Technologies

Logitech Blue Sona Review: All the Mic You Need

The Blue Sona XLR microphone is an outstanding choice for budding podcasters looking to get more serious and pros who want a simplified setup.

Logitech’s goal with the Blue Sona dynamic XLR microphone is straightforward: Give people an accessible option for pro-level audio no matter what it’s plugged into. Whether you’re an experienced producer or just starting out, you’ll get amazing sound with minimal effort.

I fall into the «just starting out» user category, so I got testing help from former CNET podcast producer and audio engineer Bryan VanGelder to ensure the Sona lived up to Blue’s claims. Ultimately, we both arrived at the same conclusion: The Blue Sona makes it extremely easy to get clean, clear audio regardless of your experience level. It does come with a pro-gear price of $350 (£299, AU$530 converted), but you get a top-quality mic in return.

Logitech Blue Sona XLR Microphone

$350 at Walmart

If you’re new to XLR microphones, they use an analog three-pin connector and are the standard for professional audio. Unlike a USB microphone, an XLR mic must be plugged into an audio interface with an XLR cable to convert the audio from analog to digital before connecting to a computer. You can get a USB mic that is as good as an XLR mic, but XLR is needed to connect to other pro audio gear, such as a mixer. It also lets you connect multiple mics simultaneously through a single audio interface into a computer.

To test the claim that you’ll get pro sound regardless of what audio interface it’s plugged into, we went with the cheapest option we could find on Amazon, the $30 Xtuga Q-12. If you’re investing $350, you’ll probably want an interface that’s even just a little better. But the Xtuga proved the Sona can get you great results with the most basic audio interface. The interface you go with does need to support 24- or 48-volt phantom power.

Blue Sona microphone with its foam screen removed. — The mic capsule has two diaphragms, one to capture voice and another mounted in reverse to cancel vibration.

Josh Goldman/CNET

Best of both worlds

The Sona is a dynamic microphone that handles loud voices and noises better than a more sensitive condenser mic might. That means it’s good for game streaming or anything where you might have audio spikes, as it will help with distortion and clipping.

The mic also has a tight supercardioid pickup pattern that focuses on what’s in front of the mic while rejecting background noise. Combined with Blue’s ClearAmp technology that gives the mic an additional 25dB gain, the Sona has the greater sensitivity needed to boost quieter sources, functioning like a condenser mic. ClearAmp also means you don’t need to add a preamp gain like a Cloudlifter to your setup.

Logitech Blue Sona microphone in front of a laptop screen. — Tone controls are hidden under a magnetic cover on the back.

Josh Goldman/CNET

Again, the sound from the Blue Sona is clean with excellent clarity. Even the din of an open office and the HVAC blower over my desk was kept quiet. Bryan noted its robust low end and that it took a fair amount of effort to overload it. He put the Sona on par with the popular Shure SM7b. He also said the built-in high-pass filter and presence toggles on the rear of the mic make a noticeable difference in clarity too. They’re definitely worth experimenting with to get the tone you want from the mic.

Lastly, the Sona’s build quality is exceptional. The metal body gives it a professional look and feel. There’s an internal shock mount for the mic capsule. If you tend to get a bit animated when you talk or are concerned about bumps or vibration, the mount helps keep it all under control. Plus, the single-knob design allows it to rotatefreely to use sitting on a desk or mounted on a boom.

Logitech Blue Sona microphone in an office. — Black and red foam windscreens are included.

Josh Goldman/CNET

In the box with the mic are two foam windscreens that magnetically click into place, making quick swaps simple. There’s also a 3/8-inch mic stand adapter. That’s all though, so if this is your first XLR mic, you’ll need an XLR cable and audio interface to connect to a computer.

Though it requires more investment than a USB mic, the Logitech Blue Sona’s straightforward design and features make it a superb choice if you’re ready to graduate to an XLR mic. And the built-in gain also means you need one less piece of equipment to buy and clutter up your workstation. Something to remember if you’re launching your podcasting career from a tiny desk in your apartment or if you’re a pro in need of a simple, space-saving option.

Technologies

Google, Meta and Amazon Join Global Pact to Fight Rising Online Scams

The companies will share fraud intelligence and coordinate responses as AI makes scams faster, cheaper and harder to detect.

Modern online scams operate across multiple platforms, perhaps spanning social media, messaging apps, email and online marketplaces. Google, Meta and Amazon are among 11 tech, retail and payments companies that have signed a new agreement to combat online scams by sharing threat intelligence across platforms, Axios first reported Monday.

The initiative, called the Industry Accord Against Online Scams & Fraud, is designed to improve how companies detect and respond to fraud that spans multiple services. Participants say they will exchange signals, such as scam-linked accounts and fraudulent domains, and coordinate enforcement actions.

By sharing intelligence in near real time, companies hope to identify these scams earlier and stop them before they spread.

The effort reflects how modern scams operate. A victim might encounter a fake celebrity investment ad on social media, move to a messaging app where the scammer builds trust, then faces prompts to send money through a fraudulent website, payment app or crypto wallet — spanning multiple companies’ ecosystems.

Google said it now blocks hundreds of millions of scam-related results every day using AI, underscoring how both attackers and defenders are increasingly relying on the same technology. Meta removed more than 159 million scam ads in 2025 and is expanding AI tools to detect impersonation and warn users.

Online scams are growing rapidly, in part because generative AI has lowered the barrier to entry. AI can be used not only to produce realistic phishing emails but also to clone voices and deepfake videos that impersonate executives, public figures and even family members.

The agreement is voluntary and doesn’t create new legal obligations, but it comes after regulators’ increased pressure on tech platforms to address fraud more aggressively. The companies say they will begin building frameworks for reporting and intelligence-sharing, though it’s not yet clear how quickly those systems will be deployed or how effective they will be in practice.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, March 18

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 18.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? I thought it was a fairly easy one, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Word before «card,» flood» or «photography»
Answer: FLASH

6A clue: Joust weapon
Answer: LANCE

7A clue: Brain, heart or lungs
Answer: ORGAN

8A clue: «Frozen» reindeer
Answer: SVEN

9A clue: What can be found on frozen roads or frozen margaritas
Answer: SALT

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Follow a dentist’s recommendation
Answer: FLOSS

2D clue: Baby bug
Answer: LARVA

3D clue: Shape made in the snow
Answer: ANGEL

4D clue: Very little
Answer: SCANT

5D clue: Egg layer
Answer: HEN

Technologies

Amazon Speeds Up Delivery Even More With 1- and 3-Hour Options

The retailer says the one-hour option is available in hundreds of cities, with discounted shipping for Prime members.

Same-day delivery apparently isn’t fast enough for some Amazon shoppers. The retail giant said on Tuesday it’s adding new shipping options that will get products to front doors within a one- or three-hour window.

The company said in its announcement that the one-hour option is available in hundreds of cities across the US, while the three-hour option is now live in more than 2,000 areas. Amazon’s web page at amazon.com/getitfast shows whether those options are available to shoppers for their location. More than 90,000 products will be available for those shipping windows, the company said.

For those who can’t get those services (including the author of this post, who lives between Austin and San Antonio in Texas), a message will display: «3-hour delivery is currently unavailable. Check back at a later time or shop products with Same-Day delivery below.»

Pricing for the faster delivery options is not cheap: It’ll cost you $20 for one-hour delivery and $15 for three-hour delivery for those without an Amazon Prime account, or $10 and $5 for customers who subscribe to Prime.

Last year, the company rolled out faster Amazon delivery options to 4,000 additional areas.

In a video of the podcast Learn and Be Curious with Doug Herrington, hosted by Amazon’s CEO of worldwide stores, Kandace Kapps, the director of the company’s same-day strategy team, spoke in more detail about the challenges of fast shipping. Kapps discussed shifts in customer buying habits over the last few years, such as more people buying household essentials like toilet paper on Amazon.

She said that Amazon can deliver so quickly by placing same-day delivery hubs close to customers in metro areas and by getting products ready to ship within 15 minutes, aided by warehouse robots.

«I think customers are going to continue to get magically surprised by how fast we can deliver to their doorstop,» Kapps said.

Herrington said fast shipping increases sales: «When we speed up the service, the probability that somebody buys a product from us goes up.»

Other retailers, including Walmart, have been adding same-day delivery options or exploring other ways to speed up shipping times to compete with Amazon.

Removing buyers’ moments of hesitation

Part of Amazon’s strategy, which has involved a massive buildout of locations, deployment of thousands of trucks, deals with other delivery services and investment in logistics software, is actually pretty simple: being there when people need last-minute items or make impulse buys.

«It’s about removing the last moment where you would’ve reconsidered the purchase,» said Stephanie Carls, retail insights expert at coupon and promotional-code website RetailMeNot, a sibling site of CNET. «It changes how you shop, not just how fast you get things.»

Carls said that Amazon’s super-fast delivery is removing the timeframe when people might change their minds about a purchase.

«There used to be a gap between deciding to buy something and actually having it. That’s when you’d price check, rethink it, or decide you didn’t need it after all,» she said. «This closes that gap.»

The retail expert said that competitors, including Walmart and Target, have been speeding up delivery times in some markets. Still, they’re not matching Amazon’s scale or product range at those speeds or levels of consistency.

«And that’s what starts to make everyone else feel slow,» Carls said. «Amazon’s advantage is how tightly connected its technology, inventory and delivery networks are, which makes this level of speed more repeatable.»