Initial Impressions–the Yeti Pro is a Worthy Upgrade

I’ve been running some test recordings with the Yeti Pro side by side with the original Yeti, and a small capsule condenser mic.  Both Yetis are currently recording via USB into Audacity on two separate Windows machines.  The condenser mic is going into Logic Pro on a Mac Pro through an Apogee Ensemble.  I’m still working on finding the best way to post the comparisons in a way that you’ll still be able to hear the differences on the other side of the internet, but for now, here’s what I’m hearing…

The original Yeti records at 16 bit over USB only.  It’s a great upgrade from using the mic built into your laptop of webcam, but in comparison to the higher 32 bit rate of the Yeti Pro, the original Yeti sounds brittle and harsh, lacking the richness of overtones that bowed strings generate.  The Yeti Pro has a much richer, smoother sound.  I really like the sound I'm getting from the Yeti Pro.

Of course, the condenser mic is even smoother, but the difference there is more easily corrected in post-processing.  I have not yet tested the Yeti Pro over XLR, and I'm still wondering if that will compete even more closely with the small condenser if they are both running over XLR.

We have tried the Yeti Pro over XLR with the Apogee Ensemble, but there is a lot of handling noise that comes through.  When I mentioned this to the folks at Blue, they promptly sent me the shock mount to test as well.  Blue offers a shock mount specifically designed to work with the Yeti and Yeti Pro.  It's pretty massive, but should eliminate a lot of that handling noise in a studio setting.

To sum up, so far, I'm really liking the performance of the Yeti Pro over USB and I can definitely recommend it for home studio recordings of acoustic instruments.  If you need a demo for the first round of an audition, or sound samples for your website, this is an easy way to get it done on your own.