Its as flat as neumann u87 mic but its bit thin and its really awesome.. Aston is new in the market but the thing how they take vocal processing they sound more smooth and well balanced in a whole dense mix which amazed me. Signal to noise ratio is not best but its okay with the industry standard quality you get, just put gain little low and do close mic recording you will get the best, go for spirit version either as experts compare it straight to U87 which is industry standard in the whole world.