Foam, fur or disposable: choosing a microphone cover
Every microphone cover is a compromise between wind protection and high frequency loss. Understanding which way each type leans makes the choice quick, and stops people using an outdoor windshield on an indoor handheld and wondering where the top end went.
Foam is for plosives, fur is for wind
Open cell foam handles the burst of air from a hard consonant and costs very little top end. A fur cover, sometimes called a dead cat, is designed for moving air outdoors and takes noticeably more high frequency with it. Using fur indoors is not harmful, it is just a duller sound than you needed.
Non-woven disposables are close to acoustically neutral
Disposable covers exist for hygiene rather than for wind, and they are made specifically to interfere with the sound as little as possible. If you are handing a microphone around a room they are the correct answer, and their effect on tone is small enough to ignore in speech.
Replace foam when it stops springing back
Foam degrades. When a windscreen no longer returns to shape after being squeezed, its cell structure has broken down and it is doing less than it looks like it is doing. That is usually a year or two of regular use, less in a touring case.
What we have on the shelf for this
Everything below is in the Mic Windscreens section at Stereo Haven right now, listed newest price first. Stock moves, so the page is the authority.
- SUNMON Wireless Microphone Magnetic Holder Compatible with DJI Mic 3 (Mini/1/2) — $16.99
- Flutesan 8 Set Microphone Cover Foam Mic Cover Microphone Windscreen Shakeproof Wireless Han — $15.99
- 12 Pack Headset Microphone Windscreen Foam Cover Lapel Pop Filter — $9.99
- Cheerock 4-Set Black Handheld Mic Protection Kit Silicone Ring Windscreen — $8.99
- Mudder 5 Pack Foam Mic Cover Handheld Microphone Windscreen (5 Pack) — $7.99
- PAGOW 4Pcs Mini Foam Microphone Windscreens＆Furry Cover, Mic Headset Cover — $6.29
What it costs
Across mic windscreens at Stereo Haven prices currently run from $6.29 to $16.99. In mic windscreens that spread is mostly build quality and pack size rather than brand name: the cheapest option on this shelf is a reasonable place to start, and the dearest earns the difference in daily use rather than on the specification sheet.
Questions we get at the counter
Do disposable covers affect the sound?
Non-woven covers are designed to be acoustically transparent. Foam windscreens are not – they are there to stop plosives and wind, and they do change the top end slightly. Pick by the job.
What does delivery cost?
US orders of $29 and over ship free. A flat $4.50 applies below that. We ship to United States addresses only.
Related parts of the shop
If this was not quite what you were looking for, the neighbouring sections are Broadcast Props, Disposable Mic Covers, Mic Clips and Holders. They are all listed on the shop page.
Buying from Stereo Haven
United States orders of $29 and over ship free, and a flat $4.50 applies below that. Everything is packed at 2 Great Jones St in New York and we ship within the United States only. Stereo Haven takes returns for 30 days from delivery on unused items in their original packaging, and the full terms are on the Stereo Haven return policy page. If a specification you need is missing from a product page, call +1 212-979-1273 during opening hours — Mon-Tue: Closed | Wed-Fri: 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM | Sat-Sun: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM — and we will check the item physically rather than guess.
Side by side
The table below pulls the published figures off the 6 mic windscreens listings above so they can be compared without opening six tabs. A dash means the manufacturer of that mic windscreen did not state the figure, not that the item lacks it, because Stereo Haven does not fill those gaps with estimates. Where a number matters to your decision and the table shows a dash, call +1 212-979-1273 and we will measure the item at the 2 Great Jones St counter in about a minute.
| Item | Price | Quantity | Size | Material |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUNMON Wireless Microphone Magnetic Holder Compatible with | $16.99 | – | – | – |
| Flutesan 8 Set Microphone Cover Foam Mic Cover Microphone | $15.99 | 8 set | – | – |
| 12 Pack Headset Microphone Windscreen Foam Cover Lapel Pop | $9.99 | 12 pack | – | – |
| Cheerock 4-Set Black Handheld Mic Protection Kit Silicone | $8.99 | 4 set | – | Silicone |
| Mudder 5 Pack Foam Mic Cover Handheld Microphone Windscree | $7.99 | 5 pack | – | – |
| PAGOW 4Pcs Mini Foam Microphone Windscreens＆Furry Cover, M | $6.29 | 4 pcs | – | – |
How the rest of the shop is laid out
Stereo Haven keeps a deliberately narrow microphone accessories range, split into the sections below. The counts and price bands are read from the live stereohaven.shop catalogue at the moment this page was built, so they show the actual shape of the NoHo shelf rather than a marketing summary of it. If a section looks small, that is because Stereo Haven would rather stock a few things we can answer questions about than list everything a distributor offers.
| Section | Items | Price range |
|---|---|---|
| Broadcast Props | 3 | $9.99 – $9.99 |
| Disposable Mic Covers | 4 | $5.99 – $21.99 |
| Mic Clips and Holders | 8 | $4.99 – $34.99 |
| Mic Windscreens | 9 | $3.99 – $16.99 |
Reading a product page here
Every listing on stereohaven.shop is written from the manufacturer specification, and where the manufacturer is silent Stereo Haven leaves the field out rather than fill the gap, which is why some microphone accessories pages are shorter than others. The details block on each page carries the figures that were actually published — pack quantity, size, material and compatibility — and the paragraph underneath says which part of the NoHo shelf the item belongs to. Anything not covered there is a question for +1 212-979-1273, and Stereo Haven would rather answer it before an order than process a return afterwards. Stock counts come from the same records the counter uses, so an item showing as available is an item on the shelf at 2 Great Jones St.