Shure X2u XLR-to-USB Microphone Adapter

I bought a Shure SM57 and 58 in my youth, expecting to be a rock star. Well, it hasn't happened (yet), but now I want to record for Internet content. Dissatisfied with my USB mic, I remembered my professional-grade Shures in the drawer. I just looked for a Shure USB adapter and found this, didn't think twice about buying it. I had completely forgotten that most people use a Focusrite Scarlett, but it matters little, because this thing ROCKS! No need for an XLR cable at all, I just plugged it into my SM57 (since I have a windscreen for it), and boom, I have clean and clear dictation on my computer. I had forgotten about the concept of preamps, but this has one built right in. Everything on it works perfectly, including the live monitoring through headphones. It's very low noise, at least the way I'm using it. And if I ever needed to for whatever reason, I can connect the mic and adapter with an XLR cable, if I don't want the X2u hanging off the back.

I'm new to recording, so I got this to make some demo tracks because I couldn't afford the audio interface I wanted. I knew I needed something better than just a cable (from getting a cheap one before that was terrible), so I got this because there weren't a lot of other options, and I needed the phantom power capability for my microphone. It gets the job done, works fine with Windows 10 even though the packaging doesn't say it does (just make sure that in your app permissions settings, you've selected that apps in general can access your microphone). I'd recommend it mainly for recording vocals, or just one instrument through a mic. If you're looking to make full demo tracks with a lot of instruments (even playing one at a time), I'd recommend getting a sound board/audio interface.

Works great. Makes using my stage mic (shure 55) for pidcasts,readings to post omg website super easy.

Solid construction. Great product for getting a quality signal into your computer from a microphone. Phantom power, gain adjustments and monitoring are all useful features as well. Well worth the money.

I reviewed several XLR-to-USB adapters. I needed more than just podcast quality and went with the Shure X2u. Glad I did. It's everything it proported to be. A great value.

You can always count on Shure to provide a quality product. The quality of the audio is excellent, but equally as important are the available controls for Mic Gain, Volume, and Monitoring (to facilitate overlaying tracks).