HyperX SoloCast

This is a pretty decent mic. It’s by no means budget because it is still quite expensive at a sales price of CDN$84.99 from the official website.

SoloCast is a cardioid-only mic. There’s no complicated pattern knob like the QuadCast (CDN$199.99) or our signature Blue Yeti (CDN$169.99). It’s missing the gain control dial and a headphone output that plays back from your mic while you’re speaking. Internally, this mic doesn’t include any shock mount or pop filter, so extra costs for accessories might be needed to make this mic more optimal.

Having all these missing features, SoloCast does carry QuadCast’s tap-to-mute feature over on the top. Instead of using those super old-day USB 2.0 to USB A cable, SoloCast is using a USB-C to USB-A. Not sure if that’s considered as an upgrade since by the end of the day, it’s still connected with wires anyways, but there’s that.

Originally, I was just looking for a cardioid only mic because I want to sound better at a meeting and doing voiceovers. QuadCast and Yeti just feel too expensive for my usage there as I don’t need those fancy pattern pickups or those nice-to-have features. Having no shock mount or pop filter does lower the quality of this cardioid mode so it’s not quite at QuadCast’s level.

SoloCast < QuadCast (cardioid mode)

Sure, you can pick up a mic arm and maybe accessories pack for enhancement, but then you’re looking about adding $30 which makes this mic roughly about $114 to reach the level of QuadCast. SoloCast does pick up quite a bit of background noise, but you can easily remove it from Audacity. It’s a mic that works good, but not great.