Having a good microphone is more needed than ever, where communicating online is more of a necessity. Especially right now where you’re doing more than just playing games in front of a PC.
Thankfully, there’s plenty of high-quality USB microphones that can help project your voice to your audience more clearly than the default ones you have on a phone or PC.
Enter the HyperX Quadcast S. The hardware makers are mostly known for their glowing RAM sticks and a solid lineup of headphones, but they’ve ventured into the USB condenser microphone space with the Quadcast.
The Quadcast S, however, is a bit special. Fancy yourself some RGB lighting your mic?
Hardware
The Quadcast S feels as good as its price tag implies. The build quality here is exceptional with everything in the package feeling as solid as it supposed to be. It’s a tall mic- so if you’re not attaching this to a mic arm it will be significantly visible on the table.
Good news is, the Quadcast S includes a shock mounting arm and the connector to plug it into a mic arm. So no need to scour for extra purchases to get it hooked up. There’s also a built-in pop filter. You don’t need to cover the mic- it’s meant to be exposed. Especially its RGB lighting.
I do love the use of the soft-touch fake rubber on the top and bottom of the Quadcast S. You can easily mute the mic by lightly touching the top of the mic- and you can tell its muted when the RGB lights dim off.
It’s an ingenious way of doing it- you won’t be causing a loud bump just to physically mute the mic if it was a normal button.
The bottom area is a knob that adjusts the gain levels, though I like this one less. The gain indicator is simply printed on the bottom knob, and depending on how you place the mic, it may be inconvenient to see the gain indicator. A minor, subjective gripe.
Compared to the Quadcast, the Quadcast S is built of black-coloured metal with grey trimmings. So if you prefer not to have the Gamer Red shades seen in the Quadcast, the Quadcast S should do it for you.
A small note on the RGB lighting. The default glows looks really nice, and this is coming from someone who prefers not to have the showy glowing lights in their gaming gear. You can also adjust the lighting settings from the HyperX Ngenuity app, but unfortunately, we face an issue where the app won’t update the microphone’s firmware for some reason.
Should you have a similar issue, try hooking up to a different PC, reinstall the Ngenuity app, or uninstall the microphone drivers and restart the PC and see if that works.
Sound Quality
Right out of the box, you can expect a great quality microphone that just works. Sound is crisp and clear. But if you have an echo-y room expect to hear reverb, which is expected.
There are the usual four settings of microphone polar patterns on offer: stereo, omnidirectional, cardioid and bidirectional.
Of my testing talking to people on Discord, listeners have reported to hear good quality audio from their end. And yes, it works well for streaming/recording gameplay using software like OBS.
I’ve also used the microphone to record the latest batch of videos on the Gamer Malaya YouTube channel (our Bahasa Malaysia sister site), as well as on our latest episode of dia.log – The Gamer Matters Podcast. (Hear the ones when “GM.Meck” is talking)
Sound-wise, it’s really clear, though you can hear the low reverb when you crank the volume up high on default settings. But since my personal USB condenser mic also have the same reverb effect by default as well, it’s more due to the room setup I have rather than the Quadcast S’s fault.
As such, like any other condenser mics, you might need to fiddle with some settings to get the Quadcast S set up for professional quality audio, but it’s possible to get there. But if you just need a mic that just works to talk online, it definitely does that immensely well.
The Quadcast S can also be hooked up straight to a PS4 as well, if you need better quality audio to party chat with the mates. It just works.
Value
Make no mistake, the HyperX Quadcast S costs a lot.
At RM719, I don’t think this is something for everyone. There’s much cheaper mics with good enough audio quality as what the Quadcast can offer.
Though the Quadcast S comes with extra bits to justify it more than just its build quality and really nice audio. It’s built with a mounting shock from the get-go and a mount adapter is included. If you have a mic arm, it should be ready to be mounted as it is. Plus, you pay extra for the RGB.
If you intend to produce content, be it livestreams or recordings, an investment like the Quadcast S is worth it. Plus, think of the glowy RGB you can show off on camera.
But is the gamer tax for RGB lighting worth it? Generally speaking, paying more for just an RGB lighting feature isn’t worth it unless flashy RGBs are your aesthetic of choice.
But for the Quadcast S the argument is now this: would you pay more to not have splotches of red seen on your microphone? If you don’t like the red in the normal Quadcast, the extra price for the Quadcast S is sort of justified.
When the mic is off, the Quadcast S looks like some other regular default-coloured equipment you have on laying on the desk, blending with your other default-coloured items. If you prefer a subtle colour for your mic, oddly enough the one with the RGB lighting is the one to get.
Outside of the RGB lighting (and the ability to hook up to the Ngenuity software), the Quadcast and Quadcast S have all the same technical specs. It should sound the same for both of the mics.
Verdict
The HyperX Quadcast X is a great USB condenser microphone if you can afford one. It works great on its own for general voice chat use. And with little tweaks to the audio sound or your room setup, can make for a professional-sounding recording.
The flashy RGB is nice, though note that there can be some issues with the software part. But you’re just missing out on optional features- the mic as it records great sounding audio.
If you want to make a fancy setup for your content creation work and looking for a good microphone to last, the HyperX Quadcast S should be right up your alley. Especially if you like the fancy RGB lighting on it.
Review unit provided by HyperX
HyperX Quadcast S
The HyperX Quadcast X is a great USB condenser microphone if you can afford one.
If you want to make a fancy setup for your content creation work and looking for a good microphone to last, the HyperX Quadcast S should be right up your alley. Especially if you like the fancy RGB lighting on it.
- Hardware 9
- Audio Quality 9
- Value 8