In what seems like an inevitable move after Elgato released the Wave XLR Audio interface, they have finally released their first XLR Microphone in the Elgato Wave DX, a dynamic microphone with Elgato’s iconic look and feel. While it’s capable of pairing with any XLR Audio Interface, it pairs with the Wave XLR like steak with red wine.
In the box, you get the Wave DX, the swivel mount, ⅜” and ¼” adapters and the quick start guide. The adapters were a specific high point because not all mics equip you with the ability to mount to multiple thread sizes, much less all the major ones (its default thread size without the adapters is ⅝”). On the Wave DX itself you have the three pin XLR jack and a plug with the Elgato Logo on it. The great thing about the plug is that it is removable, allowing you to move it to either side of the mic and attach the swivel arm on the other side, so you can mount it facing either way at your desk.
Inside the Elgato Wave DX is a dynamic capsule created in cooperation with Lewitt Audio and an internal pop filter to help prevent plosives and sibilance while also avoiding interfering with the aesthetic of the microphone.
“The sound of the Wave DX is impeccable. The 50Hz -50kHz frequency response gives you a great sound palette with which to work.”
Speaking of aesthetics, I love the look of this microphone. There is no doubt that you are looking at an Elgato microphone. It has that Elgato Wave elegance in a dynamic shell. The single-armed mount is sleek and a truly unique look for a dynamic mic, which typically is on a dual-arm mount or some kind of shock mount.
The sound of the Wave DX is impeccable. The 50Hz -50kHz frequency response gives you a great sound palette with which to work. It will pick up a great sampling of your vocals and open up a world of possibilities when applying VSTs. A dynamic mic is usually decent at eliminating room noise and this one did an overall decent job. The key to this microphone, however, is proximity. Keep that mic close to your mouth. It boosts the bass in your voice and helps you keep the gain down a bit, helping keep the noise down even more.
The microphone has really nice presence in the high-frequency tones as well. Elgato claims on their website that it “picks up details like a condenser.” I don’t totally disagree with that sentiment, but that mostly applies to their own condenser mics. I own good, affordable condensers that this couldn’t hope to compete with in those frequencies, but I am not going to hold them to that. The Wave DX puts out a quality sound on its own merits.
To boost the overall experience even further, connecting the Wave DX to the Elgato Wave XLR is an easy choice. The reasons behind making that choice besides brand loyalty is a whole host of mic controls at your fingertips (and in a compact package) combined with the pioneer in mixing software, Elgato’s Wave Link Software.
If you own a stream deck as well (and, if you are getting an Elgato Microphone, you probably do), then you have even more control at your fingertips as the stream deck has nearly unlimited controls for Wave Link, allowing you to mute any source, change to a predetermined level of gain and so much more. It has an ironically huge advantage over something like the Rodecaster Pro II in this aspect because of its much smaller profile and exponentially cheaper price point.
The Elgato Wave DX comes in at $99 USD, a more than fair price for the product. Elgato has a solid reputation of high quality microphones at very affordable prices. The price lines up with some other popular XLR mics and makes it so much easier to justify the cost of an XLR interface if you favour an XLR solution over a USB microphone. If you are looking for a Wave XLR as well, that will run you an additional $159.99 USD, still cheaper than many microphones on the market.
