The Neumann u87 is in no way a budget microphone, with a price tag of £1500 most people will not be able to afford one as it is quite an investment. However if money is no object or you have saved up enough here are some of my personal experiences with this mic along with some technical info which may persuade or dissuade you from getting it.

The u87 is a large diaphragm condenser mic. The condenser aspect of the mic means a charge is applied to the diaphragm and changes in current are measured rather than the excursions made by the diaphragm like in dynamic mics. This means the mic is sensitive much more so than dynamic mics. The mic has three separate polar patterns cardioid which picks up mainly at the front, bi-directional (figure of 8) which picks up front and back and lastly omnidirectional which picks up 360 degrees.

The construction of the mic is very classy with its metal chassis and a soft grill protecting the diaphragm. The U87 also comes in a very nice wooden box. I would suggest you purchase a bespoke cradle for the mic to sit in as it is quite chunky and you will have a hard time fitting it into a normal clip.

The sound of this mic is either amazing or uninspiring depending on what you want. If you want a super realistic representation of what has been recorded this mic will be right for you. This mic is so sensitive upon replaying the recorded part, provided played back through decent speakers, the original and recorded event will sound identical. Which is great however if you have ever used a tube microphone you hear extra tone on recording from the mic itself. This extra character is missing from this mic, you are left with a very good sound reproducer, nothing extra is added.