RODENT55
microphone
New retail price (MSRP)
$389
Used market: $305*
Specifications
0 of 9 values have a recorded source- Connectors
- XLR 3-Pin Male·
- Built-in converter
- no·
- Self-noise
- 15·
- Transducer
- Condenser True·
- Sensitivity
- -38·
- Output impedance
- 100·
- Phantom power required
- yes·
- Connection
- XLR-Only·
- Indexable Locales
- ·
Expert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal profile
A modular half-inch pencil: JFET impedance converter, a switchable pad and low cut on the body, and capsules that unscrew. Sold singly and as a matched pair for overheads and ORTF.
Gain staging
-38 dBV/Pa is quiet and 15 dBA is mid-pack; on a quiet source this is a microphone that will expose a weak preamp before it exposes the room.
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.
«Polar Pattern Cardioid, Omnidirectional / Sensitivity -38.0dB re 1 Volt/Pascal (12.60mV @ 94 dB SPL) +/- 2 dB @ 1kHz»
The NT55 ships as a body with two interchangeable screw-on capsules - a cardioid and an omni - and the sheet gives one sensitivity and one 15 dBA noise figure for the pair, naming neither capsule. A pressure omni and a pressure-gradient cardioid of the same diameter do not normally have the same output. The reference is at least stated in full («re 1 Volt/Pascal»), which is more than most of this microphone's competitors do.
checked 8/6/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~78% retained value).