Hyper X Solo Cast Microphone – Review

I want to preface this review with a disclaimer, I am by no means an audio expert. What I am however is a content creator, a streamer and since March an avid participant in video meetings! We have been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to review the Hyper X Solo Cast microphone and I am going to breakdown my thoughts on it and lay out what we’ve been testing it with.

From streaming to meetings, I’ve been testing the Solo Cast vigorously for the last couple of weeks. It lacks all the tricks of the top microphones on the market, but at £65 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/HyperX-SoloCast-Microphone-Tap-mute/dp/B08KFL3SFV), it isn’t really meant to be competing in that market. For what it is competing with though, the Solo Cast looks set to be king.

The sound from this mic is clear and does a great job of isolating my voice and not picking up background noise without much effort. I have used the microphone for my day job as I constantly have video calls with my team and staff, to record audio for videos, to stream on Twitch and the feedback I’ve received has been very positive. Where I may have been too quiet before and I had to adjust the audio in post, my voice is now coming through clear and precise without any editing. This may be more an issue with my previous mic but being able to swap to the Solo Cast with such ease has really been great.

Obviously the biggest difference here between the Solo Cast and Hyper X’s flagship microphone the Quad Cast is exactly what it sounds like. The Solo Cast has a Cardioid polar pattern where as the Quad Cast has that plus stereo, omnidirectional, and bidirectional. Again though, the Solo Cast is obviously not competing in this space. Cardioid is best for the things I use my microphone for such as streaming, video calls and voice overs so it’s perfect for someone like me.

The included base is nice and allows for some flexibility and movement, but I very quickly moved it onto an arm I got from Amazon and the mic appears to be compatible with most standard microphone mounts and arms. It does not come with a pop filter or shock mount so you’ll need to purchase these separately.

Looks wise, it has a simple, sleek design. It is entirely black colour palette with a red light on the side and a small profile. It comes with a capacitive touch button on top to quickly mute the mic which I’ve found super useful. The light on the side will flash red when muted and be solid when active.

Anther cool, although admittedly small thing, is that the microphone works off of a single USB-C cable. I am always pleased to see products using the new standard and allows you to continue to future proof your set ups.