Sennheiser MKE 440 Compact Stereo Shotgun Microphone

Pros: 1) Delivers a clean stereo separation at various distances. 2) Easy to mount on the hot-shoe and the coiled input cord stays neatly out of the way. 3) When powered on, the green light is a nice reminder and the low battery red light too. 4) the various settings of high sensitivity to low function as they should. The low cutoff seems limited but is affective for some troublesome background sounds. Cons: The three function switches are some small that I have difficulty changing them on the fly, and they are even more difficult to see & change when a dead-cat wind blocker is on. Conclusion is that I think this new split-directional mic might be best for interviews where you have a panel of people in a line, with the mic reasonably close and centred. It might also be cool for the stereo affect at say a car race, or some activity that you could benefit from the audio picking up from one channel to the other as it passes by, but I have yet to apply it that way. Oh, and the supplied dead-cat actually works better in gusty wind than the long-haired custom one from another seller.

It somewhat perform as described. It is capable of filtering the noise coming from the side but not as much as I would have hoped for. Seems to be less sensitive to ambiant noise (humming or buzzing) than my other stereo microphone. Being a shotgun style helps with this. Looks like I will still need to use noise reduction filters in post-processing. I like the fact that it is compact and the microphone are suspended inside the case.

This mic is great for my needs, so far as I've been able to evaluate it. It definitely takes the echo out of a room and cuts side noise by a LOT, making the sounds in a drywall-ed room (with carpet) not a whole lot different at 12 feet than at 5 feet (contrary to built in, or other cardiod, mics. But note that I've only had this for a week or so, and haven't had a chance for the definitive test: I bought it primarily to improve the sound of my grandchildren's concerts and plays, usually in a school gym, and it'll probably be December before they perform again. And that's why I give it a (tentative) four stars.

Received mike, obviously previously opened, both aaa batteries were dead. I had no time for a return as I needed it for the next day. Microphone performed flawlessly.

This microphone works very well and appears to be built very sturdily built. Unfortunately the coil cable is attached directly to the body of the mic instead of haviing a plug-in, and there's not much strain relief inside of the case. It doesn't take a lot of force to pull the cable connection loose inside the housing, and Sennheiser wants .200 to repair it. I'll put that .200 towards an Azden SMX-30 this time around.

I love this mic. I just used it on a shoot where my subjects were 3 to 9 feet away and it was terrific. Nice stereo feel too. Roll off the base and there is almost NO handling noise. Great for a small hand held camera. I've shot for a few decades and Sennheiser never ceases to really amaze me. Worth the price!