Review: Spark Digital is a terrific home studio mic

• Spark Digital excellent sound for computer and iPad
• Blue Microphones best known for Snowball mic
• Spark twice as expensive as Snowball

LOS ANGELES — Meet the Spark Digital, the latest and greatest home microphone for podcasters and folks who make videos for YouTube and other venues.

At the dawn of the digital era, microphones were thought of as accessories for professional broadcasters and musicians. But now that so many of us make and star in our own videos and produce our own radio shows (podcasts) — gee, we all need a microphone to go with the video camera and laptop.

The internal mics found on cameras are lousy, especially if you want to record some music as well.

Spark Digital is new from Blue Microphones, the company best known for its professional mics and the Snowball, the de facto industry standard for a consumer USB mic. We recently spent weeks with Spark Digital recording spoken word and music.

At $199, it is twice as expensive as the Snowball, but the sound quality is more than twice as good. It's substantially richer and more professional-sounding. The Spark is the best USB mic I've ever heard.

So if you make your own YouTube videos, record podcasts, want to dramatically improve your Skype chats or need a mic for home recording of music, read on:

— The Spark can be plugged into either a computer's USB port or the 20-pin connector of the earlier-generation iPad or pre-iPhone5 iPhones. To fit it with the iPhone 5 or iPad Mini or what's known as the iPad 4, you'll need to buy the Lightning connector adapter. If you like to have fun with music on the iPad via the $4.99 GarageBand app, the mic is a great accessory for vocals.

— Unlike most Blue microphones, there's a volume knob on the mic to adjust the intensity. Place your finger on the knob, and turn it upwards to make it louder.

For sound examples of the Snowball vs. Spark, check out the video.