NoHype Audio LRM-1 by Mandachuva
First of all, I'd like to highly commend JP Gerard (the man behind NoHype audio) for the best shopping experience I've ever encountered. Lightning-fast e-mails and shipment, ETA was nailed right-on (from Belgium to Romania, mind you), plus JP is a great guy to talk to.
Second, the microphone packaging was... so good that it was silly, to put it bluntly: microphone was inside a soft-pouch inside a semi-hard foam shell inside a box inside another pellet-filled box... REALLY?! Needless to say, it arrived in an impeccable state.
Onto the actual mic - it's well-constructed, well-finished, and most importantly, actually sounds good! I've only had it for a few hours, but it already proved itself on blues electric guitar (alongside the usual suspects) and, much to my dismay, got unanimously picked as the vocal mic for a blues-rock vocal (contenders were: AT3035, AT4030, AT4040, MK319 [modded], MK012 [modded], SM7b, MD441 and the LRM-1). It was the only mike that needed no "corrective" EQ-uing for a pleasant listen-through for the rough mix. Test were made with a SCA N72 pre into a PCM4222EVM ADC.
All in all, can't wait for some more sessions to try it on. It's perfectly possible to suffer from a bit of "new gear syndrome" right now, as this is my first ribbon... Had some previous experience with some Thomann ribbons, but didn't really float my boat - to muddy/resonant/odd in low-mid response. But the LRM, for now, I'd say is really smooth, somewhat smokey-detailed (take that, common sense!), and not too dark - which I was afraid that it'd be, as the ribbon that it is.
For 120EUR shipped to the EU, it's a no-brainer to me. I gave it a full 5-stars.