NT5
microphone
$199
Used market: $155*
Specifications
5 of 7 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal Profile
Half-inch pencil cardioid with a gold-sputtered capsule; sold singly and as a matched pair, and the pair is the usual reason to buy it.
Gain Staging Advice
-38.4 dBV/Pa, 20.6 dB above an SM7B, with 16 dB-A of self-noise. Over a drum kit or on a guitar cabinet that is plenty; on a quiet acoustic guitar at two metres the 16 dB-A becomes audible, and no amount of preamp quality fixes it. RODE prints -38 dBV alongside 12 mV and the two do not agree - see the note below.
What the datasheet actually says
Quoted verbatim from the manufacturer’s own page, with the date we checked it. We state what is printed, not what anyone intended by it.
«Sensitivity | -38 dBV (12 mV @ 94 dB SPL)»
The two halves of this line disagree. 12 mV/Pa - 94 dB SPL is one pascal - converts to -38.4 dBV, not -38. The 0.4 dB gap is small, but it is not rounding of the precision printed, and it runs the same direction as several other datasheets we have checked: the decibel figure comes out flattering by a fraction. RODE's own other pages convert correctly to a tenth - the Broadcaster page reads '-34.0dB re 1 Volt/Pascal (20.00mV @ 94 dB SPL)', where 20 mV is indeed -33.98 - so the NT5 line is the outlier within one manufacturer. Note the unit too: here RODE writes 'dBV', on the Broadcaster 'dB re 1 Volt/Pascal'. We store -38.4, the conversion of the millivolt figure.
checked 8/5/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~78% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026