores for around $189 in comparison the Blue Yeti Pro retails for $378 and a Rode NT USB for $209. This makes it one of the more affordable USB Mics and even though they keep the cost low, the quality remains surprisingly high.
The Design
The device is lightweight especially when compared to the Yeti, and I put that mainly down to the size and materials used. The mic itself is metallic while the stand is a tough plastic that performs well with simple stress tests.
The mold is really nicely designed with curves and circular ridges that sit below the mic, it fits the overall mic design nicely. On the mic you’ll find some nice RGB lights on the bottom is a ring around the thread for a stand that can be adjusted to around 7 colours or turned off.
The face of the mic has a screen with two main buttons, the top button lights green and red and controls the mute while the lower button allows you to switch between five options of how MDrill One will pick up sound, this is displayed as 4 blue lights around the middle rim.
Interested? You can get one here:
RGB Baby!
The middle light shows the gain and volume levels which are controlled by the analogue dials on the back of the mic. Green for gain which is the level your mic records at, blue for volume which is the sound coming through your headphones that can be plugged in using a port on the bottom of the mic.
The top half is a unique grill design that uses what they call “Vertigain Technology”. This is said to increase quality and clarity by up to 10% letting the vertical travelling sound waves reach the 3 condensers without being scattered by mesh. I’m not a scientist, but that sounds right to me. So yeah cool. Looks good regardless.
This mic is perfect for gamers or streamers and would be ideal if you are thinking about starting or upgrading your podcast. Recording with a Bit Rate of 24bit and a sample rate of 96kHz means you’ll get great quality audio from all the audio modes.
Recording Modes
Those recording modes include cardioid, stereo, bidirectional and. omnidirectional. Each serves a very different purpose. So if you are a musician, youtuber or dabble in ASMR it’s one mic that does it all.
For example, cardioid is the main source function as it takes the sound directly from the front of the mic with very little ambient noise from the room. This is the function you will use mostly on streaming and voiceovers.
Podcasters will appreciate the many options because if you have limited equipment you can set it to cardioid for individuals or change it to Bi-directional to capture more than one person sitting around the one mic.
Favourite Features
Out of all the features I think a couple of my favourites come in the box and are really simple inclusions. The first is the USB cable. Thronmax have supplied in the box a braided cable that is USB-A to USB-C and is a whopping 3 meters long. It’s that kind of attention to detail for the consumer that I really appreciate. They have looked at how we could potentially be using the mic and supplied a cable to suit all occasions. Really smart and very much appreciated.
The second is the included “door hanger flyer” that you can hang on the handle of your office door to let people know if you are recording or not. It’s a really low tech version of an “on-air” light but a fun inclusion in the package that might be something you hadn’t thought of doing yourself.
The Verdict
The Thronmax MDrill Pro is a USB mic that is multi-purpose and sounds great. Even though there are a few other mics on the market that excel in areas it’s hard to go past the affordability and quality that you’ll find in this stylistic package. I mean there are three letters that put this mic above its competition.. R G B.
