Which Versatile Mic To Buy? Sennheiser MKE400 vs RØDE Videomic NTG | Review + Tests

continuing with more designs of on-camera shotgun microphones from sennheiser first with the mke200 and now the bigger brother mke 400 which does have a lot more features but do those features stand up against the rode videomic ntg that's near the same price point let's find out hey guys two london read filmmaker here where the answers comes first the reasons come last but we're constantly and always still learning i want to thank sennheiser for sending this out to me so i can do this review for you today and without further ado this is everything you need to know about the mke 400 coming at 199 dollars we see the same design idea from the mke 200 with this built in blimp or built on blimp the mke 400 does have additional features like a negative 20 db pad as well as a plus 20 db boost and a high pass filter option as well as a power button in case you need to manually power on this mic and i say manually because if you plug this mic into a port that supplies power it will automatically turn on and off which is great on the other side we actually have a headphone port for monitoring as well as a volume knob for that port now the mke 400 does require batteries specifically two aaa batteries now i did a battery life test with two aaa and loop batteries and i was able to get nearly 96 hours of battery life before it died that's not too shabby the led light will turn red before it turns off and if you do see it turn red you got about i want to say 30 minutes to be on the safe side last but not least you get all the essential accessories like the trs and trrs cables a slip-on wind muff and a traveling pouch if you're a mobile vlogger they do have this kit that has a manfrotto pixie tripod as well as sennheiser's own smartphone mount that has a hot shoe up top it's very well built so if you'd like to vlog with your smartphone you'll be good to go if you want to use the mke400 as a usb microphone for your computer or smartphone or anything else that has a usbc port well this extra cable is about 30 and it basically allows your computer to recognize it as a usb microphone in fact all the voiceover you're listening to right now is coming from me recording into my laptop without further ado let's head over to the tests against the rode videomic ntg for the sound quality test i will specifically be recording in my makeshift soundproof box so that we can try and eliminate any sound colorations in this non-sound treated room what's going on everybody you're watching too long didn't read filmmaker where the answers comes first the reasons come last but we're constantly and always still learning what's going on everybody you're watching too long didn't read filmmaker where the answers comes first the reasons come last but we're constantly and always still learning what's going on everybody you're watching too long didn't read filmmaker where the answers comes first the reasons come last but we're constantly and always still learning you done messed up hey ron you done messed up a-ron you done messed up a-ron you done messed up a-ron okay so this is a test of the sennheiser mke 400 without the wind muff on because this does have a blimp more or less built in and it is a little bit windy today so i wanted to see how well does it fare with the wind now the wind is behind my back so it's not necessarily hitting the microphone so if i move it out this way you'll probably hear a little bit of it anyways this is just a more practical test we'll do a more studio test in a second okay so this is a test of the mke 400 outdoors and a vlogging test i do have the wind muff on because it is very windy outside but this is kind of gives you an idea of what you can expect if you're using it outdoors in a vlogging situation i do also have the boost on at plus 20 just in case anyone wants to know all right so now this is a test with the rode videomic ntg i do have a wind muff on because there is random gusts of wind that comes out today and uh this is what you can expect in terms of the sound quality difference when you are outdoors in a vlogging situation [Laughter] [Music] [Music] all right let's check in my voice the tone of my voice actually shifts when we are off access to the microphone the microphone is actually sitting right down here so i'm going to move over to the side over here at a 45 degree angle talking straight at the capsule this is what it sounds like and then as i go over here 45 degrees let's see what we got here and then back towards the center into the camera [Music] me [Music] so what's the bottom line here should you get the sennheiser mke 400 or should you get the rode videomic ntg let's break this down real quick when it comes to features they're basically the same the only feature that the road has over the sennheiser is the safety track feature uh basically one channel is going to record very loud and the other one's going to kind of dip it down a little bit so your in-camera preamps don't overblow on certain situations the sennheiser does come in cheaper in all regards it's 50 cheaper if that's all you want but if you want the usb feature of a usb mic it's only thirty dollars in which case you're saving twenty dollars versus the road so when we come to that feature-wise that is the differences when it comes to sound quality based on my specific voice alone the road seems to like boost the middle base of my voice which kind of sounds a little bit more throaty in a way whereas the sennheiser it sounds more pleasing and smooth and that is specifically with my voice which does have a more deep register in general so those are kind of the differences in terms of the sound quality but if we take most of that out of the way the subjectiveness of the sound quality is there something or some situation where i would say you should get the road or you should get a sennheiser and really you should get the road if this is your specific filming situation your microphone is on the camera or going into the camera and you are in a space where you can't control the volume of what's going on around you which means it can get very loud or it can get very soft one or the other in which case the road makes the most sense because that safety track feature is going to save you because you're going into a camera where you can't adjust the preamps quickly and also because of that analog gain dial on the back in those situations you can quickly change things much faster and with the added benefit of the safety track you should be good to go that is the only time i would say you should get the road but are there other times i would say you should get the sennheiser i would say if budget is of concerned yes because you're saving money but also if you are doing narrative films and you just kind of want a microphone that can do it all pretty easily now the reason i say this is because that built-in blimp feature does come in handy in a pinch it's not going to cut the wind out completely but you're not going to be caught completely off guard versus the road if you forgot to bring the styrofoam case or if the styrofoam case is not going to really cut it when it comes to the wind and because that dead cat sock that goes over the sennheiser it really doesn't make the microphone that much bigger so there's actually a good case for you to just say just leave it on there there's no reason for you to take it off so when you're on a feature film set you have a nice microphone that's not terribly long it's compact it works incredibly long for four days on two rechargeable aaa batteries which also means if you forgot to charge the road the day before not a big deal you just go to a gas station on the way to a shoot get yourself some triple a's and you'll be good for basically the entire weekend if you left that mic on the entire time and if we're going to get subjectively again here the sennheiser seems to do a lot much better for people that have deeper registered voices and the road probably does better for people that have voices that are much higher in which case that boost in the mid might actually help get more sound but at the end of the day you can also just eq everything to taste so you just kind of have to determine which which is your starting point so in terms of my overall recommendation i think the sennheiser mke 400 does edge out the road a little bit but again i'm going to leave that up to you in terms of which feature actually is most important and hey that is it for this week everybody if this video has made all the influence in your purchasing decisions i do have some affiliate links down below should you use them it does directly help support the channel so i can spend more time providing reviews like this for you and of course if you have any questions or comments go ahead and leave it down below i will get to them as fast as i can and until then like subscribe and share and i'll see you guys in the next one

Channel: TLDR Filmmaker

Views: 25,653

Keywords: tldr filmmaker, Sennheiser, MKE400, RODE, RØDE, Videomic NTG, Sennheiser MKE400 review, RODE Videomic NTG, Sennheiser MKE400 vs Rode videomic NTG, Best Versatile Mic for video, Battery life test

Id: r9-7Kaivc38

Length: 10min 30sec (630 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 04 2022