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Roccat is one of those companies we’ve been following for awhile now, as it’s always a treat to see what kind of gaming tech they’ll come out with next. Besides making awesome headsets and other gaming peripherals, they’ve now thrown their hat into the streamer and podcaster ring with the Roccat Torch USB Microphone. If you’re looking for a solid alternative to brands such as Blue, this is one of the best mics you can get for just under $100.
A lot of microphone companies throw around buzz words such as “studio-grade” and such for their products, but Roccat honestly delivers with this one. As soon as I took it out of the box, I was impressed by how small but mighty it is, especially with the cool looking stand that also serves as a mini studio hub with all kinds of settings you can tweak.
Once you’ve plugged it into your PC, the mic comes alive with RGB lights on the inside of it which also let you know which mode you have it set to. The first dial on the left controls these settings, starting with off which is nice for when you’re done using it and don’t want it “live” all the time like most USB mics are. Then there’s Whisper Mode with a blue color that picks up your voice nicely in low noise situations like steaming or chatting late at night where you’ll want to…well….whisper.
Next is the main setting most will use which is the Cardioid Mode that captures sound directly in front of the mic. It works well and picked up my voice nicely without having to be too close to it. Lastly there’s the Stereo Mode for when you’re chatting with multiple people and have to share the mic, or if you’re looking to record yourself playing an instrument and such. Whatever the case is, Roccat’s got you covered with one of these settings.
Another sweet feature this mic has is a built-in headphone monitoring jack with zero latency for when you want to hear yourself before recording or while you’re in the middle of it. There’s even a volume dial to adjust the monitoring audio, and a gain volume slider that you’d normally see on streamer mixing boards that’s a nice touch to boost or lower your mic volume on the fly.
I also love how you can mute the mic simply by waving your hand over the top of it thanks to a handy sensor (pun intended), so no more accidently bumping the mic or clicks/pops from pushing a mute button. If that wasn’t cool enough, there’s a nice small icon at the bottom of the mic to let you know if you’re live or muted, and the RGB lights turn red on mute so you’ll always know when your mic is hot or not.
Going back to the features, Roccat did a great job with using two of their proprietary 14×6.5mm condenser capsules that have a frequency of 20Hz – 20kHz with 24-bit audio, and also a built-in pop filter to make sure everything sounds sweet and to keep those overpowering popping “P’s” in check.
Also as another awesome bonus, you can use the Torch with boom arms, shock mounts, and such as it includes a longer USB cable to use in these situations that give you enough room to attach the mic to one of those options and still use the base to tweak its settings. You can also adjust the brightness of the RGB lighting and how sensitive the mic mute sensor is on the back of the base for another nice touch of options.
I have to say without a doubt that the Roccat Torch USB Microphone is the best microphone I’ve used so far. Most USB mics do the bare minimum of being a microphone that’s either live all the time or want you to tweak their settings on a separate mixing board. Roccat tackles these issues by condensing a powerful mic with multiple settings and tweaking options built-in for one of the best mics out there that’s a light…err… torch in the darkness, both figuratively and literally.