Elgato Wave 1, Quality Audio For $120
Upgrade Your Stream With A Proper Microphone
A gaming headset is good enough to scream epitaphs at other players while gaming, though one incapable of broadcasting those vulgarities is even better. However when you are having a proper discussion over the web or streaming your gameplay to the wide world the quality of the mic attached to your favourite gaming headset will really hold you back. However, the price of a decent microphone might be a bit steep for your budget, and you might have given up on upgrading your audio.
Elgato is hoping you would consider their Wave:1 microphone, which is somewhat less expensive than their other models but which still keeps the quality you would expect from them. To test out the veracity of that claim TechPowerUp checked out the Wave:1 in a variety of situations and published their findings for you.
It looks very similar to Elgato’s other models, though only capable of 24-bit/48 kHz recording, is a bit less than the more expensive models but still respectable for most usage. It comes with a software suite that will give you a fair amount of control over your input and output if you want to delve into the world of virtual soundcards, clip guards and mixing in different inputs at various levels. You won’t need to master the software to use it but having it might just tempt you to try it out.
The Elgato Wave:1 is a compact, great-sounding $120 USB microphone accompanied by a powerful digital mixing solution, which makes it a complete package for streaming. While it lacks a couple of the features of the more expensive Wave:3, its performance is practically identical, an excellent choice for anyone looking to save money wherever possible.
The audio is really clean/ clear with very little self noise. The only thing lacking is the vocal depth that you get from a wider frequency response range.The 70Hz limit seems like a software imposed limitation, where while that will get rid of some boomy sounds, it also reduces some of the aspects of vocals, especially if you can sound treat a room, and use a low gain with a pop filter with the mic very close.