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The E100 has been around for quite a few years now. CAD has a good, well earned reputation for making affordable mics that sound as good as mics costing exponentially more. The E100 will serve as a good all around large diaphragm condensor mic for studio and stage. It has very good off axis rejection, while still being fairly smooth as the sound source moves off axis. It has good, crisp clean high freq. response while not becoming too brittle, like most large diaphragm mics. I work mostly in live theatre sound. I've been very happy with my use of the E100 so far. It has worked well for off stage vocals/singing, bass guitar, upright bass, and kick drum. The only tricky thing about this mic is that it uses an internal NiCad battery to give the mic's electronics additional power during peak transients. So you need to remember to turn this mic on and off with the front panel switch so the battery doesn't drain down. Also if you only use it occasionally, it's best to take it out every once in a while and plug the mic into phantom power to charge the battery. The advantage however is that this mic can be used with no phantom power source by running solely on the internal battery.Read full review
The CAD e100 was made in the USA, released in the mid-1990s and is no longer available since the introduction of the e100s. These mics are quiet, with amazing low end, supposedly flat down to 20hz. The top end is smooth and a little bit rolled off, which is nice for digital recording. The mic uses a unique design with two 9v lithium batteries inside to help with powering them. Like other condenser mics, they do need a reliable source of phantom power, but can be run on the batteries alone when they are fully charged. The batteries last for years and are not a problem, but if you are buying one of these, they often need to be replaced if they are the originals that came with the mic from 20 years ago..The e100 is very useful for many sources -- kick drum, bass, guitar cabs, acoustic guitar, some vocals, anything really, where you want a fairly accurate capture. They are hyper-cardioid which is helpful for isolation and if you have a less than ideal recording environment. Do some research online and you will find glowing reviews.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
My microphone experience hasn't been exceptionally diverse, but I've used enough of them (in most price ranges) to know when one does the job it advertises. Bottom end condensers are a dime-a-dozen, and everyone makes one now. For $100 you can get just about any starter mic and try to tackle home recording. I strongly suggest going the extra mile and spending a few times more on a better mic. The results, even through low-end consumer interfaces, are astounding. Where you once struggled getting a balanced, nuanced sound to things like vocals or acoustic guitar, it now proceeds naturally and with little effort. The CAD e100s is an example of this. You can get them new for under 500, and used often 1/2 that price. It performs in the next class up, alongside microphones over twice its cost, and is optimal for situations where noise might be a problem. The tighter pickup pattern as well as its low self noise floor makes recording with this a lot less problematic for a newbie. There's a nice character to the mic, inside and out. Its appearance is dated and some of the components (nickel LDC, for one) also hearken back to one of my favorite eras of music, the 60's. Its sound isn't the best for everything, but is particularly natural sounding on most sources I've tried out thus far. I found is stellar on harmonica, acceptable on 12 and 6 string acoustic guitars, good for my voice, and capable of recording hand drums (though this I've not tested as fully as I want to, yet). There are a lot of microphones that sound as good as this one, but I can't think of any that run under $750. You won't be disappointed in it, and you can help support a smaller, american based company by getting one.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Could not ask for a better mic at the price. It's not far off from a Neumann TLM-103, which is an industry standard. For $422 (including shipping), this was a steal. The frequency response is completely flat until it gets to the highs, getting a slight presence boost just before 5kHz and ending at around 15kHz, dipping lower as it goes from there. I haven't tested the self-noise to make sure it's actually at ~3.7dB, but I don't hear any hissing when recording, so I'm going to assume that I got a good unit. The wooden box it came in is beautiful cherry wood. I do have slight worries about the shockmount since the 4 rubber bands holding it have broken for other owners of the E100s, but that could be due to defects like the hissing some people get. As it is now, it works great. My audio quality is certainly not capped by this mic.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Remove the inner mesh: save it: a U.S.A. one of a kind winner- you do not need a shock mount. Upgrade the batteries and then forget them for at least one decade. It will run on them if needed for about 6 hours with no loss of specs. It has an off switch and response that rivals any that came later.... in fact a very unique warmth. They came with individual frequency plots- high precision construction in every way. Avoid the later "Korean" models: Those were intended to compete with very suspect things that we see all over today. The difference in sonics is fine silk compared to nylon. Someone once said: "if they took a Shure Sm/57 and 58 to its most natural conclusion, this would be it." Non fragile: a performance tool for individuals. Works with most digital EQs without the more plastic effect of same. You can scream at it... or whisper. Can be used as hand held..Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned