Manager


Manager - NA4M
Manager Notes

Reviews For: Audio Technica ATR-1300

Category: Microphones for ham radio

eMail Subscription

Registered users are allowed to subscribe to specific review topics and receive eMail notifications when new reviews are posted.
Review Summary For : Audio Technica ATR-1300
Reviews: 6MSRP: $27
Description:
The ATR-1300 is the replacement for the ATR-30 microphone. It is identical in specs and appearance as the ATR-30. Best price found was at J & R Music and Computer.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=atr1300&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0065
K8JHR Rating: 2022-05-03
Excellent Microphone for ham radio Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great microphone for ham radio and general 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. Great all purpose microphone 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 in the yard or better bourbon in the shack, or both. K8JHR
VE7REN Rating: 2017-10-28
here we go again!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
ordered 2 more for the shack. now have one on each of the 7410,756pro3,7300,and 718. outstanding mic for the money. ide buy again.ha.

----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by VE7REN on 2017-10-14

5 years later I'm using this mic on the new icom 7300. it and the mic attend to pileups. I get unbelievable reports of these two combined together. if you want to sound outstanding without breaking the money wad,get this monster.. don't waste your money on the heil pr781..
----------------------
Earlier 5-star review posted by VE7REN on 2012-02-10

this mic would fool the pants off higher end mics,,,,huge. i run it on a 756pro3 and i get beauty results all day long it has good tone,bass,treble,etc. i change it out with my higher end electrovoice mics,and no one tells the diff. for its price...........it truly is amazing. i bought mine at b and h in new york.get one. you wont regret it.
KX2A Rating: 2014-03-11
Works well Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The Audio Technica ATR-1300 works great and is very low-cost. I use it with an Elecraft K3, which can shape the audio passband, but the microphone gets good reports with the K3's microphone equalizer set for a flat response. I have it in a boom, which cost more than the microphone. The whole package is at least $100 less than a boom and microphone from a ham-oriented manufacturer.
W6LBV Rating: 2012-07-23
A dog that will hunt! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Since I was making an unrelated purchase from B&H Photo-Video anyway, I decided to gamble an additional $20 on ordering an ATR1300 to see what the all the ruckus in the reviews was about. I’ve had a chance to play with it a bit and now I’m filing a preliminary review.

“Fit and finish” for this Chinese-made microphone seem reasonably good. While the supplied plastic mount for attaching it to mike stands seems flimsy, better mounts should be easily available for this “universal profile” style of hand-held mike.

The mike ships with a 16 foot matching audio cable, terminating with an XLR female connector for the mike side and a 1/4" monaural plug for the radio/recorder side. The parts and construction used for the cable were not impressive. The 1300 has an “on-off” switch, but does not have a push-to-talk switch.

It’s worth noting that the ATR 1300's XLR output jack’s pin configuration is industry standard. The microphone can thus be used with balanced audio lines, even though the supplied cable is not balanced.

I have now put the mike through my “direct-to-optical-disk” recording tests, but have not yet used it on-the-air. The testing is done as follows. The output from the “mike under test” is fed to a microphone input channel on a Behringer UB-1202 pre-amp/mixer, using balanced and shielded audio line with XLR connectors. No processing or effects are used in the 1202. The line-level output of the 1202 is fed directly to the input jack of a stand-alone audio CD recorder deck, where it is recorded directly to disk. Again, there is no processing in the recorder.

The recordings are evaluated by listening to the recorder’s playback audio using a pair of Sony MDR-V6 headphones, also with no audio processing used. Supplementary listening to the CD is also done using a Panasonic/Technics stereo system, using both the Sony earphones and separate wide-range loudspeakers.

Identical comparison tests were made with a variety of microphones, including: the ATR 1300 itself, an Electrovoice broadcast dynamic, two Behringer condenser mikes (using phantom power), and a Heil Gold Line mike with a professional grade dynamic cartridge.

And the results? Frankly, the ATR1300 will surprise the listener with its performance! It’s noticeably free of background noise and hum. Reproduction of my (fairly bass) voice is quite usable and pleasant (the 1300's frequency response specs are 70 - 12,000 Hz). Some of both its “low end” fundamentals and its high frequency sibilants seemed “rolled off” compared to other microphones, but this is not necessarily a detriment for use in the Amateur service. I did not notice any unusual harsh peaking or coloration of my voice (YMMV!). The ATR1300 compares reasonably well with the expensive EV broadcast dynamic and has a noticeably smoother and wider range sound than does the Gold Line.

Some further testing showed the expected “presence effect” when the mike is close-talked, and the testing also verified the cardioid pick-up pattern. Even without any AT-supplied wind screen, breath noises and ‘plosives seemed not to be a problem. As with any fixed microphone, mounting to a mike boom using an acoustic-suspension mount will help avoid unwanted pick-up of vibrational rumble and noise.

So “can this dog hunt?” The answer is almost certainly “yes.” As other reviewers have attested, it should do well enough on the air, where only the 300 - 3000 Hz swatch of its output will get out of the starting gate. Most rigs now have some TX audio processing, so that the mike can be externally tailored to augment individual voice characteristics.

With all that, here now is the ultimate trade-off for use of the ATR1300. If you need a microphone solely for use on a ham radio rig, there is no need to spend more than the $20 to have a solid, functional, and workable microphone for on-air use. This puppy (and others in this price class) will do the job. But if you want to use a quality microphone for both hamming and for other, more demanding audio purposes, the ATR1300 isn’t going to cut it for some of those additional uses. You will need to spend 10 to 13 dB in additional dollars (or more!) for a professional-grade microphone that will produce the final 10% or so of audio performance that the ATR1300 doesn’t have. “The last few percent” of performance is where both the quality and the costs lie.

The state-of-the-art in mass-produced microphones is now at the point where well-performing dynamic or electret microphones can be made to sell for very modest prices. At last there’s absolutely no reason to continue to use old T-1 carbon buttons or decomposing piezoelectric crystal microphones, solely because “real mikes cost too damn much!” All of our ears will benefit from the improvement!
W0BBI Rating: 2012-07-11
Great value, Incredible Reports Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased this microphone on the recommendation of a fellow him for use with my K3. It worked right out of the box with no need for any adjustments to the radio’s equalizer settings. I get great unsolicited reports on my audio. B&H had the best price with shipping.
N1OHT Rating: 2012-01-26
The best mike for the money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought this mike on the advice of other hams and yes, they were right. I am getting unsolicitied audio compliments from everyone. The best 20 bucks I have ever invested in Ham Radio. The ATR 1300 has superior gain over most of the Heil mics I have owned. I like it so much that I just bought another one. Audio Technica, keep listening.