Audix OM5 Vs. Shure Beta 58a: It's Take No Prisoners Time
June 18, 2008
It's round three of our Audix vs Shure dynamic shootout, and this time around, we bring out the (relatively) big guns: an OM5 and a Beta 58a. Both mics offer excellent fidelity and impressive gain-before-feedback performance, and both are priced identically by most retailers. This is maybe the closest shootout of the bunch, with even Owen's opinionated ears taking more time in deliberations than usual (i.e., he didn't have a preformed opinion before conducting the shootout).
In the end, a judgment is delivered, and a winner announced, but what do your ears tell you? YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WATCH.
Visit Audix's official website or Shure's official site for more information
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Based on what I could hear
Based on what I could hear on the video, sonically I like the Beta 58 better. It seems more natural and seems to have bit more body. The Audix seems a tad brighter, and might be better in a particular room, a particular mix situation, where you need to cut through a little more. The feedback differences could be affected by the slightly different positions of the mics in your test.
Yeah...
...the mics are positioned as similarly as I could get them, what with our lack of calibrating armatures and meters. . . but yeah, admittedly not a controlled environment, here at Gearwire Studios.
But I agree with you about the Beta 58. The Audix is a bit more aggressively voiced. Perfect for screaming into, or cutting through a really dense stage mix, but that's nothing you can't do with the Beta 58 and a halfway decent parametric EQ.
Beta58 or OM-5???
The test is pretty unbiased, however from my view the feedback actually came in at the same level. I have both mics in my arsenal and I will say this. My Beta58 is about 11 years old now and my OM-5 is about 3 mos. old. I have used both on the field live PA and in church applications.Sorry audix fans, the Beta58 still out performs my newer OM-5 in all aspects of pickup, gain before feedback, and overall tonal quality. Please bear in mind that I am not an Audix basher. In my church band we use (for vocals only) SM58's/ OM-2's/ Beta58's/ OM-5. As far as the Band members go, they are much happier to see a SHURE in front of them than an Audix. These are non biased choices made. They just prefer the shure sound. Now if the church was able to afford more BETA58's we would only use these mics. "Hey SHURE Brothers!.. any chance of a sponsorship?? LOL" If you are in Guam, Stop by St. Jude Catholic Church in Sinajana 10:30am Sunday Mass. We'll let the mics speak for themselves. Happy listening all and God Bless.
Ken San Agustin
Lead Sound Engineer/ St. Jude Catholic Church Guam
Vocalist- Closer 2 Heaven Band
Interesting, practical comparison--Good job! Do more shootouts!
I'd love to see a whole series of these.
Next up, Sennheiser e845 vs the Beta 58A?
and how about this...
The Beta 57 vs the Beta 58? Are they really identical?
I hope you you do more mic "shootouts" in the future.
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