8 Best ASMR Microphones For Immersive Sound Recordings

Martin Kristiansen

My name is Martin Kristiansen and I’m the founder and chief editor of HomeStudioIdeas.com. I’ve been playing, recording and producing music for the last 10 years.

I’ve tested 8 different mics to find the best ASMR microphone available! My top picks can capture everything from soft whispers to isolated ambient noises – in great detail. A great microphone is a must and will enhance your video’s quality and give you a true immersive sound recording.

Let’s dive right into my reviews!

At a Glance: Our Pick of the Best ASMR Microphones

I tested eight products and found the Blue Yeti USB microphone to be the best ASMR microphone for most users.

However, as someone with experience in voiceover work, I know that getting the right equipment for the job takes more than looking for a mic with great reviews and buying that. People have different needs for microphones, and you might even end up selecting more than one option as the best microphone for ASMR in your setup.

I like the Blue Yeti mic because it’s reasonably small, offers excellent quality, and it’s compatible with most devices you’ll want to record ASMR on. It’s not the best mic on the market in terms of pure quality, but it offers a good balance of price and performance for newcomers and veterans alike. 

Other options on this list include premium choices, dynamic mics, portable mics, and more. These are useful for different recording setups, so make sure you check out the reviews for those to see if they meet your needs. 

Keep reading to find out which mics I recommend and why.

Blue Yeti USB Microphone – Best Overall

The Blue Yeti is one of the most popular microphones on the market, and with good reason. This deceptively simple-looking mic has four pickup modes you can switch between, giving you the versatility to customize ASMR recordings without having to order multiple mics for it.

Installation is easy thanks to the simple USB connection, while a headphone output gives you better control while operating a headset. This microphone picks up sounds from up to several feet away, and the multiple pickup patterns make it easy to reduce or even eliminate noises coming from other directions.

Put simply, this microphone is a particularly popular choice among many professional streamers and voice actors, and that alone is an excellent indicator of its quality. You can even use it in areas without soundproofing if you set the sensitivity correctly.

Unfortunately, even the best products have their flaws. In this case, Blue often has poor customer service if things go wrong with the mic, so it may take some time to get a proper replacement if you have issues. That can be a major disruption to your ASMR recording schedule.

Audio Technica AT2020 – Best Value

In this context, “value” is a slightly tricky term to define. It’s not that much cheaper than the Blue Yeti above, which is my top recommendation for most buyers. However, going too much cheaper means you’ll be sacrificing audio quality, and that’s one of the worst things you can do when buying an ASMR microphone. There’s no point in getting a mic too cheap to work.

The AT2020 is a cardioid-pattern microphone that ships with a protective pouch in case you need to travel. It doesn’t come with a full stand, but it does include a stand mount for 5/8”-27 threaded stands, and an adapter that lets it convert to a 3/8”-16 threaded stand instead. That’s a nice touch, especially for something in the budget range.

This is an excellent mic to consider if you plan to stay mainly in one place and provide the same audio to both of your listeners’ ears. It has a wide dynamic range and high SPL, both of which further support ASMR recordings.

This is a solid mic overall, but like all microphones, it has its flaws. The primary limit in comparison to the Yeti is the lack of switches and other options. This mic does one job well, but getting a value-focused mic doesn’t help much if you need to buy several other microphones to ensure proper recording.

In short, think hard before you go for this mic. It’s not a poor choice by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s always better to get the best mic you can. For more information on this microphone, check out our full review. 

Neumann TLM 102 – Best Premium ASMR Mic

Neumann’s TLM 102 is essentially the opposite of the AT2020 above. While both are cardioid-pattern mics that work well for front recording, the TLM 102 is a premium-quality microphone with a price to match. While there are more expensive mics on the market, most of them don’t pick up vocals quite as well, and that’s what matters for ASMR.

It’s hard to give this mic too much praise. The recordings are crisp and accurate, and you’ll quite literally hear the difference if you compare it to any lower-quality mic. This microphone has a linear frequency response at up to 6 kHz, with a slight boost above that to improve the sound of voices in mixed recordings.

The integrated pop screen is a nice touch, too, since you don’t have to buy that separately. Expect to get a mount separately, but that’s normal for ASMR microphones and something I can hold too much against this product.

The TLM 102 has no real flaws aside from the rare manufacturing hiccup, but its strengths can be an issue for some buyers. Put simply, this is a professional-quality microphone, and it takes recording experience to get the most out of it. Between that and the price, I can’t recommend this to newcomers. Pros looking for the best equipment should consider the TLM 102, though. 

Zoom H3-VR 360° VR Audio Recorder – Best Portable ASMR Mic

Now here’s an unusual microphone for ASMR recording, but one that certainly has its appeal in some environments. Zoom’s H3-VR isn’t merely an omnidirectional audio recorder, it’s a 360-degree recorder. The difference is that an omnidirectional recorder outputs flat audio, while a 360-degree retains the location information and can make it sound like you’re moving around.

This is an advanced ASMR technique, so it’s hard to recommend it to newcomers. However, this is the sort of mic that can also integrate with things like virtual reality or 360-degree video to create a truly immersive experience. You could record 360-audio with the right equipment, but it took lots of extra time, money, and processing power.

This surprisingly compact microphone connects to many cameras and has a six-axis motion sensor to help match the audio to your videos. As if that wasn’t enough, it has standard stereo options so you can record that way, too.

The H3-VR isn’t necessary for all ASMR recordings, but it’s a fantastic choice if you want to do 360-degree audio or record while you’re on the move. Companion software lets you control the mic from a smart device or edit in post-production with fully integrated systems.

Honestly, I like this better than the Blue Yeti. That’s mainly my personal preference because I like flexible, studio-grade equipment, but the complexity stops me from recommending it as the best overall. 360-degree mics might be the future of ASMR, though, so keep an eye on products like these.

Sennheiser Ambeo Smart Headset – Best Binaural Microphone For ASMR

Wait, it’s a headset? Isn’t this a review about microphones? That’s what I thought, too, but Sennheiser found a way to put dual microphones into this headset while maintaining a surprisingly high level of quality. This isn’t what I expected to find, but after testing them, honesty compels me to give them the win here.

Specifically, this headset works mainly with iOS devices, and it’s particularly good if you’re moving around in quieter areas. It doesn’t offer the same performance as Zoom’s H3-VR for 360-degree sound, but it does maintain the left and right distinction for your listeners.

The headset component includes active noise cancellation technology, which is quite helpful for recording ASMR while you’re on the go. The one thing some people may not like is that these are wired in-ear headphones, rather than wireless. However, it would be hard to have decent audio and decent microphones and batteries all in one tiny package, so I can’t complain. 

Rode NT-USB Condenser Microphone – Best Condenser Mic For ASMR

Condenser microphones are a great alternative to traditional mics. For those who aren’t familiar with the difference, this is the type of microphone that many studios use for professional recordings. Special plates on the inside of the mic provide particularly good recording quality for the human voice range.

This mic is almost too good, which is one reason it’s not a contender for best overall. That sounds like a strange complaint to have about a microphone, but it could pick up sounds like the hum of distant appliances or the rustle of your clothes. There’s no denying that this is a truly fantastic microphone, but you’ll need a sound-controlled area to get the most from it. 

Shure SM7B – Best Dynamic ASMR Mic

Shure’s SM7B is a dynamic cardioid microphone with built-in air suspension shock isolation and a pop filter. Functionally, this means it helps remove mechanical noises and unwanted breathiness while keeping the overall quality. Many people have microphones near computer equipment, so reducing humming from that is critical.

Dynamic mics like this one are useful for making ASMR in moderately noisy environments. The condenser microphone above is objectively better in terms of pickup range, but that very sensitivity makes it harder to use in some environments. This microphone works better for creating ASMR in somewhat noisier areas.

The SM7B is essentially the industry standard for a good dynamic microphone. It’s not my top choice for ASMR, but it is a great choice for some environments. For more information on this, see our full review of the SM7B. 

Sennheiser MKE 600 – Best Shotgun Mic For ASMR

If you’re going unidirectional, it’s often better to go all the way. Sennheiser is a great microphone company (good enough to get onto this list twice, even), and their MKE 600 stands out as one of the best directional mics on the market. This mic has practically no side noise, while a foam windshield and shock mount help prevent the noises from moving around.

This microphone works particularly well at capturing lower frequencies, including deeper and quieter speech. The excellent directivity allows you to put the mic at a comfortable distance, too, and you can power it through either phantom power on a connected device or a built-in battery.

The major limitation of this microphone is that you’ll need to test it and figure out exactly the right spot to sit so you can get the best quality. Other mics have more flexibility, but the MKE 600 intentionally takes directionality to the extreme. For a comparison to other shotgun-style mics, see our reviews of the best shotgun mics. 

Buying Guide – Choosing the Best ASMR Microphone

Here are some things to consider when you’re shopping for the best ASMR microphone.

Features

ASMR microphones have many potential features. However, the most useful features include an option to change the pickup pattern and various shields to help prevent popping and noise from appliances.

Condenser mics are particularly good for ASMR thanks to their sensitivity. Dynamic mics are a better choice in noisy environments where microphones that are too sensitive may pick up unwanted noise.

Problems

Perhaps the biggest problem with ASMR microphones is positioning. Placing the mics at the right distance to pick up all the subtle tones of your voice without getting distracting external sounds takes trial and error, and there’s no way to get around that except by extensive testing.

The good news is that you can reduce or eliminate most problems by setting up a proper recording environment. Keeping the room as soundproof as possible will give you more flexibility for positioning mics and maximizing your recording quality.

What Are Pickup Patterns?

Microphones come in several pickup patterns, and choosing the pattern you want is essential for creating good ASMR. For more information on them, check out this handy guide.

Cardioid

Cardioid microphones are one of the most popular choices for single-person audio recording. They have a heart-shaped pickup area (hence the name), with the most sensitivity directly in front and the least sensitivity directly behind the mic. This is a good choice for anyone starting out.

Hypercardioid

Hypercardioid microphones have an even narrower pickup pattern than cardioid setups. This helps reduce ambient sound even further, but it limits where you can stand or sit while recording your audio. These are workable, but may be a little tough for ASMR.

Figure 8

Figure 8 patterns, sometimes known as bidirectional mics, are essentially overlapping cardioid pickups placed directly opposite each other. This means that people can stand on either side of the microphone and be heard equally well, but anything to the side gets muted.

This isn’t overly common in ASMR, but you can use Figure 8 microphones to record sounds to play from different sides, so they have their uses.

Omnidirectional

Omnidirectional microphones pick up audio from practically every angle. By themselves, these aren’t a great choice for ASMR because they can pick up many unwanted sounds. However, the advent of 360-degree audio recording can help create far more immersive recordings, and I expect to see more of this in the future.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many options when you’re looking for the best ASMR mic. At a certain point, the specific microphone matters less than the general recording quality. Any of the options above will work, but some are better for specific setups.

I like the Blue Yeti because it offers plenty of recording flexibility and decent quality at a reasonable cost. It’s certainly not the best microphone on the market, but it’s a great choice for newcomers who want to experiment with recording modes.

There’s no substitute for personal experience, though. Click on the product links above to order an ASMR microphone and start hearing the difference a great mic makes.