The Shure Beta 87A is an excellent handheld microphone — more specifically, of the supercardioid condenser variety — that's ostensibly designed for singing live onstage, particularly if the performer travels around a lot. However, it also happens to work well for podcasting thanks to its impressive ability to filter out ambient noise while still producing a smooth, rich vocal sound.

In fact, this is the podcasting mic used by our friend Stephen Hackett, who has paired it with this Neewer shock mount set on the K&M 23850 microphone desk arm. It's also Marco Arment's top pick, which if you know anything about Marco, is high praise indeed.

Get the Shure Beta 87A for $249 on Amazon.