I’ll presume this question comes from a podcasting point of view. The SM7B is a staple in most podcasting setups. You’ll often hear that the SM7B does fine without a mic booster, but in my experience, it is tremendously gain hungry and needs some legwork to get a decent signal level. Ultimately, I omitted them because they are not quite as popular or are much of the same. The only exception to this is the Royer dBooster, which is a pricey but top-shelf unit. That said, it’s safe to say assume we’ve covered every mic booster worth contemplating in 2021.

Durham is a no-frills mic activator. You simply plug it in and claim your hassle-free +20 dB of clean gain. Compared to the CL-1, it falls 5 dB short, but the price is a lot lower too. In every other aspect, it is comparable to the CL-1. USED products: 4% of the current new selling price to increase the warranty from 3 months to 1 year. 4% for each additional year. Audio engineers use a mic activator when the occasion calls for it. The obvious reason is that these devices are useful to boost a low-output mic for recording brass (tuba, saxophone), quiet string instruments (classical guitar, ukulele), and percussion (shakers, cabassa), and vocals.As I said, “affordable” mic preamps won’t provide acceptable results. You need a high-end preamp or something with a “ribbon mic mode” like the Millenia HV-35P. They sound pristine, and even at 80dB of gain you’ll have ample headroom with little noise. The new Cloudlifters have updated circuitry; the changes improve noise rejection. We’ll get more into this in the review. For customers in outlying areas of the country, the price of the Extended Warranty may be marginally higher, due to the potential for higher collection and redelivery transport costs. It doesn’t add any color and the gain boost on dynamic or ribbon microphones doesn’t have any noticeable noise. The transparent gain and improved impedance loading are ideal for studio use or podcasting with low-output microphones. Verdict

The problem is they aren’t very affordable, but Cloudlifters certainly are. Plus, it’s safe to use ribbon mics with a Cloudlifter, even sensitive vintage mics. While using phantom power with ribbon mics is a big no-no (it can destroy them), a Cloudlifter won’t pass on the phantom power to the mic input. Old post, taking a chance on a reply here… in your opinion, would the Cloudlifter CL1 work well for a guitar/bass if I ran into a DI first (Radial ProDI) and then out from that into the CL? Whether you are contemplating purchasing a Cloud Microphones Cloudlifter or still deciding if you need one in the first place, this post has everything you need to know. How Does A Cloudlifter/Mic Activator Work? My Cloudlifter CL-1 helps me get clean gain for dynamic microphones which I use in a demanding office/studio environment.For the sake of a fair experiment, the variable element will be the activator, and the controls will be the interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2 nd gen) and our microphone of choice (Rode Procaster which does really benefit from the boost of a device like these). With up to 25dB of gain on tap, the Cloudlifter CL-1 eliminates the need to push your preamp to noisy levels. Its discrete JFET design adds gain without adding noise or distortion, allowing even budget preamps to sound high-end. Long cable runs won't sap your signal, either, thanks to the CL-1's line-driving output stage. Ribbon Mic Ready