As a recording artist and audio engineer, i know a good mic when i hear it, and boy does this one check all the boxes !
Great tonally balanced mids, smooth top end, big and tight low end, no noise, and 3 polar patterns to choose, that you can use to your advantage in case you need a different eq curve or just capture the sound in a creative way.
It has this vintage vibe in the dynamics, even if it`s a modern mic with more top end, it`s so close to the u-87 that you don`t need to consider that one !
I`ve owned many mics, tried the warm audio stuff, and it`s all dirty and wonky in the frequency response, but rode did a great job with this mic specifically .
My only gripe with it is the big bulky shockmount with that pop filter holder up front that i can`t even remove, so i went and bought the Rode RM 2 mic holder for an easy mount .