We have not tested these products. This comparison is reasoned from manufacturer specifications, documentation and warranty terms. How we test
A microphone in the right place with the right level sounds better than a better microphone in the wrong place. This is the order that matters, and it applies equally to a USB microphone and to one on an interface.
Position
Get the capsule roughly a hand span from your mouth. This is closer than feels natural and it is the single biggest improvement available.
Then angle it slightly off-axis — pointed at your mouth but not directly in the path of your breath. Plosive consonants lose most of their thump and you may not need a pop filter at all.
Check which side of the microphone is the front. Side-address microphones, which includes most large condensers, listen through the side of the body rather than the end, and speaking into the top of one is a genuinely common mistake.
Gain
Speak at the volume you will actually use — not a careful test voice — and set the level so peaks land around two-thirds of the meter. That leaves room for the moments when you get louder, and keeps you well clear of the noise floor.
Monitoring
Put closed-back headphones on and listen to yourself while you set up. Plosives, sibilance, a fan you had stopped noticing and the shape of the room all become obvious immediately, and all of them are easier to fix now than afterwards.
The room, last
Once position and gain are right, anything soft helps: a rug, curtains, a full bookshelf behind you. Bare parallel walls are what make a room sound hollow.
Questions people ask
How close should I be?
Roughly a hand span from the capsule for a dynamic microphone, and a little further for a condenser because it is more sensitive. The principle behind the number is that the closer you are, the more your voice dominates the room, and room sound is what makes home recordings sound amateur. If you can comfortably reach out and touch the microphone with your fingertips, you are approximately in the right place.
Where should I set the gain?
So that normal speech peaks somewhere around two-thirds of the meter, leaving clear headroom for when you laugh or raise your voice. Too low and you are recording the preamplifier noise floor along with yourself, then amplifying both later. Too high and the loud moments clip, which is not recoverable by any amount of processing. Set it while speaking at the volume you actually use rather than at a careful test voice, because those are different.
Should I monitor with headphones?
Yes, and it is the fastest way to hear problems while you can still fix them. Headphones reveal plosives, sibilance, room echo and background noise that speakers hide, and they let you hear yourself as your audience will. They are also necessary rather than optional if you are recording with speakers on, because otherwise the microphone captures the speaker output and feeds it back into the recording. Closed-back headphones are the right kind for this.