Microphones are important for producing high quality and loud audio.
When you use a microphone, there are many factors that make it better and worse than other microphones.
When you see good quality microphones, a question arises in your mind that is “Why are microphones so expensive?”
Well, not all microphones are expensive.
There are many cheap microphones in the market.
Just like any other product, microphones also come in a wide range of variety and different price points.
The price of the microphone depends upon its features.
If you buy a cheap microphone, it will do the work it should do but not as effectively as an expensive microphone.
With that being said, there are many cheap microphones in the market that work well too.
Let’s find out the real reasons behind the price points of microphones!
Build-Quality Of Microphones
You must have seen a lot of microphones in your daily life.
Most of the microphones are made up of metal but some knock offs of branded microphones aren’t built this way.
Knock off microphones or generally cheap microphones are sometimes made up of plastic and other such material.
This way, their durability decreases.
Basically, metal is more expensive than plastic.
Therefore, branded microphones made up of metal are more expensive than the ones made up of plastic.
The build-quality of a microphone matters a lot especially if you use them for professional work.
Strict Standards
Expensive and branded microphones stick to stick standards.
If you buy a branded microphone, use it, throw it away after some years and again buy the same microphone, you will notice that everything in the microphone is the same as the previous one.
The build-quality, the sound quality, the features, everything is the same.
Whereas, cheap microphones keep changing their shape, size, color, quality, etc in order to stand out and to keep in contact with the new trend.
For professional use, the consistency in the quality of sound is important which can be attained by buying the same microphone.
And same microphone can only be found in a brand.
Moreover, cheap microphones might improve their quality with time but the factor of consistency can’t be attained.
Although this isn’t always the case but most of the time it happens this way.
Size And Shape Of The Microphones
There are so many different sized microphones in the market.
Just like sizes, there are many shapes and types of microphones.
Every microphone is built in a different way.
Some might have better metal used, some might have more features, some might have better sound quality.
The size and type of the microphone matters a lot.
You can’t expect a clip on a small-sized microphone to work just like an old school handheld microphone.
For professional use, bigger and better quality microphones are preferred.
Construction Of Microphones
Let me recall what microphones actually do.
Microphones get sound waves from the environment and convert them into digital signals in order to amplify your voice.
All this might sound easy but you can’t make a microphone easily at all.
Constructing a microphone is a tricky job as it is technically an electronic device.
Cheap microphones just help you get the job done whereas expensive microphones make sure that the job is done accurately and amazingly.
For such purposes, a lot of efforts are put in engineering and constructing a microphone.
Moreover, good microphones are tested again and again to make sure they are good.
All these efforts and hard work asks for a lot of money.
Features Of Microphones
There are many features in a microphone.
Some of them are present in all such as a polar pattern.
Polar Pattern
A polar pattern just becomes better and better in different microphones such as cardioid polar pattern, super cardioid polar pattern and omnidirectional polar pattern.
The presence of these features matter a lot.
If you want a super cardioid polar pattern then you have to pay more.
A super cardioid polar pattern picks up audio only from one source.
This means that the audio coming from other sources is ignored.
This feature particularly requires a lot of attention while constructing.
Dynamic Range
Dynamic Range is one of the features that distinguishes between a cheap and an expensive microphone.
By dynamic range, a microphone recognizes the maximum output signal.
A cheap microphone lacks such high features. If you pay more, you get better features.
Frequency Response
Greater frequency response means that your microphone is better.
The more the response the better your microphone.
So, while purchasing a microphone, people tend to buy ones that have greater frequency response.
To induce greater frequency response such as from 20Hz to 20kHz (which can typically be heard by human ear), a lot of effort and high technology is required.
The better the technology, the pricier it gets.
Accessories
Many microphones don’t have any accessories with them.
But to use one, you need accessories.
If you want a professional audio output then you also need a professional microphone set.
Professional microphone sets usually have different accessories that help you use them conveniently.
When you get one thing, it’s cheap but when you get a lot of things, it is obviously going to cost a lot.
If you buy a microphone with no accessories, you have to buy them separately which can cost you a lot as well.
Therefore, microphones that come with accessories are expensive.
Conclusion
Now you know why microphones are so expensive.
You can buy cheap ones as well but they might be not as good as expensive ones.
However, this is not always the case.
Sometimes, cheap microphones work better than expensive ones.
But you have to find such microphones.
You can find the best microphone with the lowest price possible by researching a lot and trying out different microphones.
Otherwise, use your trusted and reliable microphone for your big day.
Spending a little money on a microphone that works for a long time isn’t a bad deal.
So choose your microphones wisely!
