Delphos II Condenser Microphone

“I was blown away by this mic from the first time I used it.”

“I am amazed by how much depth and clarity I get with the Delphos II. It is my go-to mic for recording classical guitar.”

“The Delphos fulfills what I need in a mic—something with character that I can plug in, turn on and have it already sound good without tweaking and EQing the heck out of the recording to get the best sound. I have used the heck out of it!"

“The Delphos sounds good on everything -- clean and big.”

“The Delphos has a very beautiful sound when recording. It can express the performer’s personality.”

“For me, what makes Delphos a great microphone is that it gives amazing character on a recording, especially on the vocals, that I can’t find on any other mics—even those that are double and triple the price. It gives me special textures in the whole frequency range, a sense of both ‘naturality’ and vocals that feel supernatural. The Delphos delivers a perfect vocal that sounds how you would hear it if the person was in front of you singing in your ear. It allows me to create big vocals that are smooth, not boxy, boomy or invasive in the mix. I have never found a mic that can give me the smooth high end the way the Delphos can.”

“The first session I used the Delphos for was when we recorded the trumpets and trombone on Ricardo Montaner’s new album. Horns are particularly hard to mic. They sound one way live but it usually takes a lot of processing to translate accurately on a recording. When I heard the way they sounded through the Delphos, I was blown away. The mic totally captured how the room was sounding organically, but with a depth of character that cut through the mix.

“The mic’s versatility allows me to use it with portable rigs, vocals, acoustic and electric guitars and drums. It has a unique presence on male vocals, achieving great clarity without added sibiliance. It gives me a more authentic tone without having to manipulate the track in the EQ process.”

“One of the first things that struck me about the Delphos is just how good it sounds by itself with nothing on it. It’s the warmest mic I have ever used, comparable to but even better than the Neumann U87. I just plug it into the pre-amp, bring the gain up and get an amazing sound. It’s also the quietest mic I have ever worked with as far as noise floor is concerned. It creates a magical combination with the UAD Apollo pre-amp. I have $12,000 mics in the studio and haven’t turned them on in years because I have the Delphos.”

If you are shopping for a multi-pattern condenser, the Aztec and Delphos II cover a huge amount of sonic territory. The Aztec offers 9 polar patterns, switchable pad, and switchable HPF. Its voicing is closer to the Colares than to the Delphos II, and it creates even-order harmonics (like vintage tube microphones).

Both the Delphos II and Colares are best-sellers for vocals. The Delphos II is often preferred for productions that use heavy processing (tuning, compression, EQ), while the Colares is often preferred for productions where a more natural sound is needed. If you use solid-state preamps without phony DSP "console sim" effects, the Colares will capture tracks like a vintage tube mic would (albeit with less noise).

The Mini K87 uses a similar capsule design, audio circuit design, and voicing as the Delphos II. It has fewer features (no pad, single pattern), and it lacks the "dimensionality" that the Delphos II is known for. If you would use this mic just for VO, choose the Mini K87. Most customers prefer the Delphos II on vocals and acoustic guitar, but if your budget will not accommodate the Delphos II, the Mini K87 is a close 2nd place.