RODE NT1: which generation should you actually buy
Search for the RODE NT1 and you will meet four different microphones wearing almost the same name, one of which does not exist. Google's own suggestions will happily offer you the "NT1 4th Generation". There is no such thing. It is the audio equivalent of looking for platform nine and three quarters, except nobody hands you a wand at the end of it.
Short version. Two NT1s are currently in production, and they use the same HF6 capsule and the same 4dBA noise floor. So you are not choosing a sound, you are choosing a connector. Own an audio interface already? Get the NT1 Signature and keep the change. Recording straight into a laptop, or want 32-bit float? Get the NT1 5th Generation.
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Four names, two microphones you can actually buy
Let us clear the shelf before we put anything back on it.
| Name | Connection | Self-noise | Status today |
|---|---|---|---|
| NT1-A | XLR | 5 dBA | The oldest one. Still sold by third parties, often cheap |
| NT1 (2014) | XLR | 4.5 dBA | Discontinued. RODE says so on its own product page |
| NT1 Signature Series | XLR | 4 dBA | In production. Ten colours |
| NT1 5th Generation | XLR and USB | 4 dBA | In production. Black or silver |
| n/a | n/a | Does not exist. Google suggests it anyway |
Two of those five rows are things you can buy new today. That is the whole decision, and the rest of this page is about which of the two.
The NT1-A is the one your favourite YouTuber probably started on in 2011. It is a genuinely fine microphone and it is also the noisiest of the family by a decibel. If you find one at a very good price and you record loud sources, fair enough. If you are buying your first proper mic, start with the two current ones instead.
The 2014 NT1 is the awkward one. RODE's own page for it now carries a discontinued notice pointing you at the Signature Series. That has not stopped it circulating, and you will still find "NT1 Kit" listings and reviews of it sitting high in search results. Nothing wrong with the mic. Just know you are reading about a model that is no longer made before you spend money on the strength of that review.
The part nobody tells you: they are the same mic
Here is the thing that gets buried in every comparison I have read, and it is the single most useful fact on this page.
The NT1 Signature and the NT1 5th Generation use the same capsule and have the same noise floor. RODE lists both with the HF6 one-inch true condenser capsule. RODE describes both, in the same words, as having "extremely low noise (4dBA)" and calls each one the world's quietest studio condenser microphone. Both are cardioid. Both handle 142dB SPL, which is more than your voice will ever ask of them and more than most drum kits will either.
So when someone asks which of the two sounds better, the honest answer is that RODE has not built them to sound different. You are not buying a tone upgrade. You are buying a different way of getting the signal out of the microphone.
That reframes the whole decision, and it makes it much easier. Instead of trying to hear a difference in a YouTube shootout compressed to within an inch of its life, you can ask a question you can actually answer: what am I plugging this into?
What actually differs
Three things, in descending order of how much they should matter to you.
One: the output. The Signature is XLR and only XLR. The 5th Generation has what RODE calls Dual Connect, meaning XLR and USB out of the same body. Plug it into an interface like a normal microphone, or plug it straight into a computer with the supplied USB-C cable and skip the interface entirely. If you have never had to decide between those two routes before, we wrote a whole piece on XLR versus USB microphones and which one you actually need.
Two: 32-bit float and the DSP. Over USB, the 5th Generation records 32-bit float with conversion up to 192kHz, and it carries onboard DSP with APHEX processing: compression, a high-pass filter, a noise gate, Aural Exciter and Big Bottom. The float part is the interesting bit. In plain terms it means a take that would have clipped on a normal recorder can be pulled back down afterwards. It is a genuine safety net for interviews, one-take vocals and anything you cannot ask to happen twice.
Two caveats, because a safety net you misunderstand is just a rope. It only applies over USB, not over XLR, and your software has to actually support 32-bit float files. Most current DAWs do. Check yours before you count on it.
Three: what is in the box. Both ship with a studio-grade shock mount and pop filter, which is more generous than most microphones at this price and saves you two accessory purchases. The 5th Generation adds a USB-C cable, and its XLR cable uses Neutrik connectors with Canare cabling.
Which one belongs on your stand
Get the Signature if you already own an audio interface. You have the preamp, you have the phantom power, you have the converter. The USB side of the 5th Generation would be a feature you use once, to check that it works, and then never again.
Get the 5th Generation if you do not own an interface yet, or if you record alone and unsupervised and the idea of a clipped take keeps you up at night. It is also the better travel option: one cable, one laptop, done.
And now the opinion I am contractually obliged to have, which happens to cost us money.
If you already have a working interface, buying the 5th Generation over the Signature is a 70 euro upgrade to a socket you will not use. The Signature is 157 euros here, the 5th Generation is 227. Same capsule, same 4dBA. Take the 70 euros and put it towards a PSA1+ boom arm at 147 euros, which will improve your recordings more than the socket will, because it lets you get the mic where it needs to be instead of where the desk stand allows. Nine times out of ten, position beats specification.
Why your NT1 sounds quiet, thin or just bad
Two of the most common questions people ask about this microphone are why it sounds bad and why it sounds quiet. Both have boring answers, which is good news, because boring answers are free to fix.
You are talking into the wrong part of it. The NT1 is side-address. The front is the flat face with the badge on it, not the top of the grille. Sing into the top and you are talking into the null of a cardioid pattern, which is the one direction it is specifically designed to ignore. This accounts for a startling number of "my expensive mic sounds thin" messages.
Phantom power is off, or not reaching the mic. The Signature and the XLR side of the 5th Generation need P48 from your interface or preamp. No phantom, no output worth the name. If you want the actual mechanism rather than "flip the blue button", we explained what phantom power is and which mics genuinely need it. Note the wording: this NT1 needs it. Not every condenser does, and plenty run happily on USB or a battery.
You are too far away and compensating with gain. A large-diaphragm condenser at arm's length in an untreated room gives you the room, then you turn the preamp up and get more room plus hiss. Move in. Fifteen to twenty centimetres with the pop filter doing its job will change more than any setting will.
Or it is the room, not the mic. A 4dBA noise floor is quiet enough that what you hear is very often your fridge, your neighbours and the flat wall behind you. That is not a defect. That is the microphone doing exactly what you paid for.
Seven things off the shelf
Prices as they stand today, all available from the Warsaw showroom and shipped across the EU.
- RODE NT1 Signature, Purple, 132 EUR. The cheapest way into a current NT1. Identical to every other Signature except for the paint.
- RODE NT1 Signature, Black, 157 EUR. The one most people picture. Shock mount, pop filter and XLR cable in the box.
- RODE NT1 5th Generation, Black, 227 EUR. XLR and USB, 32-bit float, onboard DSP. Buy this one for the connector, not for a tone difference.
- Audient iD4 MKII with NT1 5th Generation, 317 EUR. Microphone and interface together. If you are starting from nothing, start here.
- Audient iD14 MKII with NT1 5th Generation, 383 EUR. Two preamps instead of one, for when a second mic or a guest is coming.
- Audient iD24 with NT1 5th Generation, 493 EUR. The top of this ladder, for a room that is going to keep growing.
- RODE PSA1+ boom arm, 147 EUR. The accessory that changes recordings the most, and the one people buy last.
What a new NT1 will not fix
Part of this job is talking people out of purchases, so here is that part.
It will not fix a bare room. A quiet microphone in a reflective room gives you a very clean recording of a reflective room. A duvet on a stand behind you costs nothing and does more than the upgrade.
It will not fix a noisy computer. If a fan is audible in your takes, the mic is not the variable to change. Move the machine, or move the mic.
It will not fix an NT1-A you already own. The difference between 5 dBA and 4 dBA is real and it is also small. If your current recordings have a problem, that decibel is almost certainly not it.
If your current setup already works and you are shopping because a video told you to, keep the money. Come back when something is actually in your way.
Both current NT1s sit in the showroom at Nowogrodzka 6A/102 in Warsaw, and the fastest way to end this decision is fifteen minutes with your own voice through both of them. If you are not in Warsaw, the 30-day return window applies with no reason required, everything carries a 36-month warranty, and we ship across Poland and every EU country. Phone: +48 573 580 840.
Straight answers
What is the RODE NT1 good for?
Close-up work on a single source: lead vocals, voiceover, podcasting, acoustic guitar, and most solo instruments. It is a large-diaphragm cardioid condenser with a one-inch HF6 capsule, so it picks up detail in front of it and rejects a good deal of what is behind it. It is less suited to loud multi-source situations on a stage, where a dynamic microphone is the easier tool, and it is not the mic to buy if your room is untreated and you have not addressed that yet.
Is the RODE NT1 any good?
Yes, and specifically it is quiet. RODE rates both current versions at 4dBA of self-noise and markets each as the world's quietest studio condenser microphone. In practice that matters most for soft sources, close voiceover and anything you will compress heavily afterwards, because there is very little of the microphone's own hiss to bring up with the signal. Both current versions also ship with a shock mount and pop filter included, which is unusual at this price.
Why does my RODE NT1 sound bad?
Most often because you are addressing the wrong side of it. The NT1 is side-address: the front is the flat face with the badge, not the top of the grille. Speaking into the top puts you in the rejection null of the cardioid pattern, which thins the sound out dramatically. The second most common cause is distance, because a large-diaphragm condenser at arm's length in an untreated room records mostly the room. Move to roughly fifteen to twenty centimetres with a pop filter in place.
Why is my RODE NT1 so quiet?
Check phantom power first. The Signature, and the XLR side of the 5th Generation, need P48 from your interface or preamp, and without it the output collapses. If phantom is on and the level is still low, the usual culprits are a preamp with not enough clean gain for the job, or simply sitting too far from the microphone and trying to fix that with the gain knob. Move closer before you turn anything up.
What is the difference between the NT1 Signature and the 5th Generation?
The connector, not the sound. Both use the same HF6 one-inch capsule and both are rated at 4dBA of self-noise, cardioid, 142dB maximum SPL. The Signature is XLR only and comes in ten colours. The 5th Generation adds RODE's Dual Connect output, so it works over XLR or USB, and over USB it records 32-bit float at up to 192kHz with onboard APHEX processing. Here that difference costs 70 euros, 157 against 227.
Is there a RODE NT1 4th Generation?
No. It appears in Google's related searches, but RODE has never released a microphone under that name. The current line is the NT1 Signature Series and the NT1 5th Generation. The 2014 NT1 has been discontinued, which RODE states on its own product page, and the older NT1-A predates both. If a listing offers you a "4th Generation", someone has invented a name for one of those.
So: four names, two microphones, one capsule between them, and a fourth generation that only exists in a search box. Pick the Signature if you own an interface, pick the 5th Generation if you do not or if 32-bit float would let you sleep. Then stop reading comparisons and go and record something, because the NT1 has been quietly good at this for two decades and it is not the part of your chain that needs another twenty minutes of research.
About the author
Michał Kaniuszkiewicz is a content manager and SEO specialist at Wired Tunes. He creates and optimizes content that helps readers find useful information about music, gear, and sound. Beyond his editorial work, he has been making music for 8 years in hip-hop, pop, and electronic genres — giving him insight into the subject not just from an SEO perspective, but from the inside, as a practicing musician and producer. This experience allows him to create content that's equally useful and clear for both beginners and experienced listeners and music creators.
Read next
- The best microphone for vocals, picked honestly. If you are not sold on the NT1 specifically, this is the wider shortlist with the reasoning attached.
- Condenser vs dynamic microphones. Worth reading before you commit, because an untreated room sometimes argues for a dynamic instead.
- How to record vocals at home. The next step once the microphone is on the stand: levels, distance and the rest of the chain.
