Blue Yeti Pro

The basics

The Yeti Pro is the latest high-end microphone from Blue, claiming the title of the world's highest resolution USB mic currently available. As well as offering excellent sound quality, it's also made to a high standard, and provides decent value for money.

The good

One of the bits we like the most about the Yeti Pro is its build quality, and it wouldn't look out of place among the most expensive recording equipment. Made almost entirely out of metal, with a heavy duty stand and foam base, it really is finished to a high standard.

Along with a 5-pin XLR connection for hooking up a preamplifier, you can connect the Yeti Pro to your laptop, PC or Mac using a USB cable, with a mini USB port on the device itself. It also draws its power via USB, so there's no need for additional cables.

We like the attention to detail with the Yeti Pro, with an amplified headphone socket built into the mic, along with volume controls so you can hear what's being recorded without any distortion. There's a mute button to stop recordings at the flick of a finger, along with the ability to fine tune the recordings themselves via pattern and gain controls.

The Pro really scores points when it comes to sound quality, however, and it's capable of sampling rates of up to 192kHz – considerably more than the 44kHz many CDs are recorded at. The rest of your hardware will have to be decent to keep up, however, with the ability to accumulate massive files when recording at the highest quality.

The bad

Offering excellent sound quality, a neat design and impressive materials, there really isn't anything to dislike about Blue's Yeti Pro. Just make sure your accompanying hardware is capable of keeping up.

The bottom line

If you're in the market for a high-end USB mic, then look no further than the Yeti Pro. Capable of recording at levels that can bring many computers to a halt, it's all you're likely to need.