Execs
- Impeccable construct high quality
- Included shock mount with versatile threading
- Spectacular-looking, particularly the seen capsule
Cons
- Costlier than related non-gamer {hardware}
- No technique to simply rotate mic in shock mount
- No included cable
As soon as upon a time, players relied on headsets with built-in microphones. Then, boom-arm microphones turned more and more frequent. Positive, they took up extra space. However they allow you to use any headphones you wished.
As streaming turned extra prevalent, these increase mics additionally quietly signaled to viewers that you just have been critical about all of this, far more than these amateurs with their headsets.
In case you actually wished to impress, you can take issues a step additional. The USB mics that started the pattern gave technique to higher-end fashions meant for podcasting and even radio broadcasting. The place a USB mic would plug into your PC, this breed makes use of an XLR connection that requires a separate mixer or USB interface (or each).
What was the good thing about buying and selling your headset for 3 separate items of audio tools that possible price a number of instances as a lot? Audio high quality. The most important music stars and most high-profile podcasters just about all use XLR mics, for causes we’ll focus on beneath.
The see-through mesh turns the purposeful capsule right into a little bit of a showpiece. Michael Gariffo/ZDNET
It is this market that finds HyperX dipping its toes into the XLR enviornment for the primary time by making an XLR mic particularly for players. With its ProCast mannequin, HyperX has created a purpose-built piece of audio tools each bit as skilled as these made by audiophile manufacturers. Whereas it comes with a commensurate worth, it is onerous to fault its audio and construct high quality.
Specs
| Connector | XLR |
|---|---|
| Decide-up sample | Cardioid |
| Capsule sort | Massive diaphragm condenser |
| Onboard controls | -10Db achieve toggle, 80Hz high-pass toggle |
| Mount | Everlasting shock mount with 3/8-inch and 5/8-inch feminine threading |
| Frequency response | 20Hz~20kHz |
| Energy necessities | 48V Phantom energy |
| Output impedance | 16 Ohm |
| Dimensions and weight | 134L x 102W x 209H (mm) | 376g (mic), 127g (shock mount), 503g (complete) |
The pop filter may be clipped onto the shock mount by pushing it into place across the perimeter. Michael Gariffo/ZDNET
Construct high quality
Put merely, the ProCast is constructed like a tank. It is a type of units you choose up and instantly really feel assured in as a result of how dense and stable it feels within the hand.
In fact, this implies you may want a good-quality stand or increase arm. I would not belief this $250 gadget to a $25 no-name arm that appears like an inexpensive desk lamp. This massive boy wants a stable basis rated for its 1-pound-plus mass, and that is value factoring into the acquisition worth.
The equally well-built shock mount is kind of everlasting. Not like fashions that use a friction-fit system, the shock mount’s internal ring is screwed to its physique. This implies you may by no means have to fret about bumping your mic out of its mount. Nevertheless, it would not allow the additional little bit of freedom another fashions present by letting you rotate them of their mounts.
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Other than the preinstalled shock mount, the one different occupant of the ProCast’s field is its pop filter. Not like the black foam “Beefeater hat” pop filters most mic firms embrace, HyperX selected a inflexible steel filter made from a bent sheet of steel with tiny perforations that does the identical job. I discovered it to be wonderful at dampening down pops and plosives — these overemphasized, obnoxious “P” sounds you get on some mics.
Nevertheless, it did not do fairly at nicely blocking wind and respiratory noises because the basic black foam covers. In fact, you actually should not have your mic positioned the place you are respiratory instantly into it, nor ought to there be a lot wind at your desk.
The PAD change can add or take away 10dB of achieve, whereas the high-pass change beneath it’s going to block out some undesirable rumble. Michael Gariffo/ZDNET
Options
That is the XLR port on the mic with the three pins that carry your audio sign. HyperX
XLR mics are fairly featureless in some ways. There are often solely two controls you may generally discover on the microphone itself, and each are current right here: a -10dB achieve toggle and a high-pass filter change. The primary will assist you to higher dial in your quantity ranges, whereas the latter will assist scale back undesirable low-frequency sounds. Each broaden the pliability of the ProCast a bit whereas permitting the linked USB interface or mixer to do the heavy lifting, because it ought to.
Connectivity
Once more, that is an XLR mic. Meaning it makes use of the spherical, three-pin connector that is powered professional microphones for a lot of many years. With out going into technical particulars of how XLR connectors influence signal-to-noise ratios, or interference, I am going to simply say it gives simply concerning the cleanest, purest audio enter accessible. There is a cause why it is remained the trade normal for thus a few years.
The connector on the ProCast is as sturdy and exactly manufactured as in any XLR mic I’ve used, offering that satisfying click on that could be a trademark of the connector. It will have been nice if the ProCast included an XLR cable, and an amazing alternative for HyperX to incorporate a bit extra of its trademark pink accents. However, at the very least you may get low-cost, good, lengthy XLR cables for about $10 to $15.
Sound
One of the best ways to expertise the sound high quality is to listen to it your self above. However, in case you’d fairly learn my opinion… I may wax poetic about overtones and timbre, and different audiophile phrases which might be thrown round far too typically. As an alternative, I am going to give attention to the issues most players will really care about.
First, the ProCast is evident, very clear. It is the type of microphone that can get feedback in voice chat. I have been requested various instances if I am “a streamer or one thing” when utilizing good XLR mics, the ProCast included. There’s a completely totally different high quality to the audio than even a superb headset mic gives. It is extra life like, with none of that compressed, nasal sound that drives everybody nuts once they cannot perceive your voice chat callouts.
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When the speaker or headphones you are being heard via are ok, this distinction actually shines, offering that concrete sense of professionalism that drove the preliminary adoption of microphones like these to start with.
Whereas no microphone can get rid of all background noise, the cardioid capsule within the ProCast does very nicely. Whether or not it was mouse clicks, key change clacks, or my canine consuming his supper throughout the room, a bit little bit of repositioning and a partial twist of my interface’s achieve dial was all it ever took to make any undesirable ambient noise nearly inaudible, all whereas I remained clear as a bell.
Clearly, this implies the ProCast is much better than you can ever need for in-game chat, and greater than ok to please even the pickiest Twitch YouTube watcher. It may even stand toe-to-toe with podcasting mainstays like the Shure SM7B, particularly in case your listener’s audio tools is not equally high-end. Nevertheless, I would not advocate this mannequin for non-gamers, whatever the high quality, for the explanations we’ll focus on beneath.
Backside line
In case you’re uncertain if the HyperX ProCast is best for you, I might advise you to determine just a few issues.
First, do you really want this stage of audio high quality? In case you do not stream or create content material, the reply might be not. There are headsets, just like the Drop PC38X for instance, that present distinctive audio output and a microphone that is manner higher than you want on your FPS or MOBA chat of selection, all for lower than this microphone prices. And that does not even embrace the value of a mount, interface, mixer, and so on.
In case you do stream, I might nonetheless advocate additional consideration about whether or not that is the best mic for you. I consider this $250 worth skews into the “gamer tax” territory. I’ve used a $100 XLR mic for a few years that sounds very almost pretty much as good because the HyperX ProCast (it is included within the Alternate options to think about part beneath, in case you’re ). Nevertheless, it is a very mundane, not-at-all “gamery” wanting mic.
If wanting good on stream issues as a lot as audio high quality to you, the HyperX ProCast would be the one for you. However, in case your mic will not often, or by no means, be seen, I might skip this mannequin in favor of one thing cheaper.
HyperX’s first foray into XLR mic’s reveals enormous promise, and outperforms the expectations most consumers have for {hardware} marketed on to players. However, to justify its worth you really want it to be seen and acknowledged by viewers who will know what it’s.
Alternate options to think about
That is the XLR mic I have been utilizing for years. It is inexpensive and compact, and even is available in a USB model in case you do not wish to take care of XLR. It is also lower than half the price of the ProCast at its common worth of $100, and steadily discounted from that.
On the other finish of the spectrum is Shure’s SM7B. You have most likely seen this mic in entrance of tons of celebrities, podcasters, and YouTubers. It is the attainable gold normal for XLR audio.
Some of the enduring “starter” microphones. We like it at ZDNET and nonetheless use it in our video manufacturing as a result of it is an amazing, easy-to-use, all-around pleasant-sounding mic that will probably be greater than sufficient for all however probably the most critical content material creators.
