Generic USB-C Mic Interface Cables

There are a ton of different USB to XLR microphone cables on the market for just a few dollars each these days. Like this one being sold under the REXUS name, most of them advertise being able to connect a dynamic mic right up to a mobile device or computer for recording or live-streaming with minimal expense. While this one does actually do that, there are some compromises along the way that a lot of folks buying these won’t be aware of.

The first big issue is monitoring. This cable only inputs one channel, in mono, to your device and offers no output for headphones or any other monitoring speakers or equipment. If you’re just recording, it’s not too terrible, as long as you don’t need to record along to an existing track. I was able to record a multi-track using this cable for the input and my AirPods to monitor in Garage Band for iPad, but using any type of Bluetooth monitoring will include latency, making it difficult for getting the timing right.

The next big issue with these is the noise you end up with in your final recordings. There’s a chance these could have lower noise than what is apparent, but there is no input gain control. This leaves you stuck with the fixed gain mic pre-amp circuit that is never going to be set optimally. There may be some mics that work better in this setup than others, but the handful I’ve tested so far all result in a very low input level to the recording device. You can easily add digital gain in software & get a very usable level, but the noise you end up amplifying with the signal is very noticeable.

All in all, if you have no other options or an extremely limited budget, this could be a useful solution. It does work, though you’ll need to own a quality microphone that is compatible. You’d likely save money by just buying a USB-C mic like the PreSonus Revelator that has monitoring and gain controls and a headphone output.

You can listen to this cable recording directly into Garage Band for iPad using an Electro-Voice RE-320 broadcast microphone. Let me know what you think or if you’ve used one of these that does a better job than this one.