SennheiserMD 421 Kompakt
microphone
New retail price (MSRP)
$299
Used market: $235*
Specifications
3 of 8 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal profile
A shortened MD 421 without the five-position bass roll-off: cardioid, 30 Hz to 17 kHz, 2 mV/Pa. The body is small enough to fit between rack toms where the full-size 421 needs a clamp and an argument, and it keeps the wide, slightly forward midrange the original is used for.
Gain staging
2 mV/Pa is -54.0 dBV/Pa, two decibels hotter than an SM57, into 250 ohms - fifty more than the MD 421-II's 200. Sennheiser gives the tolerance, ±2.5 dB, which most manufacturers do not; treat the number as a five-decibel window, not a point.
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.
«Transducer principle pressure gradient transducer»
The row named 'Transducer principle' is filled with the acoustic operating principle - how the capsule senses pressure difference, which is what makes it directional - and not with the transducer type. The datasheet therefore never states whether the MD 421 Kompakt is dynamic, condenser or ribbon. Every other Sennheiser sheet in this batch puts 'dynamic' or 'pre-polarised condenser' in that same row; the product page for this model says 'Transducer type Dynamic'. Two Sennheiser documents, one field, two different quantities in it.
checked 8/6/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~79% retained value).