PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. It has a 24 bit depth and a maximum sample rate of 96kHz, both solid stats for this price range. PCMag Digital Group. If you’re a Twitch streamer looking for something to make your life easier or you’re hesitant about shelling out for an audio interface, yes, you should get the Elgato Wave:3. It's a look that's grown on me over time. Two bolts position the mic between the mount, and you can unscrew them relatively easily (which makes sense, given that Elgato sells a suspended shock mount separately). The controls all feel intuitive, and take virtually no time to get used to. Balance Mic, Discord, Game, Music and so much more. Unpacking the Elgato Wave:3. Elgato Wave review. The Elgato Wave:3 could be a streamer's dream, with a simple interface and solid features. The back panel houses a 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB-C port for the included USB-C-to-USB-A cable. Solid, clean audio signal Low-latency monitoring Easy-to-operate onboard level controls Built-in stand Free software for blending various audio sources when streaming The benefit to this high bit rate is that it affords plenty of leeway in post-production: you can make relatively drastic edits to your audio with a 24-bit file before distortion becomes apparent. It’s compact and feels sturdy—there’s nothing rattling around, and the dial feels satisfyingly firm. They’re all around the same price as the Elgato Wave:3 (or cheaper) too. Build quality Whatever apps you have open—say, Chrome and your music app of choice—will appear inside Wave Link as stereo faders (up to eight inputs), and whatever audio plays through them can be blended with the mic audio, so you can send a live stream of your voice blended with whatever else you want (like music, games, etc.) The app is designed to use less than one percent of your computer’s CPU, according to Elgato, and is geared toward Twitch streamers. Contributing Editor Tim Gideon has been writing for PCMag since 2006. The app is lean and slickly designed and clearly designed for audio source organization. When the headset first launched, you couldn’t turn it off, but subsequent updates to the WaveLink app have added the feature. There’s some innovative analog-digital hybrid processing in play to keep the signal from clipping, which is useful for gamers and podcasters, but might sound a little too processed for musical vocalists. If you’re interested in sitting in front of a microphone and speaking into it, this is a great option—if you want to do more, it’s less great. A lot of compact microphones target the same group, for similar prices to boot—how’s this one stack up? The mic swivels on the stand to angle upward for desktop recording. If you’re someone struggling to keep a lot of audio source organized, it’s arguably one of your best options. If you use many audio effects in your streams, this adds a … Elgato WAVE: 3 Microphone Review Elgato's new flagship microphone, the WAVE 3, may have just taken the crown for best streaming and content creation microphone aimed … Most fundamental vocal frequencies don’t fall below 100Hz, so even the lowest voices will be minimally affected by the sub-bass de-emphasis. This is a great option for anyone looking to speak into a microphone—not so much for music or other kinds of recording. Further emphasizing this microphone’s usefulness for spoken word content is its built in Clipguard feature, which automatically condenses the audio you record to avoid accidentally spiking the mic. Clicking the dial lets you cycle through mic volume, monitor volume, and mic/PC monitor mix, all indicated by the row of lights. The Elgato Wave:3 is a deceptively feature-laden mic for a unit with so few dials and buttons. So the Wave: 3 delivers solid audio quality, and the onboard controls make it easy to get the best performance out of the mic, quickly. If you’re more of a podcaster or YouTuber than a Twitch streamer, having access to more than one polar pattern can be pretty useful. Like the Yeti, it also offers multiple polar patterns, though it still relies on a micro USB port. However, if you're looking for something versatile and capable of recording in a lot of different environments, you might want to keep looking. Even the mute sensor at the top feels nice to tap. Those with very deep voices don’t need to worry much about distortion, as most of this under-emphasis actually occurs at a lower frequency than what most would consider the vocal range. This isn’t such a bad thing for voice recordings, as it combats the proximity effect, where someone spikes the mic as they get too close—a common occurrence when you’re recording a podcast or YouTube video in a less formal recording environment.