Sennheiser Profile USB Microphone Streaming Set Reviews

You might think twice before knocking three times on a ceiling; what a pipe; you think nice & SENNHEISER does that; just right!

What a fantastic experience! I was looking for a Sennheiser Microphone Streaming Set and Sweetwater had it in stock. That was the first cool thing but the next was unexpected. I received and email followed by a phone call ensuring me they were working on my order. Every step of the way, I was informed and in 24 hours, I had the microphone setup. I would highly recommend Sweetwater for any and all of your musical / audio needs.

Overall, we're really happy with the Sennheiser Profile USB Microphone Streaming Set. Here are some pros and cons that we've noticed after almost a month of use.

Part 1: Pros and Cons

Pros:
1. Quick and easy to set up (apart from a few concerns listed in the cons section).

2. The microphone has convenient and easy-to-use physical controls, including a mute button, gain dial, along with two more dials (audio monitoring dial and headset volume dial) that can only be used if you have a headset plugged in to the back of the microphone.

3. The sound quality is awesome straight out of the box. Personally, I don't need any post-processing effects to effects to enhance the sound quality. It's already good enough! My friends told me that I sounded like a "professional caster / announcer".

4. The microphone's noise rejection is impressive, picking up almost no sound when adjusting the microphone in the yoke, turning it from its base, or moving the boom arm. When I talk to my friends online, they do not hear any distracting noises or any sounds from my chiclet keyboard. On higher gain settings, the keyboard sounds are a bit more noticeable in recordings so if you have a mechanical keyboard it might be more of an issue.

5. Once the boom arm was installed properly, it felt very stable. Adjusting it to my desired position is quick and easy; it requires just enough force to adjust it so I don't accidentally move it when I don't want to but it's also not too tight to the point where I have to use all my energy. There are no tension knobs on the boom arm so it's easy for a beginner like myself to use.

6. The boom arm and microphone are also very low profile. The arm doesn't take up that much space on my desk and when I have the microphone in front of me, it's not overly distracting. If you ever plan on using the boom arm for other microphones, keep in mind that it might not be able to support heavier microphones. According to Sennheiser's website, it can only hold up to 500g (~1.1 pounds).

7. The microphone is also compatible with a USB-C to USB-A cable if you ever need to replace the original 3m USB-C to USB-C cable.

8. This is my first real stand-alone USB microphone and boom arm. I didn't want to spend a lot more money on an XLR setup. Before this, I had been using a Sennheiser gaming headset with a built-in microphone and the streaming set is a huge upgrade to that.


Cons:
1. The physical instructions provided in the box for setting up the boom arm had step-by-step pictures and very few words. It could've been more descriptive to make sure we didn't have to rely on online resources to see if we installed it correctly.

Additionally, there were some inconsistencies between the pictures of the boom arm on the box, the physical instructions, the online instruction manual from Sennheiser's website, in addition to their product page, along with what was shown in YouTube reviews of the product, causing some confusion. The bottom part of the boom arm that is inserted into the table clamp was shown as having two rings in the instructions and in the picture on the back of the box, whereas the bottom part of the boom arm we received was completely smooth. We were told by one of Sennheiser's Customer Support members that the image of the boom arm on the box was taken before it was redesigned and released, and that our version of it (the smooth one) is part of the updated design. The picture on the front of the box, in the physical instructions, on the product page of their website, and in their online instructions also showed the boom arm being completely inserted into the table clamp without a visible gap. However, in some YouTube Reviews of the product, it was mixed. Some of the reviews showed a visible gap (making the bottom part of the boom arm / the rod that's inserted into the table clamp visible) and others showed the boom arm pushed all the way into the table clamp. After inquiring, Sennheiser's Product Specialist had to check how it's supposed to be set up. After he reviewed the videos we sent and compared it with what he had, he was surprised to find out that the boom arm could be inserted all the way into the table clamp. It's good that he took the time to look into our concerns to help us and we understand that it's a new product, but it's also concerning that they weren't certain about how it should be properly installed.

2. There were no instructions for how to correctly adjust the external thread of the microphone when it is positioned on the boom arm. After screwing in the microphone, if we needed to turn it into a different position, it seemed like the thread would loosen so we weren't sure if the microphone was secured. To solve this, we thought we had to completely tighten the external thread but we were told by Sennheiser's Product Specialist that there should be some room between the external thread and the top of the base that holds the microphone, to allow for adjustments.

3. Upon arrival, the protective adhesive that's part of the table clamp (the side that sits on top of the desk) was not aligned with the table clamp. It's slightly crooked so the clamp isn't perfectly balanced on the top side of my desk.

4. The boom arm has cable management slots for the USB-C cable. However, it falls out fairly easily. To fix this, we wrapped small velcro fasteners around the boom arm to prevent the cable from falling out.

5. I am using a desktop computer running Windows 10. If the computer is off and I try to turn it on with the microphone already plugged in, the computer does not turn on properly (it doesn't get past the "BIOS" screen). I tried this several times and got the same results. As long as I unplug the microphone before turning on the computer, the computer turns on as intended. Once the computer is on, I can plug in the microphone and use it without any issues.



Part 2: Experience Purchasing Through Sweetwater's Website

We ordered the streaming set through Sweetwater in March of 2023, on the same day the product was released. The website was easy to navigate, and the checkout process was simple and straightforward. We immediately received an email from Sweetwater thanking us for the order. One of Sweetwater's Sales Engineers also called and emailed to let us know that he would be able to answer questions we had. The product arrived 1 week later. During the setup process (attaching the boom arm to the table clamp) we weren't sure if we installed the boom arm correctly because it was very tight going into the table clamp. We also ended up having a question about how to properly adjust the external thread, which is the part that is supposed to lock the microphone into place on top of the boom arm. Because of that, we contacted the Sweetwater Sales Engineer via email and he was quick in responding to our questions throughout several emails and was readily available to help with our concerns. We also let him know that we were planning on contacting Sennheiser via email to clarify our questions further. The Sweetwater Sales Engineer provided a great customer service experience.



Part 3: Experience with Sennheiser's Customer Service

We contacted Sennheiser with questions about the boom arm and the microphone's external thread via the "Sennheiser Contact Center" support page on their website and through their contact email meant for feedback about their instruction manual. They emailed right away with assigned ticket numbers. A week later, we received the first follow-up email from a member of their Customer Support Team in regards to our questions. Even with the information they provided, we still had more questions, so we responded the next day with pictures and videos showing the differences between our setup, the box's pictures and instructions, Sennheiser's website pictures and instructions, and some YouTube review videos. The day after that, the same Customer Support Team member emailed back for our phone number so that a Product Specialist could contact us directly. The next day, their Product Specialist called and we talked for about 30 minutes. He thanked us for bringing our concerns to his attention because he hadn't been aware of the inconsistencies and he also didn't know that the boom arm could be pushed all the way down into the table clamp. He mentioned that he would talk to the Product Team at Sennheiser about "making a quick tip video about the features of the boom arm to ensure that anyone who has similar questions can find answers on Sennheiser's website, and / or the team members can reference the videos to answer questions more quickly." He was very kind and helpful, clarifying all our questions and provided an overall awesome customer service experience.