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AT2020 vs AT2035, in Normal Words

Both are good first microphones: the AT2035 (about $159) is the AT2020 (about $119) with quieter background hiss and two switches you'll grow into, so spend the extra $40 only if hiss on quiet recordings would bug you.

Gus Harmon · Updated July 8, 2026 · how I decide

If you buy through my links the site earns a little. It's never why I pick things.

Both are good first microphones and neither one is a mistake. The AT2035 (about $159) is the AT2020 (about $119) with a quieter background hiss and two switches you probably won't touch for a year. If faint hiss in quiet recordings would drive you crazy, spend the extra $40. Otherwise the 2020 is plenty.

at2020 vs at2035 differences explained simply

You’ve already done the hard part

You’ve narrowed it to two mics, both from a company that’s been making decent gear forever, and now you’re stuck on fifty dollars. I’ve watched people stand in that spot at a counter and get talked into a $300 mic instead.

Nobody is taking you. These are the two right answers. What’s left is one question about your ears.

The three differences that are real

Everything else you’ll read about these two mics is a spec sheet. Here is what changes in your life.

	AT2020 (about $119)	AT2035 (about $159)
Its own hiss	A faint whisper you'll hear in quiet parts	Noticeably quieter
Switches on the side	None	Two (rumble, and very loud sources)
Price	About six pizzas	About nine pizzas

That’s it. That’s the whole comparison.

Every microphone makes a tiny sound of its own, even in a silent room. Engineers call it self-noise. Think of it as the mic's own whisper. The 2020 whispers a little; the 2035 whispers less. When you're singing, you'd never notice. In the gap between phrases on a quiet recording, with headphones on, at midnight, you might.

The two switches, translated

The 2035 has two little switches the 2020 doesn’t. Beginners use neither on day one, which is why they shouldn’t decide your purchase.

One is a low-cut. It ignores the low rumble in a room: traffic outside, a furnace, a truck, footsteps upstairs. Useful later, in a bad room.

The other is a pad. It turns the mic’s sensitivity down so it doesn’t get overwhelmed by something extremely loud, like a guitar amp or a trumpet at close range. Also useful later, if you ever point this mic at something other than a voice.

Both of these need a box

This is the part that trips people, and it isn’t in either mic’s name.

Both are the sensitive kind of mic (a condenser) with the fat three-pin plug on the bottom (an XLR). That plug doesn’t go into a computer. It goes into a small box that powers the mic and hands its sound to your computer.

If you don’t want to buy a box, you don’t want either of these. You want the USB version, or a different mic entirely. I wrote out the USB path here. The AT2020 exists in a USB flavor, which is the shortest way out of this fork.

Self-noise is measured in decibels: 20 dB for the 2020, 12 dB for the 2035. Those eight decibels sound small and they aren't, because decibels don't add up the way regular numbers do. What matters practically is that the 2035's whisper falls below the noise floor of most normal rooms, so the room becomes the loudest quiet thing, not the mic. In a truly silent booth you'd hear the difference immediately. In a bedroom with a laptop fan going, you might not hear it at all.

So which one, honestly

The internet’s verdict is that the extra fifty bucks is worth it. I don’t disagree.

I also want to say something in defense of the guy who buys the 2020. Nobody in the history of singing ever failed because they bought an AT2020. I own mics that cost many times both of these, because gear is my hobby and I like knobs. Your money is not my hobby.

If you buy through my links the site earns a little coffee money. Doesn’t change the price, doesn’t change my answer.

Don't let the comparison talk you into a third, more expensive mic. That's what the shopping spiral is for. Two good options is a good problem. Pick one and go sing.

If this is your first real microphone and fifty dollars means something this month: the AT2020, and don't look back. If you're recording in a quiet room where a faint hiss would drive you nuts, or you already know you'll still be doing this in five years: the AT2035.

If you're figuring this out, you're probably also wondering:

Gus Harmon

Gus spent three decades running sound wherever somebody needed it: bar bands, weddings, school shows, and twelve years of Sunday mornings. He can't sing a note. He can make sure you're heard. Now he writes so normal people can buy the right thing the first time.

More about Gus and this site → · How I decide