It would be nice to have true 3-band eq.
It would be nice to have XLR inputs.
It would be nice to record in 24 bit and not 16.
It would be nice to back songs up on a USB drive, so I don't have to lug this thing into the next room to upload files onto my PC.
It would be nice if it wasn't blue and felt like a toy.

For your money, I would buy the cheapest 4 track that records in 24 bit, because you can't record 8 tracks simultaneously on this anyway. This is a definite step up from my Yamaha anolog 4-track days, but I was still disapointed and wished I had dropped more money. I would buy one of these if you got it real cheap and used it as a portable studio for scratch demos only.

If you have access to more expensive mics then you probably won't like the 990. Its fairly bright, very "live" sounding, and the high end came become brittle and harsh. Its fairly unforgiving of room acoustics, high frequency reflection especially. The smaller diaphram makes it less forgiving of proximity; i.e. like you can't move around too much when singing or playing in instrument in front of it.

I did not care at all for how it sounded on my acoustic guitar. It was harsh when I wanted warm, bright when I wanted full, crisp when I wanted "round". I never bothered to sing into it. I have used it for mic'ing up an electric guitar amp fron a couple feet away, and it suited this well in my opinion. The guitar I tracked came out very "live" sounding, fairly bright with definition and attack. This mic might be nice to have around for a slightly more bright sound that you want to cut through a mix. Basically, I say you should have a quality LDC first but if you can buy 2 of these, fool around with them in stereo, if you hate 'em sell them to someone online or keep them for rare moments you want a different sound.

If you want a great sounding speaker on a budget, buy these - I can't imagine a better sounding speaker for the money. My money is too valuable to buy anything thats low quality in the end, regardless of what budget I'm on. I tried out as many as I could, Truths, KRKs, and M-Audio- the bad quality reviews on M-Audios were enough to keep me far far away from those. But wharfedale gets nothing but praises in the quality department. The only exception with these monitors in my opinion...... are the grilles. They are terrible, I accident broke one taking them OUT of the package. The plastic is brittle. I nhad to go ahead and take the other one off and rock 'em without grilles which is fine by me but I always like to keep gear in good shape for resale if I have to upgrade or whatnot. But I gifure if thats the biggest problem I have, then I'm still doing pretty good.

I've been using this microphone for about six months. Its got a very clear and full sound to me, although it does color it a bit. I went with the thinking that you really can't go wrong with a Shure, and I was not disappointed. The price is very reasonable for a great sounding condenser mic. The shock mount it comes with is a great feature as well, as it makes it extremely easy to place. I also have a MXL 990 and an Audio Technica and I would have to say that this is my favorite of the three even though it is the most expensive. While it doesn't have the craftsmanship or sound of a Neumann, it doesn't claim to and for the price you shouldn't expect it. To me it is worth the price to have a great sounding condenser built with the quality that I am assured of with Shure products. Overall, if I were to break mine I would certainly get a new one.

I've had this mic for about 3 years and the things I like most about it is the great clarity and the price. I've used a few other low end small diaphragm condensers and I would say I like this one the best because it has a great high end frequency response and sounds great on acoustic guitar and cymbals. For the price I couldn't find a better small diaphragm condenser mic and even though it doesn't sound as great as some higher end mics, its got the best price of all of them. I bought it in a pack with the MXL 990, and I like this mic much better than that one. I would have paid the same price I paid for both just for this one. Just because of how cheap it is I plan to keep my MXL 991 for a while even if I decide to upgrade later down the road.

I've had this microphone for about 2 years now and while I'm not totally in love with the sound it produces, I am in love with the price. With microphones like this being as cheap as they are, its feasible for one to have a pretty decent microphone collection at a very nice price. I have a few other condenser microphones such as the Shure KSM27 and an Audio Technica, so this isn't my top microphone, but I love having it around when I need it. The sound quality isn't perfect, but its decent enough to make demos with and for when I need to set up a few condenser microphones. It comes off a bit thin for me. I do like the mid and low range frequency response on the mic though. It does look and feel a bit cheap though, which I guess it is. While if I could do it again I might spend a few more bucks on a better condenser, but for the price this really can't be beat.

I've used this on a handful of home recordings, mostly recording acoustic guitar and male vocals. this is only my second condensor with the first being an MXL 990 I was very pleased with how warm and "un-harsh" this mic sounds.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to try out many LDC mics but from my experience and the ton of reviews I read before making my decision to buy it- you cant go wrong spending the 100 bucks on it. It suits the vintage, folky, "warm" kinda sound I am looking for when tracking my acoustic guitar playing. It gives me a nice thick sound while retaining enough clarity to satisfy me, though I imagine the lack higher-end detail and definition could keep it from cutting through the mix if you were tracking multiple instruments.

Even with my limited experience, I doubt I would use this mic on electric guitar amps. It doesn't capture the attack as crisply as other mics would.