JLab Talk microphone review
Our Verdict
The JLab Talk USB microphone gives the Blueish Yeti range some much-needed contest. Information technology'southward affordable, sounds great and is easy to use for gaming or streaming.
For
- Expert recording quality
- Well-priced
- Multiple directional patterns
- Very user-friendly
Confronting
- Tin pick up background noise
- Not every directional mode is useful
Tom's Guide Verdict
The JLab Talk USB microphone gives the Blue Yeti range some much-needed contest. It'south affordable, sounds great and is easy to use for gaming or streaming.
Pros
- +
Good recording quality
- +
Well-priced
- +
Multiple directional patterns
- +
Very user-friendly
Cons
- -
Can pick upward background racket
- -
Not every directional mode is useful
The USB microphone market is unlikely new ground for headphones specialist JLab, merely if the JLab Talk is whatsoever indication, it's basis worth treading. The Talk is the centre-ranking unit of measurement in an all-new range of gaming, streaming and podcast-recording mics, promising plug-and-play simplicity for first-timers and high audio quality for regular recording.
JLab Talk specs
Connection: USB
Ports: USB-C, 3.5mm aux out
Condensers: three
Directional patterns: Cardioid, omnidirectional, bidirectional, stereo
Size: 9.9 x 7.6 x vii.6 inches (with tripod extended)
Weight: fourteen.6 ounces
It'south a bold move on JLabs's part because, equally our best microphones rankings volition adjure, the last word in dwelling house audio recording has long been Blueish — the Blueish Yeti series in particular. Challenging such entrenched success is no small feat but, as you'll see in our total JLab Talk review, it'southward doable at the right price.
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JLab Talk review: Toll and availability
One of the virtually appealing qualities about the JLab Talk is its price. With an MSRP of $99, it's cheaper than the flagship Blue Yeti microphone, which is $130, and is on equal terms with the shrunk-down Blue Yeti Nano. It's even cheaper compared to the $199 EPOS B20, some other desktop USB microphone.
You lot tin can actually get the Talk for even less if you buy from Walmart, which currently has information technology for $80. This is a launch auction, though, so information technology won't stay that price forever. You tin also get information technology directly from JLab.
JLab Talk review: Pattern
The JLab Talk is designed so anyone tin can apply it. Connect the USB cablevision to the USB-C port on the mic'due south underside, plug in the other end to your PC or laptop, and it's up and running in seconds. No lengthy commuter installation or proprietary software is required, and unlike the similarly-priced Rode PodMic, you don't need an XLR input or indicate adapter.
That simplicity extends to how yous command the JLab Talk. The chunky main dial on the front end snaps firmly between the iv directional design modes — cardioid, omnidirectional, bidirectional and stereo — and can exist pressed in to instantly mute.
A smaller secondary dial sits underneath. This controls both the microphone gain and, should you have headphones connected to the onboard three.5mm jack, the output volume. Pressing the punch switches between the ii, with the levels represented by a calorie-free-up ring around the primary dial.
It's all pleasantly straightforward, and both dials have a robust, well-crafted quality that the Bluish Yeti Nano'southward ain dial lacks.
That said, the Nano has a more premium metal terminate as opposed to the Talk's largely plastic build. Luckily, the stand is made from tougher stuff, and then the Talk avoids wobbling and other signs of subpar build quality.
Speaking of the stand, I also prefer the Talk'southward screw-on tripod to the Nano'southward stock-still base. Information technology adds the possibility of height adjustment — just unfold the legs partially instead of all the way — and one time collapsed and removed, it makes the whole package more portable and easier to store. The Nano's stand is nicely weighted but I always experience it keeps the microphone too low down for me to apply comfortably, unless I were to motility to a comically tall desk.
Both mics share a three.5mm aux output, which lets y'all hear your mic input when using headphones. This is a very useful feature if you lot're recording solo, although on the Talk in that location'south non much clearance between the bottom of the microphone and the stand up. This can get out the 3.5mm cable bumping up against the stand, making it difficult or impossible to fully pin the microphone.
Nevertheless, this is the Talk's only noteworthy design error. The microphone is attainable, sturdy despite the plastic, and wisely avoids the ostentatious "gamer" aesthetics of USB mics like the HyperX QuadCast S. I like how the ports are on the underside too, every bit so cables don't stick out the back similar they do on the Elgato Moving ridge: iii.
JLab Talk review: Sound quality
Paying less for a USB microphone puts you at run a risk of bad recording quality, which would defeat the point of owning a dedicated mic in the outset place. Not and then with the JLab Talk: With the right pattern and gain settings it can sound very skilful indeed, and non just for its price.
Let'south take a wait at each of the four recording modes. Beginning upwards is cardioid, which is ideal for recording a unmarried person speaking as it mainly records sound from directly in front of the mic. I came through loud and clear using this blueprint, and the Talk was a little better than the Blueish Yeti Nano at capturing the bass in my phonation. There was no off-putting reverb or echoing any, which in my wood-floored apartment is quite the accomplishment.
Side by side is the omnidirectional pattern, which is a 360-degree recording mode intended for grouping podcasts. Instantly in that location'due south a driblet in warmth and a rise in reverb, though this is to be expected when capturing speech from further away.
The iii-condenser array really does pretty well for the tougher conditions, staying tonally consistent when recording from any bending. I could motion up to sixty inches away before, to my ears, I sounded "also" far away. If you lot want to start a group podcast and can't beget mics for everyone, the Talk isn't a bad starter option at all.
There'southward too a bidirectional mode, which records merely straight in forepart of and backside the Talk. This way is clearly meant for recording face-to-face conversations between two people, though I'd sooner recommend the omnidirectional pattern for this.
Weirdly, whoever's to the rear of the microphone sounds flatter and almost hollow compared to whoever's in front. This is difficult to explicate equally the omnidirectional way shows the Talk tin can handle consistent recording in more than ane direction, though at least this likewise means you have a suitable fill-in choice for podcasts.
The quaternary and final design is stereo, which records sound in the left and right audio channels. This could exist extremely useful if you lot're a chamber musician wanting recording hardware on the cheap, through fair warning: When recording instruments, I plant I needed to be extremely precise with how much proceeds I was using. Too little and the recordings sound off; as well much gain tin introduce distortion.
In the stop, I found stereo mode an interesting culling to cardioid for solo voice recording, such as when gaming and streaming. There isn't quite so much depression cease as with the cardioid pattern, only there's just a touch more than clarity and particular.
Overall, the JLab Talk'south recording quality is more than than worth the cash, especially when used close-upward. It's not entirely immune to some common inexpensive condenser-mic weaknesses: It easily picked up the clacking of my mechanical keyboard, and on playing dorsum some recordings, I noticed the faint sounds of the nearby railroad train line. But I'd happily use information technology to record voiceovers for work, or in games with push button-to-talk input.
The bigger question is how the JLab Talk compares to the Blue Yeti Nano. Their respective omnidirectional modes sound more than or less identical, simply I'd give the border to the Talk in cardioid mode. Information technology's but barely richer- and fuller-sounding, and since the Nano sounds highly similar to the flagship Bluish Yeti, the JLab Talk can easily compete with the more than expensive microphone on audio quality.
What's more than, the Bluish Yeti Nano doesn't even accept bidirectional or stereo recording patterns, so the Talk is a more flexible microphone. True, bidirectional recording is a scrap of a bust, only stereo recording is a considerable bonus for the very same $99.
JLab Talk review: Verdict
The JLab Talk is an impressively assured debut from a company with no experience in desktop USB microphones. While not an outright budget mic like the Blue Snowball or the Talk'southward own stablemate the JLab Talk Get, $99 is a slap-up price for the standards of recording quality and usability on offer.
It's definitely worth picking up in identify of the Blue Yeti Nano, and unless the standard Blueish Yeti suddenly sheds $xxx, the Talk gracefully undercuts that besides. Aspiring streamers, podcasters or anyone wanting one of the best gaming microphones, take note.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/jlab-talk-microphone-review
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