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Here is the frequency response I get when talking from a distance of four finger-widths into my Samson Q2U connected via USB:

enter image description here

The recording is linked. It was produced in Audacity without any postprocessing.

This is what they show in the manual (page 20):

enter image description here

Is the uneven response that I got normal, or is my mic defective?

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    Your first image is NOT the frequency response. It is the combination of the frequency response of the mic (your second image) plus the frequencies in your voice. It will never be an even response, as your voice is not identical across all frequencies
    – Rory Alsop ♦
    Commented Aug 2 at 21:42
  • Given my other post, I want to somehow test whether my mic is working according to specs. How can I do that?
    – AlwaysLearning
    Commented Aug 3 at 18:05
  • 1
    @AlwaysLearning You’ll need tools like an anechoic chamber and calibrated wide response speaker system.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Aug 3 at 23:01
  • @ToddWilcox Given this, what would you advise practically speaking?
    – AlwaysLearning
    Commented Aug 4 at 6:49
  • I would always advise getting an XLR mic and a quality interface because computers are flakey things.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Aug 4 at 12:48

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It's impossible to tell if your mic is defective, but the recorded audio sounds fine, so I wouldn't expect so.

The Q2U frequency response given by the manufacturer is the frequency response the mic gives when fed with a burst of noise across the audible spectrum which has frequency components of the same amplitude at every frequency across the spectrum. This may have been computed as a delta function fed into a simulation or a real world test/measurement situation. It essentially shows that for any given frequency of a given amplitude (within operational parameters) in the audible spectrum the mic is flat, roughly, between 100Hz - 10Khz ish.

The spectrum of your voice recording is showing what frequency components your voice contains. It looks about right, the peak at 345Hz is around the fundamental of your voice, you may get components a bit lower too. Moving closer to the mic you'll get more proximity effect, ie extra bass response, and conversely as you move further away from the mic this will be less prominent.

The manufacturer graph is a snapshot of how the mic should behave given a flat even spectrum of frequencies. Your voice is giving the mic a complex signal that is far from flat and its profile is what you are measuring in the first graph. If your voice were the sort of signal to produce the response in the second graph it would sound like white noise when you spoke!

You could compare the manufacturers plot with the plot of your voice if you had a second mic with a known good frequency response, and then you would be able to see, maybe, if your mic is behaving close to spec in certain areas with a bit of data extrapolation.

Generally though, your mic sounds fine and the plot is what I would expect for male speech, so I have no reason to suspect it's faulty.

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  • I have a reason to suspect that it's faulty because initially it gave nothing above 4KHz unless talking directly into it. I was about to return it, but discovered that it behaved better when either connected through a splitter or to another USB port. I describe this here. This is why I must determine whether it is really working before the return window expires.
    – AlwaysLearning
    Commented Aug 3 at 18:09
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    @AlwaysLearning If you have a return window then there should also be a process by which you would get an RMA for returning it. That suggests you can and should reach out to Sampson support and/or the retailer you purchased it from to help you determine whether it’s defective or not.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Aug 3 at 23:06
  • @ToddWilcox I bought it from Amazon and I can easily return it, no questions asked. The problem is that returning it will set me back several weeks in my project, because I will need to wait for another mic to arrive. Hence, if the mic is OK, I want to keep it and begin to make progress.
    – AlwaysLearning
    Commented Aug 4 at 6:54

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