A few years ago, a friend sent me one of these MXL MCA SP-1 mics so I could evaluate it. His thought was that it sounded like it should cost a lot more than $39.99, which is what it streeted for back then. Lately I've seen it for $52.99 at B&H.
The Sanken CS-1, and for that matter the Sanken CS-3, were both modified shortly after they came out. The new versions are the CS-1e and CS-3e. It's been some time, but I recall the modification had to do with lowering the noise figure on each mic.
