M80
microphone
$249
Used market: $195*
Specifications
5 of 7 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Tonal Profile
Supercardioid handheld dynamic with a large 25 mm capsule and an output transformer; a wider top end than a moving-coil vocal microphone usually offers, which is the whole point of it.
Gain Staging Advice
1.54 mV/Pa is -56.3 dBV/Pa: 2.7 dB above an SM7B. This is a hungry microphone, and an inline booster is a normal accessory here rather than an admission of defeat. The 325 ohm output impedance is unusually high for a dynamic and comes from the transformer, so give it a preamp with at least 3 kohms of input impedance.
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.
«Type: Dynamic | Polar Pattern: Supercardioid | Frequency Range: 50 Hz - 18 kHz, +/-3 dB | Capsule: 25mm Dynamic Moving Coil | Transformer: TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik T80 | Sensitivity: 1.54 mV/Pa, +/-1 dB | Output Impedance: 325 Ohm | Maximum SPL (for 1% THD): 135 dB»
The M80 and M81 are sold as two different microphones - different grille, different voicing, different intended sources - yet their published specification tables are identical field for field, including 'Transformer: TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik T80' on the M81 page, which is the other model's part designation. Either the two microphones genuinely share every measured parameter and differ only in acoustic housing, or one table was copied from the other. Both readings have the same practical consequence: the sensitivity figure cannot be used to choose between them, and for gain planning they must be treated as one microphone at 1.54 mV/Pa, that is -56.3 dBV/Pa.
checked 8/5/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~78% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026