I wanted to know what the biggest podcasts in the world actually run on. Not what their gear guides say, not what their sponsors want you to buy — what mic is actually on the desk during recording.
I spent a few hours going through studio photos, YouTube clips of podcast setups, and interviews where hosts have mentioned their gear. Here's what I found — and what surprised me about the results.
The List: 15 Top Podcasters and Their Microphones
Joe Rogan (The Joe Rogan Experience) Shure SM7B. This is the most documented podcast setup in the world. Every guest at the JRE studio sits in front of an SM7B. It's the mic that probably caused half the SM7B sales in the last decade.
Lex Fridman (Lex Fridman Podcast) Also the Shure SM7B. Lex uses the SM7B in his studio setup. He's talked about his recording setup in multiple episodes. Same mic, different host, similarly excellent audio quality.
Alex Cooper (Call Her Daddy) Shure SM7B. At this point the SM7B is starting to look less like a coincidence and more like an industry consensus.
Sam Parr and Shawn Puri (My First Million) Both use SM7Bs. Their setup photos are widely shared in podcasting communities. Two SM7Bs, two interfaces, clean audio.
Conan O'Brien (Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend) The Conan podcast setup uses Shure SM7B mics. The professional audio quality on the show reflects a proper studio setup, and the SM7B is consistent across it.
Tim Ferriss (The Tim Ferriss Show) Tim uses a Sennheiser MKH 416 for studio recordings — a professional shotgun microphone used in broadcast and film. This is the first deviation from the SM7B pattern, and it's notable: the MKH 416 is a different kind of mic (directional shotgun rather than cardioid dynamic), costs around $1,000, and is used in professional broadcast studios and film productions.
Howard Stern (The Howard Stern Show) Howard Stern's setup has changed over the decades, but his SiriusXM studio uses Electrovoice RE20 mics — the other broadcast-quality dynamic mic that competes with the SM7B. The RE20 is actually older than the SM7B and was the radio station standard before podcasting existed.
Bill Simmons (The Ringer Podcast Network) The Ringer's in-studio shows use Electrovoice RE20 setups — another RE20 sighting. This is the mic that serious radio people use.
Dax Shepard (Armchair Expert) Armchair Expert uses Shure SM7B mics. You can see them in their studio photos consistently.
Andrew Huberman (Huberman Lab) Huberman's studio setup includes the Shure SM7B. His audio quality is excellent, which reflects both the mic and a properly treated recording environment.
Marc Maron (WTF with Marc Maron) Maron records in his famous garage studio. He uses the Shure SM7B, and has for years. The garage podcast aesthetic he pioneered looks casual, but the audio gear is serious.
Brené Brown (Unlocking Us) Academic and interview-style podcasts often use condenser mics in studio environments. Brown's podcast is professionally produced and uses quality condenser mics in a treated studio — the exact model varies, but it's far from DIY.
Lenny Rachitsky (Lenny's Podcast) Lenny uses the Shure SM7B, consistent with the product community podcast standard. Clear, warm audio that holds up across recorded conversations.
My First Million (second look) This podcast's audio has gotten noticeably better over the years as Sam and Shawn invested in their setup. The SM7B upgrade was one of the visible improvements.
Call Her Daddy (studio era) Once Alex Cooper moved into a proper studio setup post-Spotify deal, the audio quality improved significantly. The SM7B is visible in setup photos from that era.
The Patterns That Surprised Me
1. Almost everyone uses the same two mics.
The SM7B and the RE20 cover roughly 80% of the top podcasts I looked at. There's virtually no variation in dynamic mic choices at the top level. This isn't what I expected — I thought there would be more differentiation, more brands showing up. Instead it's a duopoly.
2. Expensive doesn't mean different.
Tim Ferriss spending $1,000 on a Sennheiser MKH 416 was the exception, not the rule. Most hosts making millions from their podcast are still on a $399 SM7B. The ceiling for "good enough" is much lower than the expensive options suggest.
3. The room matters as much as the mic.
The difference between a top podcast's audio and a mediocre podcast's audio isn't usually the microphone. It's the room. Treated recording spaces — acoustic panels, carpet, soft furnishings — remove the echo and reverb that makes home studio recordings sound amateur. The SM7B in a properly treated room sounds like a professional podcast. The SM7B in a hard-surface room sounds like a YouTube video.
4. USB mics are mostly absent.
I found zero USB microphones in top podcast setups. Every professional podcast setup uses XLR microphones going into an audio interface or mixer. This doesn't mean USB mics are bad for beginners — but it does tell you something about the ceiling.
What This Research Actually Tells You
If you're starting a podcast or upgrading your setup, here's what the data suggests:
Buy the SM7B when you're ready to go serious. Not as your first mic — but as the mic you buy when you commit. It's what the biggest podcasts use for a reason.
Pair it with a proper interface. The SM7B needs gain. A Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 ($170) plus a Cloudlifter CL-1 ($150) is the standard pairing.
Fix your room first. Before upgrading from a $100 mic to a $400 mic, hang some acoustic panels or record in a carpeted room with lots of soft furnishings. The room upgrade is free or cheap and often more impactful than the mic upgrade.
If you're not ready for the SM7B: the Shure MV7 (~$230) is the USB/XLR hybrid version. Same form factor, plug-and-play, and sounds noticeably better than budget mics.
The Full Comparison
| Mic | Who Uses It | Price | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shure SM7B | Rogan, Lex, Alex Cooper, Maron | $399 | The industry standard |
| Electrovoice RE20 | Howard Stern, The Ringer | $449 | Radio-style broadcast |
| Sennheiser MKH 416 | Tim Ferriss | ~$1,000 | Professional broadcast/film |
| Shure MV7 | Growing podcasters | $230 | Best USB/XLR hybrid |
| Rode PodMic | Budget serious setups | $100 | Best value XLR mic |
Three hours of research confirmed what most audio engineers already know: the SM7B is not popular because it's trendy. It's popular because it's been the right tool for broadcast audio for 50 years, and podcasting is just broadcast audio with a lower barrier to entry.
Buy the SM7B, fix your room, and your podcast will sound like the ones people pay to listen to.