Blue Snowball vs iCE (2022): What’s The Difference?

Blue’s lineup of USB mics feature some of the top-selling microphones in the market. A lot of popular YouTube personalities, streamers, podcasters and content creators use Blue microphones since they offer excellent price to performance. In this article, we’ll be taking a look at two of Blue’s most affordable microphones—the Blue Snowball and the Blue Snowball iCE. We’ll compare the two to find out how they differ so that you can choose the mic that is right for you.

Blue Snowball vs iCE Comparison Chart

Design & Build Quality

The Blue Snowball and Snowball iCE have the same design.

Design-wise, they are pretty much the same. They both have a rounded shape with a 325mm circumference and they both weigh 460 grams. Located at the front is the Blue logo that is surrounded by grill cutouts. Overall, they look nice and they have a small footprint that won’t take up too much space.

Both the Blue Snowball and Snowball iCE are made up of mostly plastic. However, this doesn’t mean that they are terrible. It’s the opposite actually, they look sturdy and they have solid builds. The plastic used seem to be of good quality, so you don’t have to worry about their durability if you ever buy one or both of them.

They both come with desktop tripod stands that are decent, but not exactly great. The stands have rubber grips at the bottom, so they will be fine as long as they are set in place and you don’t move them around.

Click here to read our Blue Yeti vs Blue Snowball iCE comparison

Features

The Blue Snowball has a cardioid and omnidirectional polar pattern while the Snowball iCE only has cardioid.

When it comes to features, the only difference between the Blue Snowball and Snowball iCE is the omnidirectional pickup pattern that comes with the Blue Snowball. This additional pickup pattern allows the Blue Snowball to have more flexibility than the Snowball iCE since you can use it in more scenarios.

As mentioned above, their designs are practically the same at the front. At the back though, there is a three way switch on the Blue Snowball that allows you to choose the pickup pattern. The first position is for the cardioid pickup pattern, which the Snowball iCE also has. In the second position is also a cardioid pattern but this time, the sensitivity is reduced so that you can capture loud sounds better and with more fidelity.

The third switch position gives the Blue Snowball an omnidirectional pickup pattern that allows it to capture every sound around it. This is great for group podcasts or interviews and any scenario where you need to capture sound from different directions using only one microphone.

Both the Blue Snowball and Snowball iCE are USB mics that are plug and play. They are both compatible with Windows 10, Windows 8 (including 8.1), Windows 7, Windows Vista,Windows XP (Home and Professional), and Mac OS X (10.4.11 or higher).

Performance

The Blue Snowball is more versatile than the Snowball iCE due to its additional pickup pattern.

Versatility is the one thing that separates the Blue Snowball and Blue Snowball iCE. The omnidirectional pickup pattern of the Blue Snowball gives you the option to use only one mic in different scenarios such as interviews, group discussions and many more. With the Blue Snowball iCE, you are limited, since it only has a cardioid pickup pattern.

As for sound quality, they are pretty much the same. They both sound good across a wide range of frequencies and they can be used for personal calls and professional content. Skype calls and other personal calls will sound great with these mics. They are also suitable for streamers, content creators, podcasters and more.

Verdict

Pick the Blue Snowball if you’ll be needing its omnidirectional pickup pattern, otherwise, go with the Snowball iCE.

Since they are pretty much the same, the only difference is the omnidirectional pickup pattern option of the Blue Snowball, choosing one will depend on whether you’ll be needing that particular pickup pattern option. If you are going to use the mic in scenarios that require you to capture sounds in different directions with only one mic, then the obvious choice is the regular Blue Snowball. However, if you only need a cardioid mic, then the cheaper Blue Snowball iCE is the smarter pick.

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