Closer Examination

The Maono PD400X features a fairly large and hefty aluminium body, measuring 220 x 85 millimeters (including the supplied stand) and weighing over a kilogram with the stand attached. Without the stand, the weight drops to a still-respectable 734 grams. This means you won't be able to use just any boom arm, as budget microphone arms won't be able to handle its weight. At the same time, the microphone feels more expensive than it actually is - and let's not forget the well-known psychological association in the audio world, where weight is often linked to perceived quality. So far, so good.


The microphone comes preassembled, with the mount attached to its body by two plastic fasteners. You can of course take them off and remove the entire mount, and that's exactly what you'll do if you want to use your own mounting solution, or place the microphone in a shock mount.


The bottom of the mount is equipped with both 3/8" and 5/8" threads, offering a wide range of mounting options. If you're not using a boom arm, this is where you'll attach the supplied table stand. Made of metal, the stand adds nearly 300 grams to the microphone's weight, which is a good thing, as it helps stabilize the microphone's hefty body.


The dynamic capsule, whose exact specifications aren't provided by Maono, sits behind a dense metal mesh. The PD400X is a top-address (or end-address) microphone, meaning you should speak into its top rather than either of the sides. It also has a cardioid polar pattern, so the capsule effectively rejects the sounds coming from all directions other than the top.


The touch-sensitive mute button is placed on a glossy black ring, positioned roughly halfway down the microphone's body. The color of the LED clearly indicates whether the microphone is muted or not (green – open, red – muted). If you're wondering why the indicator appears upside down, it actually isn't. When you orient the microphone with its top side facing your mouth, you'll see the mute indicator properly. I'm baffled by the decision to make the only part of the microphone you'll regularly touch glossy, as that makes it very prone to collecting fingerprints, finger grease and dust. In my opinion, both the functionality and the aesthetic of the PD400X would be better if the ring were matte black, like the rest of the microphone.


The Maono PD400X is equipped with a multipurpose knob, which can be pressed as a button. It's used to adjust the microphone gain, the headphone monitoring volume, and the monitoring mix, where you're choosing what you'll hear in the headphones connected to the microphone – more of your own voice, more of the sounds coming from the source that the microphone is connected to, or an equal balance of both. To switch between these three adjustments, you need to firmly press the knob while holding the microphone from the opposite side. On my sample of the PD400X, the knob occasionally became less responsive to pressing at certain angles of rotation, resulting in an inconsistent user experience. To resolve this, I would typically rotate it half a turn, after which it would return to normal functionality. Such behavior indicates poor quality control.


The knob is surrounded by 10 LEDs, indicating the level of the signal that the capsule is currently receiving. This is a useful way of quickly figuring out that you're overloading the capsule and risking clipping. In other words, you'll immediately know if you have to lower the microphone gain or increase the distance from the sound source to the capsule.


The bottom of the microphone is where Maono placed the XLR and USB-C inputs, the 3.5-millimeter headphone output, used for direct microphone monitoring, and a small button, which switches between the four predefined EQ settings (Flat, High-pass Filter, Presence Boost, HPF & Presence Boost) and Custom EQ. This button, too, must be pressed firmly, because otherwise it simply won't respond.

Most of the aforementioned functions (touch-to-mute, three knob modes, EQ selection, headphone monitoring) only work in USB mode. When the microphone is connected to an audio interface via the XLR interface, its features are determined by the audio interface itself.

I recorded a clip to check if there's annoying popping happening when the microphone is muted and unmuted by using the accompanying button. Take a listen below.



The mute functionality is absolutely silent, with no audible clicking or popping when switching the microphone on and off.