Mic activators help us solve the gain problems of dynamic and ribbon microphone styles. One of the biggest draws of these devices is that they are considered a low-noise solution for quiet audio. This means you can spend more time recording and less in post-production working with audio you can barely hear. Now we know a bit more about the products and have analyzed how they work in a variety of tests, what have we learned? Well, the noise floor on the FetHead is higher than that of the Cloudlifter, however, that is to be expected as the FetHead provides a higher boost overall. When the phantom power is toggled on, the Cloudlifter will transform the phantom power into 25dB of gain without adding any disruptive or cranking sound. The DM-1 is made with grade high quality components and FETs which results in very low noise. The gain is clean and neutral which is exactly what you want from a mic activator. When testing various microphones with the FetHead, TritonAudio noticed a significant improvement on every source. When paired with a readily available 57 you'll hear an increase in response and a broader frequency range. However, the FetHead really shines when matched with microphones such as MD441s and Shure SM7Bs.

Cloudlifter is a great choice to achieve the 25dB of powerful and clean gain in the recording. This is because it can transform the phantom power into transparent and clean gain, and works well with noisy preamps and long cable connections. Your Fethead will latch straight onto any XLR equipped microphone, or anywhere else in the signal path between microphone and preamp/mixer.The electronics are housed in a robust metal chassis with a balanced female XLR input and a balanced male XLR output, rugged enough for use at home, in the studio or on tour. Unlike the CL-1 the FetHead can be plugged in at any stage of the signal flow. This is a major advantage as this means you can use the device with just one XLR. Nevertheless, low output dynamic or ribbon microphone users will sift through forum threads looking for ways to add additional gain to counter low-level signals. This need then spawned a new, and rather recent, category of mic activators in the market. For the sake of a fair experiment, the variable element will be the activator, and the controls will be the interface (Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2 nd gen) and our microphone of choice (Rode Procaster which does really benefit from the boost of a device like these).I’ve spent a fat minute researching the inline preamps recently to find the best mic booster for my podcasting setup. I settled for the Cloudlifter CL-Z even though I would have done fine with a FetHead. I use this with my Shure Sm7b, whoa that girl is gain hungry, but the Fethead handles it like a boss, be it connected to my audio interface or straight into the mic, it really doesn't matter it feeds that mic with the gain it needs. One of the biggest draws of the Cloudlifter is that it does not wildly distort your noise floor. This means you can expect clean gain with little to no added issues caused by adding this mic activator to your recording setup. Specs

Offering 20 – 25dB of low noise transparent gain, the CL-1 has the ability to adapt to the output of your microphone of choice. This two-stage gain boosting, along with tailor-made impedance loading, makes this a catchall mic activator that can adapt to get the most out of your microphone.

These features do some at a cost though and makes the McBoost a more expensive alternative to the Cloudlifter but if those features are important to you, it could still represent good value. I would recommend it to anyone who is in that situation with not enough gain to drive the mic, or just barely enough but getting lots of preamp noise.