Best Handheld Microphones for live production

A handheld on a live stage is a tool that gets dropped. It is passed between people who hold it differently, cupped over the grille by at least one of them, and pointed at a wedge by another. Durability and feedback behaviour matter more than the last decibel of detail, because the room is loud and the gain is already as high as it will go.

A supercardioid gives more gain before feedback than a cardioid and punishes off-axis technique harder - which is the right trade with a trained singer and the wrong one for a roving microphone handed to the audience. Decide which of those the microphone is for before comparing anything else.