Review on 🎙️ USB Gaming Microphone – Ideal for Streaming & Recording, Podcasting, YouTube – with Tripod Stand, Shock Mount, Pop Filter – Compatible with Laptop, Desktop – Includes Extra USB-C Adapter by Andy Metzger

(Item received free for review with no obligation to leave a review) The packaging is well put together and comes with a slew of accessories. You get a pretty basic desktop tripod, a mic mount adapter (which acts as a shock absorber but doesn't reduce noise itself), a pop screen and windscreen, a USB B to A cable, a USB A to C Adapter and the microphone itself. Nothing to say about the accessories. The cable is about 5 feet long, which seems short for a desktop setup, but perfect for mobile setups. The pop screen is quite light and stiff and holds its position very well. I'll start with the mic's pros: Its body, handles, and grille feel solid and solid. The monitor port is great if you have heavier, closed-back or in-ear headphones and want to talk but still hear yourself. However, if you don't want to use monitoring, you'll need to mute the microphone as a speaker. on your host device. The mute button is a little plastic gem with an LED inside that shows whether it's muted or not, and I like that the LED is dim and offset to avoid creating annoying glare in dark rooms. The Echo knob works well for adding some reverb or turning it up to 100 for some silly effects, but I think most people will leave the knob at zero. The built-in sound card's noise reduction virtually eliminates the need for one of the included pop filters. Now for its shortcomings. If you're not listening through the monitor port, you'll immediately notice how low the output is, even with the volume control set to 100. I had to raise the audio by 500% in broadcast software or +12dB in a mixer to hear it in my existing sound setup. The output is a little weak and I had to take the mic off the tripod and place it on a scissor hand fairly close to my face to get the perfect bass. The built-in noise reduction is too aggressive. While ambient noise, keyboard noise, vibrations across the table, etc. are inaudible even when using the shock-absorbing scissor arm, it has a noticeably sharp start and finish when making phone calls. I would have preferred replacing the existing Echo slider with something that could control audio cancellation or even compression as that would be a huge help in tailoring the sound to your preferences. Settings along the way, I'd recommend it to people who have access to software post-processing to be able to adjust the audio and make up for some of the mic's shortcomings.