I use my Elgato Wave 3 microphone on a daily basis for everything from daily meetings, to doing voiceovers for my short-form content to a weekly podcast, but I fully recognise that it’s probably on the pricier side for most people, and also probably doesn’t fit the aesthetics that most people are after either.
Enter the Elgato Wave Neo microphone, which is part of Elgato’s new Neo line that is much cheaper than any of its other products, and aimed more at everyday creators and professionals that aren’t into gaming or high-end tech products.
From a design point of view, the Wave Neo comes in all white and is made of over 60% recycled components. It’s a super cute design, and as far as size goes, it’s a lot smaller than the Wave 3 and other microphones that I’ve used as well. There’s a built in headphone jack to listen to yourself without any delay as well.
As issue that a lot of people have with most microphones is the fact that the stand that you get in the box isn’t tall enough to use on a desk, but the Wave Neo includes an additional extension rod which puts it at a perfect high, and honestly, the microphone is that small and light that I found myself taking it off the stand and picking it up.
It has a capacitative mute button on the front that allows you to easily mute it and glows red when you do so, although I did find it extremely sensitive and found myself accidentally touching it at times.
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The Wave Neo can work plug-and-play with a range of devices and I tested it with both my MacBook and iPhone and it worked instantly. It can also be paired with the Wave Link software to manage things such as gain and the LED lighting, but you don’t get the Clipguard software found in the Wave 1 and Wave 3 which I absolutely love.
At $149 it’s hard to fault the Wave Neo, but I did find it odd that only a USB-A cord is included in the box as it’s advertised to be used with MacBook, iPad and iPhone. Whilst you can just use any old USB-C cord, it’s a lovely white braided cable that also hooks perfectly into the back of the microphone, so it just breaks the experience a little. I’d love to have seen both cords included in the box.
As far as sound goes, it’s a little bit below that of the Wave 3 in terms of clarity, but I was super, super impressed with how it sounded out of the box both with my MacBook and iPhone. I can see a lot of people using this for meetings as well as voiceovers and being super happy with the result.
