BEHRINGER XM8500 VS SHURE SM58 - Which to Buy?!

I've had more people through the years grab for an XM8500 than the SM58. So much so that now I have just as many of them as the SM58's.

No is better of sm58, and the sm48 sound is very nice,im apreciating best frecuences, ¿testing samson q7? hi from Argentina.

Really depends on how many mics you need more than anything. If you are doing a podcast with just yourself, then investing in a 58 or even a sm7b or a condenser would be great advice. But if you're doing a news show with 3 presenters and multiple guests... that 8500 starts looking like a good idea. I can get 10 behringers for $300. And that means more money for the cables and the mixing boards to handle all the channels.

i think its a point of perspective. Are you a punkband and wanna make music? XM8500!
Are you like me with a tiny budget and already bought much stuff for your studio incl. the room treatment... buy XM8500!
When the price is irrelevant and you dont have to look on the price tag so 100% SM58

As written its always depends on your goals i am not a pro and only want to practice better as a musician and improve my playstyle and singing... XM8500
So i think
Look what your actual goals are, and honestly when you have a untreated room it is regardless if you would buy the XM8500 or the SM58. They both would be sounding terrible XD

And BTW when you wanna have fun as a DJ or make a Karaoke party the XM8500 will notdestroy your wallet XD

I think I can hear a slight difference between the SM58 and the XM8500, and I basically agree with your assessment of how it does with lows and highs-- the SM58 is king for a reason. Buuuuuuut, I still bought 4 XM8500 mics for the price of 1 SM58 to use as backups when I'm recording podcasts with additional guests on the road, and with a little editing in post, they blend right in with my SM7B, Heil PR40, and Rode Procaster mics.

Literally time wasted

I can absolutely vouch for the XM8500, insanely good value and with some processing it's fantastic for a dynamic.

I have the XM8500 for maybe 2 years or more. It's great. But I do agree that SM58 obviously stands out, according to the sound from this video. But SM48 isn't appealing. I would choose XM8500 among SM48, XM8500, e835. e835 shouldn't be on league among SM58 and SM48. Forgetting about the price tag, I think people should perform a blind test and see. Unless this video has flawed on the recording. Which I don't think so. Otherwise, the result is extremely obvious. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to rank my likelihood among these 4 microphones. By the way, I'm not a professional. This is the perspective from a layman with fine ears.

I think this is the unique (but really tested and documented ) "bad" opinion of xm8500. 
I don't wanna buy one...

I've got the 8500 and enjoy it immensely. I think the SM58 has a slight edge over it though.

For $30.00 I like the BEHRINGER but if were just comparing mics I'll take the SENNHEISER any day, every day. They are my go to for every stage setup I do. Have been for 20 years. I have tried SHURES and they are just so flat and lifeless. The mids just mud everything. SHURE was the choice of Snoopy's teacher.

Yo I brought this mic several years ago when the cost 9 bucks! I got 30 of them!! They now go for 35 which is still a good price!!!!

sm58 > xm8500 > e835/sm48 > xm1800s

I liked the senheiser more.

Listening on my phone through headphones, I cannot tell any real difference in any of the mics.

sennheiser e835 for me

Over my Sony amplifier and Mission speakers, my 50+ year old ears I do not hear any difference between the Shure and the Behringer. The difference, however, between the B. and the others is there but very, very small. The "others" sound a bit more "high". Squeakier, that is. Probably has more to do w/ my ears than the hardware.

working on stage, with many teens the xm8500 is truely amazing or in pop up situations where gear might be exposed to people or weather, cuz while the sm58 withstands as well if not better, the pricing of the xm8500 makes it so easy to have a bunch of them if something fails, or as a back up on hand if something happens to the sm58, since the sound is quite similar. when I used to do audio engineering for a local teen bi weekly event, the lead singer and speaker mic would be a sm58 and all the back-up singers used xm8500 (it was a bit scuffed as well, so when someone had a fully acoustic guitar we also used the xm8500, with a decent EQ it sounded pretty ok.

Seems the main difference is that the Shures and sennheiser have more dialed up treble, to sound clearer/more detail, in exchange for being a bit harsher.

I don't know, perhaps it's my personal taste, but the (really small) missing part of the higher spectrum that xm8500 misses compared to the other mics makes for a sound that feels more round and gentle in my ears. The default is you wouldn't want a potentially muddy vocal track, so every bit of the mid-highs feels important, but after handling the xm8500 in a home studio for multiple recordings, minimal tweaking is all it needs for it to feel amazing. Best buy for a beginner!

I have access to both the XM8500 and the SM58. I use the XM8500. It's not better, or worse, it just sounds slightly different, and for my voice it seems to "fit" a little bit better than the SM58. A the end of the day it all just depends on what you want, what you can afford and what you like the best.

All you people are confusing others . You can’t make a choice smh

e835<Sm48<XM8500<SM58

i don’t know if i should buy the SM48 or the XM8500, what do you think? i am a singer and i need it to sound nice doing high notes, so please let me know your opinion

why dont u measure your c**k to the mic, if it's longer, then buy it

I have both, I use the sm58 to brighten my voice a little and the xm8500 to darken my wifes voice a little. The xm8500 still needs a bit more eq though to sound good, without eq it sounds like it's wrapped in a blanket.

In between.
I buy the Beta 58 clone from Thomann in house brand.

Xm8500 moc bass voice or sharp voce tell me

sm58 all day long

BEHRINGER XM8500 150 ohms. 50Hz - 15kHz. SHURE SM58 Output Impedance: 300Ω Frequency Response: 50 to 15,000 Hz me i would not give a nickle for BEHRINGER products at all. its all low end junk Shure on the other hand has been around sence the stone age and they know what they are doing when it comes to micing up amps and volcals for their mics

For those of us on a budget the XM8500 is a great affordable choice..I used them as lead mics(with proper eq-ing) until I was able to afford cordless lead mics.I now have 4 XM8500s and they are great for background vocals.We all know the SM58 is the industry standard and worth the price but if you are on a shoestring budget the XM8500 is the way to go!

Don't believe everything what's written.
xm8500 is not near close to -70db.
In fact, its sensitivity even higher than sm58's.
Somewhere around -54db
Didn't you notice it looking at gain while recording this video?

I like how the XM 8500 sounds. More pleasant to listen for long time.

I've had an XM8500 for like 15 years now, I've used it for band vocals, streaming and podcasting. I considered upgrading to an SM7B, I ended up just buying a back-up XM8500 instead.

OK this is like my 5th video of watching people compare the XM8500 and its sounds amazing and has very little noise. I just dont get how a $25 mic can sound this good. Or maybe my ears are just super broken. But I am listening with hyper x cloud II headphones with a motu m2. Now yes the XM8500 is muddy, but that depends heavily on the persons voice. Im just looking for a mic with as close to 0 noise as possible. I do use a fethead but I still get lots of noise when trying to hit -14 lufs.

What is wrong with you people? SM58 is a sheitmic. THe SM58 was myh first Mic, I used it for a couple of months, then I bought an AKG. YOuj have to be very desperate or deef to use SM 58.

I don't own behringer mics but having borrowed them I always consider buying them because they come with cases

The 58 is the best studio mic in the market if you understand mic placement. The proximity effect offers an on-board equalizer that can be controlled right at the source. Need more lows? Move it closer. Need less lows? You know what to do.🤙🏼

Both greatly overpriced.

I’ve been using an XM8500 for years and thought I’d upgrade to the SM58 or Beta 58a but tbh I think I like the mellow sound I get from the XM8500 which I also heard in the side by side ..
Great Video 👏🏼👏🏼

Good singer sounds good with a wide range of mics, I’m listening on 400 dollar phones, there’s not much in it, not much that will make a difference in a bar full of drunks.

xm8500 seems a bit more bass heavy than shure sm48 and 58

Like most of these comparisons, they sound almost identical and any difference is easily EQed.

As I have noted before. IF you are using this in a live music environment either will do the job. The Sennheiser sounds good as most of their mics do. For $20 you really can't go wrong on the Behr. For in Studio - buy a good ($100-$200) condenser. Fugidabbout a dynamic. ALSO in the studio DO NOT project directly into the capsule. I like 23 degrees off axis. I also pull my plosives and dodge them with a head fake. Right now I'm using 20 mm or so Chinese e- condenser and with a little eq and processing have had good results almost always.

I'm fine with whatever mic an artist/performer chooses to get the results they are after. All of these are a windscreen (or a pop filter) away from being the same for a passive dynamic mic. With all the unique voices & instruments, declaring a winner based upon price is rather absurd, especially considering that audience preferences are fickle based on sobriety/impairment levels. I think sound techs prefer one over another because they are anchored with what they use to EQ, and add/delete effects post production. I wouldn't want to relearn my tricks of the trade & how to do all that with a non-Shure dynamic mic. There is something for everyone's budget, doesn't make one better or worse, they have to be slightly different to avoid lawsuits. Got a feeling if the Chinese microphones really wanted to dial in the Shure SM58, they could do it for $ 15-20 a microphone. Would be nice to see a sound tech dial in a sub $ 35 microphone and then see if an audience can tell which is which ?

I have used the Behringer xm8500 for many years... no soundman has ever noticed it wasn't an SM58 much less asked to switch out my mic.