Just before our latest COVID Alert Level 4 lockdown I received the Thronmax MDrill One USB microphone for review. Thanks to all the online meetings going on, this microphone was put to good use during this time.
The Thronmax MDrill One is a nicely built and solid microphone housed in a full aluminium enclosure, with a heavy base that keeps it in position – but easily removable from the base if you want to attach it to a standard microphone stands using the 5/8” threading on the bottom of the mic.
On the bottom of this microphone, in addition to the threading, you will also find the USB-C connector, a 3.5 mm speaker/headphone jack and a button to cycle a LED ring at the base through seven different colour options.
In the box, you will find a three-metre braided USB-A to USB-C cable. Plugging the microphone into your computer will automatically configure it as both a microphone and as a speaker without any additional software being required.0
If you plug a headphone into the 3.5 mm jack you will hear the audio feedback (sidetone) automatically. You can control the volume with one of the two buttons on the other side of the microphone – the other button is the mic gain control.
You have visual feedback of sound volume and microphone gain via a LED indicator that shows the level for each using either blue (volume) or green (microphone gain) colours. On top of the LED indicator, there is a mute button that will show green (active) or red (mute).
A button below the indicator controls the recording modes, each indicated to different uses: cardioid (streaming, podcasts, voiceovers and instruments), stereo (vocals and instruments), bi-directional (interviews, instruments and vocal duets) or omnidirectional (conference calls and events).
Because the Thronmax MDrill One is also installed as a system speaker on your computer you can connect a headphone to it (180 mW output, 15 Hz - 22 kHz frequency) and have a high-quality streaming, recording or online meeting solution. I’ve used it this way for online meetings and the sound quality was amazing.
Sound recording is top quality as expected from a condenser microphone. With a 48 kHz sample rate and 16-bit rate, the three 16 mm condenser capsules do a great job of capturing the tiniest sound, on a frequency ranging from 20 Hz to 20 kHz.
