Topic: Rode M5

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Haven't heard of many problems with the Avantones.  Nice thing is that they have a five-year transferable warranty.

Rode extends their standard 1-year warranty to 10 years when you register your microphones with them.

The Line Audio CM3s that were mentioned are also nice mics and, as OOK pointed out, have a flatter frequency response and are quieter, but you can get a pair of the M5s for what a single CM3 will cost.  Also, for the far-field recordings that we generally do, the mid/upper frequency bump that the M5 has isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Congrats on your new mics, harmon712.  Looking forward to hearing recordings with them!

[cjc1103]

The M5 is a cheap mic, nothing in common with NT5 (which is not too good either), higher self noise, and it has an electret non removable capsule. Yes electret caps can sound just fine, but generally the more expensive mics have true condensor caps. If it works for you, great, but there are lots of better mics out there.

[harmon712]

The M5 is a cheap mic, nothing in common with NT5 (which is not too good either), higher self noise, and it has an electret non removable capsule. Yes electret caps can sound just fine, but generally the more expensive mics have true condensor caps. If it works for you, great, but there are lots of better mics out there.

I got it to check out for now, other than that I've been using Zoom H4n built in mic or SBD.  I'll see how it works for me 'til I get something else, thinking about Busman BSC1.

[lukpac]

The M5 is a cheap mic, nothing in common with NT5 (which is not too good either), higher self noise, and it has an electret non removable capsule. Yes electret caps can sound just fine, but generally the more expensive mics have true condensor caps. If it works for you, great, but there are lots of better mics out there.

So you've heard/used it?

[harmon712]

I'm going to be testing the mics out with my friends band Afternoon Moon tomorrow and next week The Ragbirds and Old Shoe at Castle Theatre in Bloomington, IL.  If anyone wants to hear how they sound I can put a link in the Kickdown Central section after it's on LMA.  I will also be going M5 > Zoom H4n no preamp, will be saving for one and maybe another recorder sometime.

[lukpac]

I picked up a pair today. The first pair was a no-go: one was significantly louder than the other. Exchanged those and the second pair sounds nice.

I'm going to have to investigate one issue, however. The body of the mic isn't grounded to pin 1, and while that isn't a problem with my Mackie mixer for some reason, it's causing hum with my DR-680, unless I ground the mic body somehow. I'm going to contact Rode, but presumably I'll need to make sure I use cables where the XLR shell is grounded.

[harmon712]

Here is my recording of The Ragbirds with the M5's.  Rode M5 straight into Zoom H4n, no preamp.

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=167475.0

[Hypnocracy]

Here is my recording of The Ragbirds with the M5's.  Rode M5 straight into Zoom H4n, no preamp.

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=167475.0

any chance we could hear the Neumann KM140 Cardiods track
from this one?  V

https://archive.org/details/TRB2014-03-29.CastleTheatreFLAC

Then we could make a informed opinion.

[harmon712]

Here is my recording of The Ragbirds with the M5's.  Rode M5 straight into Zoom H4n, no preamp.

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=167475.0

any chance we could hear the Neumann KM140 Cardiods track
from this one?  V

https://archive.org/details/TRB2014-03-29.CastleTheatreFLAC

Then we could make a informed opinion.

I will send Don a email and see if I can get that.

[lukpac]

I picked up a pair today. The first pair was a no-go: one was significantly louder than the other. Exchanged those and the second pair sounds nice.

I'm going to have to investigate one issue, however. The body of the mic isn't grounded to pin 1, and while that isn't a problem with my Mackie mixer for some reason, it's causing hum with my DR-680, unless I ground the mic body somehow. I'm going to contact Rode, but presumably I'll need to make sure I use cables where the XLR shell is grounded.

Ok, Rode said to send the mics back, and they exchanged them for a new pair. These *are* properly grounded and don't exhibit any hum with my 680, except initially one of the two had issues when I touched the mesh in front of the capsule. It appeared that wasn't getting grounded properly. A few taps later and things are fine.

So, they seem to sound nice, and Rode was helpful to work with, but it seems like they might have some QC issues to work through.

[fotoralf.be]

So, they seem to sound nice, and Rode was helpful to work with, but it seems like they might have some QC issues to work through.

They seem to have more QC probs than what one should expect with all the fuzz they make about how much better they are than the Chinese.

I've just sent yet another NT5 in for repair because after a few minutes it produces a loud pop and then drops in sensitivy by some 20 dB until it is switched off and on again. Already had the same trouble wth the other mic of this stereo pair.

My NT2As have lots of fine scratches in the finish of the body. None of that on a pair of B*hring*r B2 which are older and get treated exactly the same way the Rodes do.

Ralf

[sic_tune]

I just listened to the samples on the Rode website.
To me, the choir recording sounds absolutely noisy, making the microphones unusable for this application (at least for me).
Am I the only one having this impression? I'd really be interested in a second opinion on this sample.

[harmon712]

Here's 2 recordings both by me from NYE using both Rode M5 & Busman BSC1

Rode M5 > Zoom H4n: https://archive.org/details/cf2015-12-31.rodem5.flac16

Busman BSC1 > Naiant Tinybox > Marantz PMD620 MKII: https://archive.org/details/cf2015-12-31.bsc1.flac16 

[MakersMarc]

I would say the line audio's are of slightly better quality.  I know they are hand tuned and matched to very tight tolerances.  They are also ruler flat compared to the bump with the Rodes.  Also the line audios are wide cards verses m5 cards.  The line audio's are also 3db quieter.

I owned a pair of line audio om1. Punched above their weight even for omnis, but beware.....you cannot phantom power them with a Marantz 661, e p48 isn't compatible. I'd take a wild Guess that the cm3 has the same issue.