View other reviews for this product:
Published on 07/18/11 at 13:58
The Sennheiser E 835 is a microphone that folks all over the world consider not only equal to the legendary Shure SM58, but a superior. After testing out on my voice, I finally understood why.
The Sennheiser E 835 is a live handheld dynamic intended for vocal use. It has a cardioid dynamic pattern. So far, it is entirely like the Shure SM58. Its frequency response is a bit wider than the Shure's (50-15,000 Hz) at 40-16,000 Hz. The Sennheiser, unlike the Shure, does not boost the mids to a level that some find unworkable. Considering the state of music today, more and more people are becoming the kind of singer that the SM58 as a microphone is designed to excuse. I am not begrudging them; I am simply saying that the SM58's midrange boost smooths out harsher vocals. The Sennheiser E 835 is a much more transparent sound than the SM58. It is not a perfectly uncolored sound; the Sennheiser has its own tailoring, but it suffers from the honk of the midrange far less than the SM58.
What I also found remarkable about the E 835 was its SPL rating of 150 dB. This lets it accommodate very loud sources, like drums, although I never got a chance to try it on them.
The microphone also has one of the hottest outputs of any live cardioid dynamic that I have ever heard. Dialing up an SM58 feels ridiculous after using this microphone.
Finally, the handling noise of this microphone is extremely low. It makes for a wonderful experience, as going back to a 58 afterwards feels a bit odd, and singing into one after an E 835 comparatively feels like molasses.
OVERALL OPINION
The Sennheiser E 835 is a fantastic live microphone, and easily triumphant over the old Shure SM58. It still is just below the quality I'd look for in a studio, but the fact it gets this close in my opinion is remarkable.
It's not perfect. The SM58 does have two advantages over the E 835: Bad singers don't sound as bad. And very strange voices or methods of singing are humanized.
However, for ballad singers, quieter singers, and fuller voices, the E 835 takes the cake.
The Sennheiser E 835 is a live handheld dynamic intended for vocal use. It has a cardioid dynamic pattern. So far, it is entirely like the Shure SM58. Its frequency response is a bit wider than the Shure's (50-15,000 Hz) at 40-16,000 Hz. The Sennheiser, unlike the Shure, does not boost the mids to a level that some find unworkable. Considering the state of music today, more and more people are becoming the kind of singer that the SM58 as a microphone is designed to excuse. I am not begrudging them; I am simply saying that the SM58's midrange boost smooths out harsher vocals. The Sennheiser E 835 is a much more transparent sound than the SM58. It is not a perfectly uncolored sound; the Sennheiser has its own tailoring, but it suffers from the honk of the midrange far less than the SM58.
What I also found remarkable about the E 835 was its SPL rating of 150 dB. This lets it accommodate very loud sources, like drums, although I never got a chance to try it on them.
The microphone also has one of the hottest outputs of any live cardioid dynamic that I have ever heard. Dialing up an SM58 feels ridiculous after using this microphone.
Finally, the handling noise of this microphone is extremely low. It makes for a wonderful experience, as going back to a 58 afterwards feels a bit odd, and singing into one after an E 835 comparatively feels like molasses.
OVERALL OPINION
The Sennheiser E 835 is a fantastic live microphone, and easily triumphant over the old Shure SM58. It still is just below the quality I'd look for in a studio, but the fact it gets this close in my opinion is remarkable.
It's not perfect. The SM58 does have two advantages over the E 835: Bad singers don't sound as bad. And very strange voices or methods of singing are humanized.
However, for ballad singers, quieter singers, and fuller voices, the E 835 takes the cake.