Anker 2nd Gen Astro E7 Charger Review

Hi there!

I know this is a music blog, but sometimes I run into products that I really like, and just have to give them a quick plug. The Anker Astro E7 charger is one of those products, and besides, it would be a handy thing to have for a gig in case your phone or iPad battery is going dead.

A few months back I picked up the 2nd generation Anker Astro E7 charger, and I always have it in my briefcase or backpack. I picked this model because it had very good reviews and the best specifications of any of the hundreds of different power banks on the market. It is rated at 25,600mAh and the marketing materials state that it will charge an iPad air twice with no problems. This is not just hype - it can actually do it!

Physically, this charger is a bit bigger and heavier than the vape-sized power banks that you often see people using in coffee shops. It measures 6 ½ x 3 ¼ x ¾ inches, and it weighs in at a bit more than a pound. It has 3 USB output ports and a single mini USB port that is used to charge the unit, as well as a built-in flashlight.

A wall charger is not included with the E7, just a mini USB cable that can be plugged into the power source of your choice. And you should choose this power source wisely. The complaints I see are from people who try to use their laptop or an iPhone wall wart to charge this thing up. That will make the process really slow, and depending on the internal protection circuitry of your computer, it might not charge at all. I have good luck using my 12 Watt iPad wall wart, and it takes about 12 hours to fully charge if it was totally dead to start with. If you do not have one of these, Anker sells the same thing for around 10 bucks.

This charger is easy to use, there is no ON/OFF switch and it will turn ON automatically when something is plugged into one of the USB ports. The 3 ports are not just for show, either as it is fully capable of charging more than one thing at a time, up to 4 Amps total output. Any single port is capable of putting out a maximum of 3 Amps, which is right in the wheelhouse for charging a dead iPad Air in a bit over 3 hours. There are 4 LEDs on the top that show the Anker’s state of charge.

This all sounds good, and all of it actually works. There is rarely an open or convenient wall outlet in airports, bars, restaurants, or coffee shops, making the Anker Astro E7 a godsend. It holds a charge seemingly forever, and when it is needed it delivers the goods. On a recent trip, my son and I used it to fully charge both of our dead iPhones, and to recharge my iPad Air 2, all on a single charge. It is heavy and big, but I will not leave home without it.

The 2nd gen Anker Astro E7 is not the cheapest charger on the market, but I think it is the best. It has a list price of $200 (really?), but they sell all day long on Amazon for $60, which includes the aforementioned charging cable as well as a small carry sack. Plus, this price includes an 18-month warranty from the manufacturer, and from what I have heard their customer service is very good. If you are looking for a portable charging solution, this one is my recommendation!

Mahalo!

Samson Meteor Mic USB Microphone Review

Greetings!

There is nothing like waiting until the last minute to make hasty decisions about an electronics purchase, and that is how I ended up buying the Samson Meteor Mic for a work project. Samson is not exactly the leading name in anything they sell, but this USB microphone worked out ok.

There is no arguing that most laptops come with terrible onboard microphones, so if you are going to do any sound work, such as Skype, VOIP webinars, or voiceovers, you will need to step up your equipment if you want better sound. There are tons of USB microphones available that do not require converters, and the Meteor falls somewhere between the other crap they sell at Best Buy and professional quality recording microphones.

When you open the box you will get the microphone, a USB to Mini-B cable (a fairly short one, too), an honest-to-god printed instruction manual and a velvet carry bag. This factory-sealed unit had no bag, which actually disappointed me a little. The box works well enough for storing it, though.

The microphone is one of the coolest-looking things you have ever seen, with an old-school Shure 55 look that has been heavily dipped in chrome (like Mix-a-Lot’s Desert Eagle). It is made of some sort of metal, so it has a heavy feel (about 10 ounces), and it has folding legs with little rubber pads. The legs can adjust to different angles and seem to hold their position well. There is a standard 5/8” microphone stand socket on the bottom, should you choose to mount it, though you will need to fold the legs down so you are not blocking the capsule and the USB port. Folded up, it measures about 2-inches by 4-inches.

The Meteor has a 1-inch condenser capsule, and it needs 5 volts to operate, which is provided through the USB port. There is not much in the way of external features, with a mute switch, an LED (blue = on, amber = muted, flashing red = clipping), a 1/8-inch 16-ohm headphone jack, and a volume control for the headphones. There is no external gain control, which is a stone-cold bummer for me, as all adjustments need to be done through the computer.

Spec-wise, it has a cardioid (uni-directional) pattern and a fairly flat frequency response of 20 Hz to 20kHz. It is a 16-bit rate microphone with 44.1/48kHz resolution.

Samson advertised the Meteor Mic as being plug and play with no drivers needed, and it actually works out that way. I tried it out on Windows 7, Windows 8, and OSX laptops, and it set-up automatically with all of them with no problems. You can also buy Samson Sound Deck noise cancellation software, but I have not tried it.

The sound quality is clear, though it definitely tends towards the tinny end of things. It is really best to be less than a foot away from this thing, but it works well enough if it is on its stand on the desk near you. As it has a cardioid pattern, there will be drastic differences in volume and quality if it placed in the middle of a meeting room, and only the folks directly in front of it will sound good.

But, on the plus side, it is portable, not terribly expensive, and easy to set up and use. For sure it will be an improvement over whatever microphone they put in your computer at the factory. I do not know how durable it is, but time will tell. If it craps out or falls apart I will update this review…

So, I would recommend the Samson Meteor Mic for podcasts, voiceover work, and webinars if everybody that is going to be speaking can be in front of the microphone. Keep looking if you are looking for something to record music with. It is not cheap, and not expensive either, with a street price of around $70, which includes a one-year limited warranty.

Mahalo!

Shure PG42-USB Condenser Microphone Review

Aloha!

I need to do a bit of voiceover work for my day job and my night classes, and it should be no surprise that the microphone in my laptop is not super-great. So, I have been looking around for a nice USB condenser microphone that will not break the bank, and I think I have found just what I was looking for: the Shure PG42-USB.

Shure has been around since 1925 and has been making microphones since 1931, so they probably have a good idea of what they are doing. Their SM57, SM58, 55SH, PG52, 520DX (Green Bullet), Beta Series, and wireless systems are all industry standards, and I own all of them. So, when looking for a USB mic, they were the first ones I went to. It was a wise choice.

The PG-42USB is a side-address USB microphone that was designed specifically for digital recording (there is also a PG-42 with a regular XLR connector). When you buy one of these it comes with a nice case, a shock mount and a USB cable – it really is a great set-up for the money.

This condenser microphone has a cardioid polar pattern to reduce background noise and feedback. It has a large diaphragm with and an inherently warm tone yet it is clear enough to be appropriate for lead vocal or solo instrument recording. There is negligible added noise, so it is perfect for choral recording, or better yet, voiceover work.

There are quite a few extras built into this mic, and if you look at it closely there are little knobs and switches all over it. There include:

-- A volume control knob.

-- A 15 dB pad switch to reduce distortion from loud sources, such horns or drums.

-- Low frequency rolloff to reduces floor rumble and low-frequency room noise from heating and air conditioning systems. It can also reduce low frequencies that can result in muddy sound.

-- Integrated pre-amp with microphone gain control to allow control of input signal strength.

-- 1/8-inch headphone jack for monitoring

--Monitor mix control for blending microphone and playback audio.

Set-up with the computer is easy. It has USB plug and play connectivity, and it works with Windows 7 or 8, XP and Mac OSX. The quality of the recording is top-notch as it is a 16-bit mic with a 48kHz sample rate. I used it with my fairly new Macbook Pro with no troubles at all.

I fiddled around with the best set-up and found that with a table-top boom stand and pop filter I was able to set it off to the side of my mouth (about 4-inches away), and it was still easy to see my computer to mess with the controls and see my script. The headphone jack was especially welcome!

With both Garage Band and Adobe Audition I had great results with my voiceovers. My voice did not sound harsh and it had nice warmth to it with no background noise once I got my hotel room air conditioner tuned out of the mix. It is very sensitive, of course, so if anything unexpected happened in the room a retake was necessary. You really have to have a quiet room to get the most out of this thing. But it was totally worth it because the overall sound was so much better than if I used the Mac’s onboard unit or my POS low-dollar mic I bought from Sam Ash in a pinch.

Looking the PG-42 USB over, it is a quality piece that is quite heavy and I a sure it will hold up for years to come. I really think it is the perfect voiceover or podcast microphone for the money. I cannot wait to try it out with my acoustic guitars and some of my mediocre singing to see how it fares.

The Shure PG42-USB is a very good vocal microphone, and it is also a terrific value. It carries an MSRP of $249, but sells for around $200 everywhere you look on the internet. That price includes the aforementioned case and shock mount, not to mention Shure’s outstanding warranty. If you have more than a little bit of voiceover work to do, it will do a super job and be a terrific investment in your work!

Mahalo!