Make your streams sound better with these great microphones

The Blue Yeti X is often recommended if you're wanting to spend a little and need to communicate with friends and guildmates. It's also a fantastic microphone for streamers, thanks to included features, sound quality, and ease-of-use. It's also not too expensive.

Best Overall: Blue Yeti X

Streaming to an audience requires you to be entertaining to watch, good (or not so good) at games, and a microphone to capture your voice. A cheap headset with a built-in microphone would suffice, but it won't provide the best experience for viewers who tune in. To take your streaming game to the next level, you need to purchase a microphone that offers a far superior sound quality.

The Blue Yeti X is one such microphone, and it happens not to cost a small fortune. The excellent sound capture results in crisp audio to allow your audience to hear everything. It's also straightforward to use — there's no need to purchase an elaborate sound system thanks to the USB interface. Simply plug and talk.

The Blue Yeti X sounds excellent and won't blow your budget

If you're not a fan of using the included stand, which only raises the microphone slightly off the desk, the Yeti X can be hooked up to a microphone mount or arm. This will allow you to configure the microphone in a custom setup. You might also want to pick up a pop filter for even better sound quality.

Whether you're an enthusiastic gamer, part-time streamer, or a "filthy casual," the Blue Yeti X is a microphone worth purchasing for the sound quality alone.

Pros:

• Latency-free playback
• Great sound quality
• Bi-directional, omnidirectional, and stereo
• USB interface
• Compatible with microphone mounts

Cons:

• No XLR support

Best Overall

Blue Yeti X

$198 at Amazon

$130 at Best Buy

The best for streamers who don't want any hassle

Tried and tested microphone built around three condenser capsules. It includes bi-directional, omnidirectional, and stereo.

Runner-up: Audio-Technica AT2020USB+

Audio-Technica makes some great microphones, and the AT2020USB+ is a stunner. In fact, it's hard to believe this thing costs what it does. Just like the Blue Yeti, you can plug this microphone into your PC using a USB cable. You can also hook up your favorite pair of cans to hear what the device picks up.

Using the cardioid polar pattern allows the microphone to better capture your voice alone, more effectively shielding it against distortion from the unit's sides or rear. The AT2020USB+ is ideal for podcasting, gaming, field recording, and home studio recording, depending on what you plan to use it for. Just don't expect to use XLR cabling and equipment with this mic, unless you buy the non-USB version, of course.

Pros:

• Excellent audio
• USB interface
• Compatible with microphone mounts
• Affordable price

Cons:

• No built-in pop filter

Runner-up

Audio-Technica AT2020USB+

$199 at Amazon

$199 at Newegg

A stunning, affordable microphone

Perfect for streaming, Audio-Technica's AT2020USB+ microphone delivers high-quality, professional sound at a great price too.

Premium Sound: Aston Stealth

Aston is a British brand specializing in microphones and audio equipment. The Aston Stealth is the company's attempt at creating a microphone for streamers and gamers, packing in all the advanced features you'd expect from an Aston mic, including profiles that alter more than just EQ values.

Using an XLR interface, you can hook this thing up to your available mixer, and the sleek black design looks great with any PC setup. It's also built like a tank, designed to take a beating or two should you decide to use one in a live stage environment.

Should you be looking out for a new premium condenser microphone, the Stealth is a cracking studio solution that can easily take your audio to the next level. It'll likely be overkill for most gamers and beginner streamers, but when you're ready to move up to premium equipment, the Aston Stealth should be shortlisted.

Pros:

• Built-in Class A preamp
• Excellent audio recording
• Four switchable voicings
• Passive and active modes
• Sleek solid design

Cons:

• Large and heavy
• Expensive

Premium Sound

Aston Stealth

$379 at Amazon

$380 at Newegg

This is one killer studio microphone

The Blue Yeti is excellent, so too is Razer's Siren and HyperX QuadCast, but Aston has something extraordinary with the Stealth.

Gamer's Delight: HyperX QuadCast

HyperX is a reliable brand that produces some killer PC accessories and gaming hardware, including some excellent headsets. The company's first attempt at a standalone microphone resulted in the HyperX QuadCast, and you should consider it for your gaming setup.

Not only does it look solid and is durable enough for use on the go, but the QuadCast also offers excellent audio recording capabilities, a total of four polar patterns to choose from, and supports most mounts and stands out there, depending on dimensions. The only downside may be the red RGB lighting, which cannot be disabled.

Pros:

• Solid design
• Headphone output
• Good sound quality
• Four polar patterns
• Support for mounts and stands

Cons:

• Can't turn lighting off

Gamer's Delight

HyperX QuadCast

$185 at Newegg

$140 at Best Buy

Almost perfect

HyperX opted to include everything you need with the QuadCast, including a built-in pop filter and shock mount. It's almost perfect.

Portable Pick: Razer Seiren X

When you find yourself switching locations frequently and need a microphone that can be taken along for the ride, the Razer Seiren X is one you can rely on. Thanks to its built-in shock mount, this microphone can quickly be attached to different mounts without much hassle. It has a super-cardioid pickup pattern, which is more focused on your voice and does a solid job of isolating background noise.

Throw in zero-latency monitoring through headphones, and you've got a great package at a great price. Usually, with Razer hardware, you'd expect to pay a small premium, but this microphone is rather affordable. The only things holding this microphone back are the ever-so-slightly lower quality compared to some of the other offerings here, as well as an adapter to attach a boom arm.

Pros:

• Solid design
• Great portability
• Headphone output
• Built-in shock mount

Cons:

• Need an adapter to attach to a boom arm

Portable Pick

Razer Seiren X

$119 from Amazon $71.44 at Walmart

Affordable, portable, and packed full of features

The Razer Seiren X is Razer's most affordable microphone and comes with a built-in shock mount — built inside the mic, no less.

Value Pick: AmazonBasics Desktop Mini

The AmazonBasics Desktop Mini microphone is surprisingly good. You wouldn't think it would be worth considering the price, but the online retail giant has shocked us with other products. This mic is no exception. It's not the best-sounding microphone out there, but you shouldn't expect that.

The affordable price is matched by an easy-to-use USB interface that lets you simply plug and speak. That's also a highlight if you're just starting out and don't fancy diving into the deep end when it comes to audio equipment. But when you want to get serious with streaming, you'll want to invest in a better microphone.

Pros:

• Basic
• Affordable
• USB interface
• Easy to use
• Sounds good

Cons:

• Not as good as other mics
• No zero-latency monitoring

Value Pick

AmazonBasics Desktop Mini

$43 at Amazon

When you only need a basic mic

You don't have to pay out for an expensive microphone to sound good enough when starting on your stream. Amazon has you covered.

Bottom line

The Blue Yeti X is a reliable microphone that offers high-quality recording for any streamer. That said, it's not the best solution for every streamer, which is where our alternative picks come into play.

When you're ready to go full-time with streaming, a microphone like the Aston Stealth would be a solid purchase. It sounds incredible, offers some advanced recording features like profile switching, and will work with most mixer setups.

With a great microphone from our list, all you need is a webcam. We rounded up the best webcams for Twitch to compliment your streaming setup.

Credits — The team that worked on this guide

Rich Edmonds is a staff reviewer at Windows Central, which means he tests out more software and hardware than he cares to remember. Joining Mobile Nations in 2010, you can usually find him inside a PC case tinkering around when not at a screen fighting with Grammarly to use British words. Hit him up on Twitter: @RichEdmonds.

Jez Corden is a full-time writer for Windows Central, focusing on Xbox, Surface, and Windows PC. He spends the vast majority of his game gaming or writing about gaming, with a mission to provide gamers in the Microsoft ecosystem the best and most up-to-date info possible.

Richard Devine is a Reviews Editor at Windows Central. You'll usually find him deep in hardware, gaming, both, or drinking root beer for which he openly has a mild addiction.