Your favourite podcaster’s favourite microphone just got a serious upgrade – and a cute animated Yeti
The Blue Yeti is a podcasting and YouTube legend. The original plug-and-play USB microphone is affordable, straightforward to use, and reassuringly hefty. It’s the 17-year-old the mic that launched a thousand pods.
Now Logitech – after a few spin-off models down the years – is launching a true sequel. The Blue Yeti 2. The new model adds a few new features befitting of the modern age, which will help with cleaner and more consistent audio, but perhaps reduce the charm of the sound. The additions include a 3D proximity sensor, AI noise reduction and a 1.5in display to liven up any video podcasts or vlogs you might be cooking up.
Logitech says the proximity sensor can help “creators maintain consistent, broadcast-quality sound without manual adjustment” and that the Blue Yeti 2 also “tracks the speaker’s position in 3 dimensions and dynamically adjusts gain, EQ, and pickup patterns in real time.” The AI “de-noiser” will then help creators to isolate voices from background distractions.
That new colour LED screen lets users control settings, voice profiles and more directly on the microphone, and also features a Yeti brought to life within the UI. The Yeti’s character alters his expression in line with the audio settings, from ‘mute on’ to ‘clipping audio’.
“When I first started sketching the Yeti character, I knew right off the bat that I didn’t want to just design a character but make a function that goes along with it. So the Yeti is not just playful, but gives purpose to that character,” said Suguru Ogata, Lead UX Designer for Yeti 2. “The goal then became clear: How can we change the Yeti’s facial expression to show the audio state?”
The Yeti 2 retains that iconic shape and the stand looks very familiar. Inside, a redesigned 3-capsule mic array promises “faithful & nuanced audio reproduction” at up to 24-bit/48kHz fidelity.
It’s already available now in both black and white and costs $160/£140.
