This is the review of the comparison between the two microphones from two popular brands in the market. The comparison here is between the Blue en.CORE 100i and the Shure SM57. There is around ten dollars difference in their price range currently which makes the difference in their performances. To know which one is good for you to buy, got to the detailed review.

Blue en.CORE 100i	Shure SM57
BUY NOW	BUY NOW
PROS	PROS
Nice build quality. Durable construction. Has nice clarity. Affordable price.	Die-cast steel construction. Won’t pick up too much external noise from other parts of your house, outside, etc. Affordable.
CONS	CONS
Not good at rejecting the plosives.	Susceptible to ‘plosives’ when used without a pop-shield.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Detail Review:

INTRODUCTION:

Blue en.CORE 100i

The Blue en.CORE 100i is the instrument version of the en.CORE 100 and if you do want to pick this microphone and you are able to find it on Amazon, it’ll set you back around ninety dollars currently.

Shrue SM57

The Shure SM57 is a very well-known industry-standard microphone and probably every music studio in the world owns one of these for much good reason. This microphone is retailing for around a hundred dollars currently on amazon.

DESIGN:

Blue en.CORE 100i

This mic has got a nice design to it with the metal construction. As far as the build quality, this microphone feels pretty dang stellar. It has an all-metal body, a metal grille, and a good amount of weight to it. When you do compare it to the en.CORE 100 which is the vocal version of this microphone, you can see the 100 is slightly longer and the other big differentiating factor is the 100 has the rivets along the side to help with gripping when you are hand holding the microphone for vocal use.

Shrue SM57

This mic will cost you around 99 dollars and comes in a nice looking cardboard box nothing fancy, you’ve got a soft pouch, and a mic clip included as well, and that’s it no more needed. In terms of how the mic feels, it’s actually really heavy for its size, and that’s a good thing. It’s pretty much all metal except for a little screwing thing at the top of the mic. This mic has got a really nice build quality and with the help of the mic clip you get in the box, you can mount it to a mic stand easily.

FEATURES:

Blue en.CORE 100i

In the box, you will get the microphone, you get a rather nice cloth carrying pouch, you get a microphone mount which I’ve raved about quite frequently in the past because it has both 5/8 inch and 3/8 inch threading, so you don’t need to have any kind of adapter if you have a standard microphone stand, and it comes with some documentation. As far as the specs, this thing has a cardioid polar pattern, a frequency response of 50 Hertz to 16 kilohertz, a max SPL of 154 decibels, an impedance of 150 ohms, and a sensitivity of approximately negative 59 decibels.

In terms of pros, it does have a rather nice build quality, and it also has a very nice amount of clarity which makes it very easy to understand the words that are coming out of the mouth. In terms of cons, it really doesn’t do a good job with plosive rejection, the proximity effect can get out of hand very quickly, and it also has a somewhat v-shaped sound where the bass is accentuated, the treble is accentuated, and the mid sounds just a little bit recessed.

Shrue SM57

Basically, it’s a cardioid dynamic mic, so the source must be really close to the mic itself when we’re talking less than 30 centimeters. If you’re trying to use this mic as a shotgun mic, that’s not going to work very well. If you wanted to use this mic as a podcast mic, or if you wanted to use it like a shotgun, again I really don’t recommend you buy that mic as a shotgun. I think this is probably the most versatile mic you can find but there are definitely scenarios where you should probably be looking elsewhere. If you play electric guitar and want to record from your amp directly, this mic does great for that and is on par with some more expensive options.

If you want a mic for the instrument on stage that cannot be plugged so acoustic guitar, drum kits, or other loud instruments then, definitely this is a great option for that and any instruments overall on stage. If you want something that does a bit of everything like for example, if you are a videographer then you could also use the mic as an interview mic just holding it, and in a noisy environment, it’s going to do great because you need to be very close so it’s going to filter whatever is not right next to it. You can also just put a pop filter on it and you’re good to go for doing some vocals.

The two scenarios where I think you may want to look at other options are if you’re looking at recording acoustic guitar in a studio environment, I personally think that for the same price you can get a decent large condenser mic that will make your guitar sounds much fuller. The second scenario is if you’re looking at doing some podcasting for example or studio vocals only, I would recommend also going either for a large condenser mic at the same price point, it’s going to give you a richer sound again in my opinion.

PERFORMANCE:

Blue en.CORE 100i

It actually performs better than another vocal handheld dynamic microphone, when you hold it in your hand. It’s a microphone, I don’t think anybody can deny that. In terms of the actual performance by this on the electric guitar, I really wasn’t a fan of it, and that’s because it does get a little bit boomy and boxy when you close mic a guitar cab, and that is going to be what you want to do if you are life miking an instrument to limit the amount of bleed between the stage instruments.

On the acoustic guitar, I actually really liked this microphone because it did have a nice full low-end without sounding boxy, and it also had a really nice amount of attack and clarity up top, without becoming shrill or harsh. For singing, I found it to have a sparkly and gritty top end, which I did not think was very flattering and then it also has a very prominent low end. So, with those two things mixed together, I do not like the sound of this for singing at all. For the spoken-word, it does have a dominant low end which actually kind of sounds like a rap lyric as it has a dominant low end but it also has a boost to the treble frequency, which brings out the siblings and makes it sound a bit too gritty for my personal preference. 

Shrue SM57

I tested out the sound quality on this mic like how we do podcasting without the pop filter first and it picks up the plosives while when I tested this out with the pop filter it sounded better. Then I did the sound test of the SM57 at about 30 centimeters of my mouth going straight into the Scarlett 2i2 and it sounded pretty good. Then I tested out at about 50 centimeters from my mouth and this is when it started being pretty bad in terms of sound quality at this stage it picks up the ambient sound of the room.

WHICH TO BUY?

In my opinion, the Shure SM57 is good for you to buy even though the price on it more than the Blue en.CORE 100i, it worth that price. It sounds better than the Blue en.CORE100i even though it doesn’t reject the plosives much. The main reason why I don’t recommend the en.CORE 100i is just because the tone it has is a very V-shaped tone, which has very accentuated bass, very accentuated treble, and frequency meaning the mids sound very recessed, and I hate that tone for almost everything.

Expert Reviews of Blue en.CORE 100i:

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By ragtime.online.com
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By bhphotovideo.com
The black Blue enCORE 100i is a dynamic moving-coil instrument microphone designed to deliver a smooth, versatile sound for vocals, melodic instruments, drums, and percussion in the studio, at practice, or on stage. It boasts…

By americanmusical.com
The Blue Encore 100i studio-grade dynamic instrument microphone is perfect for miking instruments. The Encore 100i utilizes a new dynamic capsule with a custom-tuned diaphragm designed…

By djcity.com.au
Blue Microphones are renowned for some of the finest studio mics around. Now, the enCORE 100i brings that same level of industry-leading innovation to the live…

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