Samson Q9U Microphone Review: All You Need From A Microphone

Who Is The Samson Q9U Microphone For?

• The Samson Q9U microphone is truly a one-stop shop for microphone needs
• The Q9U is plug-and-play ready, and doesn't require any long set-up times
• The Samson Q9U works both with USB and XLR cables, making it great for everyone

We now live in a world of Zoom meetings and video conferencing. While people may not be able to physically make an appearance at meetings anymore, it's still important to look and sound your best. We here at International Business Times aren't exactly fashion experts, but we certainly know how to sound amazing thanks to the Samson Q9U microphone.

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Super Easy Set-Up

The Samson Q9U is truly plug and play. When using the microphone with my PC, I simply plugged the USB-C end of a cable into the Q9U, then plugged the standard USB end into my computer. From there, all I had to do was make sure the Q9U was the selected audio source for whatever program I was using. It really is that easy.

I've tested the Q9U out on two different kinds of Apple computers as well as a Windows desktop. The Q9U performed identically across all three, making it an easy choice for anyone. As a bonus, the Q9U also works with XLR cables, though those are certainly less prevalent in most offices. The XLR support is great for those who are going for a more professional studio set-up and have additional audio recording equipment, or someone who wants to use the Q9U away from a computer.

Audio Sounds Fantastic

The Samson Q9U is capable of recording at a very high quality. Audio that is captured with the Q9U sounds crisp and clear. The microphone tends to focus on the source of audio directly in front of it, while ignoring any sounds that may be coming from elsewhere. For example, my fiance sits maybe five to six feet away from me and the Q9U didn't pick up a word she said to me when talking at a normal volume.

When using the Q9U for calls, audio is just fine. However, if someone wants to use the Q9U for recording a podcast or music, they may need to go back and make some adjustments. One of the only major areas to focus on for editing audio that was recorded with the Q9U (outside of the obvious like coughs or long periods of silence) is gain.

To keep it simple, every microphone records at a certain volume that is unique to the microphone. This volume is usually quieter than expected. To make the audio louder, someone needs to increase the gain of the audio during the editing phase of recording. This is common across all microphones, but the higher-end gear usually requires less gain than something that isn't that expensive.

With the Samson Q9U, some additional gain is needed, but isn't an absolute necessity. The recordings coming straight from the Q9U are still perfectly usable, but definitely benefit from a little editing. If you aren't an audio whizz, you'll still be fine. The volume may need to be bumped when listening to whatever it is that was recorded, but it will still be perfectly audible, and sound nice and clear.

Noise is also a common issue across microphones. Noise is basically the sound a microphone picks up from the air around it, and, like gain, is something that is also dealt with for every microphone. Also like gain, generally the higher the quality of the microphone gets, the less noise that is picked up. What's really great with the Samson Q9U is the noise level is basically negligible, meaning it shouldn't be a concern for almost every user.

I did the majority of my tests on the Q9U with a friend of mine who is a professional audio engineer. After recording a few clips, he was very impressed with what the Q9U had to offer and how well it performed.

Great Podcast Settings

While the Q9U is great for meetings and recording music, it's also a powerhouse of a podcast microphone thanks to two small switches on the back of the mic. The first is a mid boost, which increases the midrange presence in recordings. This is perfect for meetings, video calls, podcasts and streaming, where the main source of audio is someone talking.

The mid boost switch can really help to improve the clarity of recordings. When testing the microphone out with my friend, we both had face masks on. Without the mid boost, it was easy to hear a slight muffled sound from our Q9U test recordings. With the mid boost activated, that muffled sound was practically erased.

The second switch is a bass cutoff. When activated, the Q9U will automatically decrease the volume of low frequencies in a recording. Again, this is a great setting for calls, podcasts and streams as it helps to filter out any background sounds and weird audio discrepancies.

Of course, if you are recording music you'll likely want these settings turned off to best capture the full audio spectrum of the music. The best part about these settings is that they can be turned on or off with the flick of a switch on the back of the Q9U, making it easy to experiment and find what works best for whatever is being recorded.

A Few Extra Features

The Samson Q9U has a few additional features tucked in alongside the great audio quality and podcast switches. The most helpful is a 3.5mm headphone jack that allows for latency-free audio passthrough. Users can plug a pair of headphones directly into the Q9U to monitor the microphone directly. For the average user, this just means you can plug headphones into the Q9U and can then make the Q9U the default for both a microphone and as an audio output to keep things simple and avoid feedback.

Like a number of other microphones, the Q9U has a dedicated mute button built into it. The button is easy to reach and doesn't require much force to push down. This is a great way to quickly mute yourself if you need to cough or if you are in a video call and don't want to have to mess with a program's mute options.

The Q9U has a small stem built into it to help mount the microphone onto a stand or arm. Unfortunately, this means the Q9U is virtually impossible to set on a table or something without some kind of stand. The pictures in this article all show the Q9U using a very basic Samson microphone stand, but just about any stand with a standard microphone thread on it will work. This includes those fancy articulated arms that pro podcasters and radio personalities use.

Kind of Fragile

While the Samson Q9U looks stable and sturdy, it can be a little fragile. For complete transparency, the first Q9U that Samson sent to test took a bit of a tumble from my couch to the carpet below, a fall of a little over a foot. After the fall, the microphone was recognized by my computer, but no audio was detected when using the Q9U with a USB cable. The XLR port on the microphone still worked perfectly, however.

I'm not about to knock the second Q9U that Samson sent over to finish the review off the couch to test this out. Just know that in my experience, the Q9U stopped functioning properly after one short fall, and should probably be protected a little to help it last.

A Little Pricey

The final aspect of the Samson Q9U that we haven't addressed yet is its price, which may seem a little high. The Q9U retails for $200. This is around the middle of the pack for a microphone with the Q9U's features. For comparison, the popular Blue Yeti is around $130, while a similar microphone from Shure is around $250.

Unfortunately, I haven't had any personal experience with those microphones so I can't make any direct comparisons to their performance. What I know for sure is that the Q9U has impressed both an average user and an audio professional, and its price tag is fair for what you get.

Final Thoughts

The Samson Q9U microphone is a great piece of audio equipment. It's versatile in the sense that it can be used for meetings, streaming, podcasts and even recording music, and has USB and XLR connections. The best part is that the Q9U requires virtually no set-up time and really just needs to be plugged in to start recording or talking in meetings. Pretty much the only downside to the Q9U is that it requires some kind of stand to keep it upright, though a temporary one can probably be made out of a box or something else laying around.

The Samson Q9U is available right now from Amazon and a variety of other retailers.