The Nacon Rig M2 Streamstar is the latest microphone addition vying for your hard-earned cash. It's presented as a desktop microphone complete with screw-on stand, but as a streaming mic you can attach it to a boom arm to get up close and personal. It's also got a magnetic rear backplate with R-I-G written on it in bold white letters, which Nacon says you can swap out with a custom plate if you get one printed with your particular logo.

Self-promotion is important in the streaming game, after all. Anyway, it's $130, and that puts it in the upper mid-range of the streaming microphone market—and only $19 cheaper than our best microphone for gaming pick, the Shure MV6. That's a seriously impressive mic, so the Nacon unit has its work cut out for it right from the start.

The Streamstar is a fairly innocuous-looking device, resembling an all-black deck of playing cards tilted up on its side when attached to the included stand. On paper it's also got some impressive specs, including 24-bit audio capture with a 192 Hz sampling rate. On the front are two dials, one for gain adjustment and one for monitor volume. Underneath is a 3.5 mm aux output for headphone monitoring, and a USB Type-C connection, with an included USB Type-A to Type-C cable.

You might think you'd need to install some included software before you get going with the Streamstar, but there isn't any. Nope, the quick start guide tells you to assemble the stand, plug the cable in, and then set the sample rate in the Windows audio settings. I appreciate simplicity, but there's something about the whole experience here that feels barebones right from the start.

That's not helped by the front-mounted controls. This is going to sound like a silly thing to point out, but while the microphone and stand feel of… passable quality, the front dials wobble like they're not quite connected properly. It's been a while since a dial made me grimace, but here we are.

Whether that matters to you largely depends on how often you'll use them, but as you'll see later on, the gain dial becomes rather important. Said gain dial is the lower of the two, and is ringed in white light when the microphone is live, and red when it's clicked in to mute. The click itself feels fairly sturdy, so plus points there.

A stand-out feature of the Streamstar is Bluetooth monitoring. In essence, you can pair a set of earbuds to the mic itself for live audio monitoring, free from the burden of cables, by long-pressing the top dial.

Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work. I tried connecting a pair of Sennheiser Bluetooth earbuds to the mic, but the instructions are very basic and it required a fair bit of fiddling around, pairing and unpairing, before I got a usable result.

Some software interjection would really help here. A simple app that allows you to see which devices are paired to the mic—and which inputs and outputs are being used at any one time—would make things a lot more straightforward, rather than relying on the arcane Windows audio settings page. Still, after much cursing, a reliable input and output was achieved.

Time to see whether those specs translate to great audio. I first recorded my voice with the Streamstar in a desktop position at a mere six inches away with a reasonable amount of gain, and immediately thought I'd screwed up a recording setting, as the Audacity waveform barely moved in response. Cranking the gain to maximum, however, resulted in this:

The vocal tone itself is perfectly decent, but the clip above is me speaking forcefully, at maximum gain, with the mic placed in front of my keyboard. A desktop mic would generally sit further back than this, but move it to a less obtrusive position and your voice disappears into the distance even with the gain cranked to high heaven. Back it down, and the Streamstar struggles to capture your voice at a decent volume over the background noise.

Speaking of which, what you'll also notice is a fair amount of hiss even though I recorded these clips in a dead quiet room. The Streamstar's 16 mm electret condenser has a tendency to highlight every sound it can pick up except your voice when used with the included stand, meaning that noise cancellation is near essential. Except it doesn't come with any, which strikes me as something of a fatal flaw.

Undeterred, I recorded a clip with the mic attached to a boom arm directly in front of me, but with my mouth slightly off to the side, (an old-school microphone technique that tends to work wonders), and managed a better result—at least in terms of gain:

While I'm certainly used to the idea of microphones sounding better the closer they are to your face, this is the first condenser mic I've used where I'd consider a close-mic position pretty much essential. Get the Streamstar up close, and it manages to capture a warm tone that would be perfectly usable for streaming.

However, it's still a little noisy. More than that, in a close position the Streamstar is quite plosive-prone, meaning "puh" and "buh" tones have a tendency to get blown out, even when speaking off to the side. You can hear this in the clip above, particularly as I say the "p" in "lockpick". Many streamers lack proper microphone technique and speak directly into the front of the mic at close range, and that's a recipe for audio disaster with this particular unit, given the lack of software help.

What this means in practice is you're likely going to be adjusting the gain on a regular basis to minimise unwanted audio nasties—which means wrestling with volume and background hiss/plosive issues until you force them into an uneasy standoff using a wobbly dial. That's the sort of compromise you'd normally have to make with a cheap microphone, but at $130, cheap this ain't.

I really can't get on with the Streamstar, much as I have tried. It looks like a streamer-worthy microphone on paper, and the Bluetooth monitoring feature is a lovely idea, but in practice, it's got far too many flaws. It's too quiet to use in a standard desktop position without excessive background noise, it's plosive-prone in a close-up position, and crucially, it's missing any software help to rectify either issue.

Plus, the materials are so-so, the dials feel wobbly, and there's nothing about it that suggests to me that it's a $100+ product. When you can pick up a Razer Seiren Mini for a mere $50 (or even less, as it regularly goes on sale) and it performs as well as it does for such a minimal sum, I really don't see why you'd pay more than double for the Streamstar.

The Razer also lacks noise cancellation, but it has no problem picking up vocals at a reasonable volume from a traditional desktop position without pegging the gain to the maximum.

Or you could spend $19 more than the Streamstar and opt for the Shure MV6. It's much more obtrusive, but it's an excellent mic that picks up well both close up and at a distance. It also comes with powerful noise cancelling software, meaning you can remove background noise with a single slider, and it's built like the proverbial tank to boot.

There are many USB microphones on the market for streamers to choose from, and while the Streamstar looks great on paper, in practice, it fails to deliver the smooth audio experience achieved by many of its rivals. It's a fiddly, fussy mic with questionable materials, and for $130, I really do expect more than this. A bit of a swing and a miss, I'm afraid.

As far as fancy gamer-centric things go, HyperX's Quadcast S is exemplary. It's the best looking gaming mic you can get, with really clever RGB implementation. You see these things pop up a fair bit in Twitch streams, but they're just as suitable for people who like their gaming space to look really nice.

In addition to the RGB, which is fully customisable using HyperX's Ngenuity software, the mic has all the practical features you could want in this price range, including tap-to-mute, a built-in shockmount, and—don't forget!—brilliant sound. It's usually a pricey affair at AU$299, but Amazon is currently offering a very tempting 33% discount, bringing the price down by a full AU$100 to AU$199.

The Quadcast S has been cheaper on Amazon before: it went for as little as AU$156.75 last June, but that was an extremely rare discount. The current AU$199 is the best price we've seen on this model since June 2024.

The discount is part of Amazon's Big Smile sale, which runs this week. Another highlight, for me at least, is the Corsair K70 RGB Pro, which is going for AU$160.65 down from AU$249. I'm using it to type this very story, and can confirm that it's well worth that discounted price.

Razer Seiren Mini | Wired Mix | 78 dB signal-to-noise ratio | Supercardioid pickup pattern | Condenser mic | $49.99 $32.99 at Amazon
Offering super solid sound at just over $30 dollars and taking up so little space that it easily fits onto most desks and work spaces, this little wonder has been a powerful budget pick for almost five years. It is currently matching its lowest ever price and well worth the money.
View Deal

If you've ever tried to build a small PC rig, you're probably used to paying more for less when it comes to gaming tech. However, the Razer Seiren Mini is not only adorably cute but one of the best budget mics out there, and even better with a tidy discount on it.

For just $33 at Amazon right now, you can pick up the black Razer Seiren Mini for $17 off its original price of $50. The V3 Mini, its upgrade, is also on sale for around $42, but the main extras are a tap-to-mute sensor on the top and Type-C connectivity in the mic itself. Given that I went for the cheaper of the two just a few months ago, you can see where my money would be going.

Almost five years after its initial inclusion, the Razer Seiren Mini is still the best budget option in our roundup of the best gaming mics, and this is a testament not only to its sound quality but also its great price point. At its full price of $50, it's still an excellent choice.

In my time with it so far, I've been not only impressed by its sound quality but also how easy it is to get set up and ready to go. This one doesn't work with Synapse, Razer's software, which is honestly fine as it's great out of the box. It does, however, use a micro USB, which can be a bit of a pain as I can't easily unplug my mic and plug in my keyboard with the same cable for a quick charge. Generally speaking, though, this mic is so light and cute that you will likely have it constantly plugged in and ready to go.

If you want to hear the microphone's recording quality, we have a handy little Soundcloud link below showing it off.

The Seiren Mini can be unscrewed from its flat base to hook into mic arms to hover over your desk, but the included base also has plenty of wiggle room in case you want to angle it for any reason.

Available at its lowest ever price, the only major considerations I'd make before buying a mic like this are:

• Do you plan on buying a more expensive mic in the future?
• Will the proprietary micro USB cable annoy you?
• Will you regret picking the black model over the pink one?

If the answer to all of the above is no, I couldn't recommend the Razer Seiren Mini enough.

Yet, with the new Capsule Elite, NZXT seems to be offering pretty much an identical feature set to the competition alongside a smart design, highly adjustable stand and higher bitrate recordings for just $90/?85/100. That sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?

Well, I'm here to tell you that it isn't. The Capsule Elite is an excellent USB microphone. I could just end the review there, really, but my editor would likely kill me if I did, so let me explain why.

The fact is that NZXT's latest microphone offers rich and full-bodied pickup as you'll hear from the sample audio with pleasant depth and clarity. It's a surefire cut above a lot of headset microphones from options that are well into double figures, while also taking it to those more expensive choices from Logitech and SteelSeries. I'm mightily impressed with the Capsule Elite right out of the gate.

You don't get the flexibility of other polar patterns, as the likes of the Blue Yeti and HyperX Quadcast S provide, but for solo recordings, the Capsule Elite's cardioid option will definitely suffice.

It's not only ideal for voices, but it also means that the noise rejection is second to none. This is because the pickup pattern is designed to pick up audio from the front while rejecting it from the back and sides. In testing it with a series of recordings while playing music at a reasonable volume from speakers behind the Capsule Elite, it was only my voice that came through loud and clear. Of course, turning the music up too loud did allow some of AC/DC's Heatseeker to come through, but it wasn't much at all. Even picking out a deliberately loud mechanical keyboard and putting it a few inches from the microphone didn't phase it.

Listen to the microphone test below:

Connectivity is handled with a simple USB-C to USB-A cable, and I had no trouble plugging into either my main Windows gaming PC or my MacBook Pro (with a USB-A to USB-C adapter) and it was recognised instantly. From there on, select it as your main input device and you're good to go.

For the most part, the Capsule Elite is a doddle to set up, what with that plug-and-play connectivity and whatnot. The only trouble I had was in physically setting it up on the included stand in the box. It intriguingly uses a similar system to a lot of monitors with a base that screws into the shaft that the mic sits on, which proved to be a bit of a pain for a ham-fisted idiot like me. You have to line up a couple of nibs on the shaft and base, and then screw it in from the bottom. The problem for me was keeping both parts level so the microphone was straight and true when I turned it over and placed it on my desk.

The issue is that the stand isn't straight. I checked the product imagery against my best efforts, and the stand slants inwards. With this in mind, the stand is entirely metal and is sturdy once screwed into its threaded mount. I definitely didn't feel like the Capsule Elite was going to keel over at any given moment. You can also put the mic on a standard thread boom arm if you wish to avoid the stand shenanigans altogether.

While the stand is metal, the microphone body is plastic, which is perhaps where NZXT has been able to cut some costs down against rivals from Logitech and SteelSeries. It looks fetching in the white and silver colourway I have here, although you can also get it in black if you want something more conventional.

The actual body is also quite tall, reminding me of the Elgato Wave 3 with its flat, rectangular profile. The front portion comes with a large NZXT logo and a gain dial that also doubles up as a mute button when pressed. Above that is a small strip, which doubles as an indicator for both the microphone gain and the monitoring volume, as controlled by the wheel on the mic's right-hand side.

Handily, the indicator changes colour depending on what's being done—when the mic is muted, it's red; when the gain is changed, it's purple; and the monitoring volume is green. The gain wheel has some pleasant resistance to it, which is absent on the monitoring volume wheel, oddly.

On the rear, there are two ports—a USB-C for connectivity, and a 3.5mm audio jack for on-board monitoring. You also get a small light strip at the top, which is addressable in NZXT's CAM software. Here, you can also perform a mic test, adjust gain, EQ levels and sidetone, and fiddle with more advanced settings such as the compressor, noise suppression and high pass filter. It's all presented very cleanly and is simple to use.

For $90/?85/100, the NZXT Capsule Elite certainly takes it to more expensive options from other manufacturers with its rich audio quality and excellent noise suppression. It also comes with convenient software control and handy on-board features. Where the other options come up trumps is with slightly better build quality, but the nuts and bolts of what's here prove just how excellent the Capsule Elite is for the price.

I'm forever espousing the benefits of a good microphone. It's one of those things that you don't think you need until you try one for yourself, or hear an awful one over voice chat and realise what a terrible curse bad audio is on the people that have to listen to you on the daily.

Many microphones have passed our desks this year, and many have failed to meet the mark. But a precious few have stood head and shoulders above the rest, so we've gathered together the top three, thrown them into the ring, and let them bash their little pop-filters against each other until a clear winner remains.

First across the ropes are two exceptionally good units from Shure, a tried and tested name in the audio world that's made serious inroads into gaming and streaming mics this year. The Shure MV6 is a desktop mic with a difference, thanks to its excellent capture at range, solid build quality, and a mini mic stand that looks like it came straight off the stage at your local venue.

Then there's the Shure MV7+, a refinement of a classic that leaves just about all other podcast microphones in the dust. It's a multi-talented marvel, however, and makes a compelling case for itself as a podcast mic, a streaming mic, or really any other vocal-capturing duties you can think of. Point it at its target and off it goes, swinging for the rafters.

But what's this? A SteelSeries usurper? Yep, the SteelSeries Alias Pro kit includes a great mic, but it's the whole package that makes this a worthy contender for the crown. It's got a powerful preamp hidden in its Stream Mixer interface, along with programmable dials and buttons that really do make capturing and streaming audio simple.

So who will triumph? Cast your eyes over our contenders below.

Best microphone 2024: the nominees

The winner of the PC Gamer Hardware Award for the best microphone of 2024 will be announced on New Year's Eve. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Make sure you check in with us then to find out the eventual result.

Have no fear! Like the world's nerdiest superhero, I'm sweeping in with my cape of 20 years of audio and production engineering experience to tell you exactly what equipment you should be buying to make your streaming dreams come true.

? We're curating the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here ?

With the Black Friday sales well underway, now's the perfect time to equip your PC with everything it needs to capture your lovely visage, dulcet tones, and sweet gameplay chops with aplomb.

Let's have a look at my top picks for Black Friday streaming equipment deals, shall we?

Quick links

• Budget microphone: Razer Seiren V3 Mini | $50 @ Amazon
• Mid-range microphone: HyperX Quadcast S | $119 @ Amazon
• High-end microphone: Shure MV7+ | $249 @ Amazon

• Budget webcam: Logitech C920x | $45 @ Newegg
• Mid-range webcam: Razer Kiyo Pro | $95 @ Amazon
• High-end webcam: Elgato Facecam MK.2 | $120 @ Amazon

• Key light set: Neewer key light 2-pack | $91 @ Amazon
• Wall lights: Govee Gaming Wall Light | $80 @ Amazon

• Microphone & stream mixer kit: SteelSeries Alias Pro | $250 @ Amazon

1. A great microphone

First up, you're going to want a great microphone to capture some sound. Even if your streaming adventures amount to nothing more than an OBS recording of your gameplay with a voiceover (and plenty of streamers and content creators do very well with nothing but that), you're going to want to make sure your audio game is on point.

I've put together three stunning microphone options here, from budget all the way through to studio-level, to ensure your audio is as good as it can possibly be.

Black Friday budget microphone deal

If you're on a tight budget, there's no better recommendation I can think of than the Razer Seiren V3 Mini. Don't let its small size and discount price put you off—this desktop mic captures excellent audio quality, looks great, and takes up very little room on your desk, leaving plenty of space for the most important thing in shot. That's you, that is.

Black Friday mid-range microphone deal

I reckon this QuadCast S is a truly excellent choice for any streamer. It's a crispy-yet-warm audio capturing machine, with an integrated pop-filter that removes any worries about plosives (blown out "puh" and "buh" noises that can really ruin your vibes, man). It also lights up with a dazzling display of RGB that looks great on cam.

Black Friday high-end microphone deal

This is simply my favorite vocal capture microphone right now, and our top pick for the best microphone for podcasting. That means it's perfect for streaming too, although you will have to buy a boom arm (I'm a big fan of Tonor arms, for reference) in order to get it close enough to your face to use it as its best.

It's a mean, audio capturing machine and ultra-simple to use. Install the Shure Motive Mix software, plug it in, and off it goes capturing the best sound this side of a professional studio setup.

2. A webcam with image quality to spare

Should you wish to show your beautiful visage on camera, you'll be wanting something that can capture your roguish good-looks with the minimum of fuss.

Great webcams can be expensive, but it's still possible to pick up budget models that'll do just fine, particularly if you plan on shrinking yourself down to a small fraction of the video while you show gameplay footage.

If you're planning on plenty of shots of just you, or perhaps something like unboxing content, then you'll need something a bit more igh-end. Luckily, I've found three great deals on three great webcams, perfectly suited to each price range.

Black Friday budget webcam deal

If you're just starting out, and especially if you plan on only using your webcam for a picture-in-picture spot on a gameplay stream, then any variation of the Logitech C920 will do you just fine. We recommend the Streamplify Cam as our best budget pick for streamers but it's currently hard to find in the US, so this Logitech wins out for its sheer price/performance combo.

It's never going to blow you away with its image quality, but it's an ultra-reliable stalwart sitting atop many a monitor across the world, and this version even comes with a flip-down privacy shield. After all, it's easy to forget that you're still live, so a real-world backup is a nice thing to have, ey?

Black Friday mid-range webcam deal

You may have noticed that many streamers sit in dark rooms, with lots of neon lights to make everything look all glow-y and gamer-chic. That's a good move aesthetically (and we have some lights down below that would suit), but it means you'll need a camera that's better at low light capture than most.

Enter, the Razer Kiyo Pro. In our review we found it was easily the best webcam for dealing with low-light conditions we've ever tested, and it's under half its MSRP right now at Amazon. The auto-focus is a bit fiddly, but it's a streamer-friendly cam that deals with challenging lighting far better than the rest.

Black Friday high-end webcam deal

Our best webcam recommendation is the Elgato Facecam MK.2, so I'll leave it there and just tell you to buy it while it's on discount. Nah, just kidding, you need more, don't you? Well, it records uncompressed video at 1080p 60 fps, which means you get image quality that surpasses any other cam at this price point.

In our review we discovered that it's also got an excellent HDR mode, which is something of a boon. Plus, it's relatively small and discreet while still outperforming much larger models, and the software is truly outstanding, which makes setting it up so much easier than many of its competitors. And at this price? A pretty easy decision, if you ask me.

3. Lights, camera, action

So you've got the audio sorted, your new cam is winging its way to you—now you just need to work on your lighting.

Yep, it's important. If you simply rely on the blazing light of your screen or the odd desk lamp in the background, chances are you're still going to look a bit amateurish, and that's not the goal here. We want you and your recording space to look its very best, so here's a couple of recommendations that should light you up in the way you deserve.

Black Friday key light deal

Key lights are simply the best way of making sure you look great on camera, and there are plenty of different ways you can use them to show you at your prettiest. What you really want here then are options, and this double-bubble kit gives you everything you need to get started.

With lights, stands, power plugs and a carry bag all included, what you've got here is a complete package that isn't just for your streaming setup—you can use it for product reviews, location shoots, and anything else you can think of in the wide world of video production. Think of them as an investment you'll use for years, and you won't go far wrong.

Black Friday wall light deal

Ah, so you want that streamer glow then, ey? I don't blame you. It's become the de facto look for streamers to bathe their respective shooting spaces in purples, blues and greens, and that's exactly what this wall light set provides.

We were so impressed with it, we placed it as our top wall light recommendation in our best desk lighting guide. That's high praise indeed, and with $40 off you can save a tidy sum to put towards some of the streaming gear above while still surrounding yourself in a comforting neon glow.

4. A wildcard audio and stream control setup

Controlling all your inputs and outputs on the fly can be a bit of a nightmare, so I'd be remiss if I didn't point out this SteelSeries Alias Pro kit that makes streaming audio about as easy as it gets.

Not only do you get an excellent microphone that can compete with some of the better models we've tested, but a Stream Mixer that allows you to assign custom controls while acting as a powerful preamp.

SteelSeries' Sonar software (all the ess sounds, all at once) is remarkably good at simplifying down complicated audio controls into single sliders, and its drag and drop functionality makes juggling all your various configs much simpler than they otherwise would be.

Plus, its built-in Sonar AI-noise cancelling plugin is genuinely good at removing background noise. Of course, you'll still need a webcam and some lights, and its still very pricey even with this discount.

But if all the fiddly bits of audio streaming are making you pull your hair out with frustration, this setup does its darndest to keep things serene—allowing you to focus on the subtle art of performance rather than losing yourself in the settings menus.

?Check out all the Amazon Black Friday PC gaming deals right here?

Shure MV7+ | USB | Dynamic | Built-in pop filter | 50 Hz to 16,000 Hz | $279 $249 at Amazon (save $30)
If you're looking for the best USB podcast microphone, look no further. We loved this mic so much in our review, it immediately went into an entirely new category in our best microphone guide. It needs a separate boom arm or stand, unfortunately, but other than that it's one of the best mics you can get your hands on right now. It'd make a mean pro-level streaming companion, too.

Price check: Shure $249View Deal

When I saw the original Shure MV7 was being discontinued, I felt a genuine pang in my gut. That sounds like an odd reaction to a microphone being removed from sale, I know—but when you use something day in and day out for years that's genuinely brilliant, it becomes like an old friend.

I needn't have worried though, because when I reviewed its replacement, the Shure MV7+ Podcast Microphone, I discovered it was even better. I've just spotted it for $249 at Amazon, and while it might be a slim discount, a $30 saving on a mic that's only been out for the best part of six months is still worth shouting about.

Particularly one as brilliant as this. Professional-sounding audio is supposed to be difficult, but the Shure MV7+ has a magnificent party trick up its sleeve. Thanks to some mercifully straightforward software, the MV7+ is about as plug-and-play as it gets—and that shot it straight into first position as our best microphone for podcasts recommendation.

Noise cancellation? On by default, and excellent at what it does. Gain levels? Auto-adjusted out of the box, meaning you can move around in front of it and it'll keep you sounding as consistent as possible. Plosives? Eliminated, thanks to a Digital Popper Stopper (gosh, I even love typing those words, never mind saying them) and a chonky foam surround that keeps everything sounding svelte.

What about EQ? Reduced to a single slider, and excellent at what it does. Keep it in the middle for a natural, crisp sound, pull it over to dark for a hot-radio kinda vibe, or push it in the opposite direction for extra clarity.?

Ordinarily, I'd hate overly simplified controls on a mic. But here, Shure has taken all its many, many years of audio capturing know-how and reduced it to its bare essentials—and as a result, anyone can get a superb sound out of this truly stonkingly good microphone.

Drawbacks? Well, it doesn't come with a stand. Given that this is for those looking for ultimate audio quality, I'd highly recommend buying a cheap boom arm to get it nice and close to your laughing gear (that's British for mouth) to capture the best results. Thankfully, your options here are legion, as the Shure MV7+ should screw into a standard fitting with no issues at all.

Personally, I'm a fan of this Tonor model but feel free to shop around. Anyway, once you've hooked it onto a mount and placed it somewhere near your face, all you need to do is press record. The Shure will take care of the rest, leaving you free to do what you do best and ramble on about whatever it is you'd like the rest of the world to hear.

It's a fantastic bit of kit, this Magic Mic, and one that I recommend to anyone who'll listen. Now go forth, my friends, and capture vocal audio that sounds spectacular.

• We're tracking all the October Prime Day PC gaming deals right here!

I've found them both on discount at Amazon, and at these prices I reckon they're both great buys. The real question is whether plain ol' red is good enough for you, or whether you crave flashy lighting effects to give your setup some RGB spice?

Quick links

• HyperX QuadCast - $139.99 $85.49 at Amazon (save $54.50)
• HyperX QuadCast S - $159.99 $113.96 at Amazon (save $46.03)

HyperX QuadCast

If all you want in your next microphone purchase is something reliable, fully-featured, great-sounding and, err, red, then the HyperX QuadCast is for you. It's a USB microphone with four polar patterns to choose from (stereo, omnidirectional, cardioid, bidirectional), meaning that you've got the flexibility of recording yourself, two speakers, or an entire room should you so choose.

There's also a handy gain adjustment knob, tap-to-mute functionality, and an anti-vibration shock mount to prevent bumps and taps showing up as ugly noises on your audio. All in all it's a very well-featured mic, and I haven't even got to the actual sound yet.

This particular HyperX mic is clear and distinct in its tone, and it's capable of picking up and reproducing quite a bit of volume, so that gain knob will come in handy. Still, it's not the shy and retiring type, and that color choice reflects that principle nicely. Currently available for just over $50 off at Amazon, it's a pretty decent discount on a very good mic.

It's a mic that likes to stand out from the crowd. But if you really want to dazzle on your next stream, how about its much flashier sibling?

HyperX QuadCast S

So, headline specs here: This is a USB microphone with four polar patterns (stereo, omnidirectional, cardioid, bidirectional), a handy gain adjustment knob, tap-to-mute, and...deja vu? Yep, the HyperX QuadCast S is virtually the same mic, just with some RBG effects. And while it might seem silly paying a fair bit extra just for some lighting, the QuadCast S really does stand out from the crowd.

Y'see, microphones like this will do fine at a distance, but they'll sound really good on a boom arm close up. And, that being the case, if you do decide to mount either the QuadCast or the QuadCast S on an arm (both feature the correct socket to do so, by the way) then you'll likely be getting it in shot with a webcam.

That means looks matter—and while the original QuadCast certainly looks striking in red, the QuadCast S is capable of dazzling thanks to its adjustable RGB. It's genuinely quite mesmerising, and if you're thinking about dipping your toes into the streaming waters, this is a mic that's sure to make your visuals stand out. That's why we've chosen it as our best looking gaming microphone, and anyone who's seen one in action will likely agree.

And for $114 at Amazon? Well, it might be a fair bit more expensive than the regular QuadCast, but really whether that price difference is worth it is up to you. One things for certain though—the QuadCast S has substance and style, and that can be a rare combo in a microphone.

Both are worthy mic choices to grace anyone's desk at full price, but for this sort of money I reckon they're even better buys. The choice is yours, dear Reader. To RGB, or not to RGB?

It wasn't just me that thought so, either—until recently, the Shure MV7 topped our best microphone for gaming guide, only to be replaced by the excellent Shure MV6, thanks to its more gamer-friendly sizing and desktop placement options. Now the Shure MV7+ is here, and at first glance not a whole lot seems to have changed.

That's until you put it side by side with the original MV7. The MV7+ is longer, thanks to a more substantial foam filter. The slightly fiddly touch panel controls are also now reduced to a single LED strip acting as a touch to mute button by default. Other than that though, the Shure MV7+ looks and feels just as good as the original did.

It'd better feel like the bee's knees, given the price. You can get a lot of great gaming microphones for under the $200 mark, but Shure will sell you an MV7+ for $279/?269. That's chump change for studio grade vocal mics, but for your average buyer that's still a lot to pay for something that really only does one job.

That being said, given the MV6 has properly introduced Shure into the world of USB gaming microphones, the MV7+ now strikes as something more purposeful. This is a podcast and creator microphone through and through, with none of the MV6's gamer-friendly green accents. It's a subtle, handsome looking device, designed to look professional on a stream or in a recording studio.

Not that it doesn't have a certain RBG-lit charm of its own. The top-mounted light strip can be adjusted to a variety of colours, used as a gain indicator, or set to a subtle pulsing effect should you so wish. All of this is done through Shure's Motive Mix software, which instantly detects the mic via USB and activates all the software bells and whistles by default.

Ordinarily, I'd be against audio software leaping in and turning all the settings on before I'd had a chance to fiddle with them. Still, after my experiences reviewing the MV6, I already knew Shure's software was very good at finding a great default sound all by itself. So I booted up Audacity, and recorded a vocal test clip.

This is my first recording, out of the box, with absolutely no tweaking of the settings.

I am an interminable fiddler, particularly when it comes to audio. I'll spend hours tweaking EQ's, stacking VST plugins, and shaping sound backwards and forwards until I end up chasing my own tail and resigning to whatever Frankenstein's monster of a mix I've come up with. And listening to that first result, with zero tweaking on my part? I really don't think it needs much else.?

It captures exactly the sort of vocal you'll be looking for if you want a studio-style sound, without any of the headache-inducing back and forth with the audio settings.

Enabled by default is Auto Gain Levelling, which ensures the volume stays consistent, along with a Real-time Denoiser (noise reduction, for the rest of us). I found it a little over-aggressive on the MV6, but the MV7+ has much less of an issue picking up any background noise to be stamped on in the first place. There's also a Digital Popper Stopper to minimise plosives, which are unwanted distortions to percussive vocal noises like "puhs" and "buhs". Something, in fact, that the OG MV7 was quite prone to.

Not only is there a digital effect here to minimise it, but that longer foam tip creates a bit more distance between your mouth and the microphone itself. Basically, the plosives are gone, and that's about the only thing I'd really criticise the MV7 for.

That, and the fact it didn't come with a stand by default, which is also the case here. You can include a desktop unit for an extra $10, but really what the MV7+ is designed for is to be mounted to a boom arm and brought up close, which is how I recorded the clip above. If you watch professionally produced podcasts, or even streamers with a bit of budget to spare, you'll notice that they'll often have a really good microphone right up in their faces to capture the richest sounding audio—and that's exactly where the MV7+ likes to be.

Except it's just, well, better at it than anything else I could name south of $500—with the exception of one. That's the Shure SM7db, available for $499, which is the latest version of a mic that, over the years, has become one of the default recommendations for studio-grade vocal capture.

I'm not going to say the Shure MV7+ is better than the Shure SM7db, because it isn't. But it captures a genuinely comparable audio quality, with a similarly rich tone and crispy highlights, for near-enough half the price. And that, if you ask me, is a pretty impressive trick.

You can also use the included XLR connection to drive the MV7+ via a separate mixer, or plug it right into a suitably-powered console—but given the results here with a USB connection, I'd say most will never need to. Still, one of the best things about the MV7 was its flexibility, and it's still here in spades.

What this mic is, at its core, is an improvement on a classic. It's not revolutionary, or game-changing, because the game didn't really need to be changed. All Shure needed to do was fix the MV7's plosive problem, sharpen up the software suite, and double down on all the things that made that microphone brilliant. And that's exactly what it's done.

Would I recommend the MV7+ as the best microphone for gamers, full stop? Nope, that'd still be the MV6, by virtue of the fact that most won't want to get a substantial mic right in front of them to capture great audio. And the MV7+, while still capable of being used from a desktop position, isn't making the most of its strengths there. The MV6 is cheaper, less obtrusive, and doesn't need an arm to show it off at its best.

But if you want to elevate your audio to the next level, get serious about streaming, or record a podcast that sounds like you were sitting in a studio rather than your spare room, this is the microphone to buy. It makes studio-quality sound easy to achieve, looks good doing it, and will likely last a lifetime.

My MV7's have been dropped down stairs, thrown in the back of vans, drenched in beer and banged against walls. They still work as brilliantly as the day I got them out the box, and there's nothing about the build quality of the MV7+ that suggests anything's changed. Shure gear is known for its reliability, and this seems like yet another product destined to keep going, and going.

Yes, $279 is a lot of money for a mic. But given the results here, if you care about your audio, I'd say it was actually a reasonable price of entry. The MV6 might have the desktop audio chops covered, but if you want to take things to the next level, the MV7+ is where you want to be.

Now there's a new kid on the block. The Shure MV6 is the company's first attempt at a dedicated USB gaming microphone and, as if to prove it, they've festooned the outer chassis with a lime green ring underneath the foam and stuck a big green capacitive button on the top for quick muting. Yours for $149/?129, significantly cheaper than the $250 asking price for the MV7, which has sadly been discontinued in favour of the MV7+.

Other than the gamer-friendly green accents it's a pretty straightforward-looking device, and quite a bit smaller than the MV7 of old. That was a mic that required either a boom arm mount or a separately sold desk stand to hold it aloft. Here though, you get a proper desk stand as standard—and quite the chunky thing it is, too.

The footprint here is a little large for a desktop device, but at least that means it won't be going anywhere. It's properly weighty and overbuilt, so there's no wobbling to worry about on an even surface. It reminds me of a miniature live mic stand, the sort that Steven Tyler might attach scarves to and throw around if he was a mere foot tall. You can enjoy that mental image for free, if you like. I have.

Anyway, I digress. The real headline news here is Shure is claiming it's taken all of its microphone knowledge and shrunk it down into a USB gaming mic. This is a dynamic unit, which should give it more of a focused sound compared to traditional condenser microphones. The downside is that dynamic mics can be sensitive to poor mic technique, like shifting your speaking position or constantly adjusting your distance.

To address this, Shure makes use of an Auto Level Mode within its Motive Mix software suite. This intelligently adjusts the gain in real-time to give a consistent volume of sound, jumping in to lower the gain setting if you suddenly yell, and boosting it if you begin to drift away from the microphone or shift in your seat. While Auto Levelling is nothing new to those familiar with VST plugins, building a decent version of it into the software and activating it by default is a smart move when giving us unwashed gamers a dynamic mic to play with.

Upon plugging in the mic with an included USB Type-C cable and opening the software, you're greeted with a quick tutorial on how best to use it, with a suggestion to keep the capsule six to 12 inches from your mouth for best results. Good advice for most mics I'd say, to get the richest, most focussed sound—especially a dynamic one. Still, it's a little more difficult here to achieve than most, depending on your setup, as the cable is only 100 cm long.

Even if your PC is up on your desktop like mine, that's still not a lot of cable length for positioning options. A bit of a naughty niggle, that, although most of us will likely have a longer cable sitting in a desk drawer somewhere.

Thankfully, however, that Auto Level adjustment works brilliantly. While you'll always get the best vocal results with a mic like this close up, you can put it at a fair distance and still get a clear and distinctive sound. I tried to catch it out in a variety of ways, but it's pretty instantaneous to react—meaning you don't have to cosy up to the foam like a pro podcaster to get a good result out of it.

Speaking of close up, if you do choose to move the microphone nearer to your mouth to get a rich, warm result, you'll find it's much less prone to plosives than previous models. The MV7 is a glorious, wonderful microphone, but it does have a tendency to blow out "puh" and "buh" sounds when you put it near your lips. Here the MV6 employs another software trick, the charmingly-named Digital Popper Stopper. Again, it's enabled by default and does an excellent job of stopping percussive sounds from overpowering the rest of the audio.

There's also built-in noise reduction, something I'd suggest is a must-have for any desktop mic, even a dynamic one that's less prone to picking up background noise. It's very powerful, but I'd say that if anything it's a little too aggressive for my liking. Any noise reduction turned up to a sufficient level can introduce a slightly washy, warbly quality to certain vocal tones, and here it's occasionally perceptible.

There's no slider adjustment, just an on or off setting, which makes it a bit of a blunt instrument. That being said, it does cut down on ambient room noise considerably.

What does have a slider, however, is the tone adjustment. This is essentially an EQ setting that ranges from Dark, through to Natural, and then up to Bright. By default, it sits in the middle at Natural, which is where most will likely keep it, although as a fan of a "hot radio" kind of sound I like to edge it towards Dark to richen up the tone.

Speaking of tone, the quality of the vocal capture here is brilliant. While you'll still want something like the Shure MV7 up close if you're recording podcast audio, audiobook content or anything truly "professional sounding", the sound quality that the MV6 is capable of capturing from a desktop position is genuinely impressive. It'll definitely boost your audio quality at your next meeting compared to anything lesser, and as a gaming mic, I'd say it does a much better job of preserving your vocal tone while rejecting unwanted noises compared to most desktop units, thanks to that software help.

It's also a breeze to use. The Motiv Mix software is mercifully straightforward, with a built-in soundcheck feature to let you adjust gain levels and record a quick clip of yourself with the various settings to find the right sound for you. The mic itself is also pretty unobtrusive as an object on your desk, even with those lime green accents, so it should blend into the background as a good desktop mic should.

That sizable base at the bottom of the stand does give me pause, though. It's solid as a rock, and immune to being tipped over, but it does take up a fair bit of room if you want to get the mic as close as Shure suggests. Still, it doesn't wobble, and feels like it could be used as an impromptu weapon in a zombie-based emergency if needed, so plus points there.

The real question is, should you buy an MV6 over an MV7 if you're in the market for a USB gaming microphone? Well, if you're leaving it on your desktop, thanks to that included stand, the ease of use, and the less obtrusive form factor, I'd say yes. It's also cheaper, and the top-mounted capacitive mute button is a handy extra feature.

If you're really looking for the top-end of audio quality though, and don't mind getting a large mic up in your face to do so, I'd still go for the MV7 as the better pick overall. It's a clumsier, chunkier beast, but it's also got a slightly warmer, crispier quality to it that I couldn't quite replicate with the MV6, even getting it up close with a boom arm. The MV7 also has an XLR connection, making it just as at home in a professional studio as it is with a standard PC.

To be honest, though, that's me getting all audio nerdy and looking for things that others will likely never notice, and picking out details that most gamers really shouldn't care about. It's still fairly pricey, I suppose, and both the Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ and the Razer Seiren Mini are fine options for substantially less cash, but both pale in comparison to the quality—in terms of build, vocal capture and features—of the MV6. The SteelSeries Alias is also worth a look if you want a mic that really minimises desktop space with good distance capture, but it's more expensive than the Shure, and the sound quality can't quite match it.

The bottom line is this: What Shure has made here is a mic that's built like a tank, can be used comfortably at a reasonable distance, and is significantly cheaper than the MV7—all while minimising most of the issues you get with traditional desktop microphones. And that's quite an impressive thing. Just give us a longer cable next time, ey Shure?

In that vein, the Wave Neo costs $90 USD, making it the cheapest Wave mic to date, but it does make some sacrifices to get to that point.

With the Neo lineup we are greeted by the thoughtful recycled cardboard box that contains only what you need. In this package you get a braided USB Type-C ?(device side) to Type-A cable, a mic stand complete with some cable management, and the Wave 3 itself. The mic is rocking a pop filter natively.?

It really is everything you need to get started and have solid spoken audio recording right out of the box.

The included stand is quite good, but admittedly a little weird. It has a solid circular base with an 8 cm diameter and standard ? screw connector accessible underneath. The first half of the pole screws in simply, and has a cable grip at the back to keep things inline. The second half is attached to the mic via another smaller screw connector, offset to the side. It slides straight into the first pole using a solid inner metal piece for strength and a tabbed connector. If it sounds confusing, it can actually only go together one way, so it's not so bad.

The stand brings it to a height that's perfect for talking into, but it doesn't lock in a way that stops it from being lifted out. You may learn this the hard way if, like me, you pick up your mic and have that solid base fall right on your foot. At least ?there are a tonne of ways to mount this mic, whether or not you use the included kit.?

The Wave Neo mic can be pivoted backwards and forwards on various angles and will hold that position nicely. On the back you have an aux port for monitoring your audio and the recessed USB Type-C port which the braided cable is designed to fit into. You could use any Type-C cable if you prefer, though. The front is where the condenser mic is designed to be spoken into and it sports one of the largest and brightest capacitive touch mute LED I have ever seen—but we'll get to that in a bit.

Generally, and especially for the price, voice recording is quite good. If your environment is quiet enough you should be able to plug this mic in and straight away have really decent voice recording capabilities. The sound isn't quite as crisp and punchy as something like the Wave 3 but it's warm and clear, which is what many will likely be after for streams, gaming sessions, or meetings.?

It even works straight away plugged in to other devices like my phone, which is a nice surprise. With no controls other than mute on the mic itself, if you need anything dialled in or want to make changes you're out of luck without introducing some software, however.

The Neo works with the Wave link software, which is excellent. Because my room has a lot of low computer fan noise and these are reasonably sensitive mics, it can be a huge problem. Instead, I was able to go in here and just turn the gain down enough so it wouldn't pick that up. Of course you've also got plugins like Elgato's own noise removal, if you need more help there, and as a plus it will let you keep the gain up for louder recordings. This all works well with Elgato's Stream Deck too, which can help mitigate some of the lack of controls on the Neo itself.

So back to that blinding LED mute sensor. It's so big and bright that when Elgato's Wave Link Software gave me the option to turn down the brightness I was relieved. Yetthis ended up biting me in the aux.?

When dim, the button is a bit less noticeable, so I didn't realise I had been accidentally muting myself while recording until I thought I was done. I still didn't know how I was muting myself, so I did some tests on the sensor. Turns out, it's a fair bit larger than the LED panel so it's easy to touch and unknowingly set off even when you think you shouldn't be near it.?

In a later recording I kept my hands away from the mic and still got muted out of nowhere and I just couldn't figure out what I was doing. After a bit more testing I realised that braided cables with power running can set it off if they rub over it, including its own. Even after doing my best to remove hazards, I have had this device mute when I'm not really even sure of the cause. The sheer size of the mute sensor feels like an oversight but that it's so easy to set off is a bit devastating on this device.?

It's also the main reason I wouldn't really recommend this mic to streamers or content creators. Finding out you've accidentally muted yourself mid stream and no one noticed or just didn't bother to tell you is the worst. This mic treats me like I'm a 12 year old boy in an Xbox Live lobby at least once a day. Plus it just lacks some of the crispness and definition as well as the on-device controls of its older brother, the Wave 3.

The Wave 3 that goes on sale fairly regularly for around $120 USD, by the way.

The $90 Neo is much better positioned for meetings or calls thanks to its easy setup. You're also more likely to realise quickly that you're on mute during a meeting.?

Elgato's Wave Neo is a really solid sounding mic for the price that will bring a touch of warmth to your content, but in terms of recording quality it's not kicking out our top budget or even top mid range mic choices any time soon. If the convenience of the Neo has you sold, I'd just make sure to leave that mute LED nice and blinding.

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The best microphones used to be somewhat expensive affairs, with XLR mixers and cables a plenty needed to get a great sound. No longer! You can now pick up a great, easy to use microphone for extremely reasonable money. And the Amazon Prime Day sales means its a great time to buy yourself that audio upgrade for cheap.

But which to buy? If only someone who's used a load of them could guide you through all the options, making sure you...oh. Look who's just turned up.

Hello. Here are my top three picks for the best Prime Day microphone deals. Strap in folks. Let's get us some audio.

Quick links

• Razer Seiren Mini| $39 @ Amazon?(save $11)
• HyperX QuadCast S | $109 @ Amazon?(save $51)
• Shure MV7 | $249 @ Amazon?(save $62)

Razer Seiren Mini

This isn't just the cheapest microphone on this list—it's the cutest, too. But before you?think that it's simply just a toy, know this: this little mic is capable of capturing brilliant sound. That's it. Pretty much all it does, and that's more than alright by me.

There are some concessions made to budget, of course. There's no dedicated mute button, and the cable is rather frustratingly a Razer proprietary model, meaning you'll have to buy one off Razer if it breaks. But otherwise, this microphone is practically the definition of cheap and cheerful.

With a supercardioid pickup pattern and a 14 mm condenser capsule, this little mic plugs in to your machine via USB and captures warm, yet accurate audio primarily from whatever is in front of it. In this case, of course, you. For $39 at Amazon right now, you get a great, small, good-looking little mic that does the job, and does it very well, as we found in our review.?

Plus it looks like a boiled egg in an egg cup. Come on, what more do you want than that?

HyperX QuadCast S

Sometimes, looks are important. If you want your mic to be in frame, or simply to look pleasing on your desk or attached to a boom arm, it's got to be the HyperX QuadCast S, currently available for a smidge over $109 at Amazon.

It's not just a looker, however. It's got a built in pop-filter that works very well (saving you the indignity of speaking into a cheap clip-on one), a top-mounted capacitive mute button that shuts off your vocals with the gentlest of taps, and has switchable polar patterns for multiple speaking options. Yep, you can record just you, or several speakers with just one mic.

The Ngenuity software that comes with is unfortunately a bit basic, but it gets the job done. The best thing about this mic, though (as we found in our review) is that it picks up vocal audio brilliantly, with quite a lot of volume. You can tweak that down with the gain controls, and you'll probably want to so you don't overpower other people in a meeting, but let it not be said that this mic is shy.

It captures bold, crisp audio, this mic, and makes a real visual statement doing it. Or you could turn all the flashy lights off, and have a brilliant microphone for under $110. You do you.

Shure MV7

Forgive me if I get a little misty-eyed here, but I love this microphone. Sad, but true. Y'see, it looks to be gradually being phased out by the new Shure MV7+. We haven't had a chance to get our hands on one of those yet, but what I can tell you with absolute authority is that it'll have to work damned hard to do anything better than the original.

Not only is this mic our top pick for best overall microphone, but I personally own two of them, and have used them for years of recording podcasts and vocal audio. I can attest to this mic's exceptional sound quality, build, and ease of use more than almost any other piece of equipment I own.

My two units, despite being thrown in backpacks, dropped down stairs, and placed in front of all sorts of folks, have never let me down. Not once. More than that, they pick up gloriously warm, rounded, yet crisp vocal audio better than some very expensive mics I can name. With both USB and XLR connections on tap, these two ragamuffins have been just as suited to studio work as they have sitting on my desk.

Oh, about that. You'll need a boom arm, or a desk stand, as for some reason Shure doesn't provide one as standard. Beyond that though, this mic is simply exceptional at what it does, and sounds truly brilliant. A bit plosive prone in front of loud speakers, perhaps. Otherwise, virtually flawless. Don't just take my word for it either. Our review says much the same.

If you'll excuse me, you'll find me cradling my two models in the corner and telling them it's all going to be ok. Given that they're still $249 on discount at Amazon, you may be thinking that's a lot of money to spend on an older mic. But let me tell you, I paid more for mine per unit, and haven't regretted it once.

I'm keeping mine forever. If you want the best mic I've ever used, well, you'll find it here—for hopefully a little while longer.

SteelSeries Alias Pro kit |Cardioid mic + Stream mixer | $329.99 $237.49 at Amazon for Prime members (save $92.50)
Setting up microphones, mixers and preamps for streaming is traditionally a fiddly affair, but this kit makes things very straightforward. What you get here is a great mic, and a very handy mixer/preamp combo with configurable buttons that works with SteelSeries Sonar suite for easy input/output switching and more. Add in a boom arm, and you have everything you need for superb vocal audio.View Deal

As someone that's spent a good portion of my life tangled up in XLR cables, I'll be the first to tell you that setting up audio gear can be a fiddly endeavour. If you're not inclined to get down and dirty with all the intricacies of a pro audio setup—yet still fancy capturing quality sound for streaming, podcasts and more—then this SteelSeries kit makes things about as painless as they can be.

Currently available at a touch over $237 for Amazon Prime Members (and $250 for those without a membership) as part of the Prime Day sales, the SteelSeries Alias Pro kit has almost everything you need to get going. For much less fuss than you might expect, too.

I reviewed the Alias Pro kit at the start of this year, and came away very impressed with the package as a whole. The pill-shaped microphone, unlike the regular SteelSeries Alias, ditches internal amplification for an XLR port, through which it links to a very compact Stream Mixer that acts as both a preamp and a streaming controller.

On the front of that little unit are two RGB-lit soft-touch configurable buttons for things like muting and input switching, along with a dedicated gain dial and a much larger configurable dial for all sorts of uses. This can all be adjusted to your hearts content in SteelSeries' Sonar audio suite, and it's that integration that really makes things as simple as they can be here.

Once the mic's been hooked up and the Stream Mixer connected, Sonar performs a small miracle, auto-detecting your input and output devices and making it easy to sort them out onto various faders. Traditionally complex things like compressors and noise reduction are reduced down to single sliders, which is ordinarily the sort of thing that'd annoy me greatly as an over-simplification.

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However, the neat trick here is that they're all configured very well to begin with, meaning you just have to choose how much you need. Want less background noise? Turn up the AI-enhanced (groan) ClearCast noise reduction with a single slider.

Compression? Fuggedabout it, just bump it up a bit and hear the results.

There's one thing missing from this kit, however, and its a big one: a boom arm. That excellent capsule combined with the powerful preamp really shines when it's positioned up close to your mouth, and you'll really need an adjustable arm to get the most out of it.

SteelSeries will sell you one of its own for $99, but in all honesty, it's more than a little overpriced for what it is. Thankfully, the socket and included adaptors on the back of the mic will fit most arms, so something like this InnoGear model for just over $37 (again, Prime Member price, $50 otherwise) should do just as good a job for much less.

After that? You're sorted. The Alias Pro kit is capable of making excellent vocal audio streaming easy to achieve with just a few clicks, and for that it's earned its spot as the best microphone for streaming in our best microphone guide. And at this price? I'd say it's a better shout than ever.

All these goodies will set you back $180 (?170, AU$311). That's a little more than the good old HyperX QuadCast S and the Blue Yeti GX that also boasts RGB. However, there's a lot more to a good mic than just specs and, after a couple of weeks of using the ROG Carnyx, I'm left feeling a little shortchanged.

Let's start with the design of the thing which is no doubt one of the most striking gaming microphones I've seen yet, and a perfect showpiece on any live stream. The solid metal tube sits in an interestingly angled desk stand with elastic suspension cables, and that isolates external vibrations to the mic. The top half has machined triangular grills that expose the RGB lighting and, of course, allow sound to pass through to the condenser. Behind that are foam and mesh layers to prevent unwanted plosives.

There's a single, multi-functional dial on the front that controls gain, headset volume, and can also be used to toggle the built-in high-pass filter. Around the back of the microphone, you'll find the USB Type-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack so you can listen to the mic as you speak. On the top of the mic is a touchpad to mute the mic, which then glows a warm red to let you know it's muted. Touch and hold it will turn the RGB lighting on or off, too.

The desk stand for the Carnyx is solid and rigid, keeping the mic exactly where you want it to be. It allows you to tilt the microphone maybe 30-degrees. I like the base of the stand which is a triangular metal piece with tasteful grooves that highlight the ROG logo depending on the angle you look at.?

You aren't beholden to the desk stand though; a single screw unlocks the triangle base so you can attach the rest of the mic to a boom arm. The Carnyx uses a 3/8-inch thread which is common to a variety of boom arms.

Inside the Carnyx is a studio-grade, 25mm condenser capsule designed to improve low-frequency performance and deliver richer, warmer vocal tones. Combined with a lossless audio bitrate of 24-bit and 192kHz, the Carnyx can sound really good.

The microphone also uses a cardioid polar pattern, so as long as it's in front of you, and preferably less than five inches from your mouth, you will sound hella sexy.

I've recorded a sample of the difference proximity makes to the mic's quality and it is obvious to me that despite the lovely desk stand, the intended use case is a boom arm to get the mic as close to your face and in the camera frame as possible. I messed around with the gain levels while using the desk stand but couldn't get anywhere near the warmth and depth of vocals as when the mic was close to my mouth.

Having the Carnyx in its desk stand positioned at a reasonable foot distance would result in much lower audio volume—that's just physics. However, pushing the gain higher to get things louder introduces significant background hiss as well as other unwanted ambient noises. The high-pass filter never fully helps things much. Whether I sat the microphone close to my gaming rig or closer to my mouth, it always picked up the fan hum from my PC.

Lowering the gain helps much more than the high-pass filter but further necessitates proximity to your mouth for solid audio. Thankfully, there's also a noise-gate but being a fairly soft-spoken fella with a relatively quiet home (most of the time), I didn't need it much.

Now, while you can adjust the basics directly on the mic using the dial, you'll need Armoury Crate to really dial things in. In here, you can adjust volume, bitrate, noise gate, Perfect voice and an equalizer with three presets; Natural, Dark and Bright. I prefer the natural and dark, but it all depends on your voice and your own preference.

One issue I have with the physical control on the Carnyx is that you don't get any sort of feedback to acknowledge your changes. Turning the dial doesn't use the RGB to indicate gain or volume levels, which can be frustrating.

At the end of the day, the ROG Carnyx is a good first attempt by Asus though not quite groundbreaking. It's a handsome microphone that any RGB-loving game streamer would be happy to have in their setup and it can sound good if you set it up correctly.

But at close to $200, the Carnyx is far from the best microphone money can buy. Simpler microphones without the fancy RGB can deliver the goods for less money. Unless you are particularly sold on the aesthetic or Asus Aura Sync ecosystem, this wouldn't be my first choice. That said, I look forward to future iterations of the ROG Carnyx.

The Razer Seiren V3 Chroma has the last part down at the very least. Pulling it from its packaging reveals a handsome, pill-shaped device with a screw-in base and a matte finish that looks suitably professional. It's tiltable on its stand thanks to two nicely knurled side mounted knobs, and features just the one solitary dial at first glance.

Oi, who's gone and nicked all me controls then, you may well think, or at least I did as a previous near-London resident.

A closer inspection reveals that at the very top of the device is a hidden touch control for muting and other functions. Besides that, there's just a small USB Type-C connector around the back and a 3.5mm jack for headphone output. Minimalist, this little mic, although it feels and looks rather good doing it.

All that minimalism, however, goes away the second you plug it in. The Seiren V3 treats you to a frankly blazing display of colours on first connection, all emitted from underneath the holes of its substantial grille.

This is likely going to be a love it or hate it affair from the off, but personally as a fan of a bit of RGB illumination I did enjoy the effect, although at default settings it is surprisingly bright. Time to install the Razer Synapse software then, and get to grips with the options.

After a bit of update wrangling (and a required reboot, I might add) to get Synapse to behave itself and log me in reliably—and this isn't my first rodeo, messing around with Synapse and its tendency to be fiddly—you are eventually greeted with a mic menu screen that at first glance is blissfully easy to use.?

There are sliders for microphone and headphone gain, dropdown menus to choose between two different functions for the front dial (microphone volume and headphone volume, if you were wondering) and options to configure that aforementioned top-mounted touch control.

Here you can configure the extra tap functions. One tap on the top mutes the mic and turns it an attractive shade of red, which should make it blissfully easy to tell if you've accidentally cut the audio on the mic itself on your next remote meeting. Two or three taps can be configured in a variety of ways, including cycling the Chroma RGB effects, turning them off entirely, or even using them as an audio meter.

I tried the latter, but disabled it very quickly. The RGB flashes on and off when it picks up a suitably loud signal, including the clacking of a mechanical keyboard, which means while writing this review I was subject to a series of eye-searing flashes with the setting on. A gradual flow of lighting from subtle green to stronger tones to indicate signal strength would be much easier on the eyes, but alas, I couldn't find an option for it

If you find the RGB LEDs in general to be on the strong side, flipping over to the lighting menu gives your a plethora of other options, including a much-needed slider to turn it down to something more reasonable, or even off entirely. Here I configured the Seiren V3 to deliver some pleasing, ever changing glows that would likely look good on your next stream cam. Ahhh. Much more soothing.

Anyway, enough about the pretty lights. Time for some audio tests, and for this I booted up Audacity, set the gain to something reasonable, and recorded some audio test clips you can find below:

You may notice that there's some background noise, including a distinct buzz with a little hiss, on a relatively low gain setting of 30 out of 100. I find it particularly obvious in 'dead air' sections like the two to three seconds at the end of the clip. I tried it in different USB ports and at different distances to try and figure out where it might be coming from on my otherwise quiet setup, but with no joy. I've recorded a fair few microphones from this system and in this room with no such issues, but it seems the Seiren V3 Chroma likes to add a bit of unwanted (and as best as I can tell, non-existent) background noise.

Searching around the settings for a software solution, again I thought I might be missing something. There's a high pass filter, which I had engaged, a digital gain limiter and auto gain control, but no actual noise suppression, reduction or noise gate option.

Not only that, but there's no adjustable EQ either. Luckily enough, as you can hear in the test clips, the little Razer does deliver a fairly warm, round rendition of your vocals on default settings, which is reasonably pleasant. It'd be nice to be able to tweak it, but in all honesty the depth of sound is pretty decent by default, so a mark in its favour there.

However, it did have a little bit of a low input at even a relatively close range, even when pushing my dull baritone up to volumes that I would consider slightly obnoxious. Of course, you can turn up the gain to compensate, but without a proper noise suppressor this only makes the background noise worse, so I ended up putting the mic closer to me than I normally would to minimise it.

Of course, the closer you have a microphone to you, the better it's able to pick up your vocals, but given the need to boost the gain here and the lack of ability to properly tame unwanted noise, I found this limited where I could place the mic on my desk in order to get acceptable audio.

You could mount it on a boom arm to get it away from unwanted audio sources and nearer to your mouth for lower gain usage, and facility is provided for that via the socket that screws into the bottom of the base. However, for its primary purpose of sitting on your desk in its mount, looking pretty and capturing good audio, the Razer likes to get up close and personal to properly perform.

Where the software does shine, however, is the Stream Mixer settings. Here you can configure your inputs and outputs and your playback mix very easily thanks to some straightforward drop down menus, complete with an option to open Windows very own audio settings from within the app. That's a nice touch, and other audio software suites would do well to emulate it.

While the Razer Seiren V3 Chroma is a very pretty thing, and is definitely capable of picking up a useable audio signal, its tendency to rely on higher gain settings in combination with a lack of software to tame them means it's a bit of a wild horse without the appropriate reins.?

You could, of course, make use of a third-party plugin for noise suppression duties, but given that this mic is marketed on the box as a plug and play audio device "for fuss-free setup" and comes in at a substantial price, you'd hope that it would come with a workable solution already built-in, and well, it doesn't.

That being said, it's not the only mic in a similar price range that's a little bit lacking on the software noise-reduction features, including the similarly light-up HyperX Quadcast S that currently takes the "best looking" spot on our list of the best microphones for gaming.

However, the HyperX also comes with a fancy elasticated shockmount and a range of directional patterns to pick from, and while the Razer professes to have a built-in shock absorber I still found it prone to picking up desk taps and clunks relatively easily, especially as I had to place it close to my keyboard to minimise the background noise.

If you don't mind skipping the RGB lighting, you could also pick up an Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ for around half the money. It skimps out on audio software entirely, but it also provides a lovely rounded-yet-crisp sound, and if that's all you're after and you don't mind adding some third-party solutions of your own then it's difficult to see why you'd go for the Razer instead, unless you really are sold on the smaller form factor and the very shiny lights.

It likes being the centre of attention, this little mic, but while the Stream Mixer settings are great and the aesthetics are pleasing, it really could do with some decent noise reduction to help clean up its act.

When you're looking to take things to a more professional sounding level however, perhaps for your next stream or podcast, then things can get very complicated, very quickly. Suddenly you're in a world of polar patterns, XLR cables, pre-amp adjustments, compression sliders and all sorts of terminology that can make your head spin, and that's before you plug in your first cable.

SteelSeries reckons it has the answer. Enter, the SteelSeries Alias Pro, the companion microphone to the regular SteelSeries Alias. With an MSRP of $330/?320 it's playing with some big names, as our current favourite gaming microphone, the Shure MV7, comes in at a similar price range. Better be good then, ey?

Unlike its little brother, the Pro version ditches the front mounted controls and the internal amplification for a separate mains powered XLR control and amp unit called the Stream Mixer, which features two rear mounted USB Type-C ports complete with two Type-C to Type-A cables, a dedicated line-out, and a rear XLR connection, also with included cable.?

All this connectivity is designed to allow you to use the Stream Mixer to interface with multiple inputs and outputs, including two PCs at once for those streaming and recording on separate systems, along with XLR connectivity that allows you to connect to a separate mixer or use a different XLR based mic altogether.?

48V phantom power is included, meaning the preamp here should have no problem powering other XLR mics from another manufacturer should you wish to use the Stream Mixer with something other than what's included here.?

Beyond all those extra connectivity options, the Stream Mixer is a compact and well-built little interface with two RGB-rimmed buttons, and two dials. The left button acts as a dedicated mic mute, while the right can be assigned to various functions within the software.

As for those dials, the smaller of the two is dedicated to gain adjustment, while the larger can be programmed for all sorts of uses, including volume adjustment or adjusting specific fader. Unlike the standard Alias with its built in lights, for the Pro the LED ring around the gain knob acts as a meter, so red for clipping, yellow for near, and green for within usual range, and the two buttons also change colour when pressed so you can easily tell when you're muted.

Just like the regular Alias, the Alias Pro makes use of the excellent Sonar audio interface software, which once again recognised my connected input and output devices with the minimal amount of fuss. It had no problem distinguishing and identifying two PCs connected to the interface, meaning if you were looking to setup a separate laptop for streaming, the Stream Mixer has you covered with the minimum of hassle.

There's a lot of customisation here within the software if you want it, including RGB lighting setups and dial customisation. When it comes to the audio features, the ClearCast AI noise cancellation is of particular note, as it helped me tame the increased gain provided by the preamp while still keeping a good signal level, along with a simple but powerful compressor reduced to a single slider and an easy to use EQ with some well thought out presets.

In a desktop position using the included mount, it didn't take long before I had a sound very similar to the regular Alias, as they both make use of a 1-inch/25mm capsule with a 50Hz to 20kHz cardioid pick up pattern that has no problem capturing good quality audio at a reasonable range.

However, SteelSeries also provided me with one of its Alias Boom Arms to play with, currently priced at just under $100/?80, and it's here that the Alias Pro came into its own. In a close mic position it really didn't take me long to get an excellent result.

It's not that the Alias Pro is bad at distance recording compared to its little brother, in fact far from it. However, when pairing it with the boom arm to bring it close up and experimenting with the Sonar EQ, suddenly the qualities of that external preamp came into sharp relief.?

I recorded a few clips of both the Alias Pro on its desk mount and in a close mic configuration on the boom arm, and a reference clip of a microphone I know very well, the Shure MV7, also on a boom arm at an identical distance.

I left the Shure unprocessed and raw as a baseline (bear in mind, when you buy one, all you get is the mic and some relatively blunt software), whereas the Alias on the boom arm is using the Sonar EQ, noise reduction and compression.

Thanks to that preamp, a closer configuration and the flexibility of the Sonar software, the Alias Pro is capable of a very warm yet still detailed sound that'd be perfect for a podcast or audiobook recording, and great for a professional sounding stream.?

Of course, the Shure MV7 is capable of a similar tone when EQ'd and processed, but bear in mind you'd need to do a fair bit of fiddling with some plugins to make that happen, whereas the Sonar software and Stream Mix interface included here makes it easy.

You're going to want a boom arm like the Alias version I used here for the best results though, and that gets expensive pretty quickly. For what its worth, while the SteelSeries Boom Arm is high-quality and robust, I would be tempted to buy a cheaper arm and save a bit of cash as there are plenty of options on the market that do the same job for less, and the screw-in socket on the back of the microphone itself is a default size that should connect to most of them.

For comparison, a Shure MV7 in combination with a decent audio interface/preamp, some plugins and a suitable arm will cost you similar money to the SteelSeries Pro and corresponding arm, and many might prefer to lean towards the Shure brand when it comes to spending that much cash on a studio-like audio setup, no matter how much fiddling you'd need to do.

Still, where the SteelSeries Alias Pro really makes sense is as a leaping off point into the realms of studio sound. The versatility of the preamp, the power of the flexible yet easy to understand software and the qualities of that capsule come shining through with very little messing around, meaning that you can get the sort of audio normally reserved for professional setups quickly and easily.

That's something of an impressive feat. Good audio is subjective, of course, but I can't deny that with the SteelSeries Pro in front of you, a great result is tantalisingly close with just a few simple steps. Beyond that, the customisation is there to set up the Stream Mixer with just about every input and output you can think of, dialled in to its easy to use controls. It just makes the experience much, much smoother than a regular studio setup, and for that, I have to tip my hat.

I reckon when it comes to pure sonic chops from the mic itself, the Shure MV7 still just about has it, but honestly, the Alias Pro's preamp makes it a surprisingly close run thing.

Yep, it's still pricey. But for studio-like sound with much less hassle, I reckon it's worth it. Quality audio gear often costs, it's true, but here you can at least ditch the usual audio headaches and get on with the business of capturing great sound with ease.

However, SteelSeries' Alias microphone aims to pack everything a gamer might want in a mic in a compact setup, even going as far as to say it's the first mic "truly designed for gaming". With an MSRP of $180/?180, it certainly has a premium price tag attached, but first impressions out of the box does reveal a premium looking product to match.

Nestled inside a small but well-constructed shock mount, the slim chassis and narrow but still substantial looking microphone design makes for a good-looking addition to your setup, and quickly managed to tuck itself amongst my overcrowded desk without making things feel any more cluttered than they already are.?

At 720g with the included desk stand it treads the line between feeling weighty enough to assure you it's a premium piece of gear, without being heavy or cumbersome to move around.??

More than that, the metal construction and anodized finish looks reassuringly professional, which means that if you had it in shot for a conference call it's unlikely to stand out. Given its size though, it's easy enough to hide if you don't want it making an appearance. Built into the front face of the mic is a lozenge-shaped control interface with a mute button and headphone gain dial, which is nicely dampened and satisfying to turn.?

It might sound strange to some, but having used audio gear with plastic-y, wobbly control interfaces and dials that feel more like they should control children's toys instead of professional equipment, a nice-feeling dial or two really does make a difference to how you perceive your new bit of kit.?

Gain adjustment is handled by another excellent feeling dial on the rear, which although a little fiddly at first makes sense. Adjusting gain levels is usually more of a setup thing than something you're likely to be doing on the regular, and given the ease at which the unit can be moved around I didn't find reaching around the back to adjust the gain all that much of a hassle.?

Also around the back is a 3.5mm audio jack for headphone monitoring, which keeps it out of the way but might be a bit of a pain if you're planning on plugging and unplugging your headphones often.

The included USB-C to USB-A cable threads through the stand to its port on the rear, and once it's connected there's a hidden RGB light under the mic chassis that projects a discrete glow onto the stand beneath.?

Speaking of lights, the Alias hides its LED indicators beneath the fabric mic cover so the gain level shines through only when it's picking up audio, and those same LEDs also display a large red "X" when the unit is muted. That's a nice touch, as trying to figure out which mute setting you've accidentally left on mid-meeting or recording session can be a panic-inducing moment, so at least you'll be sure if the microphone itself is muted or not.

Using SteelSeries' Sonar audio software I was able to quickly set up to record and stream to various other applications with ease, thanks to its intuitive drag and drop system for handling inputs and outputs. This was made especially easy since the software performed a quick and accurate setup on first boot that recognised all of my plugged in audio gear immediately, and quickly configured everything hardware-wise with minimal prompting.

The fact that this worked as well as it did struck me as a minor miracle, as up until this point I was unaware that any audio configurators existed that didn't require at least a few minutes of messing around and some colourful language to get everything working the way you intended it to.

The software also includes an adjustable equaliser with a variety of useful presets, a compressor and a noise suppressor, and as someone who's used to the intricacies of various audio interfaces I was impressed by how straightforward the whole process was. Audio set up can be notoriously fiddly, but Sonar lays things out in an easy to understand and intuitive way with all the adjustment you could reasonably need, without a barrage of settings you probably don't.

When it comes to sound, the Alias makes use of a 1-inch/25mm capsule, which for reference is much larger than something like the 14mm capsule you'd find in the Blue Yeti, while frequency response ranges from 50Hz to 20kHz in a single cardioid pickup pattern with a max SPL of 120 dB. Impressive stuff on paper, but what about the audio itself?

First impressions were good, as there's a decent level of fidelity here even when the mic is a reasonable distance away. That large capsule mean that low-end frequencies and mids keep their heft, trebles are clear without becoming harsh, and overall there's a good depth to the tone.

A fair bit of background noise from my fans can be heard when the audio is raw, but listen to the clips below, one raw and one with the EQ, compressor and ClearCast AI noise reduction turned on, and hear how much more focussed the sound becomes.

I'll be honest and say that even with the software's help the audio isn't as crispy and clear as some of the comparisons above, but given it's a condenser unit sitting at a reasonable distance, the fact it achieved a decent level of richness while maintaining good clarity was impressive.?Some cheaper mics can lean towards sounding tinny, whereas if anything the Alias leans towards a slightly fuller tone.

Playing around with the EQ presets yielded a variety of useful options, and I found that they were well-labelled for their particular purposes, with the "balanced" preset (used in the processed clip above) providing the most, you guessed it, balanced and clear sound.

The noise-suppressor here is SteelSeries' AI-enhanced ClearCast, and I found it was remarkably good at discerning between my voice and unwanted background noise, and I didn't have to turn it up very high to get a good result. Like all noise-reduction software it can get a little over-zealous and robotic sounding at higher settings, but when kept at a reasonable setting I found it worked very well for its purpose.

If you're looking for something that can stand on your desk with minimal footprint and capture good audio for gaming, meetings and more without any fuss, then the standard Alias makes a lot of sense. Thanks to the power and ease of use of the Sonar software it's a set and forget sort of setup, all wrapped up in a neat and unobtrusive package.

That being said, when listening back to my sound samples in comparison to mics that we've already tested like the HyperX Quadcast X or the Sennheiser Profile Streaming Set it does make me wonder whether the regular Alias does enough to justify that $180 price tag.

It certainly sounds decent and the build quality is impressive, but there's just no getting around the fact that it's a lot of money for a single mic with no extras, even if the results are good and the software is very impressive. Spend a bit more and you could be in premium audio territory with the likes of the Shure MV7, whereas the Razer Seiren Mini at $50 gets similar audio results, albeit without the fancy lighting and premium finish.

Regardless, although the Alias is a somewhat pricey affair, its performance, build quality and ease of use does stack up to make a compelling package. What you end up with here is a compact mic that you can stick in a corner of your desk, crank up the noise cancelling, and forget about.

Perhaps its peace of mind you're buying with the Alias. No fuss, no hassles, just a solidly built, good looking bit of kit that does what it says it will, and for that matter, does it well.

OpenVINO is an open-source toolkit that's built for running machine learning on Intel desktop and cloud platforms, and these tools have been built by Intel within the platform for Audacity (via CDM).?

Beyond the AI noise suppression tool for podcasts, there's also a "Music Generation" tool designed to generate music from a prompt, or based on existing music, and also a "Music Style Remix" feature that can split a song into its component parts.

It's the noise suppressor in particular that caught my interest as I've had some previous experience engineering a podcast or two, and I always sought to use expensive VST plugins for background noise removal, as the Audacity default effect can be a bit of a blunt object. It's not awful by any means, but it often introduces digital "wash" into your vocal recordings that can be tiring to listen to.

With that in mind, I downloaded the new tools from Github and got to testing. Grabbing the nearest cardioid condenser mic to hand, I first recorded a test clip in Audacity with a noisy background, in this case my PC fans and a large, open and echo-prone room with a window facing out onto the street.?

I then recorded another clip, and post-processed it with Audacity's built in noise reduction used at a high enough setting that the background noise was removed, before recording a final test clip and trying out the AI tool to see how it compared, and you can hear my results below.

Hmm. While the AI tool can absolutely remove background noise well, I'm not a particularly big fan of what its done to the overall tone of my voice. Listening to the Audacity noise-reduced clip side by side, while you can definitely hear more of that undesirable robotic-sounding wash it has at least kept some clarity in my dulcit tones, whereas the AI tool has made things a little muddy.

There's very little tweaking available for the OpenVINO noise suppressor as things stand, as it only currently has one noise suppression model included and no factory presets or sliders, so for the purposes of this test I had to run with the default settings provided. There is the option to import user presets, so I imagine it's a watch this space to see what the community might do with it.

Still, the noise reduction itself is impressive at least, and it processed relatively quickly on my CPU, although it has to be said that the built-in Audacity tool is still quicker, by which I mean, near instantaneous on such a short clip.?

You could absolutely EQ the AI clip to gain some clarity and tame some of the muddy notes in those mids, but then that does bring into question why you'd go to the extra effort unless you were really desperate to remove every last trace of background noise possible.

Needs work, I would say. I did attempt to play around with the AI music generation tool to get it to produce something presumably fantastic around the prompt of "PC Gamer Hardware team funk", but alas, no matter how I tweaked I couldn't get it to generate anything but an error message, even when reducing my prompt down to plain old funk, rock or pop. Shame.

Still, these AI tools are free to play with and seemingly still under development, so I wouldn't give it long before they're likely to be much more workable. While we now live in a world where the term "AI" is seemingly bolted on to every new product, something like AI-powered noise removal strikes as a good use of the tech, and given that its for free I'd say it wasn't a bad result.

Still annoyed about the PC Gamer funk failure though. One day we'll get our theme tune. One day soon.

We've all been subjected to less than ideal audio quality, whether it's from someone using the built-in mic in their webcam to headset users with crackly headset units placed far too close to their mouths, the results are pretty horrible to listen to. However, each of the candidates here are designed to capture and deliver fantastic, warm and crisp vocal sound to caress your earholes, and would make worthy additions to any audio setup.

However, beyond sound quality and accurate vocal capture what we're really looking for in a great mic is thoughtful design, solid build quality and great compatibility. Each of the microphones below really ticked these boxes in different ways, so it's a tight competition for who takes the top spot.

The Sennheiser Profile Streaming Set makes a compelling case for itself as an all-in-one platform for anyone looking to get into professional sounding audio, with a professional look to match. Meanwhile the Audio-Technica AT2020+ delivers great audio quality for a surprisingly reasonable price, and as for our last pick, the Audio-Technica ATH-M50xSTS StreamSet, well, we even included a headset in the mix. Yep, the mic was that good.

Any of these microphones seems destined for the top spot, so without further ado, here's our breakdown of this year's contenders.

Best microphone 2023: the nominees

The winner of the PC Gamer Hardware Award for the best microphone of 2023 will be announced on New Year's Eve. Sound good? Sorry. Make sure you check in with us then to find out the eventual result.

Shure MV7 | Condenser mic | USB, XLR | 48kHz sampling rate | 20-20kHz frequency response | $249.99 $224 at Amazon (Save $25.99)
If you're really serious about podcasting or streaming, then a high quality mic is a must and we reckon this Shure model is the best overall for these roles. Yes, it's pricey and 10% off isn't exactly the most amazing deal, but if you're looking for the best PC mic around well, you've found it.

Price check: $224.00 WalmartView Deal

If you're looking for a fantastic deal on a mic, your best bet is to check out our Black Friday PC gaming deals. If you're determined to have the best microphone for gaming, however, I can tell you that our favourite, the Shure MV7 is currently $224 at Amazon. It's not what I'd technically call a good deal—it's only a 10% price reduction after all. But if you've got your heart set on what we believe to be the best microphone available right now, a discount is still a discount, whether it's got a Black Friday sticker on it or not.

There's no getting away from the premium price of the Shure MV7 microphone, but if you're interested in buying one, it's doubtful you want it just to chat with your friends over Discord a couple of times a week. It comes with a Micro Type-B to USB Type-C and Micro Type-B to USB Type-A cable, giving you options if you ever need to use your phone to record and don't want to risk picking up any background noise.?

• We're curating all the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here.

A decent mic is often something that we take for granted as gamers. For most of us, they come as part of whichever headset you happen to own, and you might only ever really pay attention to yours if it stops working or if someone on Discord tells you that you "sound funny".?

That said, if you stream or record videos or podcasts, the microphone you use suddenly becomes a lot more important. And while you can absolutely get by with cheaper options when you're starting out, the difference in quality proves that, if you want the best, you will have to pay for it.

If the Shure MV7 is a bit much for your wallet and you decide to go for a cheaper standalone mic, you can always pair it with a Black Friday gaming headset deal to round out your audio set-up.?

Most headset or webcam mics are a disappointment at best, so a dedicated desktop microphone can be an easy way to hugely improve most setups. Most gamers could benefit from having a better quality mic for multiplayer sessions, and with streaming becoming ever popular, a good mic can be the difference between welcoming viewers or scaring them away. This makes mics a great addition to most setups, and often a great choice for the gamer who has everything else already.

The downside is mics are not the cheapest accessories, often seen as a bit of a luxury rather than a necessity. While there can be some good cheap options, pc microphones are a device where paying a little more can lead to huge gains in quality. Thankfully, Cyber Monday sales can give you the opportunity to pick up a great mic at a fraction of the usual cost. ?

We've been scouring the internet to find the best mic deals for all different use cases and price points. Whether you're just wanting clearer calls over coms for multiplayer gaming sessions or are feeling ready to bust onto the streaming scene, there are great options in this list of my favourite Cyber Monday microphone deals currently available.?

• We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here.

For those on a budget, I've put the cheapest mic deals worth your time right at the top. I know you haven't got the time to be scrolling with all that hustle. Cheapest doesn't necessarily mean best deal though, so it's worth checking out the whole list to find the best mic for your use and budget.

Razer Seiren Mini | Condenser mic | USB | 48kHz sampling rate | 20-20kHz frequency response | $49.99 $34.99 at Amazon (save $15)
Our favorite budget microphone for gaming and streaming is simple as they come but offers great sound. It would be nicer if it used a standard USB cable rather than Razer's proprietary offering and the lack of a mute button is a bit disappointing, but at this price, these are minor issues.

Price check: $34.99 Newegg | $59.99 WalmartView Deal

It's happened pretty much every year since Razer released the Seiren Mini: the standard $50 price gets knocked down to $35. And I love it. I'm not a podcaster, I'm not some ASMR YouTuber, I don't need a Shure MV7 and XLR cabling wrapped around my desktop. What I need is a microphone that sounds good, doesn't require a boom arm for me to headbutt every five minutes, and sounds better than pretty much any headset mic out there.

And the Razer Seiren Mini ticks every single one of those boxes. Oh, and the final thing is I don't want to have to spend a fortune just to be able to chat to my friends clearly, or be heard in meetings when Jacob and Andy are trying to explain the virtues of this Allen key vs. another.

Big tick there, because this is almost throwaway money when it comes to PC gaming gear right now.

• We're curating all the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here.

The Seiren Mini is impossible to type out accurately reliably, but it's also best picked up at Amazon right now. Newegg does have it for the same price at the moment, but only in one color. The adorable pill-shaped mic is $35 at Amazon, and that's the same whether you want the black, white (Mercury), or pink (Quartz) versions.

Razer has used the same internal components with the miniature mic as it did with the big boi Seiren and that's why it sounds really, really good, despite its budget price. There are obvious compromises though: It has a very rudimentary stand, there is a single green LED on the front to indicate it's powered on, and NO BUTTONS.

That's right, nothing. Nada. Not even a mute or gain control.

Which I actually really like, to be honest. I just want a mic that's going to sit there and pick up my voice. I don't want to have to set the damned thing up in any more in-depth way than plugging it in and setting it the right way up. Battling the audio settings in Windows is a task enough, thank you.

That supercardioid pick up pattern is super effective, and means that if you're sitting directly in front of it, you're pretty much all anyone is going to be able to hear from your end.

If you're the sort who is glad to pull the mic out of any gaming headset you stick on your head—but who also grudgingly acknowledges the need for actual human, vocal communication—the Seiren Mini will outperform all but the most premium of headset microphones. And doesn't require a sound engineer to set up.

Blue Microphones was bought out by Logitech back in 2018 for a grand sum of $117 million. Since then, it's been left relatively untouched by its parent company, occasionally launching the odd special edition Yeti microphone or a compact mic for streamers. That all came to an abrupt end over the summer, however, as Logitech pulled the Blue website, scrubbed the sub-brand from its site, and confirmed that 'Blue' will hereafter only refer to Logitech's audio technologies.

The first hardware to ditch the Blue brand since are new versions of Blue's most famous product: the Yeti.

The Logitech G Yeti GX is a "premium" gaming microphone (it has RGB lighting) and comes in a pod shape with a built-in desk stand. Sort of your Blue Yeti Nano in Logitech G flair. It has a supercardioid pickup pattern to focus on your vocals and less of the background noise, so say Logitech. It also uses what the company calls "Smart Audio Lock", a tool to adjust gain to pickup your voice while limiting unwanted sounds coming through. My previous experience with desk-mounted mics would suggest being careful with whacking your desk if you do keep this thing on its included stand, though it comes with an adapter for a boom arm if you prefer.

The most genuinely interesting bit of this mic, which will appeal to major hardware nerds like me, is the inclusion of a scroll wheel ripped from one of Logitech's gaming mice for the mic's gain control. That does sound quite enjoyable, fair play—maybe this consolidative capitalism thing is alright, after all.

The Yeti GX will set you back $150 in the US, or ?149 in the UK.

On the cheaper side of things, there's the Logitech G Yeti Orb. A familiar sight, this looks like an inflated version of the Blue Snowball—one of the first dedicated microphones I ever owned, besides this thing. From the specs sheet, this thing looks a lot like the Snowball, though it comes with RGB now so… we're clearly winning. It's not quite as cheap as the Snowball, the Orb will cost you $60/?60, but it's close enough considering the Snowball has been around for an age. Here's hoping the Orb also similarly drops in price sooner rather than later.

Rounding off the lot, there's a gaming key light. More in Logitech's usual stable, this RGB capable light opts for a dual-sided approach rather than the more traditional flat panel we've seen from Elgato and Razer. It's $150/?150, which means it's still very much in the realm of serious streamer gear, though it'll happily run all day, according to Logitech.?

The Live Streamer Mic 350 (or the AM350) is AVermedia's latest premium USB condenser mic and aims to bridge the gap between novice to pro streamers and podcasters. It's a significant improvement over the AM310 microphone, offering enhanced features and richer sound, all without needing an expensive audio interface and XLR mic. Though it is worth stating that there are some impressive budget XLR mics available right now, like the Elgato Wave DX.

The AM350 boasts an appealing black all-metal design with a split-cylindrical look that exudes a futuristic vibe. The red-accented trim at the top adds a touch of style without going overboard. However, it took me a moment to realize it actually isn't an RGB light ring. The included stand is stable and well-built, unlike the precariousness of the Audio Technica 2020+ stand. And that means it's reliable enough to produce quality audio without a boom arm.?

On the front of the mic, you'll find gain and mix controls, while the bottom houses a headphone jack, USB Type-C port, and a switch between cardioid and omnidirectional modes. I prefer these sorts of physical knobs and buttons on sound equipment over capacitive buttons. Touch buttons can be finicky during recording like you'll find on the HyperX Quadcast S, or the touch slider on the Shure MV7.

The dual microphone operates in two pickup patterns: cardioid and omni modes. Cardioid, common in USB mics, captures sound directly in front of the AM350, while omni mode picks up sounds from all directions. This is ideal for roundtable discussions with multiple speakers or for creating ASMR content.

Avermedia says the AM350 is the first USB condenser microphone to utilize Dirac for sound optimization—a technology that enhances vocals, similar to what's found in JBL sound systems. This means your voice will sound polished without extensive adjustments on your part.

While the Shure MV7 Podcast microphone remains the top choice, the AM350 certainly holds its ground. As evident from the recording, my voice came through loud (sometimes a touch too loud) and clear, with minimal plosives. However, be mindful of your levels on this mic, as they can spike significantly when you raise your voice. This quality benefits soft-spoken individuals.

The Elgato Wave 3 closely rivals the AM350 regarding sound quality and the Avermedia mic's customization options compare well against the hybrid XLR Shure MV7 microphone.

The Avermedia VibeEngine app is, at best, entirely adequate regarding customization software, though I had a few crashes when playing with the noise reduction settings. Often, I've found it easier to fine-tune the mic using other third-party apps. Fortunately, the AM350 sounds excellent right out of the box, reducing the need for extended time in the app.

The only problem is that the AM350 mic is sold in a kit (which includes the microphone, pop filter, and shock mount), which costs $200. If you want the bundle that includes the boom arm, that'll cost you $380, nearly double the microphone kit's cost. That's a big upfront charge when your existing boom arm will serve you just fine. That said, it's still a quality boom arm, and you won't be disappointed if you decide to drop the coin.

AVermedia did clear up some things about the bundle. The mic will be sold separately for $200, and the kit that includes the shock mount and pop filter is basically a special promotion for the launch. It's still pretty pricey, but the bundle is actually a pretty nice deal.?

Whatever, the Avermedia Streamer Mic 350 is still a well-crafted premium microphone with great sound quality. Its two pickup patterns offer more versatility than other microphones in the $200 price range. While it might not match the sound quality of the very best, it excels in user-friendliness and ease of setup.

For a webcam, you want one that delivers 1080p output, offers seamless connectivity to your PC, and requires minimal setup. If you have a DSLR camera you'd like to use as a webcam on your PC I recommend getting an external capture card with an HDMI input.?

A high-quality streaming microphone is essential whether you prefer USB connectivity or XLR through an audio interface. Don't worry—I've found affordable options for newbies and seasoned content creators.

In addition, I've included other streaming goodies such as lights, acoustic paneling, and macro pads. These are ideal for those who already have the basic hardware but want to find inexpensive yet meaningful upgrades to enhance their setup and impress their audience.

Here are the prime (pun very intended) streaming gear deals you don't want to miss out on during Prime Day.

• Check out the best Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals

If you're all about that sound quality, then let me tell you, the Shure MV7 podcast mic is an absolute game-changer. Seriously, I can't recommend it enough for streaming and podcasting. In my years of reviewing mics, this one takes the crown. And it's currently on sale for $199 on Amazon, which is over $100 off its regular price.

• We're curating all the best Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals right here.

In our review of the Shure MV7, we noted that what sets it apart is its hybrid nature. You can connect it directly to your PC using a USB cable, or if you prefer, hook it up to an audio interface using an XLR cable. It's super versatile, giving you options to suit your setup perfectly, and the vocals it produces are simply stellar.

The black version of the MV7 is only discounted to $250, which is a bit odd, but the silver version offers the same outstanding performance and looks nicer if you ask me.?

The MV7 doesn't have a desk stand, so investing in a boom arm is necessary. Personally, I use the Rode PSA1, which goes for around $100. It's super quiet and has excellent reach. But don't worry; most standard boom arms should fit the microphone just fine.

So, if you're after that top-notch sound quality, do yourself a favor and grab the Shure MV7. It's the ultimate mic for streaming and podcasting, and right now, it's a steal at $199. Trust me; you won't be disappointed!

The Razer Seiren Mini really has no business sounding this good for less than $40. It's a seriously adorable mic with a pill-shaped design, and you can choose from black, pink, and white. When it comes to budget mics, this one stands out as the most eye-catching.

Now, here's the deal with the Seiren Mini: it stripped away a lot of extra features to maintain top-notch sound quality and keep the cost down. There's no volume or gain dial or even a mute button. Any adjustments need to be made through third-party apps like OBS and xSplit.?

The mic itself is pretty basic. But hey, for less than $40, most folks can live without those extras as long as the mic is easy to use. However, I'm not a huge fan of Razer's proprietary micro-USB cables. If you lose it, you'll have to get a replacement through Razer.?

The Seiren Mini has its quirks, but I can't deny its charm. It's a cute and affordable option for your recording needs.

The HyperX Quadcast S is undeniably one of the most stylish microphones on the market, thanks to its clever use of RGB lighting. It transforms an otherwise plain-looking mic into a digital lava lamp. It's perfect for showcasing on camera during your streams, say while dominating in Call of Duty Warzone.

The HyperX Quadcast S has a plethora of built-in features tailored for streamers. First and foremost, the built-in shock mount ensures that accidental bumps don't interfere with your audio quality.?

The built-in pop filter is also valuable, eliminating the need to fuss over external solutions.

Another standout feature of the Quadcast S is its tap-to-mute button located conveniently at the top of the mic. With a light tap, you can instantly mute yourself without anyone noticing. It's a simple yet effective solution for quick muting.

However, it's worth noting that the RGB settings for the Quadcast S can only be adjusted through the HyperX Ngenuity software. Unfortunately, the user experience with the software leaves much to be desired, and I wouldn't wish it upon even my worst enemies. It can be quite a hassle to deal with.

If RGB lighting isn't your priority and you want to save an extra $20, consider the RGB-less Quadcast, currently priced at $90. It offers the same specs as the Quadcast S, making it a worthy alternative for those prioritizing function over form.

Before every hardware manufacturer started making USB microphones, Blue Yeti microphones were considered the gold standard. Even today, the Blue Yeti X remains one of the most versatile and reasonably priced microphones available.

One of the standout features of the Yeti X is its ability to switch between four polar patterns on the fly. This means you can easily adjust the pickup pattern to suit different situations. Whether you're conducting interviews with multiple guests around a table, having one-on-one chats, or playing an instrument, the Yeti X has got you covered.

When it comes to build quality, the Yeti X truly excels. It's built to last, with a solid construction that exudes durability. Its size and bulkiness make it less ideal for travel or on-the-go use, but don't let that deter you because the exceptional sound quality and the deep customization software are the real reasons to consider getting this mic.

How many other microphones come with voice-changing software that allows you to transform into an orc reciting Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"?

Shure MV7 | USB | XLR | Dynamic | Cardioid |?$311?$199 at Amazon (save $111)
Our favorite microphone for two years, the absolute best in the business. Shure is a beast at making high-end, professional microphones, and its attempt at bringing its pro-grade sound to a slightly less pro-grade price is a home run. The only thing we're not too keen on is that it uses Micro-USB rather than Type-C, but it's well worth the investment to give your voice recordings the professional boost they deserve.

Price Check: Walmart $229 (Black) | Sweetwater $249View Deal

Amazon is currently offering a fantastic deal on the Shure MV7 podcast microphone, priced at just $199. This is a significant discount from its regular price of $311, making it an excellent opportunity to get your hands on one of the best gaming and podcast mics we've tested in a long time.

The Shure MV7 is a hybrid XLR/USB microphone, allowing you to connect it directly to your PC via USB or use an XLR cable to connect it to an audio interface. Its versatility is one of its standout features, and it provides stellar vocals.?

While the ShurePlus Motiv desktop app provides extensive control options, the microphone requires minimal setup right out of the box. In my review, I highlighted its impressive ability to isolate my voice while effectively filtering background noise from my desktop PC, air conditioner, and other ambient nonsense.?

As a matter of fact, the Shure MV7 is my go-to microphone for everyday use and serves as my trusted companion when I hosted This Week in PC Gaming. I connected it to a ?Focusrite Scarlett 2i3 interface using an XLR cable, and the sound quality is outstanding.

It's worth noting that the black version is oddly only discounted to $250, but don't worry; the silver one offers the same outstanding performance and, honestly, looks a lot nicer than the black one, anyway.?

• We're curating all the best Amazon Prime Day PC gaming deals right here.

One crucial tip is maintaining a distance of more than six inches from the microphone to avoid noticeable plosives. Otherwise, using a filter can minimize this issue if you speak up close.

The MV7 does not come with a desk stand, so investing in a boom arm is necessary. I use the Rode PSA1, which costs around $100. It's quiet and has a lot of reach. However, the microphone should fit on most standard boom arms.

If the $199 price is still beyond your budget, you'll be glad to know that plenty of other affordable options are available during Amazon Prime Day. Numerous budget-friendly choices priced under $100 deliver excellent sound quality, although they lack some quality-of-life features, like a mute button.

The AT2020USB-XP is a premium microphone that delivers the stellar sound quality you expect from such a legacy and several impressive upgrades for veteran users looking for more control over their voice.

The design of the AT2020USB-XP remains largely unchanged from other AT2020 models, except for a sturdier stand that won't wobble at the slightest breath, unlike the AT2020+ I tested previously. Another welcome change from the AT2020+ is the use of a USB Type-C connection instead of the USB-B input (yuck). You'll find the headphone jack at the back of the microphone, while the front features a touch-sensitive mute button with an LED light indicator and mix control dials.

I was particularly excited to test two new features: automatic gain control and noise reduction, which can be activated using the small buttons beneath the microphone. The onboard digital processing of the microphone does a decent job of maintaining consistent audio levels when your voice volume fluctuates, as you can hear in the sample below. However, it is more effective at amplifying soft voices than reducing the volume of loud ones.

The auto-gain feature can be a real asset for streamers who tend to speak softly and constantly need to crank up their gain. The noise reduction buttons offer three levels of noise reduction, effectively reducing unwanted background noise.?

While the noise reduction successfully eliminated the loud hum of my air conditioner, it wasn't as effective at filtering out keyboard taps and mouse clicks, even at the highest setting. It's nice that no software is involved in making this happen, which is the beauty of this plug-and-play microphone.

I mentioned the stand earlier, and there's a small design element about it that I really appreciate. The bottom of the stand features a slight cut-out for the USB cable, allowing you to run the cable underneath neatly to make everything look more organized. This little detail is a nice touch for someone constantly battling messy cable management.

The microphone's extended frequency response range ensures no subtleties are lost during recording; as you can hear in the sample below, my voice sounds crisp without auto-gain being turned on. The next recording with auto-gain turned on didn't sound as good and basically made me sound way too loud. Again if you speak softly, this might work for you.

While the clip-on pop filter adds a nice visual touch, I'm unsure if it effectively dealt with plosive sounds. Investing in a more professional-grade pop filter might be a wise choice for podcasters or those who do a lot of talking in their recordings.

It's worth noting that the AT2020USB-XP offers only one polar pattern, lacking the versatility of a microphone like the Blue Yeti X, which can accommodate multiple speakers and various situations.

In terms of sound and pricing, the AT2020USB-XP competes with the likes of the HyperX Quadcast S and the Elgato Wave 3. You can hear how it holds up against these two in the sound comparison below.

If I were to nitpick, the other microphones offer more personality with their fun designs, color options, and in the case of the Quadcast S, RGB lighting. However, if you're a streamer who doesn't feature the microphone on camera, this may not be a significant concern, especially considering the exceptional sound quality the AT2020USB-XP delivers.

With its exceptional audio reproduction, capturing the nuances of your voice during a true crime podcast or any other recording endeavor becomes effortless, eliminating the need for excessive post-processing. Not only does the AT2020USB-XP sound great, but it also looks sleek and robust on your desk—It's a visual and auditory delight for only $169.

Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ |Cardioid | $68 $57 at Amazon (save $11)
The Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ is hands-down one of the best microphones under $100. It's built to last, sounds incredible, and, most importantly, is easy to use. It won't let you down as long as you can put up with a wonky tripod stand.?View Deal

If you're looking for a new microphone that sounds great and doesn't cost an arm and a leg, Amazon has a great deal on the Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ microphone for only $57. This is the lowest price this microphone has ever been, after a massive price drop from $120 to just $68 in March.?

The AT2020USB+ is Audio-Technica's entry-level unit ?in its line of AT2020 USB microphones, which impressed me when I reviewed it last month. Aside from being easy to use, its crisp audio quality is a step ahead of many other sub-$100 microphones. It's no wonder the AT2020USB+ sits as the best cheap microphone for gaming and streaming

$68 was already a fantastic price for this plug-and-play microphone that doesn't need any software installation, so $57 is an especially impressive deal. One thing I really like about it are the ?extra features you won't find on many microphones in this price range, like a built-in headphone jack, volume control, and mix control.?

What it doesn't have, which isn't surprising, is a mute button. That sounds silly, but many microphone makers often cut features to keep the price without affecting the recording quality. As much as I love the Razer Seiren Mini, Audio-Technica's mic gives you more versatility and looks less like a toy.

One thing to mention is that the build quality is top-notch, and it comes with a nice little travel pouch. It has a durable metal casing, so you can stuff it in a bag without worrying about it getting scratched or crushed.

My biggest problem with the AT2020USB+ was that it comes with a flimsy tripod that only sometimes sits comfortably on your desk. One option would be to order a decent boom arm that attaches to your desk so you don't have to worry about incidental bumps knocking down your microphone during a live stream.?

It also would be good to get yourself a cheap pop filter since it had some noticeable plosives in my time with it, especially if you're to speak very closely to the microphone. And for some reason, this thing still uses a legacy USB Type-A connection which isn't as common these days as USB Type-C—it still gets the job done, though.?

The Capsule Mini is a small-form-factor USB mic that gives your voice a nice, crisp quality while only costing you $70. The good thing about the Capsule Mini is that it sounds just as good as more pricey mics, but at a fraction of the cost.

Considering it's aimed toward budget users, it's no surprise some features have been stripped to keep costs low. Thankfully, the one thing it's not lacking is solid recording quality. The NZXT continues my recent streak with great-sounding budget microphones. ?

I really like that the black-and-white color scheme of the NZXT Capsule made its way to the Capsule Mini; since it has no RGB, it's a nice way to give it personality, and it looks really cool on camera. Though if you want to keep things professional, there is a version of the Mini that's in all black; honestly, I am pretty over all-black PC accessories, aren't you?

The Mini keeps things simple, with just a single volume knob (that acts as a mute when you press it) in the front and a 3.5mm jack on the bottom, and a USB-Type C port. It's mostly a plug-and-play solution, so if you want to mess with mic settings like gain or mix, you're regulated to third-party or its own NZXT Cam software. The Cam software is pretty barebones, and you're better off using something like OBS and XSplit if you really want more in-depth customization for your sound profile.

Below, you can hear how the Capsule Mini sounds against a trio of my favorite sub-$70 microphones; the HyperX Solocast, Razer Seiren Mini, and the Audio Technica AT2020+. The sound is clear and crisp, providing some solid mid-range vocals perfect for podcasting or using as a microphone for video calls.

Interestingly enough, the Capsule Mini pretty much sounds just as good as the Solocast and Seiren Mini, which makes sense since all three are pretty similar spec(c)ed(?), with the Capsule Mini having a slightly wider frequency range.?

You'll hear some pretty noticeable plosives during the test audio, so investing in a pop filter or windscreen would be a really good idea to avoid that issue. When I test mics, I'm usually speaking into them from six inches away, so if you set yours a little further out, you may be able to get away with not needing one.?

My biggest gripe with the Capsule is its all-plastic body doesn't seem built to last, which is a shame because I really dig the overall look of the microphone. At times, it feels flimsy, and I feel it wouldn't survive a trip in my backpack unscathed. And quite frankly, it's surprising considering how sturdy the metal desk stand it comes with is. Usually, it's been the other way around, with bomb-proof microphones coming with these comically meek, wobbly stands.?

When removing it from the desk stand to mount on the boom arm, I also noticed that the desk stand scuffed up the sides of the microphone, leaving ugly black blemishes on the sides of the Capsule Mini. There's no worse feeling in the world that scratching a new piece of gear within the first hour of you using it

For $70, I expected something more durable, like the Audio Technica At2020+, which you can find on sale for less than $60 most days. And that has a nice solid chassis with a metal grille that takes a beating and comes with a nice little travel bag. The Solocast, our favorite budget mic, which has occasionally popped up on sale for as little as $35, has a more sturdy frame for travel. All of which sound roughly the same, if not better.?

NZXT also sent over its Boom Arm Mini, which sells for $70 as well. Installation was easy, and the arm is well constructed. I am a sucker for a boom arm that neatly holds your cables in place and doesn't look like pieces of crooked metal slapped together with a mic at the end. And if you're the type that likes to move around their mic as they speak, it'll play nice with your chaotic movements. More importantly, it's on the smaller side, so it doesn't take up too much space on your desk.?

The NZXT Capsule Mini is a good little mic that takes everything I like about the Capsule microphone and hits it with a shrink ray. However, even as a budget mic, it still feels overpriced at $70, and its less-than-stellar build quality doesn't help its case.?

The Profile comes in two packages; the standalone microphone for $129 or the Streaming Set (which we're testing out here) for $199. The latter includes a microphone and a desk-mounted boom arm. The mic is the same in the package, so does it really come down to whether you need a boom arm or not? I'm on team boom because it clears desk space and prevents any incidental bumps and thumps from being picked up on the mic during recording.

The Profile has a sturdy metal casing and a more flashy design than I would expect from Sennheiser. Don't get me wrong, Sennheiser makes some of the best audio gear in the world but some of its designs, especially on its headsets, are a little boring.?

The Profile is sleek and looks good on camera if you're a streamer, especially when mounted on the boom arm. Overall, it's a good design, and I really like that you have an onboard mix, gain, headphone volume controls, and the mute button on the mic. In a time when microphone makers are scaling back features to keep costs down, it's nice to see that Sennheiser has found a way to do both.?

As you can hear below, the Profile has a very warm sound, uh, profile that gives my voice a nice, crisp quality. Perfect if the type of content you create involves much talking or you need to sound like a professional on a work call. ?

I added the HyperX Quadcast S and AT2020+ to the playlist since those are the closest competing mics in both sound and price. The Quadcast S handles plosives a touch better than the Profile, though the quality of my voice sounds nicer on the Sennheiser.?

Because of that, you will want to invest in a pop filter to deal with some of the light plosives, which will push the overall price up a little. It's not as bad as on the Audio-Technica AT2020+ as you'll hear below, but still something you'll want to get a handle on.?

On the software front, well, there isn't any. The Profile is a plug-and-play microphone with no accompanying software for tweaking sound. So, if you want to apply filters to your voice or anything fun like that, you'll need to use third-party apps. Since all the controls are on the mic, I'm alright with not having to install another app for my accessories.

The only real problem with the Profile is that it lacks some versatility by only having one polar pattern. Unlike other microphones, such as the Quadcast, I can't plop this down on a table and do an interview on location because a cardioid mic is really only suitable for one person. Anyway, it's not like you could set this on a table because the Profile Streaming Set doesn't come with a desktop stand. In other words, it's a very specific single person use case, and not for moving around with. ?

I find it strange that the Streaming Set doesn't include some sort of a desk stand. You're relegated to using your boom arm, though you could buy the stand on its own for $29. The stand-alone Profile, on the other hand does include a stand, so keep that in mind if you're choosing between just the microphone or the boom arm combo.

Unsurprisingly, Sennheiser makes a quality boom arm that's easy to set up. A decent boom could cost well over $100, so getting one for an essential $70 with 3-point locking and a cable guide is a helluva deal and worth picking up if you don't plan on taking your mic anywhere. It should accommodate most desks, too.?

This excellent boom arm will probably last longer than your podcasting career, honestly, and the Sennheiser Profile is does everything a good mic for streamers needs. It's easy to use, and the onboard controls give you much control over your sound.

So there we have it, Sennheiser enters the podcast and streaming space, and shows everyone how it's done.?

The Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ replaces the now discontinued AT2020USB and retails for under $70, putting it on the higher end of the budget microphone price range. It's a cardioid microphone ideal for streaming, podcasting, and day-to-day use at work or ata play in Discord.

It can be confusing because AT has a couple of microphones with the AT2020 designation, such as the AT2020 USB X, the $150 premium USB, and the XLR version of the AT2020 for $100.?

Compared to the budget USB microphone, its metal body is designed to take a beating. If you travel a lot, you don't have to worry about the AT2020+. It does come with a handy travel pouch which is a nice touch and gives it a premium feel whenever you pull it out.?

The mic itself is easy to use. It's plug-and-play; there's no software to install, so you can get to recording fairly quickly. There's even a headphone volume and mix control, a feature you won't find on many sub-$100 offerings. For example, my favorite budget mic, the Razer Seiren Mini, has no extra features. Monitoring and adjusting your mic levels is always really clutch during a live stream without needing to tweak using third-party software. However, I wonder why Audio-Technica went with those controls instead of a mute button or gain controls.?

These extra features are great, but the most important question for any microphone you're potentially buying will always be, "So, how's it sound?" And the AT2020USB+ might be one of the best-sounding mics under $100 I've used in a really long time.?

As you can hear from the sample, my voice is sharp and crisp. It also adds a nice warmth to the vocals, and if you make a lot of content featuring your voice, like podcasting or voiceovers. You're getting a lot for just $70, making it a really good mic if you start with content creation.

I recommend getting a pop filter since my plosives were noticeable in the test recording every time I said something with the letter p in it.?

It being a single condenser microphone makes it less versatile than some of the mics, closer to the $100 price point. If your content involves just and nothing overly complicated logistics-wise, this is still an excellent option for beginners.?

As much as I like the AT2020, its flimsy tripod leaves much to be desired. It never quite sits on the desk and often feels like it's going to tip over with the slightest bump desk bump. Bad mounts are common with microphones at this price range, but considering this isn't Audio-Technica's first USB microphone, it could be a lot better, given its pedigree.?

I also found it strange that it uses USB Type A, which is objectively better and more secure than micro-USB, though I'd rather it USB Type-C since those are a lot more common these days. In a pinch, I bet trying to track down an extra USB Type-A cable will be a lot harder than a USB Type-C any day of the week.

The Audio Technica AT2020USB+ is proof that you can make a quality microphone for less than $100 and find a way to keep it under $100 without stripping features. Despite a really poor tripod stand, this is still one of the best microphones you can buy now.

XLR microphones sound amazing but require an investment in the form of an audio interface, whereas a USB mic is always the way to go if you want an affordable, easy plug-and-play solution. Though this year seemed like slim pickings as XLR mics started to become more and more popular among even streamers just starting out.?

Either way, we narrowed it down to three of the best gaming microphones of 2022. Of our nominees, ?HyperX's debut XLR mic, the Procast, might be the best microphone we've spoken into all year; Elgato's maiden XLR, the Wave DX, is the best value; and the 512 Audio Tempest is one of the better-sounding premium USB mics we've seen.?

But which of those below will be crowned the best microphone of 2022?

Best microphone 2022: the nominees

The winner of the PC Gamer Hardware Award for the best gaming microphone of 2022 will be announced on New Year's Eve. May the best noise maker win.?

What sets the HyperX ProCast apart from its top USB mic is what's inside it. It's got a gold-plated large diaphragm condenser capsule, which you'll find in many XLR microphones used by professional musicians and podcasters. The result is deeper, richer vocals than your standard USB microphone.

Of course, $250 is a lot of money to spend on a microphone, but when you compare it to other large diaphragm condenser microphones that aren't marketed to streamers, you'll find it to be a competitive price point. I'm curious to get my hands on Elgato's new $100 XLR dynamic mic and see how it measures up against the ProCast first-hand, but the Elgato Wave DX has reviewed pretty well already.?

One thing I'm surprised about is a lack of features and extras when you compare it to HyperX's other 'cast' mics. But damn, does it sound good. ProCast delivers the stellar sound quality you'd expect from an XLR, and that should strongly make you consider spending the coin.?

At a glance, it keeps with the brand's clean cylindrical design. It ditches much of the HyperX's visual flair aside from the red accented cords on the shock mount. I was also surprised to see there's no tap to mute which is one of my favorite touches on HyperX mics. Though if it's more style over substance you want, the QuadCast S and its wild RGB lighting probably more your vibe. Either way, the ProCast is a sturdy piece of premium kit that feels like it belongs in a studio.?

Being that the ProCast is an XLR mic you'll need an audio interface to plug into your PC. I'm using a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, which runs about $170 on sale. The cost of using an XLR microphone generally drives most people away from them into the affordable embrace of USB mics since those, for the most part, are simply plug-and-play. However, once you use an XLR mic and hear the difference, the cost will be worth it to level up your sound.?

Below you can hear how the XLR HyperX sound's against the Quadcast S, HyperX's premium USB mic at $150, and the now $225 Shure MV7 Hybrid XLR/USB podcasting mic. Right off the bat, my voice was loud, crisp, and clear. Even with Soundcloud's upload compression, the ProCast's sound quality blows HyperX's best USB mic, the Quadcast S out of the water. It's not even close. When comparing it to the Shure using an XLR cable—our current absolute favorite mic—they sound pretty darn close.

It's a clear, clean sound best suited for content creators who talk a lot, or need to use their voice professionally. If all you do is chat away on Discord, there are cheaper options, such as the HyperX SoloCast that still sound pretty good. I did notice several folks online, when I was playing Warzone 2.0 and Warhammer Darktide, asking if I were a streamer because my mic sounded so good. It's good to know the ProCast works well for in-game chats, because you never want to be the teammate whose mic sounds like they are underwater.?

My only issue with the ProCast's sound is that it's really sensitive, even with gain adjustments. It does pick up some background noise. Not a big dealbreaker if you've already got a decent podcasting set-up with some soundproofing, and if background noise hasn't been an issue before, you'll be ok. ?You can switch on the 80Hz filter, which should help with unwanted low-end noise.

You'll also need a microphone boom arm, as the ProCast doesn't come with a stand (or an XLR cable now that I mention it). In fact, it doesn't come with anything except the mic itself and a detachable, front-facing pop filter that's mostly serviceable. To be fair, lots of XLR microphones come this way. However, it's still a little disappointing since HyperX's other streamer-focused microphones come with more accessories out of the box.?

The ProCast has the unfortunate pleasure of being compared against the best podcasting mic, the Shure M7. That retails between $225-$250 and is currently the gold standard in microphones because of its sound and flexibility. And frankly, being a hybrid XLR/USB microphone, it has spoiled me. The ProCast is selling for about the same price and is a straight XLR-only microphone. That could be a turn off but man, does your voice sound great when using it. And isn't that the entire point if you're spending premium cash on a premium microphone??

The HyperX ProCast is a great-sounding debut XLR mic that plays it safe design-wise. You're definitely getting what you pay for in terms of sound quality. Your voice will sound its very best, as long as you have the cash to spare on it and all the accessories. If you already have them, however, the ProCast is a solid investment.?

Razer Seiren Mini | White, Pink, Black|?$49.99?$37.99 at Amazon (save $12)
The Seiren Mini is the mic I have sitting on my desktop right now, and it's a beauty. It's a little lozenge of microphone joy for the casual user, with a price tag to match. You can also get it in white or pink; now, all the colors are discounted! It's a super-simple mic, using the internals of more expensive options within a basic package. I mean, there's not even a mute button...View Deal

Amazon has a criminally cheap Cyber Monday microphone deal on the Razer Seiren Mini for only $37.99, down from its usual price of $50. If you only buy one thing for your PC gaming or office setup today, a decent-sounding microphone that doesn't take up much space is a great idea.?

The Seiren Mini is Razer's tiny pill-shaped budget microphone for streaming and podcasting. It started the tiny mic trend in 2020 when it showed us that we don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a microphone when one for less than $50 can do the trick.?

As I noted in my Seiren Mini review, it's a solid microphone for anyone starting out in content creation on a tight budget. It's small enough to be very travel-friendly, and it works on PC and Mac, so if you need something cheap for work calls, the Seiren Mini is a good pick.?

I always get asked about this mic: "What's the catch?" And that's a fair question. Microphone makers end up stripping away features that usually come standard in mics that are double the price. This means no mute, volume control, or even a headphone jack. If you want to monitor or tweak your levels, you'll have to use third-party apps like OBS or Xsplit. It's the only way a mic that sounds this good can be so cheap.?

• We're curating all the best Cyber Monday PC gaming deals right here.

While shopping around, you'll notice that the HyperX Solocast in black, another quality mini mic, sells even cheaper at $30. While that is a pretty good mic (and it has a mute button), I still prefer the Seiren Mini because it sounds just as good but also has a better, sleeker look than the Solocast.

Below I've added some sample audio of both mics so you can hear the difference and decide for yourself.?

Shure MV7 | USB | XLR | Dynamic | Cardioid |?$249.00?$199.99 at Walmart (save $49.01)
Our favourite microphone for two years, the absolute best in the business. Shure is a beast at making high-end, professional microphones and its attempt at bringing its pro-grade sound to a slightly less pro-grade price is a home run. The only thing we're not too keen on is that it uses Micro-USB rather than Type-C, but it's well worth the investment to give your voice recordings the professional boost they deserve.View Deal

If you want to know what the best microphone for gaming, streaming and podcasting is, look no further than the Shure MV7. It's secured the top spot as our favourite microphone for over two years now and scored 92% in Jorge's MV7 review. It's a hybrid USB/XLR microphone with stunning vocal clarity, plus is plenty versatile and comes bundled with easy-to-use software. If anything, the biggest thing going against it is how expensive it is. Thanks to some great Cyber Monday microphone deals, its price point is less of an issue right now.

While it may not be sporting as big a discount as other microphones, we think any amount of money off is well worth it for a microphone that is yet to be topped in our testing, even two years down the line.

• We're curating all the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right here.

Walmart is still the cheapest place to get your hands on the Shure MV7 microphone, going for $199.99 right now. Shure's retail price puts it at $249, giving a nice $50 discount and putting the best microphone at a sub-$200 price. It's still an investment, but it's an excellent deal for such a good microphone. You won't find it at this price anywhere else in the US, with retailers such as Amazon, B&H, and Best Buy offering a smaller discount of just $20, bringing the cost down to $224.

There's a reason Shure is the choice brand of so many musicians and other industry professionals that rely on voice clarity. It's the best of the best, and the MV7 is Shure's attempt to bring its excellent gear to content creators. Thanks to it being a hybrid USB/XLR mic, you can take advantage of both the adaptability of XLR and the flexibility of Type-B Micro inputs by recording on the go with laptops and mobile devices.

It's well worth the investment if you're looking to make your streams or podcasts sound more professional, especially now it's at $200. Even the $20 discount of other retailers is well worth the consideration if you miss the boat on Walmart's offer. It's a microphone worth every penny, offering pro-grade sound with minimal setup without the thousand-dollar pricetag to match.?

The Razer Seiren Mini and HyperX Solocast are two great-sounding teeny pill-shape microphones that are perfect if you need something that won't take up a lot of space on your desk and travels well. Personally, I think the Seiren Mini looks better, and all three colors are on sale, whereas the deal on Solocast is only for the black model.?

So, what's the catch with these budget microphones? While both the Solocast and Seiren Mini sound as good as more expensive microphones, the tradeoff is that both have a shocking lack of features for serious streamers.?

The Seiren Mini has no mute, volume controls, headphone jack, or pretty much anything. The Solocast has the same issue, except that it has a tap-to-mute button on top. So, that's something. Both mics are good choices for less than $40, though, if you just want an easy-to-use, no-frills audio experience.

• All the best Black Friday PC gaming deals right now

If you're looking for something with more personality to show off on your stream, this HyperX Quadcast S microphone sounds great and looks good on camera. I mentioned in my review that it's the same mic as the Quadcast, except it's got fun RGB lighting that makes it looks like you're speaking into a lava lamp. The anti-vibration shock mount and stand mean it won't pick up any incidental bumps when you're live.

The Blue Yeti Nano is another fantastic choice for streamers and podcasters. At 70 dollars, you're getting a neat-looking microphone that sounds good out of the box. With its Blue Vo!ce (not a typo) software, you can apply filters and customize your voice and sound like a robot or, in our case, like an orc that is very much in love.?

It might behoove you to pick up a quality boom arm to mount your new mic. This will allow you to position your microphone exactly how you want it. And it helps to clear some desk space. I use a Rode PSA1 that's currently on sale for $93, which I love. It's pricey, but worth it: it has a longer reach than most cheapo mic arms, cable clips, and most importantly doesn't make any noise when you move it.?

If you haven't already, you might want to pair your new microphone with a headset to complete the audio package. Thankfully, some of the best Black Friday deals I've seen all week have been on gaming headsets, like this Razer BlackShark V2 Pro wireless for only $100. ?

Thankfully, we've spotted a good number of deals coming in at under that price cap, so you can keep a weather eye on your spending, while still bagging some of the best prices around.

There have, historically, been a bunch of upgrades you can make to your gaming PC on the cheap, but the pool of potential gets a heck of a lot deeper over the sales period. In it, more Black Friday gaming keyboard and mouse deals than you could shake a stick at.

Black Friday gaming keyboard deals under $100

Many are tenkeyless or 60% keyboards, but you can find the odd full size gaming keyboard for under $100 right now. The wireless, compact Keychron K4 just sneaks in at $99.99, which might tickle your fancy if you're one for brown key switches.?

Black Friday gaming mouse deals under $100

As for mice, the prices vary wildly. There's the Logitech G305 Lightspeed for just $39.99 at the lower end, or an entire Razer bundle including our favourite gaming mouse, the DeathAdder V2, along with a BlackShark V2 X gaming headset and Gigantus V2 mousepad, for just $67.99. That's down from $149.99.

Black Friday gaming headset deals under $100

On the other hand, a gaming headset is one thing every gamer needs. Something that can handle the sound of warfare, as well as the sweetest tunage. There are plenty of those around too, including one of our favorite headsets of all time, the ?HyperX Cloud Alpha?that's going for $54.99 right now, as opposed to its usual $99.99. There's even the wireless Razer Quartz Barracuda X for $56.60 those who prefer to be able to get up and move around, and who suffer from a slight obsession with pink.

Black Friday microphone deals under $100

Of course, there's always the option to nab a professional sounding mic for streaming, recording ASMR, or just chatting to friends without sounding like you're inside a tin can. Now might be the time, with the Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ at $79, and the Blue Yeti Nano down to $69.99. That even leaves a little money left over for something else to round off your setup.

Black Friday SSD deals under $100

Aside from peripherals, a Black Friday SSD deal will net you one of the best internal PC upgrades you can make today for under $100. Not only are they cheap, they're also super easy to plug and play—that's assuming you have a spare M.2 slot on your motherboard. Do check the spec before making a purchase, and if you're planning move Windows boot drive do so with caution. We don't want you losing all your settings and apps, now.

Black Friday RAM deals under $100

You could even grab yourself some RAM—another simple-as-anything upgrade. Imagine bolstering your productivity with 32GB of speedy DDR4-3200 RAM for under $70 even. The Teamgroup T-Force Vulcan at $69.99 below delivers just that, and for a nifty $15 less than expected.

And if you're an AMD user who has been banging on about ?upgrading to 16GB for ages but just haven't gotten around to it, now might be the time with the PNY XLR8 Gaming now at $49.99.

So which to buy? Well, the best microphone for gaming right now is the Shure MV6. It's a desktop USB mic with proper credentials from one of the most respected names in the audio industry, and it sounds fantastic. If you're looking for something cheap but most definitely cheerful, our best budget microphone is the Razer Seiren Mini. Not only is it cute as a button, but it captures a surprisingly good sound for its diminutive size.

Achieving studio-quality sound with your streaming gear doesn't require an advanced degree in sound engineering (though it might help). In most cases, all you need is a USB port and some engaging content to discuss when you go live. To help you make an informed decision, we've gone the extra mile by recording test audio samples of all the microphones we've reviewed so far.

The quick list

The best microphone for gaming

The Shure MV6 USB Gaming Microphone manages to pull off a very impressive party trick. We're massive fans of the podcast-friendly Shure MV7+, but here Shure has managed to shrink down some excellent, MV7-like vocal-capturing ability into something much more suitable to shoving on your desktop and letting it get on with the business of capturing great audio. You don't need to get it super close to your mouth to capture a great result, making the Shure MV6 the best gaming microphone we've used to date.

Let's talk about form factor for a moment. While you'll get the best results with a good microphone up close to your lips on a boom arm or similar, it's not exactly the most practical setup for most gamers. The MV6, however, is designed to sit on your desk at a more reasonable distance—capturing excellent vocals without being too precious about how far you sit from it.

It achieves this via the Motiv Mix software, which features auto gain-levelling to constantly adjust the volume, making sure you can always be heard. While it's not magic—and we'd still recommend getting reasonably close—it does an admirable job of keeping your voice consistent from a decent distance away, meaning you can focus on what's on-screen instead of perfect mic technique.

More than that, the built-in noise reduction is great at minimising ambient room noise, like PC case fans and humming radiators. It's actually a little on the aggressive side—meaning you can sometimes hear it overcompensating—but on the whole, it's a set-and-forget system that ensures you won't have to fiddle around to get a clean vocal signal.

You also get the pleasingly-named Digital Popper Stopper to minimise plosives if you do decide to get up close and personal for the full podcast-like sound. Of course, you can remove this mic from its stand and arm-mount it like other great mics, so there's real flexibility here, too.

Speaking of that stand, it's seriously chonky. There's absolutely no danger of this mic wobbling around, and it feels solid enough that you could use it as a boat anchor in a pinch. Shure has obviously learnt from its considerable live music experience and made a microphone and stand combo that feels nigh-on indestructible.

It does have a fairly considerable footprint, though. While it's much more compact than its MV7 forebearer, it's still pretty sizeable, so those looking for a more discrete solution might want to take a look at something truly tiny like the Razer Seiren Mini.

While the little Razer is great at what it does for the price, it does get outclassed here in terms of pickup and overall audio tone. In fact, so do most mics compared to the MV6, most of which aren't as svelte and as immediately useable as this one. To do better than this you'll need to spend up and get something truly professional right up in your grill, like the Shure MV7+ podcast microphone, which is a real gem of a mic. Here though, it's all about convenience.

The Shure MV6 is the mic to go for if you want something desktop-based, easy to use, and with excellent sound—and at $149, it's also very reasonably priced. That makes it the best gaming microphone you can place on your desk and one that'll likely keep on trucking for many, many years to come.

Read our full Shure MV6 USB Gaming Microphone review.

The best budget microphone

The Razer Seiren Mini is our top budget microphone for streaming, and while it might skimp on features it still delivers top-notch sound for a mere $50/?50. If you're just looking to switch from a headset mic to a better-sounding desktop mic but don't want to have to mess around setting it up, the Seiren Mini is as plug-and-play as it gets.

The pill-shaped design here comes in a variety of Black, Mercury White, and Quartz, or as it's more commonly known, pink. It's an adorable-looking little microphone, which to some may seem more like a children's toy than a proper piece of audio equipment.

That would be a mistake, however, as the truth is that the little Razer sounds remarkably good for the money. Scrap that; it just sounds remarkably good in general. The internal capsule is of surprising quality given the price, meaning that its capture is warm, detailed, and clear all at the same time. Just what you want from any microphone, really, but it's especially impressive in one this cheap.

Nothing's perfect, and the Mini is, unfortunately, no exception. While the audio quality is brilliant for the money, it's still not quite going to compete with the really high-end gear like the magnificent Shure MV6. Also, it makes use of a proprietary cable design, which is a particular bugbear here at PC Gamer.

If it breaks, you're going to have to buy another one from Razer rather than getting a cheap replacement or digging one out from your cable drawer.

There's also no dedicated mute button, which is one of those things that doesn't sound like a huge deal but makes you feel a little unsure about the mic once you're using it. Having a switch on the mic itself to ensure that you definitely aren't transmitting audio is a reassuring feature, although this is almost certainly left out as a concession towards keeping the Mini as cheap as they come.

The simple fact that the Mini, at just $50/?50 (and in sales, we've seen it go as low as $35/?35), sounds as good as its more expensive brethren will attract users who just want a simple mic that looks elegant and sounds excellent. It's the best budget microphone by miles.

Read our full Razer Seiren Mini review.

The best mid-range microphone

Listen to the microphone in the test below:

The NZXT Capsule Elite promises a lot for its price and surprisingly delivers almost across the very wide board, which is why it's the best mid-range microphone. From noise rejection to adjustable features, it's got more than enough to compete with some higher-end options but for a fraction of the cost.

To look at the thing, you'd think it was a high-end, professional podcasting mic, and in a sense, you'd be right—until you get close and realise the mic body is made of plastic. But hey, there has to be some give, right? Overall it looks very suave, and its metal stand certainly helps with that, even if it is a little fiddly to screw in.

The stand-setting is the only part that's fiddly, though, as the mic itself is plug-and-play via a USB-C connection—it's great to see companies switching over to this smaller and newer USB format. The software's also easy to use, so you'll be configuring the Capsule Elite to your liking in no time.

And once you've got all that set up, boy does it deliver on the sound front. For a mic that comes in under $100, it's mighty impressive. You can hear what it sounds like above, and to my ears, that's a sound profile with tons of clarity, depth, and richness. We're talking a high bitrate, too, which certainly helps and is impressive at this price point.

It's a cardioid mic, so of course, you're not going to get the versatility of some multi-directional mics. But that's also to the Capsule Elite's benefit because the noise rejection that this thing offers is seriously phenomenal. In his review, our Reece found that music could be playing right behind the mic at a reasonable volume, and the mic would still only pick up his voice.

If you want to look and sound the professional podcaster or streamer, this mic offers a way into doing so for a fraction of the cost of what it seems like it should be. You get a smart-looking, great-sounding piece of kit, with an adjustable stand, colour-changing LED indicator, and even onboard monitoring via a 3.5 mm jack.

All those promises it truly does deliver on, with the only real sacrifice being its plastic body—which looks pretty damn good regardless, don't you think? Yeah, it's certainly a mid-range winner.

Read our full NZXT Capsule Elite review.

The best USB microphone and boom arm bundle

The Sennheiser Profile Streaming Set gives you everything you need to start your podcasting or streaming journey with a great-sounding microphone and sturdy boom arm combo for less than $200. That makes it our top recommendation for the best USB microphone and boom bundle.

The Profile has two versions: the standalone microphone for $129/?129 or the Streaming Set for $199/?179. We'll take the latter, thanks, as it's a great deal for a full set that means you have everything you realistically need for great, studio-quality audio.

The volume and mix controls are well placed, and the dedicated mute button is one of those features you probably wouldn't care much about on paper but makes all the difference in practice. Having a physical button to ensure you're muted helps avoid any awkward streaming audio-related accidents. Look, Mum, I know dinner's ready. Can't you see I'm recording games for the internet over here?

More than that, the Profile is wonderfully warm in its audio quality, with a crisp level of clarity that just makes your voice sound great. Sennheiser knows what it's doing when it comes to sound, and the Profile captures your vocals beautifully, ensuring it's just down to your performance rather than too much fiddling with the dials.

Speaking of dials, on the software front, you'll be reliant on using free or paid audio tweaking software if you want to engage in sonic trickery. That being said, the sound is good enough that you shouldn't need a lot, if any, to still sound great. It must be mentioned, however, that setting up a good stream can be a fiddly procedure—and if you'd rather have something that came with an interface and software package that made it easy, it'd be worth taking a look at the SteelSeries Alias Pro below.

Other letdowns? Well, it's very much a microphone just for you rather than you and your friends, as it only has the one pattern that captures the audio right in front of it rather than the whole room. Still, chances are if you're bringing your buddies in for a group session, you'd want to use more than one mic, although it is worth pointing out that mics like the HyperX Quadcast S do have the facility for multiple polar patterns if you'd like some more flexibility.

Also, if you pick the boom arm version, you won't receive the desk stand. It's a bit of an omission, but again, this is designed to get right in your face and capture great audio, so a desk stand would maybe do it a slight disservice.

The boom arm itself is excellent, thankfully, and is as flexible and resilient as you like, so what you're getting here is something that you can use again and again, and probably again, too. Good boom arms can sometimes be expensive, but here, it's all part of the package.

Yep, it's a great stream companion this, or a massive boost to meeting audio, in-game voice chat or a podcast, and a very well-thought-out package that hits all the right notes.

Read our full Sennheiser Profile Streaming Set review.

Best gaming headset | Best gaming monitor | Best HDMI cable for gaming
Best computer speakers | Best SSD for gaming | Best CPU for gaming

The best looking microphone

The gamer-centric HyperX Quadcast S is an excellent microphone for the gamer or streamer looking for an easy-to-use, clear-sounding mic, and it takes our top spot for the best looking. It might seem a bit strange to think about looks when buying a microphone, but if you've got your audio gear in the shot, it'd be nice if it looked great as well as sounding it, dontcha think?

More than just a looker, however, the Quadcast S has plenty of features that you usually end up paying more for in other mics. The built-in pop filter works well (and contributes to the sleek aesthetic rather than covering your fancy new mic with an add-on attachment), and the top-mounted tap-to-mute button is capacitive, meaning there's no audible click when it's activated.

In terms of software, the Quadcast S makes use of HyperX's Ngenuity suite, and there are options to adjust the lighting, gain, and, err, not a whole lot else. Still, it's straightforward at the very least, but if you're expecting a lot of bells and whistles, you'll come away disappointed. Straightforward to a fault, but with all the basics covered, it will have to do.

When it comes to sound, the Quadcast S captures clear and crisp audio even on low gain settings, although it must be said it's a little plosive-prone. Still, the sound profile leans towards clarity without becoming harsh, which means it's a very good fit for anyone looking to do a bit of live streaming or podcasting.

And after all, it seems a shame to keep all that lighting to yourself. It's got a rare combination of streamer-friendly good looks and excellent audio for a reasonable price, and those looking for something both aesthetically and sonically pleasing are well-catered for here.

Of course, you could go for the standard Quadcast and get, well, almost everything advertised here without the RGB for around $20 cheaper. Still, if style is important to you as well as excellent audio, the HyperX Quadcast S is the best looking by far.

Read our full HyperX Quadcast S review.

The best podcast microphone

When we heard the original Shure MV7 was being replaced, our hearts sank. That was a microphone that sat at the top of this guide for a very long time, only recently replaced by the Shure MV6 as our top gaming mic. We needn't have worried, though: its replacement, the Shure MV7+ Podcast microphone, is even better than its predecessor.

The really astonishing thing about this mic is how easy it is to get a studio-quality sound. Simply install Shure's Motiv Mix software, plug it in via a Type-C USB connection with the included cable, and begin recording. That's not just because it's a great mic. Shure's software gets to work turning on all the bells and whistles, including noise reduction, Auto Gain levelling, and a Digital Popper Stopper, from the moment you plug it in.

On that note, that was one drawback of the original Shure MV7: it was a little prone to plosives, which are percussive sounds like "puh" that can become blown out if you speak into it too forcefully. Thanks to a bit of extra foam and the aforementioned digital helping hand, however, plosives are no more with the MV7+.

It sounds superb on its default settings, with a rich warmth, pin-point accurate vocal capture, and a lovely, crispy, "hot radio" kind of sound—with no fiddling required. The MV7+ simply gets up and goes, and as a result, you don't need to know anything about audio to get a professional result out of it.

That doesn't mean there aren't caveats, however. You'll need to get it up close, like a proper pro podcaster or streamer, to get the most out of it, which will necessitate buying a boom arm. Sure, you can use it with a separate desktop stand (which costs extra) just fine, but it's right next to your face that you'll really hear the full benefits—and while Shure will sell you the appropriate stand/arm, it still doesn't come with either by default.

The other thing is the price. At $279/?269, this isn't a cheap bit of equipment. However, given just how easy it makes capturing a studio-grade result in your home, that's actually pretty fair, given that it's competing with proper professional microphones that can cost much, much more.

It'll be fantastic for streaming too, although we still recommend the SteelSeries Alias Pro for streamers, mainly because it includes a handy mixer for switching settings on the fly. That's even pricier, though, and if you don't need those controls then the MV7+ is the better pick.

So why's the MV7+ not at the top of this guide as the best gaming mic? Well, the Shure MV6 is smaller, sits on your desk, and is substantially cheaper, too. But if you don't mind getting a larger mic up close for the best possible sound—and opening your pocketbook a fair bit wider—this is the one to pick.

Read our full Shure MV7+ Podcast microphone review.

The best microphone for streaming

Setting up a stream with great audio is traditionally not easy, which is the reason we're sticking the SteelSeries Alias Pro in as our best microphone for streaming. It might be pricey, but what you're paying for here is really the Stream Mixer that comes with it, and all the streamer-friendly features that make it a fantastic buy, even if it is pricey at a $330/?330 MSRP.

That little two-dial, two-button unit contains a powerful preamp that can connect out to an XLR microphone with 48V phantom power, which means you can use this with just about any good XLR mic on the market. However, SteelSeries has provided you with one of its Alias units here, and thankfully, it's a bit of a peach. It sounds lovely, particularly close up with a bit of an adjustment, although we'll get to that later.

Once you've booted up the Sonar software, you'll discover it takes away most of the strain of setting up a load of complicated inputs, outputs and audio gear. Drop-down menus and great hardware/software discovery mean that this package does its best to make all those confusing settings as straightforward as possible, and the RGB-lit buttons and dials on the front of the interface can be programmed in a variety of ways to make streaming control easy.

More than that, the included audio-adjustment settings are simple to use. There's a compressor, ClearCast AI-noise reduction and a straightforward EQ with plenty of useful presets, which means getting a good sound out of this setup is easy. However, there is a bit of a catch.

The SteelSeries Alias Pro really, really appreciates being up close, and that means using a boom arm to get the microphone right up to your face. That'd be all well and good, except SteelSeries doesn't provide one with the package, limiting you to a desk stand instead.

It'll sell you its own version, the SteelSeries Alias Boom Arm, for another $100—but in all honesty, it's a bit overpriced for what it is. Thankfully, the socket at the back of the SteelSeries Alias mic provided here is a standard size, so many cheaper and just as good third-party boom arms should fit.

And you're going to want one. Up close, the SteelSeries Alias Pro really shines, and great streaming audio becomes easier to achieve thanks to that software package and the quality of the 1-inch capsule provided.

It's also small and compact, which means it's not quite as in-your-face as something like the Shure MV7+ might be, although if you're looking for ultimate audio chops, the Shure still takes the crown for the best sound. It's also as simple as can be to use, although it doesn't have a mixer for switching streaming settings on the fly.

Streaming audio is difficult, and audio interfaces can be complicated beasts to wrangle. The SteelSeries Alias Pro takes as much hassle out of the process as it can, and that makes it the best microphone for streaming. Just make sure you price in an arm (or, given the cost, even a leg) to get the most out of it.

Read our full SteelSeries Alias Pro review.

The best headset microphone

Desktop mics are all well and good, but if you're looking for the best headset microphone, it has to be the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x STS StreamSet. With this substantial piece of gear, not only are you getting a brilliant microphone but a very good set of wired headphones all-in-one.

This headset features a proper, fully-fledged cardioid condenser mic. Don't let the relatively small size of that end capsule put you off—this unit is easily the best headset mic we've ever tested and is capable of capturing your vocals just as well as some of the other options on this list.

There's a lot to be said for having an excellent microphone built into a headset, too. For a start, you won't have to worry so much about volume changes when moving around, as once the mic distance has been set with the bendy arm, that's where it'll stay. That makes it perfect for those who don't want to think about their mic technique while gaming, as once you've got the distance right, you really don't have to think about much else.

With a range of sampling options, there's plenty of flexibility on offer. Plus, there's a monitor mode. Ordinarily, that can be pretty distracting, but we found that the version here was actually very useful for keeping an eye on your vocals while mid-stream.

Not only that, but noise-removal software shouldn't be necessary given the closeness of that mic to your speaking equipment (i.e. mouth). There it'll hover, picking up your vocal tones and not much else unless you really, really crank the gain to the guns.

There are a couple of downsides to consider. One is the lack of on-headset or on-wire buttons, which for some will be a bonus in terms of simplicity. A dedicated mute wouldn't go amiss, though. The other is the price. At $229/?169, the Audio Technica is on the pricey side for both a good mic and a good headset, although, of course, you're getting two in one. The ATH-M50xSTS really is good at two, often quite separate, roles. Together, combined, it really does excel at both.

When it comes to headset microphones, it really is one of the best we've ever used. And for good measure, the drivers themselves are absolutely brilliant, too. Pricey, perhaps, but multi-talented and built to last, to boot.

Read our full Audio-Technica ATH-M50x STS StreamSet review.

Also tested

How to spot the best deal

Gaming microphone FAQ

As a result, we’ve seen a fair amount of brilliant XLR microphones released for pro use that streamers have also begun to use—think of Shure’s SM7 or Rode’s Procaster. Well, in the last couple of years, we’ve seen more companies join the party, such as Elgato, the Corsair owned brand which has made a name for itself with some of the best all-round kit for streamers, ranging from the Stream Deck to their range of keylights.?

But anyway, back to the focus at hand: the Elgato Wave DX is its latest (and potentially greatest) entry in their lineup of microphones, and as you’ve probably guessed it, it’s an XLR one!

As a result of it being an XLR mic, the Wave DX was a little fiddly to set up; it's not the most plug and play device in the world in the sense of plugging in one cable and the mic works. Instead, it's a multi stage procedure that relies on you having a few things to hand.?

To actually get the Wave DX working you'll need the mic itself, as well as an XLR cable (sold separately, but any XLR cable should do) and an interface of some form, which is where you plug the mic into, and the interface then plugs into your PC. I should say at this juncture that this mic should work with any XLR interface, but for the sake of unity and convenience, I'm using Elgato's own Wave XLR, which also gives you access to on board gain control, so not to clutter the sleek design of the Wave DX itself.

Once you've jumped through a couple of hoops and you've set the Wave DX up on a mic arm (there isn't a tripod stand in the box), then you're ready to go. The setup is actually a lot easier than I'm making out—it's literally just plugging in a handful of cables. It's worth noting here how well built every part of this kit is and how simple it is to operate. The Wave DX features this minimalistic and almost elegant look to it. There's no unneeded bulkiness with a shock mount or external pop filter, like you get with other mics—interestingly, the Wave DX has an internal pop filter. It's comprised majorly of metal too, and feels rather sturdy indeed. The same goes for the boom arm and Wave XLR interface too, which, although is made of plastic, doesn't feel cheap in the slightest.?

Of course, the most important thing with a mic is how it sounds, and I'm pleased to report the Wave DX sounds marvellous. It provides vocals that have plenty of body to them alongside some excellent clarity. My only issue with it is that some plosives did still come through with a slightly annoying hissing noise, proving that while the internal pop filter offers more of a design minded way of removing harsh sounds, an external physical barrier may offer a more surefire way.?

The Wave DX offers a cardioid polar pattern, which is ideal for voices, although intriguingly, isn't a condenser mic, like a lot of other more affordable options are. Instead, the Wave DX is actually a dynamic microphone, which means it's better suited to capturing louder noises—ideal if you're someone who bellows into a mic. As a dynamic microphone, it also doesn't require any external power, unlike condensers, whose XLR based versions will need to draw power from somewhere—usually the interface their plugged into. If you do want to use a condenser XLR mic with the Wave XLR interface, it can provide the 48V of phantom power needed for them to run.?

Elgato's XLR mic also did a brilliant job of cancelling out most background noise, so it was just my voice that was coming through, as opposed to any angry typing on a keyboard. In addition, you can get an additional plug-in that can help to cancel noise even further. This brings me nicely onto the support for VST plugins, including Elgato's own EQ, where you can fiddle with the different frequencies of your voice—if you want a little more bottom end or more twinkly, then away you go!

At this juncture, I realise I haven't mentioned the actual price of the Wave DX, and of course, its assorted kit needed to get things working. The mic itself is $99/?110 which puts it in the more affordable category for XLR mics, and for that, it represents brilliant value for money. Things become a little more fiddly when you add all the other bits needed to get it working, which actually come to more than the mic itself. The Wave XLR interface is $160/?160 while the boom arm clocks in at $90/?90 and the separate XLR cable sits at $20/?20. In essence, you'll be paying close to $400/?410 to get all this up and running, which pushes it out of the 'affordable' category somewhat.

All in all though, the Wave DX is a great microphone with some excellent clarity and full bodied audio that should really take your stream and content creation game to the next level. With all the kit bundled in, it is quite expensive, but if you're wanting a sleek and minimalistic looking setup to stream with, this is a fine choice.

Despite its bigger size, the Bumblebee II's sound is on par with HyperX Solocast and Razer Seiren Mini mics, which isn't a knock against it. As you hear below, the quality of my voice is what I like to call 'work call' good. It's loud and clear enough for day-to-day use. If you're looking for studio-quality sound, you'll have to pay for it.?

Since plosives were on the loud side, you may want to invest in a pop filter. The mic is also good at picking up some background noise, so if you have an expensive loud AC unit, turn it off during recording.?

Again the mic's larger desktop stand size also affects its portability; other budget mics like the Seiren Mini and Solocast use small stands that make it easy to pack for recording on the go. If you're just planting this on a desk, it takes up an acceptable amount of space, but it's too cumbersome to toss into a bag and go.

The stand itself has a nice circular base that looks good but isn't a shock mount, so the Bumblebee picked up every slight vibration and bump on my desk. While not a big deal in a Discord call, it will drive you nuts if you're trying to, let's say, record some vocals.

The build quality for the stand is poor as well. Literally minutes after using the mic, one of the snap-on screw covers on the hinge that tilts the mic up and down instantly broke off. So now, every time I move the mic, the cover falls off, exposing the screw, which kills the look of the mic. This is unfortunate because I like how easy it was to install onto a boom arm.?

I also take issue with the location of the USB Type-C port and headphone jack on the bottom of the microphone. The way the mic sits on the stand forces the cables to get tugged and pinched in a way that can't be good when trying to angle the mic where you want it.

Even though the Bumblebee II MSRP is $100, it is regularly on sale for between $50 and $70 most weeks. For your money, it's a decently serviceable microphone that sounds good. Though every time I see that exposed screw, it becomes harder and harder to recommend regardless of how cheap and good it sounds. A shame considering how well it sounds compared to other budget, entry-level mics. ?

I guess the thinking is if you can make a mic good enough for Green Day, it should be good enough for your true crime podcast.?

There's something about the look of the Tempest that I'm vibing with. It's a simple yet sleek design. The cylindrical, all-black, grilled metal casing covers the 34mm large-diaphragm gold-plated capsule and has an old-school studio microphone aesthetic. When connected, a neat blue LED ring appears on the capsule, giving it just enough personality without looking tacky.?

As you can hear from the test recording, the Tempest does a really good job at cutting out the background noise in my office, where the hum of my RTX 3090-powered gaming PC, or AC unit, tends to make its way into my work and Discord calls.?

My voice was crisp and clear in the recording. In fact, it was so clear you could hear that I'd been fighting off a bit of a cold. Illnesses aside have a listen to how the Tempest sounds compared to some of our favorite mics, particularly the premium mics like the Shute MV7 podcast, a mic nearly double in price but has the same sample rate.?

Plosives are handled pretty well without a pop filter. If you're looking for versatility, though, you might be disappointed since the microphone only has one polar pattern (cardioid); we've seen similarly priced mics like the HyperX Quadcast mic, which has four polar patterns. More polar patterns give you more recording options if you stream with multiple people in the same room.

Included in the package comes a standard desktop stand and low-profile shock mount, which gives the mic some versatility. ?The shock mount is handy if you're an excitable type and tend to bang into your desk during a stream. I usually use a boom arm since my desk space is limited, and the setup was pretty painless.

The desktop stand is probably the thing I like the least about the Tempest. Once set up, the Tempest never felt stable. The only way I kept it from tipping over involved angling it in a funky way. This means it's almost impossible to use the desktop stand and shock mount together in any meaningful way since the shock mount would make the microphone too heavy for the desktop stand to support. Invest in a good boom arm to make the most of the microphone.?

For the same price, you could get the Elgato Wave 3, which offers a great digital mixer that's super handy for streamers, and it has a pretty solid desktop stand. Again, this isn't necessarily a deal breaker for someone who just wants a good-sounding mic and doesn't care about anything. Though for streamers and other content creators, constantly worrying about if your mic will fall over at any moment can't be good.

512 Audio's Tempest is one of the more impressive sounding USB microphones I've gotten to use in a while. It captures clean, warm audio, which makes it perfect for podcasters or musicians looking for a solid microphone for $160, though don't expect too much from the stand. It doesn't offer the same flexibility and features as other microphones at that price point.

The HyperX Solocast is hands down the best cheap microphone for streaming and gaming. It's tiny, easy to use, and now even more wildly affordable. Great for creating content or just sounding good on a work call.?

Below, you can hear there isn't much difference in sound quality between the Solocast and the QuadCast S, HyperX's premium microphone that retails for around $160.

As great as this little pill-shaped microphone sounds, it's not perfect. Much like the other budget microphones I like, most features that come standard on a typical HyperX microphone are stripped out to keep the cost of the kit low.?

There's no volume or gain control, headphone jack, shock mount, pop filter, or that classic RGB flair we've come to know and love (or hate depending on who you ask) from HyperX. All you get is a tap-to-mute button on the top; honestly, that's more than some other budget mics.?

This means any sort of audio adjustment needs to be done on a software level, via your streaming and recording apps, such as OBS or Xsplit. That can be a pain, especially if you're doing a livestream. I noted in my SoloCast review that the mic sounds a bit too loud out of the box, so you'll have to do some tweaking to get it just right.?

At a shade less than $60, it was already a great option for folks looking for a travel-friendly plug-and-play microphone that works well on both PC and Macs. At $35, it's practically a steal.?

From webcams to green screens, Amazon has loads of decent streaming and podcasting gear on sale for Prime Day. Figuring out where to start can be overwhelming considering the sheer number of products to sift through, so I plucked out some of my favorite webcams, mics, and other gear you'll need for a successful stream.

For simplicity, I stuck with the best USB webcams that output at 1080p and are dead easy to connect to your PC.?Another thing you'll need is a quality streaming mic. I found some entry-level and prosumer options with stellar sound quality. These are USB devices, too, so you don't have to deal with audio interfaces.?

I also tracked down other on-sale products like capture cards and green screens, which aren't crucial for your stream but are what I consider 'nice to haves' for your stream.?

Below are some of the best streaming gear deals for Prime Day.

But now I'm deep into the community and experienced with many of streaming's quirks, I'm ready to pass on some of that knowledge to the next generation. To actually begin streaming is pretty intimidating. Once my streaming career comes up in conversation with new faces, it's often met with a tingle of admiration. "Damn, I don't know if I could do that." "That's pretty brave isn't it, putting yourself out there like that?" "I wouldn't even know where to start." But in reality anyone, yes you, could start streaming right now. And because of the sea of small streamers, it's unlikely anything will go badly wrong. ?

I'll go into actual equipment shortly, but first a word of encouragement. There are loads of streamers with just one viewer or a handful. Thousands of them. That's kind of small, yes, but it works in your favour. No one ever has to know you're doing your first stream. Let's be honest, if you're just beginning, working this stuff out can be a little finicky and that's okay. Any streamer with experience will tell you that technical hiccups and unexpected problems are just part of the process.

But more importantly you can go live and no-one may ever know. That's a good thing because you can get comfortable in front of the camera without a care. Once you've gone live once or twice, maybe that's when you tell your friends. You can get your partner, siblings, close friends, online friends, whoever is willing to participate or 'lurk' in your channel as you stream. Here you'll get a taste of what you enjoy about streaming and then you're away. Having just a few viewers at any time can give you the boost to get out of the depths of Twitch, Facebook Gaming, or YouTube into a place where people might actually click on your stream and give it a go.

?What do you actually need to start streaming?

Truth is, in our newly remote world, you probably have all you need to get started right now, except for a username and a bit of software. And when you make a new username for Twitch, start with something without too many numbers or strange spellings. I know, a little hypocritical coming from someone with the username M0rmento, but if you can't easily say your name, and have to spend a lot of time telling people how exactly it's spelled, it'll be a pain in the ass, trust me.

Software

Many streamers fall into one of two software categories. Streamlabs or OBS Studio. The former is really great for beginners as not only is it easy to understand and set up, but it also comes with a lot of graphics and alerts so you can get going straight away. The downside is that it got accused of plagiarism and 'unethical' business practices for originally being called Streamlabs OBS without any connection to the original OBS software, infringing on OBS's turf. Not only that but another streaming service, LightStream, showed how similar their websites were, as if Streamlabs had copied its homework.

OBS Studio, though, is a better platform for a tailor-made stream. Almost everyone who starts on Streamlabs eventually hops to OBS Studio because it's more technical and precise in what it can deliver. It's not as aesthetic, far more confusing, and harder to get up and running but if you've already been streaming for a little while, working out what's what is fairly easy. You can hop straight into Studio if you're confident with working out technical programs, audio and visual settings, bitrate and more, but if you're just getting used to the idea of going live, LightStream is an easier way to start. Other softwares available include vMix and XSplit which are both also used extensively across platforms. I'd recommend OBS Studio ultimately.

What technology do you need to start streaming?

I'm going to go from beginner to expert to give you some recommendations. Please, please, if you're just starting out don't scroll to the bottom and pick out the best of the best. Not only is it hard to tell if you can fit regular streaming into your life before you give it a shot, one of the best parts of streaming is improving your set up slowly. Getting a new camera or lighting or anything is more exciting with an audience who can give you feedback and appreciate the changes being made to make their experience better.

Also, there are many prices here that will be lower on marketplaces like Amazon than I've stated. It's Prime day, for example, which will lower a lot of this tech to more affordable prices, so check them out online just to see if there are any deals on.

?Beginner

Ah, here you are at the beginning of your streaming journey. It's scary! To be honest, the very beginning of your streaming career can be started with the stuff you already have at home. But if you need a cheap and easy way to start, here are some recommendations.

Microphone

A headset with a microphone is just fine for starting your streaming career. Audio is arguably the most important part of your output, people aren't always looking at your stream if they're watching but they're always going to be listening. I'm personally out of the loop when it comes to headset microphones but PC Gamer recently reviewed the ?80 Beyerdynamic MMX 100 and found its performance and microphone quality were excellent. Additionally, many Cosair units have really good quality microphones so you could try out the ?140 HS80 RGB as one of our top headsets we'd recommend at the moment.

Camera

Built-in webcams for laptops are fine. They're fine and if that's all you have that's still a really good place to start. But you'll also likely have something else at your disposal that's even better. You might not realise it but maybe the best camera option for cheap is your smartphone. There are apps out there that allow you to use your camera on your phone as a webcam and with how good cameras are getting these days, it's a good way to look sharp with a gadget you probably already own.

Iriun Webcam and DroidCam are two examples of such applications. It'll be annoying to have your phone set up as a camera, sure, but if you're not interested in spending money right away, it's a really easy alternative.

Otherwise you're going to be sticking to USB cameras. The Razer Kiyo isn't too expensive at ?100 and has an in-built light which can be quite handy. Logitech also has the Logi C270 which will do the job for ?25. Neither are top-of-the-line USB cameras but they'd do the job, as would any inbuilt camera you may have or USB cam your work has provided for you for remote jobs.

All-in-all, the beginner level of streaming shouldn't cost you too much. If you were going to purchase dedicated equipment though, I'd recommend the Beyerdynamic headset, and Logi C270 for a combined ?105.

Intermediate

So you know you like streaming, congratulations. This is when you might pour a little money into the hobby so your stream looks a little better and honestly, you feel a little more professional. Please bear in mind you don't need to upgrade these all at once. What I would encourage you to upgrade first though, is your microphone.

Microphone

I believe everyone, no matter if you're a streamer or not, should have a USB microphone. I just think they're neat, and in our now highly remote world, allow far better communication. My best recommendation would probably be the Elgato Wave microphones. I used my Wave 1 for a year or two before moving on and it's absolutely the best piece of streaming gear I ever bought in terms of value for money. The Wave 1 is a little cheaper than the Wave 3, as the Wave 3 gives you a higher max sample rate, as well as more mixing options. Either are a great USB mic to start with. The Wave 1 costs about ?90 while the Wave 3 costs ?160. If you can afford to go the extra mile, go for it, but the Wave 1 is an excellent place to start.

Additionally the HyperX Quadcast is a great option at ?120. To be transparent, it's good for sound but mostly it looks badass and you may have seen it taking pride of place in a lot of streams for that wow factor. If these are all a little on the expensive side of things, Razer's Seiren Mini is cute and cheap at just ?50 and will do the job just fine.

Camera

In terms of value for money, you can't get much better than the Logitech C922 for ?95. I used that webcam for years and as a Twitch affiliate, with Twitch doing everything it can to throttle your stream quality as it is, it's a perfect camera for the average streamer. The Logitech C920 is also up there in terms of quality for ?90. Though the Kiyo, in Beginner, is slightly more expensive, you also need to spend money on lighting to get the most out of these Logitech cameras.

Other options include Elgato's pretty good ?190 Face Cam and perhaps surprisingly, Go Pros. Go Pros are always being updated and it's become quite common for second hand or older versions of the product to be used as webcams. Another use for a niche bit of tech and you can find them quite easily on Ebay.

Lighting

Lighting is more of a personal preference than anything else. But too many streamers buy a camera like the Logitech C922 and then expect it to work wonders without enough lighting. Stop that. You can use lamps you have around your house to illuminate your face and actually just typing in camera lighting into Google or Amazon is sure to bring up quite a variety of absolutely fine options.

However if I were to give a recommendation I'd say the ?190 Elgato Ring Light is pretty great. It's a ring light that can attach to your desk and can also hold a camera, eliminating the use of a tripod. I have also had a good time using the ?190 Elgato Key Light in the past but the Ring Light was ultimately more useful. It eliminates the need for a camera tripod and its glow is less harsh than the Key Light's. And if you don't have room for a Key Light at the back of your desk, they have a mini variety for ?130 which can sit on your table easily.

If you're looking for a variety of colours though, Razer has recently released its own Razer Key Light Chroma. Though expensive at ?260, its niche appeal might be for you if you're looking for especially vibrant colours. On the other hand, I've come to use a sunset lamp myself for some nice ambient lighting and that only costs you about ?20.

Capture Card

The ?170 Elgato HD60 S+ is my go-to for a capture card. Capture cards are only really useful if you're looking to connect something like a PlayStation 5 to your stream, so it's not a must-have for everyone. But if you're looking to change-up your content Elgato's line of capture cards really are the easiest to get your hands on and we like the ?190 HD60 X as an updated version of the HD60 S+ too.

If I were to buy my best of the best in the Intermediate category, I would purchase the Elgato Ring Light, the Logitech C922, the Elgato HD60 S+, and the Elgato Wave 3. All in all that would cost me about ?615 without deals. Bear in mind, looking at current pricing this stack would cost you ?570 instead.

Expert

This is where we get into the big toys with big price tags. There is a weird lack of products that settle between the high ?100 in price to ?300-400 so you'll probably sit at intermediate for a long time, and don't worry about that. That's perfectly a-okay and those products are really great and do the job.

This tier of equipment is purely about reaching for super smooth, super silky visuals and audio that could be useful for other applications like music production, high quality YouTube content, or photography.

Microphone

Now we get to the podcasting microphones. These are mics you see used as a status symbol more than anything else. If you're a big streamer you have a big mic, dems de rules. In this case I can recommend the ?300 Shure SM7B as the mic I use, which has been a really great upgrade in sound from the Elgato Wave mics. It looks great, it sounds great (if a little quiet) and alongside my ?72 ?Rode PSA1 studio arm, I feel like an expert streamer.

The other hugely popular microphone you see on streams is the ?515 Electro-Voice RE20. Very costly, even more so than the SM7B, but they're as good as it gets. The SM7B I use is also great for music if you're a singer, and I use it for high quality voiceover for PC Gamer. But if you're not going to have multiple uses for these microphones, the Elgato Wave 3 should really be all you need.

Audio interfaces

The downside of using a fancy microphone is that you need an audio interface to go along with it. The most popular of which, and one I use, is the ?180 Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Actually our Jacob Ridley recently reviewed the Scarlett 2i2 bundle which came with a headset and microphone, and thought it all performed really well. It would also stop you needing to buy a separate microphone, though you'd still need a mic stand.

There are other interfaces on the market which are cheaper but if you're spending all that money on a microphone you'll want an audio interface to match, right?

Camera

To go with all those sultry sounds, you'll need a camera that shows off your lovely face. These days I personally use a mirrorless Sony a6000 and it works excellently and is pretty compact. Its two main selling points are its small frame, making it very portable, but also its autofocus, boasting what Sony says is an autofocus faster than DSLRs. When you're stuck on the lens side of the camera, this is undoubtedly important, as is its true-to-life colour. At ?500 it's expensive but I have found it to be worth the money.

If you want to be able to see yourself stream as you're streaming consider a Sony ZV-E10 which is a model more suited to those who may want to also vlog. If Sony isn't your thing, the Panasonic Lumix GH6 is as good as it gets in terms of small cameras delivering high quality. However it comes with an even higher price of ?680.

If you already own a DSLR though, you might want to check that it's suitable for streaming. In the camera's settings if you can find the HDMI info, under that you may be able to choose a clean output. Then all you need is a capture card like the Elgato CamLink to make it all work.

Capture Card

I'm going to assume you're a PC gamer and if you've some room to spare in your case, it may be worth installing an internal capture card rather than an external one. I'd be lying if I said my HD60 S+ wasn't a pain in the ass sometimes, and it looks a little messy out on my desk. Instead consider changing to a ?230 Elgato 4K60 Pro or the ?210 Avermedia Live Gamer Duo which can be installed much like a graphics card. This would do a lot of the work for you, though admittedly is not as transportable as an external card should you need to game on the go. This really comes down to personal preference, because our hardware team have tested them and would recommend both.

Excluding previous purchases like lighting, my professional level recommendation of deal would cost you a total of ?1262.

Stream Deck

I've written an entire piece about why you don't need an Elgato Stream Deck however, if you're really tech savvy and intent to use a product like this for streaming effects go right ahead. But if you're just a beginner looking for a way to feel like a streamer, there are so many other worthy places to put your money.

Cat ears

Who doesn't need headset cat ears, eh? You don't need to buy Razer's full cat ear headsets but you can purchase these ears separately for a little uwu when you need it.?

That's about it. These are all the must-haves for a streaming set up at each price point. I've streamed for a little over two years since the pandemic began and although now I have a nice microphone and camera, they don't make or break the enjoyment of streaming. You'll have a great time no matter what the level you're at and then you can slowly upgrade equipment as you go.?

There's a lot to be said about the clarity of the PG16's sound. On its own it can be a little tinny but once you get into the Spatial Sound Card L software, the sound quality improves exponentially. The software is a little on the sparse side since there are only a few options to play with. These include a few settings for surround sound (up to 7.1, which didn't blow me away) and presets for the EQ that are optimised for different headsets, as well as a few that emphasise or dampen highs or lows. Sadly there's no EQ slider to play around with.

There is, however, a strange 'location' setting with Dubai, Paris and New York all as options, which seem to change the soundscape somewhat, though it doesn't explain exactly what it's doing. Some made audio sound distant and seemed to increase reverb, while others brought sounds closer. Either way it would be nice to have some kind of description on what these actually are.

Another setting that I've not seen on other audio software is the option to change the 'latency target', so you can balance high quality audio with CPU performance. Lowering it should help gamers like us free up our CPU resources when we're not desperate for peak audio performance. Assumedly this feature lowers the amount of processing the software applies to your audio, in order to reduce any latency it might be adding to the feed. The app reports that a latency of 5.3ms is possible with the 'professional use' setting and a professional PCIe audio DAC.

I wasn't able to test this as I don't have one of those, but what I did note was the high CPU usage in this setting. Even when you switch the latency down to 10.7ms in the 'FPS-Enthusiast' setting, CPU usage can reach around 5%. It's meant to give you "less than one frame of audio latency at 60fps" but low latency audio isn't going to mean much if my PC crashes mid game due an overloaded CPU. Metro: Exodus is off the table then.

The lowest latency is meant for "movies and music," and is meant to deliver "latency that is low enough to keep movies in perfect lip-sync, while maximising your battery life." The CPU usage does cap out at around 3.5% which is sure to help with battery life compared to to help that along, though there's a significant increase in bass distortion as you decrease the setting.

At 12Hz to 24kHz, the PG16's frequency response isn't terrible, considering many top out at 20kHz, but the 44mm drivers aren't the punchiest around.

Other than the software's hungry CPU usage in lower latency modes, I have no major issues with the sound quality. It's mostly other design choices that get me questioning the price, but we'll get to those in a moment.

It comes in a strangely unique box, one that closes with the use of a Velcro strap. I've already lost the strap so that'll never close properly again. More importantly, the headset's frame boasts an impressive emulation of that HyperX Cloud look with the deep red, metallic trim on black. The PG16 opts, instead of a matte finish on the plastic, for a lovely gloss finish that makes for a satisfying peel. Overall it pulls off the gamer aesthetic well, especially against my red and black Arozzi Arena gaming desk, and it's a pretty restrained design all things considered.?

The headset is durable and has a good amount of stretch, which is appreciated. Although the mic not being detachable means it's less portable. It does flip up out of the way, at least, and mutes when you do so.

Though my biggest gripe is that the headband just isn't comfortable for long periods of time. I couldn't wear them for longer than a few hours before the top of my head started hurting.

Until I hit that point, it's nicely snug and there's no pressure in strange places around my face, unlike something like the Roccat Elo. The ear cups rotate, which is a nice touch, and although those actually are comfortable they don't block ambient sound. The site says the headset "insulates against external noise" but it's not so good at doing so. What it literally translates to is "this headset doesn't have any passive sound isolation." Don't expect to be able to forget the rest of the world unless you have the volume up quite high.

The headset is light enough that it didn't shift too much as I moved around, not that I could move much as the cable is a bit short. It's just long enough that I was able to get up and swap out the lights on my Vertagear SL5000 gaming chair while wearing it, but just 1.4m of cable may cause problems. It's also connected to the right side of the headset, so if you keep your PC on the left side, it's unlikely to reach and will be crossing over your body.

The cable does extend around 15cm when you attach the splitter, which I'll admit is a thoughtful addition to the standard package. You also get a little carry case, and the frame does come with metal hinges to fold the earcups in if you need to take them around with you.?

The only thing is I'm not sure I would need to. There's a pretty niche audience for portable headsets with a 3.5mm jack since most phones don't bother to include such a port any more. And if you're one of those people who preaches the audio jack's supremacy over USB, you're probably going to be purchasing something off the best headphones for audiophiles list instead.

All these little oversights, like the CPU usage issues and discomfort after long periods of use, are disappointing. The Austrian Audio PG16 started off with a strong look and some useful features but there's not a huge appeal for me to splash out $135/?129 on a headset that I'm going to need to keep taking off all the time. Especially one with a gangly mic, and whose software eats away at my CPU usage.?

When you can get something like the Razer BlackShark V2 wired headset for ?100 nowadays—with its 55mm drivers, wider frequency response, detachable mic, and smashing comfort—why pay that extra ?30??

In this wonderful era, the only people who owned computer microphones used them for their day jobs.

Decades have turned over since then. Today if you scroll through the vainglorious posts on r/Battlestations, you will notice a new omnipresent trend: massive, studio-ready microphones perched on everyone's desks, as if the owners are about to either record a podcast or play 10 hours of Apex Legends for a live audience. Mics are everywhere. They are now a stylistic orthodoxy, like wearing a pocket square to a wedding.

There have certainly been other innovations to the gamer aesthetic: Few people pack a 30-inch CRT screen these days, and we don't purchase graphics cards emblazoned with horrifying low-res aliens. But the biggest sea change in the community is that niggling desire to broadcast your voice with the sonorous depth of a millionaire Twitch streamer, even if it's to an audience of three on Discord.

Microphones have morphed from a fringe boutique curiosity to an out-an-out necessity. Our battlestations look sad and malnourished without them.

"A great audio set-up will definitely strike jealousy in someone," says Andrew, a 15-year old Floridian who showed off his rig in a choice r/Battlestations post earlier this month. Take a look, and you'll find a scarlet PC chassis, a starchy computer chair, and yes, a dangling, mesh-tipped microphone. "It's the same when I see someone with a nice keyboard or whatever. Everything you have will make someone jealous."

As a zoomer, Andrew is at the forefront of the generational turnover within the PC contingency. He wanted a microphone superior to the chintzy plastic headsets that remained the standard among matchmaking queues throughout the 2000s and 2010s. But as gamers became celebrities in the latter half of the decade—as the stereotype shifted from basement-dwelling grognard towards a Kool Aid-dyed teen in an LA mansion—so too did the men and women in their wake.

There is truly nothing wrong with my headset. My friends can hear me just fine, and I rarely need to record professional audio. But after internalizing the Twitch norms and seeing all the fancy HyperX mics trickle across the timeline, I too have started to feel a primordial gamer inadequacy that brings me back to my teenage years. If you want to know how vulnerable you are to the whims of consumer movements—even at the supposedly solid age of 31—spend a day staring at PC furnishments until your own desk appears naked and meager without an amplifier.?

"I think that all the kids want a 'complete' streaming setup like they see their favorite streamers online have. So whether or not they use it for streaming or just casually, it’s become a part of a complete setup," says another poster on r/Battlestations, who opted for a $99 Blue Yeti. "I think it has everything to do with wanting to be like the streamers they look up to."

It's hard to know when, exactly, this revolution began. Livestreaming is older than anyone gives it credit for—kids were running livestreams on local access TV in the early 1990s. I was watching Stickam in high school, which was now 15 years ago. Laptops didn't even have built-in mics back in those days, so external equipment was a requirement, not a flex. (Case in point: Some of my happiest gaming memories occurred during vanilla World of Warcraft raids, where I coordinated healing rotations with the help of a tinny, beige microphone borrowed from my parents.) Xbox Live certainly helped bring voice chat beyond hardcore PC Ventrilo servers and into the gaming mainstream, but cheapo tinny headsets remained the go-to for years.

My best guess is that dedicated mics became more widely adopted when young people started to get the bulk of their gaming information from YouTube, because Ninja, Shroud, and Pokimane spend much of their public life with their faces partially obscured by a fuzzy black mass.

"Why are microphones so popular in Battlestations?" reads the title to a Reddit thread posted in the summer of 2018, which I'd argue represented the absolute zenith of the gamer-celebrity ascendency. (It was the year Drake played Fortnite on Twitch—I rest my case.) Theories trickle through the replies, all orbiting around the same core premise: Everyone imagines themselves as a YouTuber.

"Streaming has exploded as a form of entertainment," says Adam, a 26-year-old in Canada and another Blue Yeti owner, in an interview with PC Gamer. "So every stream is advertising a 'battlestation,' so to speak." Viewer numbers do indeed keep rising year after year.

Personally, I don't harbor any delusions of social media stardom. The idea of managing a community filled with children on lunch break seems totally soul-killing, as does the idea of playing exactly one videogame for thousands of hours. I doubt I'm alone in that, and I imagine that many of you reading this story feel the same way. That said, Leif Johnson, a longtime journalist and PC Gamer contributor, does highlight one way microphone envy seeps into all of us aging greybeards. He recalls a recent Valorant session with his usual group of buddies. One of them had stopped using his external microphone in favor of a headset, which crackled with an unfavorable fidelity compared to the resonant warmth he was used to.

"I admit making some subtle digs trying to get him to go back to [the other mic,]" says Johnson. "In games like that I like to be able to hear the person as clearly as possible, so I like it when they have a quality mic."

This is the future we're headed towards, man. As microphones become more popular, and as we become more accustomed to our friends speaking with the pristine clarity of podcasters, we are slowly going to become less patient with anyone still relying on a crappy old headset. Yes, that was satisfactory in the early Xbox Live days, when we called out MechWarrior strategies on a poverty bitrate.

But in 2022 gamers are weaned on the texturous depth of Twitch streamers and YouTube hustlers. If you join the party with a microphone that makes you sound like Leeroy Jenkins, expect to be laughed out of the room. And everyone who's anyone knows you need that Rode mic arm, not some $15 imitator off Amazon.

Don't expect this trend to reverse course anytime soon. We are all going to be external microphone people eventually—for reasons both aesthetic and utilitarian. It is yet another thing to buy in a hobby that continually moves the goalposts. (The RAM, the graphics cards, the chiseled decals on the case, the utterly unnecessary water cooling system, and so on and so forth forever.) The kids set the rules, and we race to catch up, which I suppose is how every subculture is supposed to work.

I just hate knowing that I'm about to be out $150 in order to feel a little less inadequate. But hey, at least my voice will sound fabulous.

After all, if you haven’t got one of these, then your loving audience won’t be able to hear your dulcet tones with respectable clarity.

Well, enter the Streamplify Mic, a $65/?60 solution to all your vocal needs. What you get here isn’t just a mic, but a full kit with shock mount, pop filter, tripod and cables to get you started in a matter of minutes.?

Most of the kit feels pretty substantial, with a blend of metals and hard plastics on show, which, for the price, is rather good indeed. Just note the pop filter is a little thin and rattly, but in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t too much of an issue. Too often, cheap mics are a sea of hollow plastics designed more for looks than function, so it’s nice to see Streamplify taking some care with their entry.

What’s more, everything is nice and easy to put together—it’s as easy as putting together some flatpack furniture from Ikea. No, wait, it’s a hell of a lot easier than that. Oh, and one bonus feature Streamplify won’t mention on the box: assembling this mic is definitely likely to keep your relationship intact, unlike assembling a BILLY bookcase from Ikea—we’ve all been there.

As for the look and feel of the mic itself, it actually feels sturdy in hand, with a smooth metal finish that also helps it to look rather sleek indeed. Its all black colouring also helps it to look professional, which is useful if you’re intending on using this bad boy for conferencing as much as you are streaming. Fear not, RGB fans, as Streamplify hasn’t forgotten you. To go with the purposeful black looks, there’s a strip of RGB lighting below the mic grille that flashes various colours, and looks rather smart, even if it serves no real life purpose (apart from to look cool, of course).

The interface on offer is nice and simple with a headphone jack for real-time monitoring of audio input, which is handy; a small button for controlling the bundled RGB lighting; as well as a dial for on-board gain control. This is traditionally a feature reserved for more expensive mics, so kudos to Streamplify for including it here. Do note though that there isn’t a start and stop point in the dial, so you can turn it 360 degrees, which can make it seem like the volume perpetually increases, so just be wary of its actual start and end points.

The adjustable on-board mic gain is definitely welcome, but means that the microphone only becomes properly usable when your turn the dial all the way round, which is a bit of a pain, as below there, it seems insanely quiet to my ears, and therefore it may do to other people, too.

The gain dial is also a click-in button that can allow you to choose between the two playback modes. There’s the choice of either what Streamplify calls the mic’s ‘Full Playback Podcast Mode’ which will filter through any ambient noise so you can check your levels, or ‘One-way Playback Gaming Mode’ which cancels out any background noise. It’s a useful feature to have, and there’s a small noticeable difference between the two.

But, the reason you buy a microphone isn’t for its construction or anything like that, let’s face it. It’s all to do with vocal clarity and sound quality. I’m pleased to say, for the price, this baby sounds pretty decent. There are no hisses, crackles, or pops for that matter, and with a cardioid pickup pattern this microphone works especially well for voices. Truth be told, it sounds nearly as good as my old faithful, the Rode NT-USB, which I’ve had for a couple of years, and sits at double the price of this Streamplify option.

All in all, the Streamplify Mic feels like a steal for its asking price. It’s well built, even if it does have a rattly pop filter, and its audio output is crisp and clear, which is all you can really ask for. The on board gain control, mic mute, and two playback mode features are all handy, and means this microphone is punching above its weight class somewhat. The same also goes for the fact you get an entire kit in the box, which keeps things convenient.?

Convenience is the name of the game here. If it’s what you’re after, then you won’t be disappointed with the Streamplify Mic in the slightest.

The Blue Yeti Pro sidesteps the issue with the ability to be both an XLR microphone or a USB one, and right now, it costs about the same as much lesser options out there. For $150, the Blue Yeti Pro is an easy choice if you need to record audio at a much better quality than you do now. Gaming headsets have their limits, and it can be nice to decouple your headphone quality from the microphone, especially if you plan on streaming.

The Blue Yeti Pro resembles one of our favorite USB microphones, the Blue Yeti X, which is actually more expensive than the Yeti Pro's sale price right now. Like the Yeti X, the Yeti Pro has a 3.5mm jack for zero latency headphone monitoring, a switch to flip between four polar patterns (cardioid, bidirectional, omnidirectional, and stereo), a mute button, and a gain knob, and the ability to be mounted on a stand. The Yeti Pro has a 24-bit 192kHz sample rate and a 20 Hz to 20,000Hz frequency response. All of these things will make it sound good without any fuss on voice chat or on a stream, but they also mean that it will also work well for edited things like podcasts.

If you plan to go the XLR route with this microphone, I'd recommend picking something like the Scarlett 2i2 audio interface up to pair with it. XLR recording will give you a little more control and quality over the microphone. That said, XLR isn't necessary if you use it casually.

It's a plug-and-play mic, and I can’t stress enough how happy I am that I don't need to use some overly complex software to get the most out of it—I’m looking at you Razer Seiren V2 Pro. No sir, just plug in the Thronmax, and off you go about your business. Thronmax says its Vertigain technology increases clarity and quality by 10% over other condenser mics. While I can't really substantiate that with any scientific accuracy, I can say that this mic sounds incredibly rich and bodied.?

I’ve never sounded sexier and when I sent my wife a little middle-of-the-day voice note over WhatsApp, she was completely blown away. Extra brownie points for me. The mic captures voices with a rich, warm tone with absolutely no hiss or distortion. I did a bunch of testing and realized the optimum positioning for the MDrill One Pro is about half a foot from your mouth. Sure it works fine when it's on your desk but as you can hear from the sample recording when it's closer the audio is so much better.?

There's gain control on the mic itself, but that didn't do too much to improve my voice, it just picked up more background environmental sound. Still, I love that I didn’t need to fiddle around with software to get this good sound. The excellent audio is a result of the aforementioned Vertigain tech that uses three internal condensers to pick up sound waves without being scattered by typical microphone mesh.?

There's also a built-in shock mount that does a fantastic job dampening unwanted desk vibrations. It also helps that the mic has a high sample rate up to 24-Bit/96KHz which is great for professional application.

The MDrill One Pro is also one of the better-looking microphones. It’s a Redbull can-sized Aluminum cylinder painted in gunmetal gray and held up by a hefty desk stand that really brings the word paperweight to mind. It's great at keeping the microphone rock steady and absorbs any wayward desk vibrations.?

You can easily swivel the mic in this stand to get the optimum position but in my experience, mounting it on a boom arm so it can be closer to your mouth results in the best possible audio.

The top half of the mic is slatted metal instead of typical microphone mesh—all part of the design that contributes to the Vertigain. It also negates the need for those foam socks in most scenarios.?

All the controls for the mic are on the body with volume and gain dials on the back. On the front is a prominent, oblong LED panel inspired by 80's audio tech and it's used to monitor your levels—blue for headphone volume, green for mic gain.?

Above the LED panel are markers for the microphone's four Polar patterns: Cardioid, Stereo, Bi-Directional, and Omni-directional. There are two soft buttons embedded into the top and bottom of the LED panel with the top one for toggling mic mute and the bottom one switches between the different patterns. I really appreciated that the mute button has a bright backlight that stays bright green when on and angry red as if saying, "you're on mute"

Thanks to a headphone jack, you can monitor your audio in real-time as well. Besides the volume dial, there are no other controls to adjust how much of your voice you hear through the headphones or even to just turn it off. Thronmax struck a safe audio balance here but some might prefer better control.

The coolness continues underneath the mic where you have connections for USB Type-C, 3.5mm headphone, a threaded screw mount for use with boom arms, and a button to control, wait for it, the RGB mood light. You can choose any of seven colors for the ring and while it isn't bright enough to bathe your desk in RGB, it certainly looks hella cool and even better when the mic is mounted to a boom arm.

At under $100, the Thronmax MDrill One Pro is a no-brainer for anyone looking for a quality mic and is an easy addition to our list of best microphones. It’s cheaper than most of our favorite microphones besides the flashy HyperX Quadcast S, it's possibly one of the most handsome. It sounds amazing and just works without any extra software shenanigans. This is a fantastic and fun microphone that just works and I heartily recommend it.