The USB connection may turn the pros away, but it makes the Snowflake simple to operate.
Microphones often decline in quality as form factor shrinks, giving audio producers on the move a difficult choice between bulky gear and full fidelity. The Snowflake splits those distinctions, making it a great option for podcasters, laptop users, or others who need portable audio-capture gear. The ball-shaped microphone includes an analog-to-digital converter, pulling in audio through a USB connection—all you need is a Mac and your audio software of choice. Even stuffing the processing circuits inside, the Blue Microphones Snowflake sounds amazing.
OS X automatically reads the mic’s USB-audio signal without any drivers. In our tests, the Snowflake also worked instantly with GarageBand, Sound Studio, and other software. But before we even plugged it in, its design impressed us. The microphone is permanently attached to a swiveling hinge on a metal sled. When closed, the mic locks with the plastic case in a yin-yang handshake. The ball can face inward to protect the grille in transit. The design lets the Snowflake sit on a desktop at a few angles—even perching over a laptop LCD. Rubber feet keep it from scuffing the computer.
Clever design aside, the sound-recording quality makes this a great microphone for a range of situations. Home-based and mobile podcasters can take it anywhere, but even audio pros can rely on it in a pinch. To our ears, the microphone sharply captured a range of high and low sounds, including voices and an acoustic guitar. The cardioid sensitivity pattern picks up ambient sounds too; we could hear the MacBook fan while recording with the Snowflake resting on the LCD frame, and it captured background chatter in the room. So like other microphones, you’ll need to record in a silent room—a few feet away from a laptop—for best results.
The Blue Snowflake’s recording quality is even more impressive than its smart, compact design. Podcasts and even casual home-music productions sound rich and complete.
Big sound in a small package. Many ways to rotate and position the device. Can fold in on itself for travel. USB audio connection is convenient.
Picks up ambient noise, making it fine for chatting, not production. USB connection means it works only with computers. 
jantolak61
June 20, 2009 at 8:45pm
If your intention is to use this microphone perched on top of your laptop screen while doing video chat (or Skype), this microphone might not be your best choice. In fact, for iChat or Skype, the built-in mic is probably better than perching this mic on top of your laptop screen. Blue advertises that you can perch the mic on top of the laptop screen, and this is also mentioned in the review. However, this does not give good results under normal circumstances. The recording levels you get are just too low to give a decent volume. With a normal speaking voice, you need to have the mic about 6 inches (or less) away from your mouth to get decent recording levels. I contacted Blue Microphones about this, and they confirmed that the levels I'm getting are appropriate and that there is nothing wrong with my microphone. For recordings in Garageband (for example), you can amplify after the fact, but voice quality is not good. It just does not work well for video chat, unless you hold the mic close to your mouth, which is not really what Blue advertises.If someone knows how to get decent results with the microphone perched on top of the laptop screen and sitting a normal distance away (estimate 15-18 inches or so), I would gladly eat my words.That said, the mic is quite nice for recording audio, if you place the mic close to your mouth to get good recording levels. The resulting voice quality is quite good (to my ears). It is a definite upgrade compared to the built-in mic.
