Shure SM7dB vs Electro-Voice RE20: which to buy

Both of these are pro-tier dynamic microphones built for the same job: capturing voice for podcasting, broadcast, streaming, and vocal recording without dragging room noise along with it. They sit close in our research scoring (the RE20 at 76, the SM7dB at 75), so this isn't a quality gap you're choosing between. The real decision axis is price and what you want to plug into. The Electro-Voice RE20 is the cheaper of the two; the Shure SM7dB costs more and carries a built-in preamp, which changes what kind of interface or audio chain you need behind it.

Pick the Electro-Voice RE20 if you want the lower entry price and the long-standing broadcast standard, and you already have an interface or preamp with enough clean gain to drive a passive dynamic mic. It's a known quantity in radio and voiceover booths, and the savings matter if your front end is already sorted.

Pick the Shure SM7dB if the built-in gain is the feature that solves your problem. The integrated preamp is meant to take the pressure off budget interfaces that otherwise struggle to push a quiet dynamic mic to a usable level, so it's the more forgiving pick for a leaner home or streaming setup willing to spend a bit more.

Both are strong, genuinely interchangeable choices for the same use cases, so the trap is overthinking the score difference. Decide on your signal chain first: if your interface already delivers plenty of clean gain, the cheaper RE20 is the value play; if it doesn't, the SM7dB's onboard preamp is worth the premium.