In the world of microphone technology, when it comes to standard handheld dynamic microphones like the Shure SM58, people often take the weight of the microphone as being one of the indicators of its quality, often comparing the weight of whichever microphone they’re using or testing to the Shure SM58, which is the industry standard for handheld dynamic microphones.

Most people don’t know why the SM58 weighs what it does though. They think its weight is simply a result of its higher quality. To be certain the SM58 is a high-quality microphone, but that’s not where its weight comes from.

A lot of the extra weight of the SM58 comes from the fact it has a transformer inside, while many of the newer lighter microphones don’t. In addition to the sort of magnet being used, the transformer is one of the reasons the SM58 tends to require more gain than other similar microphones, and it also results in a smoother overall sound.

There are some newer microphones which also include transformers with similar weight and properties, but many newer microphones have opted not to use transformers, both to reduce the manufacturing cost and to create a hotter output signal that doesn’t require as much gain.

Whether or not you like the sound of a microphone with a transformer is a personal preference, but it’s one of the factors that goes into the weight of a microphone and is one of the main reasons the Shure SM58 weighs more than other comparable microphones.