This is an incredibly good mic, mostly meant for streaming or even just gaming, though it’s high-end enough that I can’t recommend it if you’re just planning on using it for voice chat. With Discord compression and other voice chat services’ limitations, you’ll be paying for quality that won’t be heard if you get this mic solely for gaming. For streaming, though, it’s awesome. The Clipguard is especially impressive, and a large reason I went with this mic. It takes the worry out of whether the gain will make your audio clip; all you have to worry about is that your voice sounds good over the mic, and you don’t have to worry about distortion when you get excited or something. It’s a great feature. Yell all you want! I’ll note that while the cardioid pattern works ... MoreThis is an incredibly good mic, mostly meant for streaming or even just gaming, though it’s high-end enough that I can’t recommend it if you’re just planning on using it for voice chat. With Discord compression and other voice chat services’ limitations, you’ll be paying for quality that won’t be heard if you get this mic solely for gaming. For streaming, though, it’s awesome. The Clipguard is especially impressive, and a large reason I went with this mic. It takes the worry out of whether the gain will make your audio clip; all you have to worry about is that your voice sounds good over the mic, and you don’t have to worry about distortion when you get excited or something. It’s a great feature. Yell all you want! I’ll note that while the cardioid pattern works fine for preventing keyboard and mouse sounds from being picked up, it’s not great at it. You can definitely still hear both my peripherals, and even though I have a clacky keyboard, I still think most people will find the same. Something unexpected I like about the mic is its stand. It’s heavy and feels quality, and of all the mics I’ve tried, it’s the only stand that came included with the mic that I actually use. I like the capacitative mute button. I’ve heard the occasional complaint that people trigger it without meaning to, but I haven’t had that problem; I like being able to mute without any click or bump audible before the audio cuts out. I also can’t vouch for the software. I found it didn’t work for my dual-PC setup, since I pipe my sound from my mic to my gaming PC and then over HDMI to my streaming computer. Be aware that while the Elgato software works for many people’s streaming pipelines, it won’t work for everyone’s. I use Voicemeeter instead. A lot of people like the Elgato software, though, and I agree that it seems well-designed. I also love that you can use the software to tweak settings, like disabling clipguard or turning off auto-gain control. I recommend downloading it just for that reason. Another note: I position my mouth around 7 inches from the mic and have found I have no need for a pop filter. The built-in one works just fine for me. Overall, strongly recommend. It’s a great microphone, with great features. You really get what you pay for.

It's easy to get started looking at Audio Interfaces and XLR microphones in order to take your content creation's sound to the next level, before very quicky realising that you're probably going to need a second job to get the cash. The process also feels like you need a degree in order to get things working correctly. The Wave series definitely takes all the work out of that, and saves you a great deal of money, a little desk space, and makes you sound great, too! Out of the box, the Wave:3 is really lightweight, but feels pretty premium, and I love it's smaller form factor compared to a lot of competitor mics on the market. It comes with a very weighty stand if you don't have an arm to put it on, which does eliminate any vibration that may go through the surface ... MoreIt's easy to get started looking at Audio Interfaces and XLR microphones in order to take your content creation's sound to the next level, before very quicky realising that you're probably going to need a second job to get the cash. The process also feels like you need a degree in order to get things working correctly. The Wave series definitely takes all the work out of that, and saves you a great deal of money, a little desk space, and makes you sound great, too! Out of the box, the Wave:3 is really lightweight, but feels pretty premium, and I love it's smaller form factor compared to a lot of competitor mics on the market. It comes with a very weighty stand if you don't have an arm to put it on, which does eliminate any vibration that may go through the surface you put it on. Setting it up was an absolute cakewalk, and the mic itself sounds incredibly clean and crisp; The gain only needs to go up a small way so you can be heard without picking up everything in the room. But what's really special to me is the bundled Wave Software, that, once set up correctly, really takes the hassle out of managing and montoring your sound channels, and saves you the space you would need on your workstation for a bulky audio mixer. The sliders in the software can be synced so that what you hear and what the stream hears is the same, and you can even go as far as adding commands on your Streamdeck in order to raise, lower and crossfade audio channels at your leisure, which makes your stream feel so much more professional! For the price point, the Wave 3 has a lot to offer, and you'd be extremely hard-pressed to find a product that gives you the level of quality paired with the features that comes bundled with it. As far as Content Creation goes, this is defnitely the gold standard.

The Elgato Wave:3 is mostly constructed of plastic. The "U" shaped bracket that holds the microphone to the stand is particularly flimsy and seems like a potential failure point. In contrast, the circular base is made of very heavy metal. The microphone sits sturdy on the desk. The Rode PSA1+ adapts to fit this microphone, however, I felt the USB cord was in an awkward spot that limits the positioning of the microphone. The top mute button is very responsive (when the unit is operational). The microphone audio quality is suitable for this price point. It will certainly exceed the performance of any webcam based microphone. Once installing Elgato's WAVE LINK software, things took a turn for the worse. The installation was simple, however, after installing it, the ... MoreThe Elgato Wave:3 is mostly constructed of plastic. The "U" shaped bracket that holds the microphone to the stand is particularly flimsy and seems like a potential failure point. In contrast, the circular base is made of very heavy metal. The microphone sits sturdy on the desk. The Rode PSA1+ adapts to fit this microphone, however, I felt the USB cord was in an awkward spot that limits the positioning of the microphone. The top mute button is very responsive (when the unit is operational). The microphone audio quality is suitable for this price point. It will certainly exceed the performance of any webcam based microphone. Once installing Elgato's WAVE LINK software, things took a turn for the worse. The installation was simple, however, after installing it, the microphone begin to lock up. The buttons on the microphone would stop functioning and all audio output would stop. I tried multiple USB ports including a USB 3.1 Gen 2. Moving the microphone to a new USB port would resolve the issue shortly, then the microphone would freeze again. I tried reinstalling the software multiple times. I did not configure any extra settings and kept all the defaults following the instructions exactly. My computer is running Windows 11 with an I7-12900 and 32gb DDR4 RAM. After uninstalling the recommended software, the Elgato Wave:3 functioned again as a regular USB microphone without issue. Because my primary driver for purchasing this unit was the software, I returned it. Based on my experience I do not recommend the Elgato Wave:3.