HyperX QuadCast S Review – Better than the Wave:3?
Whether companies like HyperX like it or not, Corsair, via Elgato, have created a bit of a “Tesla Model 3 killer” effect where a number of reviews of new streaming microphones are viewed through the lens of “how does it compare to the Elgato Wave:3?”. This review isn’t much different, but there is a good reason for that. Thanks to it’s mix of features, quality and price tag, it’s pretty hard to beat and a good bar to set as a reference for your other options, like this HyperX QuadCast S.
To give you the rundown, the QuadCast S is a USB condenser mic with three separate 14mm condensers inside which combine to offer four different pickup patterns – all of which can be selected with a very nice notched dial on the back. It’s a pretty premium unit, both in price and in build quality as its main body is metal, and everything else is either metal, soft touch plastic, or otherwise high quality plastic. Even the gain control dial on the bottom is smooth with a premium feel.
Spec wise, it lists a frequency response range of between 20Hz and 20,000Hz, which is an improvement on the Wave:3’s 70-20,000Hz, at least on paper. The ADC runs at 48KHz and outputs at 16 bits, both of which again on paper are actually a downgrade compared to the Wave which instead offers up to 96KHz and 24 bit. Both use USB C on the back for their power and data, and both also have a 3.5mm jack for monitoring the audio. Both also use a capacitive mute button and have physical dials for volume control – although the Wave’s dial is also a button that lets you cycle through both the microphone gain, output volume and crossfade between system audio and monitoring, but is a notched dial versus the less feature rich but beautifully smooth dial on the bottom of the QuadCast.
One clear advantage of the HyperX mic is the inclusion of a shock mount in the box. It’s a pretty nice one too, and while it isn’t a “traditional” style as it’s actually screwed into the mic in a number of locations, it’s well built and even comes with a boom arm adapter in the box so if you already have a boom arm this can screw right on and you still get to use the shock mount. The design of the hinge is great too, you have a single large thumb screw to tighten it, it holds itself in position well but can still be adjusted if you need, and when it’s on it’s included metal desk stand it has a sensible limit on it’s movement up and down. That desk stand also has a very well positioned cutout for the USB and headphone cables too, which is great attention to detail.
Finally before we see how this sounds, I should explain the various pickup patterns. Of course you have the standard Cardioid pattern which is the only pattern the Wave:3 offers and is what I’d imagine the majority of people would use with this. But, unlike the Wave, you also get a Stereo pickup pattern if you want to only pick up left and right – I’d imagine this is an “ASMR mode” – or if that doesn’t do it for you, you’ve got bidirectional or front-to-back for podcasting with a single mic, and also omnidirectional, or a full 360 mode. Ok, let’s hear it, starting with the standard cardioid pattern.
As normal, I’m recording with both the HyperX QuadCast S AND the Elgato Wave:3 simultaneously, and I’ll be including a note on screen to let you know which of the microphones you are listening to. Like I said I’m starting with the cardioid pattern as that’s what I’d pretty much exclusively be using this in, and on the whole it sounds pretty good. I like the level of clarity it offers, it’s pretty crisp and I think pretty true to life.
By comparison, the Wave:3 is perhaps a touch softer and emphasises the bass tones a touch which while less true to life I think gives a more enjoyable listening experience, at least to my ears anyway. Interestingly, when i comes to background noise the Wave I think ‘natively’ rejected the sound a little better but because it’s in it’s default configuration just resting on my desk, and I built my PC into my desk, it picks up a lot of the low rumble of my fans and drives whereas the QuadCast I think picks up the actual noise a little more but thanks to it being shockmounted out of the box it doesn’t catch the lower notes coming through the stand and desk. Basically, if you shock mount the Wave:3 I think it’d do a slightly better job but by default the QuadCast has the edge.
In my testing the QuadCast S had a bit of a strange quirk where on louder “S” sounds it had a weird distortion. It kind of sounded like it was both clipping some frequencies, and was echoing the sound a few milliseconds later. I’m not sure if it will show up in this recording but if you are watching this part of the video you can assume I heard it while editing and chose to leave this part in.
I really can’t complain too much about the audio quality here, it isn’t absolutely perfect and a much more premium mic would undoubtedly do a better job, but even Shure’s USB podcasting mic is around £100 more, and if you go the full ‘Pro’ XLR setup, you are looking at over £600 for the Shure SM7B and a GoXLR, so for someone not looking to spend that sort of cash I can’t be too mad.
One feature that the QuadCast S is missing compared to the Wave:3 is what Elgato call “ClipGuard”, basically the mic is recording two different volumes of your audio simultaneously, and when you exceed the volume limit of the ‘primary’ level it instantly switches to the lower gain track until you quieten down and it returns to your normal volume level. Let me demonstrate – warning it’s going to be loud.
IF YOU SHOUT INTO THE HYPERX MIC IT SOUNDS TERRIBLE
WHEREAS SHOUTING INTO THE WAVE 3 IS STILL LOUD BUT IT’S JUST AS CLEAR AS NORMAL
While that is a somewhat niche feature, for the occasional shout, hysterical laugh or whatever, retaining the full sound quality is pretty nice. One other software tweak I’d like to see is to do with the mute button. Both use a capacitive button which is great, it means you just gently tap it and it’s muted, then tap it again and it’ll spring back to life. The tweak is that Elgato puts a tiny fade transition in there, only like half a second, but it just gives it a nice soft fade if you are mid-way through talking or making noise when you mute or unmute, here’s what that fade sounds like, and again when it comes back it’s nice and smooth. By comparison the QuadCast S is a pretty harsh cut, and again harsh instant on when it comes back. It’s no big deal but it would be nice to see implemented if possible.
It’s worth noting, when you mute the QuadCast S, the RGB LEDs inside the mic switch off. There isn’t a distinction between the mic being unplugged and it being muted, you do have the option to invert it so the RGB LEDs are only on when the mic is muted in their software, but then there is no distinction between the mic being unplugged and working normally. I generally prefer Elgato’s method here where the ring around the volume dial switches from white to red when it’s muted – surely the QuadCast could do the same and set the LEDs to a colour of your choosing when muted, right?
Lastly, I have to show you the different pickup patterns. This is the stereo one and is the sort of mode you’d stick it on to record a live session with a band that are huddled around it in a semicircle. It will pick up a lot more ambient sound and background noise though.
This is the bidirectional mode, which like I said is for a two person podcast with a single mic in the middle of you, you should clearly hear my clicking my fingers behind the mic, just as clear as me clicking in front.
Lastly you have omnidirectional, which is the full 360 degrees, you should hear the clicks evenly all the way around the mic here, and this is the sort of mode you’d use for a round table podcast rather than a two person face-to-face one. For streaming games though, cardioid is all you’ll really be using.
A couple of little things I’m yet to mention – yes this has RGB. Yes I find it pretty distracting and I’d probably just set it to a fixed colour and dim the brightness. Yes you can configure it a little in their NGINUITY software – but it’s pretty basic especially compared to WaveLink. All it does is let you adjust a couple volume options and change the RGB lighting colours and effect. You don’t get many settings to control the mic, or an EQ to modify the output profile, or any integration with desktop audio sources to nicely mix them like WaveLink. It’s also only available on the Microsoft store unless you use a much smaller link to direct download it instead.
It’s also worth mentioning the size difference, just the QuadCast’s mic body is the entire height of the Wave:3 including the stand – if you compare body to body the Wave is significantly smaller at around 15cm or 6 inches, versus the QuadCast at a substantial 9 inches or so, or about 22cm. If you have limited desk space and like to tuck your mic under or behind your monitor like I do the Wave’s both shorter and significantly slimmer stature is a much better fit.
Overall, I do like the QuadCast S. It offers a noticeably premium build and materials quality while still remaining practically designed. You get pretty nice audio quality, good versatility if that’s what you are into, and should work pretty well for streaming. Unfortunately at its current price tag of £160, compared to the £110 you can buy the Wave:3 for right now, it’s a pretty hard sell. The Wave is arguably a better package with more features, comparably good audio quality, and at 30% less cash (or the QuadCast S is 45% more if you look at the other way), it’s hard to recommend it fully. Still, a good product on the whole and for the right sale price could be worth it for the right use case.
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TechteamGB Score
