Microphone Performance

Underneath the metal grille of the Movo UM700 is a three-capsule array that offers four different polar patterns: cardioid, omnidirectional, bi-directional, and stereo. The specified frequency response of the three-capsule array is 20–20,000 Hz, and the built-in ADC (analog-to-digital converter) is capable of 16-bit/48 kHz operation.

The cardioid polar pattern is what you'll want to use if you're the only one sitting in front of the microphone. The capsules will pick up sound in front of them while to a certain degree rejecting everything coming from their sides and even more from behind. In practice, that means room noise won't be as audible as with other polar patterns, especially if the microphone is close to your mouth.


The omnidirectional pattern makes the microphone equally sensitive from all sides. This can be useful when you want to record several people and/or instruments by placing the microphone in the center of the room, for instance. For better or worse, the omnidirectional pattern will inevitably pick up a lot of room acoustics. While the omnidirectional pattern is generally much less sensitive to precise microphone and speaker positioning, the cardioid pattern is still generally a better choice for solo usage because most users don't sit in acoustically treated rooms. The omnidirectional polar pattern also eliminates the proximity effect, so your voice will sound much less bassy even if sitting up close to the microphone. Many users will prefer the bassy nature of the cardioid polar pattern.

The bi-directional polar pattern makes the capsules pick up sounds in front and behind them while rejecting everything coming from the sides. This again can be used for instrument recording, single-microphone two-person interviews, and similar use cases.


The bi-directional polar pattern is not to be confused with the stereo polar pattern also offered by the Movo UM700. The stereo polar pattern picks up sounds from the left and right sides to achieve a recording that sounds wider and more natural in terms of spatial positioning. When set to Stereo, the microphone can also be used to record the voices of two people sitting on its sides, which will then be audible in the appropriate left or right speaker/headphone channel, or for binaural ASMR recordings.

With that being said, let's have a listen of the Movo UM700 USB microphone in its most natural state: while positioned on the table between the user and keyboard. For this test, I've adjusted the gain dial to its middle 12 o'clock position and set the polar pattern to cardioid. For a direct comparison, I've recorded a sample with the Rode NT-USB, a fan-favorite USB microphone that costs twice as much as the Movo UM700.




As you can hear, there's not much separating these two microphones, and that's great news for the $80 Movo UM700. In cardioid mode, its capsules capture a voice that sounds natural, pleasantly deep, and very crisp. It is perhaps slightly boosted on the top end, although I didn't run into any issues with excessive sibilance or harshness. If you show up in an online meeting with a microphone that sounds like this, it is almost guaranteed your colleagues and business partners will take notice and compliment you on the quality of your microphone. The Movo UM700 is also a very viable budget choice for podcasting, live streaming, and everything in between.

Should your aim be a more broadcast-like tonality of your voice, you can simply move the microphone closer to your mouth, which is easily achievable by placing the microphone on a boom arm. Here's what the microphone sounds like in that scenario. In the following sample, I'm testing the proximity effect of the three-capsule array with the polar pattern set to cardioid. To avoid clipping, the gain dial has been set to around a third of its total range.



Here the Movo UM700 sounds even better, partially because room acoustics almost don't impact its performance at all. The supplied pop filter does a good job of removing plosives, with only an occasional minor pop coming through here and there. If you're sitting in an acoustically untreated room as I currently am, it's good to keep in mind that you can still achieve great voice quality by using a large-capsule condenser microphone that works well up close, such as the Movo UM700.

Here's what the microphone sounds like when set to the other two polar patterns, omnidirectional and stereo. Once again, my home office currently isn't acoustically treated, so these samples are greatly impacted by the lackluster room acoustics. Do note that the omnidirectional mode eliminates the proximity effect, which is yet another reason why you should stick with the cardioid polar pattern for solo usage.




Finally, here are two samples where you can hear how the Movo UM700 handles table tapping, stand touching, and background noise in cardioid mode. The background noise in the second sample is generated by my mechanical keyboard, the Corsair K100 RGB, which uses the Corsair OPX switches.




With everything taken into consideration, I'm happy to report that the Movo UM700 offers excellent performance for the money. It's quite impressive that we're able to get this level of sound quality from an $80 USB microphone. It sounds almost as good as the Rode NT-USB while offering more features and costing half as much.