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In an attempt to round up many similar questions about this family of mics, I'm adding more generic information into this question.

I bought a Neewer NW-800 to record with on my computer. When I got it, it was hissing like crazy and my voice was super low, so I looked into it and apparently you need a power source externally from your PC.
So I bought an external phantom power unit. It fixed the low sound issue but not the buzzing/hissing issue. It uses a 3.5mm jack.
I looked online again and most people say you need a "USB audio interface" to remove buzzing completely, is the Scarlett 2i2 good to remove the buzzing/hissing?

Here's me doing a snap test

I am on a budget. What would remove hissing/buzzing?

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You need both a microphone preamp and phantom power, which is a specialist 48v power supply specifically for low-impedance condenser microphones.
It tends to be uneconomical to buy these as separate items on semi-pro & home audio rigs. You can, but a modern USB mic preamp will almost always be able to supply phantom too.

As always seems to happen with these mics, they are bought by people for whom it is their first venture into the audio field, beyond a headset mic.

Unfortunately, nothing in any of these ads [nor in any data supplied with the mic itself] tells you precisely what you are going to need if you've never done this before - nor do they even supply the right cables in the box to be able to do it.
Theoretically, you can get a signal out of them by using a PC's built-in low voltage supply that can power headsets.
In practise, that really doesn't work well at all - so then people buy a phantom supply, without realising they still really need something to get the signal into the computer at good levels.

If you bought either a separate phantom power supply or a separate mic preamp without phantom & can return it, do so, you don't need them separately.

BTW, there is nothing inherently wrong with these phantom supplies, it's just they are more use to a pro sound crew with 48 mic inputs on their desk, but only have phantom on the first 24, for instance. Keeping a box of these on the truck is a cheap, efficient alternative to a more expensive desk.

Even on the picture for these supplies it shows you need to connect it to a preamp.

enter image description here

Preamps are readily-available with built-in phantom power & USB connection.
They become the instant bridge between your mic & your computer. They supply the correct phantom power to the mic & become a useable input for the computer.

Get anything like the following list obtained by Googling "USB Phantom" -
Random selection on Amazon
Example -

enter image description here

They run from approx £30 to many hundreds, depending on number of inputs/features etc.
All you need as a basic starter kit is 1 mic input with phantom power.

You also need a male-female XLR cable which will connect to the pre-amp's mic input, which those mics are not supplied with.

enter image description here

Modified from my answer at https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/322301/xlr-microphone-not-working-with-phantom-power-supply

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  • Thank you very much, so the Scarlett 2i2 could do what i need? Is it good?
    – Anders
    Commented Apr 21, 2018 at 11:49
  • Should do. I've not used anything by Focusrite in a long long time, but people seem to like them & they're still around decades after I last used them, so presumably they're fine.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 21, 2018 at 11:53
  • 1
    Thank you! I had no idea about any of this so its loads of useful info. i appreciate the help very much
    – Anders
    Commented Apr 21, 2018 at 11:55
  • Most welcome :)
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Apr 21, 2018 at 11:56
  • "Theoretically, you can get a signal out of them by using a PC's built-in low voltage supply that can power headsets." That's not just theory: an electret condensor capsule like the one used in this mic does not need more than that. But microphone inputs of PCs are notoriously bad, limiting the achievable quality. The BM800 essentially is a cheap capsule in a fancy housing and with automatic phantom power support (I should be surprised if it actually does a proper balanced connection with an XLR cable). That makes for comparatively noisy output even with a good sound card.
    – user107063
    Commented May 25, 2023 at 14:21

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