Neewer Broadcast Studio Microphone Boom Scissor Arm

Last year I bought Audio-Technica ATR2100 Dynamic USB Microphone to do some audio recording projects. It’s a great microphone for the money, but I wanted a boom arm to mount it my desk while recording.

The ATR2100 has a street price of around $60. I wanted to get both a boom arm and a shock mount to isolate the mic from vibrations on my desk and keep it out of the way when not using it. Naturally, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a boom for a $60 microphone. I ended up buying the Neewer Broadcast Studio Microphone Mic Suspension Boom Scissor Arm Stand and I’ll share with you what I learned.

I bought the Neewer on eBay for $31.95 with shipping. The package included:

  • the boom arm
  • integrated XLR cable
  • desk clamp
  • shock mount

Clearly this lot of kit for $32. Heil and Rode booms start at $80 and that is without a cable and shock mount. So I was hoping for this was going to be a good deal.

When the Neewer arrived I unpacked it and my first thought was this arm is really small. It only measures XX from top to bottom fully extended. If you were mount the clamp on the back of a large desk, the microphone might not reach the front.

The build quality on the arm is similar to a inexpensive scissor lamp you might pick up in Target or Walmart. That isn’t a complaint, again the whole package only cost $32.

Neweer includes an integrated XLR cable for your microphone. The XLR cable is integrated into the stand, you can’t remove it. Having the cable integrated into the arm is makes it a clean set up and its pretty nice. There are some downsides though. If your microphone doesn’t use an XLR connection, you can’t use the cable and it will be in the way unless you decide to cut it. Also, if you wanted to upgrade your cable to a different length or better quality you won’t be able to swap the old one out. Something to consider in when making a buying decision.

The Neewer also includes and integrated shock mount. Unfortunately my ATR2100 microphone doesn’t really fit into the shock mount. I had to pad the shock mount with some cardboard to get it fit. This isn’t really the fault of the Neewer. I spent way to much time trying to find the right shock mount for the ATR2100. That’s another story I’ll have to write about.

I set up the Neewer boom arm and mounted it to the side of my desk. This solved the issue with the arm being short. One really weird issue I had was this arm was really stiff. The bottom of the arm didn’t seem to move or articulate. I decided the arm was just really cheap. One day I pulled it hard and I heard a plastic crack. I found a small piece of broken plastic on my desk. I checked the arm and it was fine and in fact the bottom would now move the whole arm now articulated. I am wondering if there was some type of plastic clip on their that I didn’t remove and I finally broke it.

While this arm is really small and the shock mount didn’t fit my mic, I’d say this is an OK product if you are on a tight budget. You get what you pay for. I ended up switching to a Heil microphone and Heil boom. I still use the ATR2100 but not the Neewer boom. I think if I had a strict budget I could have made this work in my setup.

I think if I was making a buying decision today and I had the money I would have opted for a more expensive boom and shock mount for the the ATR2100. A Rode arm and the proper shock mount would have cost me about $120 to $150. Thats is two to three times the price of the microphone but the setup is much better.

Below is a link to a similar Neewer Boom Arm on Amazon. Note that the pictures show the boom with a microphone and a pop filter mounted in front of the mic but those items are not included.

What about you? Are you shopping for a microphone boom arm? Are you using the Neewer or a different boom? Leave a reply below and share.


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