Blue Yeti vs Blue Snowball iCE (2021): Choosing Affordable USB Microphones

Without a doubt, Blue is among the most well-known USB microphone makers in the scene. In fact, many podcasters, YouTubers, Twitch streamers, and the like turn to its mics for everyday recording with high-quality audio.

Each one of its products offers a little something different over the others, making it fairly difficult to choose. Lots of people narrow down their choices to the standard Blue Yeti and Snowball iCE since both have a decent price-to-performance ratio. In a word, the former is relatively feature-packed, while the latter is more of a bare-bones mic. But that’s oversimplifying things.

Blue Yeti vs Blue Snowball iCE Comparison Chart

Design and Build

Arguably, the Blue Yeti is the better looker, and it’s more durable to boot.

Now the first things that’ll likely jump out at you is the Blue Yeti and Snowball iCE have radically distinct form factors. The Yeti has a cylindrical shape that’s typical of the Yeti line, while the Snowball iCE is circular, as its name suggests.

Regarding build quality, the Yeti has the clear upper hand. From its stand to its body, it’s made out of solid metal that promises long-lasting durability. Along a similar vein, its dials aren’t loose, and they’re hard to turn but in a good way. On the other hand, the Snowball iCE is a plastic affair, and even though that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, it still feels quite sturdy.

Features and Performance

The Blue Snowball iCE can’t hold a candle to the Yeti in features.

Specs-wise, the Blue Yeti trumps the Snowball iCE across the board. For starters, it has three capsules as opposed to one. Also, it has a higher sample rate of 48 kHz and a wider frequency response that ranges from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The Snowball iCE has a 44.1 kHz sample rate and a 40 Hz to 18 kHz frequency response range, for the record.

It doesn’t end there either. The Snowball iCE only has a cardioid pickup pattern, but the Yeti has four to choose from. Namely, it has cardioid for streams and podcasts, omnidirectional for 360-degree audio, stereo for capturing a realistic sound image, and bidirectional for face-to-face interviews.

Compared to the Yeti, the Snowball iCE is devoid of physical controls. There’s no mute button or volume and gain control knobs, and there’s definitely no built-in mic monitoring or pickup pattern toggle, all of which the Yeti has. However, that somewhat makes the Snowball iCE appealing because it offers a no-frills, plug-and-play experience.

Price and Value

The Blue Snowball iCE blows the Yeti out of the water when it comes to price.

Right off the bat, the Blue Yeti costs more than twice as the Snowball iCE. The main thing to consider here then is whether the features of the Yeti are worth the higher price tag. On that note, a mute button, gain control, and mic monitoring are hard to pass up.

For professionals or those who simply want more control over their microphones, the Yeti gives more bang for the buck. However, for casual streamers and podcast makers, such features might not really be necessary. In addition, being limited to the Snowball iCE’s cardioid pickup pattern is probably a nonissue for them since it’s likely what they’ll use most of the time anyway.

Verdict

The Blue Yeti clearly has lots of advantages, but the Snowball iCE still has its appeal.

Both USB microphones can deliver in terms of performance, but the Blue Yeti is just better. That’s because it has more features, controls, and pickup patterns. On top of that, it has a wider frequency response range and a higher sample rate.

Still, the Snowball iCE isn’t without its charm. As mentioned earlier, it’s a basic, straightforward plug-and-play microphone, and if nothing else, simplicity is its biggest strength. What’s more, it’s a lot more affordable than the Yeti.

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