These mics are small diaphragm condenser mics, the "pencil" mic type. They are commonly sold in stereo pairs, since this mic type lends itself to stereo recording. It requires phantom power since it is a condenser. This mic also has a couple bonus features. There is a switchable pad, that will give you either 0, 15, or 25 db of attenuation in case you are recording something really loud that is clipping the mic. There is also a switchable roll-off filter that switch between off, a sharp roll-off and a more gradual one that starts from a higher frequency. All these come in handy when doing something like recording drum overheads.

OVERALL OPINION

I have been using these for a few years. I got them because I wanted a solid pair of small diaphragm condensers that I could use for stereo recording. I use them a lot for drum overheads and for a second mic pair on an open piano, as well as other acoustic instruments with a lot of high frequency content. I really liked the pad and the roll-off you get with these, because for far away stereo recording it helps to have the control of what's going into the mic. Apart from that, these sound very crisp and transparent. The transients you can get with these mics are very quick and realistic. The high end is not harsh, so cymbals sound great through it instead of fatiguing. If you set these up correctly in a good stereo pattern, the image you can get sounds very lifelike, which I attribute to the accuracy of the mics especially in the high frequencies. These are a very high quality pair of mics to have, and when you want a good, clean, natural sound it's hard to go wrong with them. They are very competitively priced, so they're a good value. I would get them again.