Since 2017, Syntech has been making a name for itself with accessories for creators. Lately, they’ve been making gear for content creators. Their latest release is an RGB condenser microphone, their first streaming microphone offering, the Syntech GlowMic, and offers a lot at an affordable price.
In the box, you get the Syntech GlowMic with a removable mic stand base, a metal pop filter that slides into small holes in the front of the microphone, a USB-C to USB-C cable with a USB-C to USB-A adapter, and documentation. The front of the microphone has a single knob for microphone gain control.
The classic pill shape of the microphone is reminiscent of mics like the Razer Seiren V2 Pro, but it has many differences that make it its own design. At the top, you’ll find a capacitive button with two functions. First, you can mute the microphone with a single tap or hold it for three seconds to activate noise cancellation, which we’ll get to later.
The back of the Syntech GlowMic has your I/O, with a 3.5mm headphone jack for zero-latency monitoring and a USB-C port to connect to your device of choice. Another capacitive button controls the RGB, which takes up the bottom half of the microphone on both the back and the front. Double tapping this button switches the RGB through six different modes, including solid colour, gradient or colour cycling, and a single tap switches between the options within the selected mode.
“The GlowMic’s RGB lighting adds aesthetic appeal, but improved brightness control could enhance its visibility on camera.”
The RGB has a brilliant glow on both sides, but the ability to control the brightness would help the colours appear a little easier on the camera. You can see when the colour gradient moves up and down, but you can’t distinguish the colours as clearly as you’d like. Still, the vibrancy of the colours is undeniable. In terms of design, I’d consider moving the control button from between the two cables, where it’s a little harder to reach, to the bottom, where it’s always within easy reach.
My biggest issue with the microphone is actually the placement of the headphone jack and the USB-C port. They are about two-thirds of the way up on the microphone, slightly off-center. The high placement is a necessity due to the fact that the bottom half of the microphone is dedicated to the RGB, and it is more efficient to keep these ports close to the actual guts of the microphone.
However, moving them to the side causes the cables to stick out of the GlowMic, making clean cable management difficult. I’d like to see some included 90-degree adapters to run the cables down the bottom of the microphone, which would also take some pressure off the connection points.
At first listen, the sound was decent. There was the expected amount of room noise, given the fact that this is a condenser mic, but it did a great job of capturing the low frequencies. It left a little to be desired in the higher frequencies, but that can be easily fixed with the least amount of processing. Make sure you set the gain correctly and keep your distance from the mic, otherwise you will get some clipping and you will hear some hissing. The pop filter does its job on plosives, but that’s about it.
“The GlowMic’s design and performance make it a surprising and valuable choice for budget-conscious consumers seeking quality audio gear.”
Where the Syntech GlowMic really shines is in their noise cancellation. The noise cancellation feature on the GlowMic is the only onboard processing on the microphone, but it may well be the only processing you need. Knowing that this is a budget microphone, my hopes that this was going to work without horribly distorting my voice were very low.
And then I turned it on…
At first, I watched as the bouncing sound on the VU meter dropped to nothing. I could hear in my headphones that the slight buzz that was present when I originally monitored the audio was gone. But the fact that you can’t adjust the mic audio in your headphones made it hard to know for sure what I was putting out there until I listened back.
The ambient noise I first heard was completely gone. My voice? It was clear as a bell. The quality of this noise reduction was better than it had any right to be, and the savings in resources on your computer will be a gift if you are trying to stream. That extra bandwidth can make all the difference.
The MSRP for the Syntech GlowMic is $49.99 USD. Imagine that for a moment. Think about all the mics you’ve read about and how many of them had any onboard processing, let alone decent onboard processing. How many of them were under $100? None. Not to mention the fact that this is their first attempt at a gaming microphone.
The Syntech GlowMic was an amazing surprise. It’s a mic that produces an admirable sound with brilliant noise reduction at a price that’s on par with mics that don’t even have a knob. It is available for purchase now, so if you are looking for a microphone and are on a budget, this is definitely worth your time.
