Shure KSM44A

Solid, super well built professional STUDIO microphone, solid state/transformer-less 'pletharos' design. Multi-pattern. Incredibly low self noise. LARGE diaphragm condenser.

OVERALL OPINION

Quality of sound is excellent. Build quality phenomenal. Built-in pop filter protection (3 screen layers. Natural, uncolored sound. A vocal mic that excels on other sources as well. There is some pleasant color in the Cardiod position. softer top end. Great value for the price. TRY this mic before you BUY if you can.
CAVEAT - an extremely SENSITIVE microphone. As sensitive as a BRAUNER Mics, which everyone (according to listed sensitivity response in their manual).

Shure says this microphone is for 'critical applications' and they are right. A proper sound from a microphone this sensitive will HEAVILY depend on positioning, being able to distance the mic from the singer/source; which in turn depends on the surrounding acoustic environment.A less sensitive mic would be less dependent on the surrounding environment.

Unless you have a good acoustic space set up I would NOT recommend this mic for a noisy or somewhat noisy home studio. It will pick up everything as well as the noise outside; and tiny reflections from the room as well. This mic will pick up all vocal 'mechanical' noises (lip-smacking, saliva noises, etc) as well as any imperfect acceptations that a singer might have.That is why I would say this mic is "Unforgiving".
I ended up selling the mic because for my voice it brought out my sibilance issues, and I tried everything (positioning/distance) and could NOT get rid of MY sibilance SIGNIFICANTLY at the mic.....

PLeas know that this issue, though,is NOT a character of the mic..every mic resonates a certain way with certain voices...and some mics are just not right for certain people. I have owned the mic for a couple of months, and have use it a lot for vocals/guitar. If I had to get another shure it would be the KSM 32 due to the flatter frequency response and lower sensitivity. My pre was an Focusrite ISA ONE