LewittRAY Microphone with Autofocus for Your Voice - Mute by Distance and Mute Button - for Podcasts, Streaming, Content and Music in Studio Quality - 1" Studio Condenser Capsule

This microphone does exactly what it was intended to do and it does it well. Some things to take note of. The voice clarity actually sounds a little better when Aura is turned off. The difference is very minute but you can hear it. Of course, however, when Aura is off, you lose the flexibility of distance. Also, If you plan to use Aura permanently, make sure you turn the gain of your interface up a few dbs. I have compared it to my 440 and I can hear the drop in my volume. I assume that is the mechanism designed to keep your voice at level. Finally...Aura works great but...if you are in an untreated room like I am, Aura will also magnify the lack of treatment as you move away from the mic. I know reviews out there show that that is the case but I think it is more evident when your room is untreated. Sometimes I do enjoy the freedom of a little movement when using a microphone and the Ray gives me just that. But I still have to be mindful of too much distance or, even though my voice remains level, the sound of being in a cave grows louder.

Lewitt makes fantastic microphones and this one is no different. The sound is very natural and the Aurora gimmick works very well, but I did find that the more I used it the more I turned it off. Due to the fact that I like my gain at one setting even if I move around.

My first pro mic purchase you can say. I love using this mic for stream. Ray feature is great if you like to move and the mute distance thing is great. Just make sure to crank up some gain when using the ray feature.

First, a caveat, I haven't yet used this microphone for a project, I've only tested it. When I did, I discovered a low-level grounding buzz, and after doing some trail/error testing, I determined it was coming from the microphone, not a faulty XLR or preamp. I've set up a return, and they are sending me a new one.So, there's no way to know what the true noise floor will be like until I receive the replacement. I hope it's lower than the first unit I received, because if you subtract the buzz, there's still a healthy amount of background 'hiss.' I'm fairly sure it's part of the same issue, but I will update this review when I receive the new one.Having said all of that, I could tell that the quality of the sound will be excellent, especially at this price-point. And, I tested the 'aura' feature and it was as expected. It's very smooth, and the comparison to auto-focus on cameras is an apt one. I will remind you, 'aura' will literally adjust the sensitivity of the microphone to add level, so the room you're using needs to be quiet, and relatively free of reverb/echo artifacts. Mine is, so I was excited to begin using this microphone for our podcast interviews. (our host isn't a daily mic user, she lacks experience with mic technique, so the Lewitt RAY is perfect for her)Why am I writing this review now, instead of waiting for the new unit? Because I'm disappointed in the replacement process of the seller. First, I can't return the defective unit to a brick-and-mortar location, such as Kohl's, it has to be shipped from a UPS location. So, no refund would be applied to my account until they received it, and the pre-paid label they provide is very low priority.Unfortunately, that same low-priority service is also the way they are sending the replacement unit. When I bought the first one, it arrived next-day. Unfortunately, there isn't even a target date for delivery of the replacement unit, only a several-day span. It could literally take as long as a week to receive it.This is unacceptable. I would expect the second unit to be sent with the same priority as the first. I ordered the microphone with several projects in mind, and I've had to change the record schedule and use an existing Neumann microphone. That's not a huge deal, but it's not nothing. There was a reason I wanted to use the Lewitt RAY.This seems like an isolated issue, and I'll update my review when I receive the replacement, which is still, apparently, several days away. Bummer.

Great response, packaging and raw sound.

I'm not getting paid for this review or anything, this is just my favorite piece of audio gear in 2024, and I think it's one of the biggest developments in microphones in my lifetime. I can't trust anyone who would give this microphone less than 5 stars.The AURA sensor works even better than I expected, and I had very high expectations. It gives you cleaner, better sounding raw audio, and makes post-processing much faster and easier because it eliminates all the volume issues you normally need to fix manually, or with compression/noise-gating.Even without AURA or mute by distance, the build and audio quality of this mic is top-notch.I've tested 50+ microphones, and this one has earned a permanent spot on my boom arm.