Hardware Review: Turtle Beach Stream Mic
Turtle Beach has been in the gaming scene a long time. Over the years they have worked their way into one of the premiere gaming accessory companies in the world, best known for their pro quality headsets. Two years ago they jumped into the PC scene with a variety of accessories, and now they’ve thrown their hat into the streaming scene with the Turtle Beach Stream Mic.
The device feels like quality right out of the box. It has a nice weight to it when fully assembled, and has a sleek look to it which will make gamers’ video streams really pop. The mic can be mounted two different ways, either positioned on the included tabletop boom or a standing mic boom (sold separately). I personally prefer tabletop mode since most of my streaming is done with some sort of desk in my proximity.
As far as performance, the Turtle Beach Stream Mic has it in spades. The device allows for a ton of personalization. It features four different polarity patterns, each designed for a specific purpose; streaming and voiceovers, interviewing and co-op streaming, loud rooms, and finally quiet rooms and group recordings. Each mode is indicated by the color of the LED light located on the back. Each setting works great, and does exactly what it is designed to do.
The Turtle Beach Stream Mic also features a headphone out, volume control and mute button which includes an on/off LED built into the button.
My favorite feature of the device is universal compatibility. This device can be used with Playstation 4, XBox One (any of them), PC or Mac. I tried all of these with the same result; quality performance. The only extremely minor inconvenience is that gamers must slide a switch on the back when going from XBox One to PS4. All other devices supported are located on the PS4 side, requiring gamers to simply slide the switch like an on/off switch rather than a slider that moves to PS4 then XBox One, then PC, etc.
Downsides? I only found two which were also very minor. One is that the device connects via Mini USB, which is somewhat of an obsolete technology that could make replacement cords difficult to find. The other was “P.” There were a few pop sounds while saying the letter P, but this was remedied by simply moving back a bit. This did not affect the quality whatsoever.
All in all this is a great device. With a retail price of $79.95, this devices not only a low barrier to entry, but also a high quality experience. I loved using the Turtle Beach Stream Mic, and I will be using this device for my streaming and podcasting needs.
This review was performed using a Turtle Beach Stream Mic provided by Turtle Beach.
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