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Reviews For: Behringer Ultravoice XM8500

Category: Microphones for ham radio

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Review Summary For : Behringer Ultravoice XM8500
Reviews: 28MSRP: 23. USD
Description:
Dynamic Cardioid Microphone
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.behringer.com/Categories/Behringer/Microphones/Dynamic/XM8500/p/P0120#googtrans(en|en)
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00284.9
K8JHR Rating: 2022-05-03
Great Microphone for Ham Radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great microphone for ham radio and general all purpose use in other applications. The difference between this microphone and hundreds of similar, yet far more expensive, microphones is immaterial for ham radio. Practically any microphone will provide linear response over the limited 2800 Hz audio and RF bandwidth used by ham radio - and this microphone does an excellent job. This is a really good all purpose microphone at a very low price point and provides solid value all around. Excellent uncolored and flat even tone across the entire frequency range - get one and put the savings into a better antenna. K8JHR
LU7BSE Rating: 2022-02-02
it's good for the price, but it doesn't beat a PR-40 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am a fan of ESSB and audio in general, I have studio and dynamic microphones of different quality, my conclusion is that it is a good microphone that meets the objective, it is not of poor quality, but it does not surpass a PR-40 of heil, for radios with new technology, which has an integrated equalizer, it's fine but for vintage equipment I don't recommend it, it's an inexpensive microphone that gives good results, the audio is good but nothing more.
VE7GMX Rating: 2021-06-07
Excellent Mic Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'll just add to the reviews here and say I love this mic , so far. Have been trying it on my FTdx-3000 and no one can believe its a 20 dollar mic . I heard a buddies recording of my station and wow ! Can't find any complaints to list . If you don't want to break the bank and want to play with a studio mic , this is your next mic.

73

Jeff
NA4M Rating: 2019-07-22
Great mic value Time Owned: more than 12 months.
The XM8500 is a dynamic mic with a cardioid pattern to reduce rear pickup. It's a great value at $23 (2020) for amateur SSB use. Got it along with an XLR mic cable that plugs into the back of my K3 and a boom arm for less than $70. Whats not to like. The K3's EQ takes care of shaping the mic's audio response to taste.

The only disappointment was the microphone stand adapter packaged with the XM8500. Cheap soft plastic that splits easily if you try to insert the mic too tightly. Replaced it with a Shure adapter.
N4UE Rating: 2019-06-20
UN BEATABLE! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
One facet of ham radio I really enjoy, is playing with antennas, mics, etc.
I have a large selection of Icom mics, but I just got a TS-890 and the Icom and Kenwood mics are wired differently.
I recently purchased the Inrad W1 headset (with the Kenwood adapter). Works PERFECT!
Check out the Reviews for some information on using the W1 with the M-I Icom adapter. Not so perfect. Heil makes excellent adapters, also.

Anyway, I have a lot of the BN-500 type of mics sold on Amazon, and have had awesome results. I wanted a dedicated desk mic for the 890 and found this XM8500, which had 100% positive reviews.
I got one for $20, free shipping. It comes in a NICE case, stand adapters, etc.
I just got done testing it (and a BUNCH of others, including the Kenwood (probably fake) hand mic).

This mic sounds just FANTASTIC!

The way I test is:
Turn the 890 down to 5 W into a Heath Cantenna.
I listen on my 756PRO with the antenna shorted, and a good set of 8 ohm 'cans'.
The 'el-cheapo' Kenwood hand mic sounded lousy. The XM8500 was crystal clear and loud.
You will need an XLR to Kenwood adapter. I bought both a 'condenser' and 'dynamic' adapter from K6VHF and they are excellent and inexpensive.

ron
N4UE
W4AFJ Rating: 2018-11-24
Excellent Value/Price/Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I got the Behringer XM8500 for my Icom 7300. I paid $19.99 from Sweetwatersound.com and got the appropriate cable w/capacitor $15, desk stand $12, and foot-swich $15 from INRAD,(www.vibroplex.com). Total cost $62. It's an amazing mic and combo for such a low amazing price. Save your money and get one!
SWLCHRIS Rating: 2018-11-23
Excellent choice for Kenwood rigs Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I used a Kenwood MC60A for my HF rigs and was using a hand mic with my Kenwood TM2550 2 meter rig previously. I was told I had an issue with the hand mic so I switched over to the MC60 and the audio reports were like night and day. Suddenly I was strong into the repeater and in simplex mode.I was tired of pulling mic cords out and putting them back in, knowing that the more frequent that happened the more likely of a plug or cord failure. So I looked into a different mic for the TS870 and TS430.I looked into Heil but couldn't justify spending 200.00 plus on a microphone and all the related accessories when that was more than what I gave for either radio.I was looking at Shure, Dynamic Voice and a few others.
I found out about this mic from this site and reading various musician reviews.
I have to say it works a lot better than the MC60.The friend that I got the TS870 from said it sounds like I am sitting right there talking to him. No artificial tones or pitches just my natural voice. The clarity enables DX stations to copy me that much better. My first DX contact using the mic was ZS6CCY and I got a favorable report on that contact. Same with ZD7FT . I spent a half hour on 80 meters with the infamous Dave call in talk show and not once did I have to repeat myself once I had my mic properly positioned. I even got a favorable (to me) 3 by 3 into Vienna Austria with Ivan OE3XMA on 80 meters of all possible bands .previously the furthest into Europe I got to talk to on 80 meters was Italy. It is an outstanding value at 19.99 plus the cost of whatever cord is needed. I spent 49.00 buying this mic, a foot switch, and a desktop mic stand from Guitar Center. Best 50 bucks on ham radio spent.
N8FVJ Rating: 2018-05-05
Why Pay More? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great sound and output matches ham transceivers audio input. Why pay more for a microphone? Microphone comes with mount, needs XLR female jack. I bought the microphone new for $18 shipped.
W9ATB Rating: 2017-10-04
Great Value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the mic based on the EHam reviews. I am using it on the FTDX3000 and have gotten many unsolicited reports on the good audio. Outstanding value for $20.
W6LBV Rating: 2017-07-10
A Bear of a Microphone Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Recently I added $20 to a Web order for other supplies to get the XM8500 for my microphone collection. When it arrived I ran it through my standardized “direct to digital” recording tests (see other reviews) to record my own voice and then to compare the Behringer results under controlled conditions with the other mikes in the collection.

No need to waste words here. The XM8500 does a very competent job of reproducing voices. Yes, there are differences in the recordings between the $20 Behringer and $400 professional microphones. But the differences are small and they won’t be very noticeable on ham voice transmissions, which inherently have limited audio bandwidth. And the differences can be made even smaller with the use of transmitter speech processing, which can be either pre-built into a modern rig or run as an outboard hardware or software package.

Need to record a high quality audition file for the aspiring opera soprano next door? The 8500 probably will not be your first choice in mikes. Need to get on the ham air for basic SSB contesting or rag-chewing? The 8500 well fills that assignment.

The 8500 is not the only competent $20 dynamic cartridge hand/desk mike available today. There are now several brands from which to choose, and $20 is becoming a new “price point” for general-use speech microphones. We hams aren’t limited any longer to the expensive (and high profit!) radio-OEMs' custom mike products or Heil’s overpriced super boffo “hype-tacular” offerings. The XM-8500 will remain as a part of my permanent microphone collection and it will get its share of air time. It does this job well and it doesn’t drain the treasury!