So, looks like ModMic are making a bit of a resurgence. We’ve just received our’s, courtesy of the audio brand for this review, and we’ve noticed a few new videos appear in our YouTube feeds already, which is great. It’s a little early in our video to say that we already know that the ModMic is a superb product, they’ve been a part of the gaming industry for a long while now.
Measuring around 7.5-inches end to end, the ModMic Wireless is a small modular microphone that sits on the end of a boom arm. Being fully modular it means that it can be used with “any” set of headphones, as the small magnetic adapter “simply” sticks to the side of your headphones. Being wireless there’s a small USB dongle included in the box too, and the entire product is completely plug and play and is even compatible with games consoles too. Just attach the dongle to one of the USB ports on your console and away you go.
Now, I put “any” and “simply” in air quotes, because although that’s how it’s advertised, I did have a bit of an issue with the pre-applied 3M adhesive pad on mine. I use a set of 512 Audio headphones while gaming, and it has a shiny, slightly embossed 512 Audio logo on the side, and the mic just wouldn’t stick to the side of the headphones with just the pre-applied 3M pad on the controller. I had to apply the spare circular adhesive pad you get in the box to the headphones first, make sure that was stuck down, and then stick the ModMic magnet to that pad. It’s on there now and is very tough, but do be cautious if you have any accented branding on the side of your headphones. A plain set of cans would work best. While we’re on the disk, the boom arm can move and be secured in a vertical position if you’re wanting to move the microphone out of the way of your mouth, similar to a traditional gaming headset. A bit of an issue for me though is the fact that for the most comfortable fit, the ModMic Wireless needs to really be attached to the right earcup. There’s a microUSB port on the controller to charge the device, and if mounted on the right earcup, the port aims downwards. Mount on the left earcup though and the port aims upwards, making it a bit of an issue if you’re wanting to use the mic while it’s charging. You’ll get 12 hours of battery life out of this thing which is more than perfect for a day’s work or even heavier gaming sessions.
Connecting the microphone and dongle together was extremely simple. Hold down the button on the side of the ModMic and it’ll flash blue to indicate it’s searching. Do the same with the dongle, it’ll flash blue, and the two will connect. It sees it inside of Windows as a ModMic in your sound settings, and you’re good to go. There was no faffing around with getting the two to see each other, or unplugging and plugging back in or even software to mess around with, and I haven’t had an issue each time I’ve wanted to use the ModMic to play games. There are three indicator lights on both the Mod Mic and the dongle itself. Blue represents them being connected, a low battery which is orange or even charging when plugged in and muted is red. You mute the microphone by pressing the button in the centre of the controller. It’s easy to feel when playing games and has a nice satisfying click so you know you’ve pressed it. I will say it doesn’t cut the microphone sound straight away and can result in a slight thud for people listening to you. but this is fairly minimal.
The ModMic comes with two polar patterns, and this can be switched using the toggle on the end of the microphone. The first is a uni-directional polar pattern, which I used I would say 95% of the time while playing games as it did a great job of dulling out the sound of my keyboard clattering away and also the faint hum of my PC fans at the sacrifice of my voice sounding a little compressed. The second pattern is an omnidirectional pickup pattern, which is designed to capture voices from the front and rear of the microphone segment and offers a much wider sound but you do hear the clicks of a keyboard and a subtle fan whir on my setup. There is a small pop filter/windshield that comes with it, to save you from those plosive sounds. Now by this point, you’ve probably heard what a ModMic Wireless sounds like, but if not, here’s an example.
From that, I can honestly say that this microphone sounds absolutely incredible and way better than a traditional gaming headset, bar maybe some of the higher-priced entries in the market. It’s definitely a microphone that you could happily use to stream, without your audience getting annoyed at the audio quality. It offers a much warmer and clearer tone if you’re comparing it to more traditional gaming headsets. But saying that, it doesn’t quite match the quality you can get out of a proper streaming setup, or podcast type setups, like mine here with my Rode Procaster and GoXLR Mini combo, or for the price tag of this ModMic Wireless, you could even consider something like an Elgato Wave 3 or one of the cheaper Blue Yeti microphones which will offer a less compressed sound. But you’ve also got to take into consideration that this is a tiny microphone that sticks to the side of your existing headphones, your desk real estate can be significantly increased by not having a boom arm stretched across it to get to you. Well, that was the case with my setup anyway.
Now I am dead impressed with the Mod Mic Wireless, and I was even told by people I play with that I sounded no different on Discord when switching between my Rode Procaster and Mod Mic Wireless when talking to them in Discord. Compression of course will play a big part in this though so do take that into consideration, and yes, while a bigger podcast type setup may sound clearer when recording audio, the Mod Mic Wireless is still a fantastic addition to your gaming setup which gives users the chance to use their favourite headphones while gaming. For more information, head over to the ModMic website.
