Audio review
HyperX QuadCast S Review: The Pop Filter Only Works at Distance
Three sources say the same thing: back off a foot and it is fine, get close and plosives come through. The pattern dial is what nothing else at this price has.
By Paulo GerchonPublished 2 min read
Illustration, not a photo — we don’t have a licensed image of this product yet.
HyperX
HyperX QuadCast S
Good · researched from 3 sources
The pattern dial is the reason to buy this over anything else at the price, and the omnidirectional setting is genuinely usable rather than a token. Keep a foot between you and it, because the built-in pop filter cannot cope any closer.
- Buy if
- Streaming and gaming, which is what the tuning is for · Two-person interviews, using the bidirectional pattern · Anyone who wants pattern flexibility without an interface
- Skip if
- Close-mic technique, where plosives get through · Anyone needing 24-bit recording · Travel, since the microphone does not detach from its mount
We don’t list prices, because Amazon’s change hourly.
One foot
SoundGuys: the internal pop filter works adequately at a foot or more and becomes problematic with closer positioning.
ProSettings: functions adequately at distance, produces noticeable plosives when positioned close to the mouth.
That is the same finding twice, and it is the single most useful thing to know before you set this up. Streamers instinctively pull a microphone close. This one punishes that.
A foot back also suits the capsules better, because at that distance the deliberate bass de-emphasis SoundGuys measured stops fighting the proximity effect and simply produces a clean voice.
The dial is the product
Four polar patterns, switched from a dial on the back rather than buried in software.
SoundGuys makes the observation that matters: the omnidirectional setting holds quality comparable to the other patterns, which is genuinely unusual. On most multi-pattern USB microphones, everything other than cardioid is a compromise nobody uses twice.
ProSettings is more measured, calling bidirectional and omnidirectional slightly inferior to cardioid but functional for podcasts and interviews, with stereo decent for simple music.
Premium Beat used bidirectional for two-person interviews successfully.
Against the Blue Yeti elsewhere in this catalogue, which also offers four patterns, this one has a shock mount built in and records at the same 48 kHz and 16 bits.
What it sounds like
SoundGuys measured a neutral-leaning response with slightly de-emphasised bass, reducing proximity effect, and a minor dip at 1 kHz that keeps voices from sounding nasal.
ProSettings hears clear audio well beyond a headset microphone, with an occasionally digitised quality in some circumstances.
Premium Beat's warning is the practical one: condenser sensitivity means it hears fans and air conditioning too, and they ended up applying a software noise gate in editing.
The software is not why you buy it
ProSettings: underwhelming, basic volume sliders and a polar pattern indicator, nothing else.
Premium Beat: bare-bones though useful, controls volume, no noise gate.
SoundGuys: PC only.
That matters less here than it would elsewhere, because gain, pattern and mute are all physical controls on the microphone itself. The tap-to-mute on top silences the capsule and the RGB together, which is a neat piece of design.
Two things to know
The microphone does not detach from its shock mount, per SoundGuys. That rules out packing it small and rules out mounting the capsule alone on a different suspension.
And Premium Beat hit a genuinely odd fault: the microphone prevented their computer from sleeping, which they say HyperX acknowledged as awaiting a firmware fix.
On the positive side, Premium Beat notes the box includes a three metre braided USB-C cable and a boom arm adapter, both of which are frequently separate purchases elsewhere.
How it scored
The overall 8.4 is the weighted average of these five criteria — we never adjust it by hand.
Sound quality
SoundGuys measured a neutral-leaning response with de-emphasised bass and a dip at 1 kHz to prevent nasality. ProSettings calls it clear with an occasionally digitised character.
Value
SoundGuys scored 8.6 out of 10 and ProSettings 4.5 out of 5. Premium Beat notes the boom arm adapter and a three metre cable are included rather than sold separately.
Build quality
A weighted swivelling base and a bungee shock mount that ProSettings found absorbs minor vibration well. SoundGuys measures 360 g with the mount and stand.
Ease of use
A pattern dial at the back, a gain dial underneath and tap-to-mute on top that also kills the lighting. Both ProSettings and Premium Beat call the Ngenuity software bare.
Versatility
Four polar patterns, and SoundGuys notes the omnidirectional setting holds quality comparable to the others, which is unusual on a USB microphone.
Pros and cons
What we liked
- Four polar patterns selected from a dial, which SoundGuys calls unusual at this price
- SoundGuys says the omnidirectional pattern holds up as well as the others
- A bungee shock mount that ProSettings found absorbs vibration effectively
- Tap-to-mute on the top that silences the microphone and the lighting together
- Premium Beat notes a boom arm adapter and a three metre cable are in the box
- SoundGuys measured a deliberate bass de-emphasis to counter proximity effect
What we didn’t
- All three sources say the internal pop filter fails at close distances
- SoundGuys says the microphone cannot be detached from its shock mount
- Both ProSettings and Premium Beat call the Ngenuity software bare-bones
- Premium Beat found it prevented their computer from sleeping
- It records at 48 kHz and 16-bit, not 24-bit
- Ngenuity is PC only, per SoundGuys
Specifications
| Capsules | Three 14 mm condenser capsules |
|---|---|
| Resolution | 48 kHz, 16-bit |
| Patterns | Cardioid, bidirectional, omnidirectional and stereo, from a rear dial |
| Weight | 254 g for the microphone; 360 g with the shock mount and stand per SoundGuys |
| Shock mount | Bungee type, integrated and not removable |
| Pop filter | Internal |
| Controls | Gain dial underneath and tap-to-mute on top |
| Lighting | Two programmable RGB zones |
| Software | Ngenuity, PC only |
| In the box | Three metre braided USB-C cable and a boom arm adapter per Premium Beat |
How we researched this
We have not had this unit on the bench. This review synthesises the manufacturer’s published specifications, independent measurements and owner reports listed below. Every figure on this page comes from one of those sources rather than our own measurement.
3
sources reviewed
SoundGuys supplies the frequency response finding, the capsule count, the recording resolution, the weights and the observation about the omnidirectional pattern, and is the only source that measured on a rig, scoring it 8.6 out of 10. ProSettings supplies the pattern-by-pattern assessment, the shock mount and pop filter findings and the software criticism, and scored it 4.5 out of 5. Premium Beat supplies the accessory list, the ambient noise observation and the computer sleep problem. All three describe the pop filter's distance dependence, which is why that finding leads this review.
What we read
Common questions
Does the HyperX QuadCast S handle plosives?
Are the four polar patterns actually useful?
How does it sound?
Is the software any good?
What are the practical annoyances?
The bottom line on the HyperX QuadCast S
The pattern dial is the reason to buy this over anything else at the price, and the omnidirectional setting is genuinely usable rather than a token. Keep a foot between you and it, because the built-in pop filter cannot cope any closer.
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