HyperX Quadcast hands-on review

The first thing to note about the Quadcast is that it looks unlike other streaming microphones thanks to its red LED lighting. There’s no pop shield (which stops harsh-sounding vocals like the letter “P” being a nightmare to listen to), because the shield is actually built into the microphone itself. It does, however, come with a stand which features a built-in shock-mount, which means if you accidentally knock it when you’re recording, the resulting sound shouldn’t send listeners reeling from their headphones. The Quadcast features both a USB input and a wired 3.5mm headphone connector. The USB port is for connecting to your computer — the microphone sadly doesn’t have an XLR input for professional podcasters using mixing decks — but it will record into free software that’s included as part of both Windows and OSX, as well as streaming software such as OBS. The wired headphone connection then allows you to monitor what’s being recorded so you can ensure quality for your listeners.

The HyperX Quadcast is similar to the Blue Yeti microphone that’s a favourite of streamers, as it allows you to switch recording modes for different situations. Stereo and cardioid modes can be used for recording vocals, commentary or podcasts, while bidirectional allows you to sit down with another person on the other side of the mic if you wanted to do an interview with them, for instance. As this is a gaming peripheral, it’s the law that it has to have some sort of lighting feature, and, HyperX was keen to play up the red LEDs that run up the body of the mic. By tapping the top of the microphone, you can mute the Quadcast, just in case you need to say something off-mic when you’re streaming. The fact that it forms a major part of the microphone means that you can easily tell when it’s “on” and “off”.

Like HyperX’s other peripherals, the Quadcast is keenly priced at $139, which is about the same price as the Blue Yeti mic, which has a similar feature set. It will release in March 2019.