Does anyone know how good the SAMPSON USB mic is compared to...

Does anyone know how good the SAMPSON USB mic is compared to having a dedicated audio interface with lets say a good condenser mic?
I am going to be doing some vocals and need a very good quality recording.
It just seems pretty simple right now to use a high quality USB.....
Rather than getting an interface (which I will be getting down the road)
but how "high" is the quality of the Sampson USB mic? Say even compared to
an AKG condenser?? Will I get 90% of the way there compared to an AKG mic and an dedicated audio interface (like the firepod or m-audio-410)
and also if anyone knows will the difference in audio interfaces affect the actual recording quality by a great difference?
thanks, technoreid

I have a Samson C01U USB Studio Condenser mic that I use most of the time.
PRO
To be honest it's really a lot of bang for the buck (about $90 at Sam Ash Music) and incredibly simple to use.
It's well-built (the screen is very rugged, and it has a good amount of heft to it.
Given that GB 3 has a lot of decent vocal presets (and software outboard equipment) in it now (with radio/podcast settings and voice over stuff) you can get it to sound pretty good. In that sense, I think it is an ideal podcast or voice over mic.
It's easy to use, just like GB itself. I am a BIG fan of using equipment that is intuitive and does not thwart the creative process, and the Samson fits the bill. Pull it out of its storage bag; plug in the USB cord into the mic and then into the USB port of your Mac and Voila! you're in business.
CON
You are limited by the length of a USB chord, whereas XLR cables into a firewire analog to digital piece of outboard gear will have XLR in, and XLR cables are the standard for long distances mic usage.
One track, mono at a time. There is no way (that I know of) to effectively do simultaneous stereo recording. But if you are using GB as a composition tool (as I do) you do most of your instruments in GB and only vocals (and maybe guitars) live and only one at a time.
You get what you pay for. Is the Samson C01U as good as a Neumann U87 into a tube-based Analog to digital preamp? Is it the way I would record vocals for a major record release? No. But the difference isn't like listening to a scratched 78 rpm shellack record versus a digital recording either. For most applications, the difference is minimal. How much? I don't have the testing instruments to quantify.
But then again, there's something to be said for spending $90 versus $3,800 (SRP) for a U87 and $2,300 (SRP) for a PreSonus ADL-600 Stereo Hi Volt Tube Mic Preamp......
iMac G5 PowerPC   Mac OS X (10.4.6)   1.9 gHz, 1Gig of RAM

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