AKG C414 XLS

I am confining this review to intended, rather than, actual use as the unmatched pair I have was planned for a recording session of a small group of young children for which the session was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Given that I had used the sister microphone that is the XLii as a mike for soloists I am sure that it will be perfect for the future task.
I would comment that the manual is particularly helpful in assisting the inexperienced user to know which application needs a C414 XLS or C414XLii. The intended purpose ( e.g. organ violin, backing vocal or speech etc. of the twenty-one listed) .) using either of them comes as “recommended” or “highly recommended” so the end choice is still a happy one. One can hardly complain when the choice is between the two good alternatives.

This is a very good mic. However I was planning on using it for vocals and I didn't like the way it sounded on mine. (I did end up finding another mic in the $500 range that represented my voice well) The XLii is supposed to be more of a vocal mic, but I didn't try that one out since I already have a c214 which is supposed to be the cardioid-only pattern version of the XLii. The c214 doesn't represent my voice well either, but that's just a personal thing, everyone needs to find a mic that fits their voice. Back to the XLS, I do love the many choices for polar patterns, which makes this thing a workhorse for instruments. I've used it on acoustic and electric cab and the results are very nice. When switching betwen some polar patterns there can be little pops which are annoying, but I don't think they are loud enough to affect anything adversely.