Thanks for the reply. I’m certainly not a brand whore, so it’s good to know there are brands out there that aren’t so overpriced. I hate paying for tags and logos and so often these days that’s all pricing is about.

Sara

Bose’s $300 headphones are certainly not worth the money and frankly for that kind of money you could get much better Grado or Sennheiser headphones.

As for their theater packages those are a joke, when you can listen to the entire soundtrack of the movie through the subwoofer alone something is very wrong with the setup. The rest of the speakers in the prepackaged deals are no where as nice as even their lowliest individual speakers.

Like the headphones Bose speakers are nice, just not worth what you pay for them since you can get equal or better sound from studio quality speakers not much bigger for less money. Bose trades a lot on the name as you expected.

Thanks for all the great advice. I’m going to have to check out those Grade SR-60s. So you think Bose is crap, huh? I’ve never owned any of their stuff, but I always wondered if they were hiding behind their reputation. =)

Great point about increasing sound quality and the need to think toward the future. That’s something I hadn’t personally considered much at all. I happen to have a nice mic because I bought it for guitar and vocals, but I’m glad I did considering the fast pace of technology advancement.

Thanks again,
Sara

Here are some of my suggestions for casters looking to do this on a budget.

Like you I think a good microphone is essential. It doesn’t have to be as nice as yours, but a new there are plenty of good and inexpensive new condensers to be had on ebay. The key here is researching them a bit before buying, used microphones unless they come from a music store or have a good return policy are a little scarier for me online, since you could come off sounding horrible through them. I bought an older Radio Shack condenser from at a pawn shop that deals with lots of musical instruments for $20. It is good mic but I am thinking about upgrading to a Behringer B-5. when I upgrade some of my other audio equipment.

When it comes to pre-amps you are spot on about quality vs price in new equipment, but there are some options with inexpensive used equipment. For example I am getting ready to switch out my old sony stereo amp connected to my computer with an even older (put far superior) sansui integrated amp to not only drive my full range 3 ways on my desk but to use as a preamp for pod casting. The cost was $10 at a thrift store.

When it comes to headphones you are right there are several choices between the cheap $10 to the super expensive studio headphones. Notice I didn’t mention Bose, because I am not a fan of Bose anything, but that is another story. My recommendation is in the low end nothing less than the $20 or $30 Phillips even if I don’t think the ear buds are good for judging your own voice quality. However for not that much more you can get a pair of Grado SR-60s ($70 amazon)these are better sound than most people have ever heard from their music period. While they aren’t true audiophile quality, they have superior sound to the most expensive speakers most people have ever owned, and lets not get into how they compare to the headphones most people have listened to. These made my FIL cringe and wish he still had the receipt for his $300 Bose when he listened to them side by side. Most people who have listened to mine have had similar reactions. The same could be said of my Sennheiser HD497 headphones, but they are a little more expensive and tend to be a bit bass heavy. Either would be better sound quality than most people have ever heard from their stereos.

This brings out another point about podcasting, what will they sound like in the future? As technology gets better we can expect computers to be more and more integrated with theater systems and the increase in mp3 players has dramatically pushed a market for better sounding headphones. I expect both trends to continue, so I think most pod casters would do well to listen to their cast on full range speakers. If it sounds horrible through decent speakers, rest assured as technology gets better your podcast will not be very attractive to future listeners. Getting by may be fine for things that will be irrelevant and erased in a week, but it is a competitive world online and anything you can do now to stay competitive in the future is worth it to me.

The other big benefit is when you download that latest song from itunes, it will never sound better than it does through a pair of 3 ways a couple of feet away. That doesn’t mean you have to turn it up to 11, but when you hear the low coming through the larger woofer, the mids out of the appropriately crossed driver and the highs out of a proper tweeter it is grand.