TZStellar X3 Large Diaphragm Condenser Microphone

The media could not be loaded. I've been impressed by the clarity of the sound and the subtle sparkle in the presence range. Gives a really bright and beautifully detailed recording of acoustic guitar and voice, or voice alone for interviews or podcasts. I have not tried it with an acoustic piano yet but would love to at some point. I'm sure it'll be great!

The media could not be loaded. I bought this mic for my studio to make meditation music. I'm really impressed with the quality and frequency range it's picked up. Makes it really flexible when using the samples in my DAW. It's been particularly great for vocals and percussion sounds.

The media could not be loaded. I absolutely love the Mic. Very natural, and the low-cut toggle works wonders to cut off that mud while recording! Big Shout to TZ Audios!

The media could not be loaded. This is a good microphone for recording acoustic instruments.

The media could not be loaded. This arrived in a plastic sealed and branded black box with a simple image of the microphone on the outside. Once opened everything is contained and protected with bespoke foam and wrapped in plastic within the carry and storage case.First impressions: there is very little documentation with the microphone other than a quality control check and test sheet, and details of the specifications, features and usage. Their homepage is linked which has a multitude of support help, advice and videos should you require it. The microphone is all metal with a logo in the middle and two simple switches on the front, the right for setting a 10db negative and the left a high pass switch. These are sliding switches and have a good positive movement when switched, and everything has a nice look and high quality feel to it. The case is simple but effective for storage and travel, and in my opinion would gives good protection along with having plastic pads on the base and side to protect any surface you stand it on. The shockmount appears well made and is nice and solid, fitting well onto a mount and holding the microphone very securely.I linked the microphone up to my computer and went through various audio tests without any post recording editing. I was quite impressed with the results; it has a natural sound to with relatively low self noise of only 8db, the high pass filter I found worked really well for speaking especially if you are up really close to the mic. I tested out the negative 10db with some loud noise and it certainly worked well to improve the recording quality and avoid clipping.My daughter has been using the microphone for her singing and really likes the natural and neutral sound it gives along with the clarity and said she was really impressed with the results.Overall this is in my opinion a really a really good quality microphone, it has a good neutral sound to it with the high pass filter allowing really good clarity when you are speaking up close to the mic and reducing any background noise. The build quality seems extremely good and it sits nice and solidly in the shockmount, and I didn’t detect any vibration on my recordings. In my opinion the sound quality would be ideal for streaming and podcasts along with being a good all round microphone for recording vocals and acoustics. I can’t really fault it so have give top marks.

I have a small music room/studio and I'm always looking for good sounding microphones. I was glad to get a chance to review the TZ Audio X3 Condenser microphone. The mic seems very solidly built and TechZone Audio Products really delivers a high quality product. I usually complain when manufacturers sell a good quality mic without a case or at least a storage bag, to help protect the mic from abuse. In this case, TZ Audio delivers not only a well-made case, but also a protective zippered pouch, as well. While they advertise the case as aluminum, it appears to have an aluminum frame while the actual case seems to be plastic. It is, however, very nicely made and has plenty of foam to protect the mic from damage.The mic comes with a good quality shock mount. I was pleased that the knob to tighten the mic into to proper position tightens up well – this is often a weak spot. It also comes with a foam windscreen to help with plosives (the popping noise you make when you use a word with the letter “P”). While it helps minimize the effect, I would plan to use a Pop Filter, instead.When I test microphones, I plug them into a Soundcraft EXF 12 mixer with no effects, straight into an ART HeadAmp6 headphone amplifier and then into a pair of Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones. This give me a pretty accurate idea of how the mics pick up sound and whether or not they add any coloration to the mix.In this case, I tested the mic against a few newer acquisitions, since I really believe a good number of recently released mics have raised the bar in mics in the $200-$400 price range. In this case, I tried the X3 against the new NEAT King Bee II, the Aston Element and my current favorite, the Aston Stealth. The Stealth is the only mic tested in the approximate price range of the X3.On vocals, the X3 was really flat – there was no coloration in the sound and it sounded really genuine. I thought it sounded better, with less alteration to the sound than the King Bee II or Aston Element. The Aston Stealth won this battle, with its ability to change vocal settings, but in one sense, the X3 was probably more accurate – I just like how the Stealth makes my voice sound. We can call that one a draw.I played my Guild F-30 Aragon acoustic guitar through the test mics and, in this case, felt the X3 sounded better than any of the other mics I used for testing. The guitar has great tones and the X3 did the best job of capturing the sound of the guitar of all the mics tested. The string attacks were articulated well and the frequency response seemed really flat.I keep two mics plugged in at any time should inspiration hit at any given moment. The X3 is now one of the two. I really like this mic!A slight issue is the output on the mic is a bit lower than the other mics. I just turn up the gain a bit to compensate, so it’s not a big deal, but it was noticeable.