The HyperX Quadcast is a decent microphone I would recommend it as a top tier microphone., with several extra feature it is the best microphone I have ever had and it was worth the price even if it was a bit more expensive.

Features include

Anti-vibration shock mount

Tap to mute with led status indicator

Four selectable polar paterns

Built in headphone jack

Gain control adjustment

This Mic was built with content creators in mind.

Elgato Wave:3

I bought this microphone after MURRRAAAAY recommended it, and even though I didn't think I needed a standalone mic just yet as I was quite happy with my headset mic, definitely it was a purchase well worth it. Bought it on sale for around £100, which is I think a fair price for what it can do.

Very easy to set up and use, it has a single dial and by pressing it you can swap between 3 functions to control the mic volume, gain and balance. There is a very convenient and quick to react mute button at the top, and the light around the dial will turn red to indicate you are muted.

Ignore the cable jungle behind it, my desk is quite a mess at the moment. Speaking of cables, it connects to your PC with a USB-C cable, and there is also a headphone jack connection at the back, which is important if you want to make the most out of the mic and use the built-in mixer as well.

The mic comes with the Elgato Wave software which will make your streamer life a hell of a lot easier. Forget about all the hassle of having to split the different sounds like game, voice chat and music inside OBS and fiddle with the controls there. You can already set this up in the Elgato Wave software, and you can even control what you want to hear, what you want your stream to hear, and set different volumes for these.

Wait, that's not everything! If you have the Elgato StreamDeck+, once you have set up your channels in Elgato Wave, you can forget about touching it ever again, as you can use the dials on your steam deck to control the volume for each channel.

Can you find a cheaper mic which will do the job just fine if you want to record nice quality audio for your videos? Absolutely. But having this package with the stream deck and the software really brought such quality of life changes to my streaming setup which I didn't think I needed before.

Apparently if you have the StreamDeck+ that will unlock the Elgato Wave software, so you can use it with other microphones as well, but I haven't tested this myself, so can't say which works with it or which doesn't, but if you just fancy the software side of things and already have a mic you love, then give it a go!

While a headset is perfect if you just want to chat on Discord, maybe even for streaming if you can set it up to sound nice, but I highly recommend getting a standalone mic for recording audio commentary. I've listened back on my old video where I just used the headset mic and compared it with how the Wave:3 sounded and I could definitely hear the difference.

Here is a little help on how to set up the voice compressor using the Elgato Wave software:

I’ve reviewed dozens of microphones from major brands, mostly USB ones. However, I personally keep using a Zoom H1n, which is technically a voice recording device rather than just a microphone. I initially bought it to record interviews, thanks to its well-aligned dual stereo mics and noise reduction features. During conferences, it outperformed my smartphone recordings by a mile, cutting through the noisy ambient sound.

Later, I started using it as an external mic for videos, mounting it on my camera’s hot shoe. The Zoom H1n provided superior audio quality over built-in solutions. Another advantage was its slight distance from the camera body, which helped avoid recording lens autofocus and stabilizer noise. I also use it to record my musical instruments via the line-in jack at maximum quality (96k, 24 bits!).

Additionally, the recorder can run battery-less via USB cable in PC mic mode, featuring gain control, low cuts, limiters, etc., allowing me to capture only what I want, not the kids in the neighboring room or barking dogs outside.

For static desktop use, I bought a boom stick and a shock mount for quick mounting, and the device also features a hole for a photo screw for convenient attachment. The only downside is needing to turn it on every time you power your PC, but that’s just two button taps and not too bothersome.

Overall, It's a 4-in-1 little gadget. It’s versatile, offers excellent sound quality compared to bulky condenser 'gaming' mics, and is reasonably priced at around $80.

This is my Microphone.

SUDOTACK USB Streaming Podcast PC Microphone

Review:

Why this Microphone, I spent a lot of time looking at Microphones, as I had a condenser desktop mic, I looked around and looked at the differences between the Microphones and came across this one.

Its price is £48.99 - It's worth every penny, the arm works very well, my only complaint was it was a bit short. So I had to change to a weighted stand. The pop filter works well and it's very good, the best bit about it is, that when using OBS with filters applied, the sound quality is brilliant. It's nice and small, compact and has a USB connection which means no splitter is needed.

Below is my mic using the weighted stand.

Blue Yeti

The Blue Yeti has been my microphone of choice for a number of years now and I have to say, it's been worth every penny. It has a sturdy metallic frame, with support for boom arm attachment and headphone support for live monitoring.

It also has a gain knob for quick adjustments to your sound levels and also has adjustable omnidirectional microphones which you can select via a pattern knob. The sound quality out of the box is close to studio quality even without any additional filters in your recording software but slap an EQ and Compressor on this sucker and you're punchin' well above your weight.

At around $70-$100 it might outprice some beginners on a budget but if you want to invest in something that'll last you years and still sound as good as it did the day you bought it, you can't go wrong with a Blue Yeti.