First, I rarely write reviews, but as someone that has gone through dozens of different mic iterations over the years, I'm compelled to let you know how great this mic performs for my purposes, which is strictly voiceover. I have been a professional, fulltime VO guy since 2004. Since then, I have owned a Neumann U87, Neumann TLM 103, Pearlman TM-1, Gefell M930, Gefell MT71, Soyuz 019 Fet, Manley Ref C, Sennheiser 416, Sony C80, Soundelux U195 and a handful of other boutique-style mics, I can say that the LS-208 has managed to rise to the top of the heap and will remain my daily driver. Those other mics shined in some ways but the Lauten performs consistently for every style I've needed it to...Commercial, Narration, Promo, Character, it just sounds so good in all those applications. I don't work out of an expensive studio but I like to think I have a fairly professionally treated space, yet, I have struggled with other mics picking up unwanted resonances making the post processing much more time consuming and ultimately sounding "over processed" in many instances. With the LS-208, it sounds so excellent right from the start and very little is needed to get the VO ready to be sent out the door. My chain is: Lauten LS-208, Vintech X73i (hardware) preamp, Light tracking with the Tube Tech CL1b and then into my plug ins...just the fabfilter Pro3 EQ and Omni Channel and that's it!...fantastic results! Even though the mic has plenty of top end, de-essing is rarely needed because it's such a pleasing top end. I can't believe how excellent this mic sounds for everything I throw at it. I do use the specialty pop filter you guys sell and I think it sounds better than the stock pop filter and, since it is quite low gain (and I don't want to drive too much Neve-y saturation from my preamp) I also employ a Triton FEThead...which makes it perfect for every style of read...from intimate to explosive. This mic is the best mic I've ever used and the only time I would consider a new mic would be if this one gets damaged and I needed a new LS-208!...brilliant!

First, let me start off by saying this microphone punches way above its class.
The quality you get the build is fantastic comes with a hard showcase comes with a quality shock mount and the sound oh boy the sound
I purchased this after watching a few YouTube reviews. I am a voice artist, music producer, and recording engineer, and I must say I can't remember when I found such a high-quality product at this price point.

This microphone is really the Swiss Army knife of Audio

I suggest you check out some YouTube video reviews and try one out for yourself. You will not be disappointed.

I have a little bit of treatment in my room, but not nearly enough. I have tried almost every mic under the $ price point, including Lauten's Atlantis mic. But no matter what I tried, I would always get some mud in the the low and high mids that I had a hard time EQing out. I just have too much room resonances. The best vocals I've gotten previously was from the trusty old SM7b, but being a dynamic mic, the high end just wasn't as crisp and clear as I wanted. I came across this mic accidentally, and decided to give one more mic a try. And I'm so glad I did. This thing is like magic. It's nice and crisp and airy like a condenser, but doesn't seem to pick up nearly as much room resonance. I did a side by side with my SM7b and both rejected a lot of room noise, but the Lauten was so much clearer. The SM7b sounded like it had a blanket over it. So if you are like me and don't have a perfect room and have been struggling to find a mic that will sound good, definitely give this a try. And heck, if it sounds this good in an untreated room, I can only imagine what it sounds like in a well treated room.

Wonderfully clear mic. Comes in case and includes a shock mount.

I recently ended up with a couple side projects recording audiobooks something I had never thought about before. But, all of my microphones were really meant for instruments or vocals not dialogue. I already owned the Lauten la-120 set and the la-220 and love both mics. I have really fallen in love with their microphones in general they're extremely versatile as a whole and have great clarity. One of my problems though is I needed a microphone that had a very full range so that the dialog is very clean and sounds very rounded but I kept picking up way too much room and background noise. So I went and did some searching and came across this microphone and that's what makes it really special is it almost works more like a direct microphone that still gives you a full dynamic range. If you do any kind of broadcasting or podcasting or in my case audiobooks you'll find that this microphone is absolutely perfect for it. It gives you a fuller range of tone than some of the others that are like it on the market. this one carries more bass end. I'm also finding that it's really good at dealing with pops and pings. The people are recording with do not practice reading out loud so every time they say p or s, they really pop the mic, but in this case it's not happening nearly as much. I seriously would give this microphone an extra star if I could in the review it works that good.

As a podcaster, there seemingly were three choices: SM7B, RE20, or RE27 N/D. Don't get me wrong, all of these mics are standards in broadcast for a reason, but I kept hearing about this condenser that had a flat response, extreme rejection, and very low noise. I brought it up to my sales engineer and all of this was confirmed. I heard some sound examples on a Sweetwater mic shoot out and that's all I needed.

Well, needless to say, I made the purchase, and I haven't looked back. I have the worst sound treatment situation ever… almost none! And in an apartment… not ideal! Well I did the podcast and I was curious to hear how I sounded, and it was amazing! Warm, quiet, and flat. Joyous!!

Be aware, it's not as sensitive as the standard condenser, but most interfaces should have more than enough gain; in addition, this mic is low noise, meaning I couldn't hear any. So when you crank the gain, you're not increasing the noise floor.

The LS 208 is great mic for so many things, including broadcast.

I use the LS-208 for voiceover and vocals and it sounds amazing. It's professional-grade all the way.

Pros:
The filters on it are great and give you some useful versatility.
It does a great job at reducing off-axis noise just as the design states.
The self-noise is excellent.
It has a great tone from top to bottom.

Cons:
My only warning would be that this is not a very sensitive condenser and requires a lot more gain than every other condenser that I have. If you are trying to run this with a pre that is lower on the power scale like the value level Presonus, Focusrite, etc. you may have some trouble getting the output that you want.

I use an Audient iD44 and I have it pegged to get it where it is acceptable. The Audient can handle it because the pre is clean as a whistle even at max gain. But this will not be the case for a lot of preamps.

This can especially be an issue if you want to live stream with it and are using something 60 db of gain or less. This is unfortunate because this thing would be an insanely good choice to live stream if it was just a little more sensitive.

All in all, incredible mic and also an incredible company. Lauten is one of the few truly innovative companies that is trying to stretch the boundaries for their customers.

Go ahead and order two. You won't have your first one five minutes before wanting a second.

A quick pic of my intents and purposes for the WONDEROUS --- LS 208. Certainly I've waited well over 40 years for this setup for my solo and duo acoustic Early American Roots music. Absolute studio quality sound no matter whether in the studio, coffee houses, house of worship and or street busking. My headroom is amazing outstanding. Certainly not excluding the startling audio quality of the LS 208 all through the dynamic range in all situations.
Guys,you've made my music efforts over the years finally reach my hopes and expectations. I knew what I wanted/needed, and so did you.

The great off axis rejection of the 208 is masterful and critical for this long awaited dream. The harp setup is a "Blows Me Away Productions", 'Bulletini' mic in a BMAP "Rackit" mount. The Rackit really isolates the harmonica wonderfully to prevent extraneous audio from entering the LS 208. Couple that with the nature of the 208, and, MAN OH MAN WOW. Do I ever get true to life audio without cross racket.

Again. Lauten Audio is heroic in my book.

I am the proud owner of a Lauten Audio Atlantis and figured I would roll the dice on the LS-208. I am so happy that I did, this microphone is a gem right out of the box. The mic deserves 7 stars. It is really that good.

I was ready to buy an "industry standard" mic primarily for podcasting and possibly for musical purposes and even had it in my shopping cart. However, I asked for a recommendation from Alex whom I told, "I don't want a product I have to 'apologize' for." In other words, I don't buy stuff where I say, "Oh yeah, it's great, BUT..." I asked him to consider my vocal speaking voice and timbre. That's when he suggested the Luaten LS-208. I was unfamiliar with Lauten, but I trusted Sweetwater's recommendation. I had already recorded about a dozen podcasts with a couple other mics I have. I regret to say that once I heard my first playback (with no EQ or other plug-ins at all), I'm going to have to record them again...this mic ROCKS! My first thought was, "So that is what my voice really sounds like!" Again, this is before any EQ or anything. I play keyboards and have guitarist friend who also has a home studio and offered to let him try it with something he was working on. He A/B'd it with an acoustic guitar track he had already recorded with an SM57 and on which he had done a lot of editing. On playback his jaw dropped. The improvement was tremendous. We both agreed, it didn't just sound good, it sounded MUSICAL. The tone just sang. Again, with no EQ or anything applied. Thank you Sweetwater for this recommendation.

I have a great musician friend who loves Lauten. This microphone came as recommendation from him. I'm primarily a videographer/photographer and needed a better option for voiceover. I did quite a bit of research on my own and found other more commonly recommended mics... but they were either dynamic mics... and for my purposes and setup would have required a cloud lifter and different interface (more $)... or weren't particularly flattering to my voice. I emailed Lauten with questions and the President of the company emailed me back with answers. He recommended the 208. We exchanged a number of emails... always courteous, prompt, and helpful. He assured me that if I purchased a Lauten and didn't like it I was welcome to return it no questions asked. I bit the bullet but was still trepidatious. The microphone finally arrived and I'm still astounded. It's perfect for my modestly treated space... it rejects off-axis very well... and makes it a breeze to record clean and clear narration. I can honestly say this mic was the first to give me the impression I could myself make legitimate professional voiceover. It provides options for sound shaping that work with even my small interface and setup. I couldn't be happier. Thanks also to Cliff at Sweetwater for stellar customer service and help in selecting an XLR cable!

This mic is awesome. Works very well with my tenor voice. Great off-axis rejection for those with inadequate room treatment. This has replaced my Shure SM7B as my go to mic for tracking reference vocals.

I originally purchased the LS-208 for Tracking vocals with a singer in the same room as a drum kit and it works great. It feels like a condensor version of an SM7. The bottom end seems big and it is more sensitive to transients, but still has the isolation. What I did not expect was for it to be great on electric guitar. With this mic alone I can achieve the same sound like an SM57 and a Royer R122 two mic setup. The upper mids are voiced higher than a 57, but I typically like more 4-6Khz on my guitars high end and never feel I am lacking the 2-3Khz bite where the 57 shines. For me, this more vocally voiced response is more musical. Having said that, the LS-208 serves me well on all the instruments I would typically mic with an SM57. It's a drop-in replacement that sounds more the sound of Electric Guitars and Snares on a record.

As with most people who record drums, there has been a standard we all went for to mic the snare. But not now! I bought 2 of of the Lauten Audio LS_208 for the top and bottom of my snare. In a comparison, the LS 208 had much more body, and fullness than other mics. I was actually recording the same sound I heard while playing the drum. On the bottom of the snare the sound was true to what was happening, not the usual buzz sound that is common. Big improvement. Plus it can take any volume level that it is given. I recommend this mic to anyone looking to up their game in the drum recording department.

I've used the LS-208s extensively on a multitude of sources in my studio with fantastic results across the board. The fidelity of a great condenser, with off axis rejection that surpasses that of most dynamic mics. They've become my absolute go-to for snare and hihats. They handle the SPL without any problems, and have a much more "finished" sound straight from the mic than pretty much any of the usual contenders. The off axis sound is minimal, and any bleed that is there is far less spiky, and even tastefully usable. These things excel at vocal recording for any situation I've thrown at them, especially in a live environment where significant rejection is necessary. I've also used The LS-208 for a number of podcast records with stellar results, especially due to their incredibly low handling noise. Again, providing a much more complete image than a lot of the usual contenders. I can't recommend these mics highly enough.

The LS208 has become my desert island mic. It"s so versatile! I"ve been using it on snare, guitar amps, vocals.... or sounds fantastic on everything I point it at. All the filters are really useful and frequencies are set perfectly. It has a much higher output than other "broadcast" mics (it"s a condenser) which means I can keep my noise floor low and it has a better top end as well. Off axis rejection is superb and the mids are big and present with a very full bottom end. I could probably make an entire record with just this mic. 2 different types of mounts are included which is great, one shock mount and another that directly screws on to the body. The shock mount has a very narrow diameter which is great as well so if you wanted to keep the mic on the shockmount you can still get it into some pretty narrow spaces if need be. It came in a high quality very rugged case and also included a pop filter which can be fitted over the front basket. It"s very solidly built. It has that same feel to it as when you close the door on a luxury car. It has a weight to it that feels solid and oozes quality. I am a working professional producer and mixer and if I had to recommend a mic to anyone I recommend this.