When it comes to negatives, I think the mic stand is the main weak point. Though it does its job to stand the mic up, it’s very short, and I think most users will look to upgrade to a boom arm to get it higher off the desk. (In the video above, I have the mic placed on top of a box, which is obviously not ideal!) For those who do end up buying a boom arm, the QuadCast S’s surprisingly light weight will come in useful. HyperX QuadCast S White Review: The final verdict There are a couple of provisos, though. Our first is that the QuadCast S comes frustratingly close to being a good low-budget studio mic with all those polar patterns, but since it’s limited to 48K Hz/16-bit recording, it doesn’t quite spread its wings and get there. 48KHz/16-bit is ample for a streamer mic’s intended usage, of course, where the audio will either be heavily compressed at the source or by the platform. But if you have a stereo / omnidirectional / cardioid / bidirectional mic available to you, perhaps you’d be tempted to use it for some home recording and music production. In those situations, it’s nice -- not essential, but nice -- to have a higher sample rate and bitrate to play with. FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif –July 18, 2022 – HyperX, the gaming peripherals team at HP Inc. and brand leader in gaming and esports, today revealed the expansion of its microphone family with three new additions – the HyperX DuoCast TM USB microphone and white colorways in the HyperX SoloCast TM and QuadCast TM USB microphone lineup. HyperX also announced SoloCast now supports hi-res 24-bit/96 kHz audio recording via updates using the HyperX NGENUITY software for enhanced studio audio editing.

As with the QuadCast and HyperX SoloCast, the QuadCast S’ mute touch button is a nice design that alleviates that audible popping sound you sometimes get from depressing a physical mute switch on other mics. Meanwhile, the mute button’s lighting leaves you in no uncertainty as to whether you’re muted or not. By default, the mic's lights rotate in a rainbow of colors, flowing between the top and bottom lights to form a gradient in the middle. You can customize the lights using the HyperX Ngenuity software. It lets you set different color effects, like solid light, blinking light, the entire microphone cycling between colors, colors flowing between the top and bottom, and flashing like lightning. You can choose it to switch between your favorite colors, though only the “wave” flowing effect shows two colors at once; the other effects show a single color across the microphone. Of course, you can also turn the lights off, or dim them. Just be sure to save your preferences to the microphone itself; otherwise you’ll need to keep the app open for the lighting to stay customized. The QuadCast S is a refresh of an existing mic, so you know what’s coming: The sound characteristics are unchanged, as far as these ears can discern. By default, the QuadCast S RGB lighting shows a rainbow wave. This looks nice enough, but it can be heavily customized within the HyperX NGENUITY software. (This software isn’t required for normal use, however, so users don’t need to keep it installed.) Same great quality

Blue’s Yeti X still offers the happiest compromise between natural and broadcast-ready to our ears compared to the QuadCast S and other high-end mics, but these are fine margins between models we’re talking about. Features and Software The gain control feels really well built, but its travel considerably exceeds the visual indicators on each side. So unless you like your output set at between 30%-70%, you won’t be able to get a visual on your preferred setting. Sound Quality White-colored products are also favorites of those who custom paint or marker pen their own designs. While I must stress that you are responsible for anything you do to these products and no doubt risk voiding the warranty, it would be remiss of me to not mention this advantage.

HP Inc UK Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA FRN 973346) and acts as a credit intermediary and not a lender, offering credit products provided by a limited number of finance providers. Such credit products may not be suitable for everyone. Borrowing more than you can afford or paying late may negatively impact your financial status and ability to obtain credit. The latest HyperX line of products offer new levels of comfort, performance and control and are designed to improve the user experience. More information on the new microphones includes:HyperX Announces New DuoCast Microphone and White Colorways for QuadCast S and SoloCast Microphones Today’s high-end streamer mics all exist within a very narrow gamut with ready-to-go-audio, and the QuadCast S fits the profile. Like Razer, Elgato and cheaper Blue models, there’s definitely a slightly scooped EQ hat boosts low mids, suppresses mids and accentuates high-end frequencies for clarity of speech. That means your recordings sound professional, rather than natural; the mic is doing a bit of EQ and compression for you. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. Read our editorial mission & see how we test. HyperX is proud to offer a wide range of high-quality gear tailored to meet the unique needs of the vibrant and growing community of content creators, influencers, gamers, and more,” said Ana Hidalgo, streaming business manager, HyperX. “Our continued efforts to meet the needs of today’s microphone users has resulted in our extensive microphone lineup, all delivering clear and consistent sound along with different design styles to fit into the setups of gamers, streamers, casters, students, and business professionals alike.”

There’s not much tweaking to be had on the audio side though. Gain, mic monitoring and headphone volume are controllable via software, but there are no EQ presets or noise cancellation options. Small footprint software is a plus for some people, of course, but if you were looking to sculpt the mic’s sound without going into a DAW and applying plugins, you should look elsewhere.The new products will be available through HyperX online and the HyperX U.S. network of retail and e-tail outlets as follows: HyperX SoloCast Microphone: SoloCast offers a USB microphone with an easy plug-n-play setup. With a new white colorway to align with different styles, the microphone utilizes a cardioid polar pattern that is more sensitive to sound sources directly in front of the microphone, making it ideal for in-game voice chat, streaming voice audio and audio recordings for content creation. The microphone offers a tap-to-mute feature that indicates mute status when the status LED is flashing, and a stand that swivels to fit a variety of setups for ease of use. Also, new to the SoloCast is Hi-Res 24-bit bit depth and up to 96kHz sampling rate for high-quality and accurate recordings. This upgrade is accessible through a HyperX NGENUITY firmware update. On the software side of things, the HyperX Quadcast S uses its proprietary Ngenuity software to handle all things RGB, and that's pretty much it. I mean, you can adjust things such as the mic level and get a description of each polar pattern. But other than that it's pretty light in options when compared to the Elgato Wave: 3, which comes with a digital audio mixer, or Blue Yeti X's Blu! Voice software which let's you apply audio filters.