The best microphones in 2021

The best microphones really do seem to be having their moment, with widespread working from home and all the important Zoom and Google Meet calls that entails. Yet these mics aren’t just ideal for professional use: they can also keep you sounding loud and clear on social video chats or even help budding musicians create their first recordings.

Sure, you could just get a cheap headset for calls, but the microphones on this list are more than a few steps up in recording quality. Even so, they’re also designed to be easy to set up and use, and together with the best ring lights and the best webcams you can even build your own personal desktop recording space. Whatever your needs, the best microphones we’ve tested can be found below.

What are the best microphones?

The Blue Yeti offers the ideal balance of functionality, recording quality and pricing. It’s as effective for podcasts as it is for solo recording, and has a range of directional patterns that let you record in certain directions.

Our #2 pick, the JLab Talk, has the same set of recording modes, as well as competitive performance and an even lower price. It even narrowly beats our top pick’s smaller cousin, the Blue Yeti Nano, on sound quality — though if you want to make an even bigger saving, check out the Blue Snowball Ice.

Blue’s microphones and the JLab Talk all benefit from plug-and-play simplicity, though if you want to take your solo recording up a notch then the Rode Podcaster makes a wonderful premium option. It records gorgeous, crystal-clear audio from a single speaker, suitable for recording podcasts or jumping into livestreams. It’s not cheap, but it’s possibly the last podcasting mic you’ll ever need.

The best microphones you can buy today

The Blue Yeti has been on the market for more than a decade, and it hasn’t changed very much since its introduction. To be fair, nothing about one of the best microphones really needed changing. It’s a smart, versatile peripheral that doesn’t cost that much money, and provides everything that amateur and semi-pro audiophiles need to record their own material. The Blue Yeti is a high-quality condenser mic with a built-in stand, a USB connection and — this is the clincher — four different pattern modes.

With a Blue Yeti, you can record audio in cardioid, stereo, omnidirectional or bidirectional modes. Very few microphones offer multiple audio patterns, and even fewer of them do a good job switching among them. But thanks to the Blue Yeti’s variety of audio patterns, you can record anything from a podcast, to an interview, to a musical performance, to a whole roundtable discussion.

Read our full Blue Yeti review.

The JLab Talk is jointly the first-ever USB mic from headphones specialists JLab, but you wouldn’t guess. The Talk’s recording quality, features and ease of use all make it more than a match for the perennially popular Blue Yeti family.

With an MSRP of $99 this is just as affordable as the Blue Yeti Nano, yet it matches the pricier flagship Yeti in providing four distinct recording patterns. The bidirectional mode isn’t as consistent as omnidirectional mode, but you can use the latter for the same purpose, and the Talk’s cardioid and stereo modes are both seriously impressive.

Read our full JLab Talk review.

If you want a peripheral that’s better than a built-in laptop mic, but don’t have the patience (or funds) for anything fancier, you want the Blue Snowball Ice microphone. This is about the simplest, cheapest mic you can get from a major manufacturer. The Snowball Ice is a compact, somewhat stylish sphere that’s available in either black or white. You connect it to your computer via USB cable, and then you speak into it. That’s it. There are no options to for you to change, for better or for worse.

The Snowball Ice uses a cardioid pattern, making it perfect for videoconferencing or chatting with friends in games. It’s perhaps not high-end enough to record your own podcast, but if you need to appear on someone else’s on short notice, the Snowball Ice will get the job done.

Both beginner and amateur videographers should check out the Sennheiser MKE 400. This shotgun mic uses a highly directional supercardioid recording pattern to pick up clear speech, even when shooting in places with a lot of background noise.

What makes the MKE 400 particularly suitable for DIY content creation is how easy it is to use. While you can simply attach it to your camera’s hot shoe and plug it in via 3.5mm cable, the MKE 400 offers this same plug-and-play simplicity for smartphones too. Simply connect via your handset’s headphone jack and you can shoot great-sounding clips even without a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Read out full Sennheiser MKE 400 review.

Yes, it’s yet another Blue microphone, but the Yeti Nano is another top-quality USB microphone. It’s basically a more compact , slightly stripped-back version of the flagship Blue Yeti, at an even better price.

That means you get very similar recording quality in its cardioid and omnidirectional patterns, plus mature looks and a tough metal build. For $99 the JLab Talk is an even bigger bargain, especially as it has a stereo mode, but the smaller Blue Yeti Nano still deserves a place on this list.

Read our full Blue Yeti Nano review.

If you’re going to record the audio for a podcast or something similar — a YouTube video voiceover, a Twitch stream, an amateur audiobook — the Rode Podcaster is one of the best microphones you can get. This mic offers a dynamic pickup, meaning that it’s ideal for capturing loud sounds in everyday settings, such as speaking in a broadcast voice in a living room. The Podcaster’s audio pattern is cardioid, meaning that it’s optimized to pick up a single person’s voice, from a single direction. The Podcaster was designed with one thing in mind, and it shows.

In addition to crystal-clear audio recordings, the Podcaster also has a built-in audio jack with a volume control, so you can monitor your voice in real-time. However, that’s about all the device comes with. If you want a stand, a shock mount or a pop filter, you’ll need to buy those separately. They’re worth the investment, but be prepared to drop another $100 or so on top of the Podcaster’s retail price.

Technically speaking, most of the mics on this list are semi-professional, but you’ve probably seen the Shure SM58 in the hands of honest-to-goodness pop stars. The Shure SM58 is one of the best no-frills vocal mics on the market, with a cardioid pattern optimized for music, and very little background noise pickup. If you want to sing, you want to use the Shure SM58 — and if you want to accompany yourself with an instrument at the same time, the SM58 still sounds pretty good.

Bear in mind that the Shure SM58 uses an XLR connection rather than USB or 3.5 mm audio, so you’ll have to devise some kind of system to rig it up to a computer. (This isn’t difficult; just make sure you go with high-quality adapters.) Furthermore, the SM58 works best when you hold it or let it sit in an upright stand, so it’s not ideal for desktop applications.

The Movo UM700 is essentially a more affordable take on the Blue Yeti formula, albeit with a taller profile than the Blue Yeti Nano. We’ve chosen it here for its capable sound quality, excellent ease of use and relatively low price — its MSRP is $30 less than that of the Blue Yeti, in fact.

Although the UM700’s more famous rival edges it on general recording prowess — worth remembering if you want to start a professional-sounding podcast — it’s more than up to the task for gaming, meetings and casual chats. Simply connect the USB cable, up the gain a little, and the UM700 is good to go.

Read our full Movo UM700 review.

The HyperX QuadCast is a stylish and robust microphone, perfect for gamers who don’t like headset mics, or who want to get into the streaming space. The QuadCast is a condenser mic with a built-in stand and shock mount, meaning that once you connect it to your computer via USB, you’re pretty much ready to start recording right away. Most users will probably want to start off on its cardioid setting, although it also has bidirectional, omnidirectional and stereo audio patterns, so you can bring other people into your impromptu recording studio, if you want.

The QuadCast is one of the best microphones for gaming because most of its features are analog. This means you won’t have to wrangle with software if you want to change the audio pattern, adjust the gains or even mute the microphone. It also has a rather aggressive black-and-red lighting pattern — whether you dig the “gamer” aesthetic or think it looks a little dated will largely depend on your own preferences.

On its surface, the Elgato Wave: 3 seems very similar to other microphones on this list. It’s a USB mic with a cardioid pattern, specifically tailored to the gaming space. What sets the Wave: 3 apart from similar devices, though, is its connectivity with the ubiquitous Elgato Stream Deck. By using the Stream Deck in conjunction with the mic, you can alter mic pickup and sound mix without ever touching the mic itself, all while you keep an eye on your video size and other important streaming features.

Otherwise, the Wave: 3 is a high-quality mic, featuring dead simple controls, a crystal-clear cardioid pattern and a small profile that will feat easily on most desks. The mic’s plain black chassis and tasteful lighting help accentuate gaming setups, and it’s easy to adjust and monitor your volume in real time. In terms of audio quality, it’s no better than any other mics on this list, but its streaming features alone make it worth a look.

Read our full Elgato Wave: 3 review.

You can save some money by buying the standard HyperX Quadcast detailed above, but if you’ve got an RGB-heavy gaming PC and want a microphone to match, the more colourful QuadCast S is worth a look.

Naturally, it’s not just the customizable lighting that makes this one of the best microphones. The detail-rich recording quality is safeguarded by a built-in pop filter and shock mount, and it can easily be attached to your own stand if you’d prefer. Like the Blue Yeti and JLab Talk, is also provides four distinct recording modes, so you can tailor the settings for solo or group recording.

Read our full HyperX QuadCast S review.

How to choose the best microphone for you

The best microphone depends almost entirely on your setup. This list gives a brief overview of all-purpose mics, podcasting mics, music mics and so forth. Basically, determine what you most need a microphone for, then find the appropriate one for your needs. As with most other gadgets, cheaper microphones tend to be more generalized, whereas more expensive ones tend to be more specialized. This doesn’t mean that cheaper microphones are inherently worse. But if you want semiprofessional quality, you’ll have to pay semiprofessional prices.

Visit manufacturer websites, and learn for which purpose each mic is optimized. The official website will usually give you a good idea as to whether the mic excels in podcasting, gaming, music or some other application. Failing that, remember that cardioid is generally the most useful audio pattern if you’re going to be recording by yourself in a home environment. Other patterns are good to have, but they’re useful only when you bring in more people or sound sources.

What do the different audio patterns mean?

Some of the mics on this list offer different options for audio patterns: Bidirectional, cardioid, omnidirectional and stereo. Others offer only cardioid. Here’s a brief explanation of each pattern, to help you decide which one to use:

Cardioid: This pattern picks up audio coming from one direction. This is ideal for a single source speaking directly into the mic, like in meetings or recording voiceovers.

Bidirectional: The pattern picks up audio coming from two directions only. This is ideal for two speakers sitting directly across from one another.

Omnidirectional: This pattern picks up audio from all around the mic. This is ideal for a whole group of people surrounding the microphone.

Stereo: This pattern picks up audio in front of the mic, as well as off to the sides. This is ideal for a musical group, or a panel of speakers facing the same direction.