Whether you're a podcaster, musician, YouTuber, livestreamer, screencaster, voice-over artist, or field recorder, you want a quality microphone to capture your audio at the highest possible level for a reasonable price. Audio-Technica's AT2020USB+ condenser mic is the real deal. It's one of those studio-level mics that will give you instant "Radio Voice".

The AT2020USB+ is one the more sensitive microphones I've ever come across. In fact, it picks up so much ambient sound — with crystal clear quality, mind you — that you'll find yourself having to dampen the acoustics of your recording space if you haven't done so already. It's amazing what it will pick up, even two or three rooms away. Fair warning.

It comes in black or white and goes for $149 on Amazon. Or, you can bump up to the $199 streaming/podcasting pack, a really good deal that also includes a set of ATH-M20x headphones and an adjustable boom arm. The mic does have a built-in headphone jack (with volume control!) so you can listen in while you record, and it's totally delay-free so you won't hear distracting echoes of your own voice or anything.