There are times when it's important to admit that you're wrong and when it's
okay for others to say, "I told you so."
And this is one of those times.
Wave-o hello to the Elgato Wave Mic Arm, which is something that people
have recommended and suggested to me and told me about for years.
And I just didn't listen until now when I have one and I started
using it and I realized that it's, it's my favorite boom arm.
It has an MSRP of $99, but it regularly goes on sale for
$20 to $30 less than that.
I found it on sale recently and thought hey, now's a good time to sort of jump in
and, and see what the hype's all about.
I had very low expectations.
I thought I was just going to put it here to replace my Rode PSA1 Plus
for a couple of weeks while I used it to sort of form an opinion about it.
But as of, I have no plans to put the Rode boom arm back.
I cannot tell you, this is not a perfect boom arm.
I don't think that there is such a thing as a perfect boom arm.
And at the end of this video I'll go into what I think would be a perfect
boom arm, but this is about as close as I have found to a perfect boom,
at least what I'm looking for in what I think would be a perfect boom arm,
which I have a feeling I'm not the only one who feels this way So let's
talk all about the Elgato Wave Mic Arm.
And we'll just go bottom to top every part of this arm, starting with the clamp
itself, which I think is actually perfect.
I don't think that you could design a better mic boom arm clamp.
Other companies get close, like these Rode mounts are pretty decent for
the PSA1 but they're a little funky.
This part kind of hurts your hand a little bit.
It doesn't have a full, full grip.
This has really nice, like, strong, grippy parts.
It has rubber on the top and the bottom, so it's not going to leave marks on your
desk or whatever surface you clamp it to.
And it has a ratcheting clamper arm knob, which makes it easy to get a
lot of leverage to keep the arm tight, but also lets you then, if you're
mounting it against a surface where you can't do full rotations, you can then
ratchet the lever to still get full
tightness even though you can't turn it all the way around.
So now what i'm going to do actually is I just disassembled the Elgato
arm and i'm switching over to the PodMic USB on the Rode PSA1 Plus
so I can assemble this arm and show you piece by piece how great it is.
Once you've got the clamp attached nice and firmly that's when you can just pop
in the boom arm itself, and then it is basically the same height as the Rode PSA1
Plus and kind of a standard mic boom arm.
But I think one of the coolest selling points of the Elgato arm is this totally
tubular tube that comes with it because what this does, you can put this in
the clamp first, then the arm, and now you have a much taller boom arm if
you need that extra height, that extra reach, or you just want to keep your
microphone a little higher off the desk.
With this arm right here, when I use some of these attachments here, which
we'll talk about in a little bit, and I put the mic down, it's so low that
then the mic can hit the table, which is annoying and possibly damaging
to the microphone or the cables.
This one, because of this extra height, is perfect.
And if I want to stand up and use the boom arm, there's more than
enough height for that if I need to get a little further over.
It sort of gives me a little bit of extra reach.
I've just found that it adds in a lot of versatility.
The Elgato Wave Arm does have what I think is the best cable
management that I've found so far.
You can see arms like this, the Rode PSA1 Plus, they have clips and these are
great at keeping your cables organized, but if you need to adjust them, like
if I switch microphones and I need more or less cable, I can't just pull it.
I have to unclip each of these, move it a little bit and then reclip it.
Not that that's difficult, that it only takes a few seconds.
But when you're making a lot of fine adjustments it can be a little bit
tedious and a little bit annoying.
The original Rode PSA 1 just comes with these little Velcro straps that then you
just Velcro your cable to the mic arm, and that actually works well because
you can then adjust the length of it.
And the most nitpicky critique that I will probably have of any product is that
Rode only gives you three Velcro ties with a PSA 1 boom arm, which doesn't make
sense because there should be two here.
So I've had to cannibalize one from other things.
It makes no sense to have only one tie on this part and then the cable
just kind of hangs and flails loose.
I don't know why they don't give you four instead of three.
But anyway, this system works fairly effectively.
There are other arms like the Elgato Low Profile arm, which has sort of this
magnetic cable management thing, which is very cool until you start pulling the
cable and then it pops off the magnet covers and it kind of becomes a little
bit annoying and a little bit of a hassle.
The Elgato Wave arm, the tall arm like this, allows you to just run your cable
either an xlr cable or a usb cable through this channel right here and then
just sort of has these rubber plugs that just kind of pop in here and hold the
cable in place but if you need to change the length of the cable you can just
pull and adjust the cable very easily because it's not clipped in or tied down.
So if you're like me and you switch microphones a lot and you need sort
of different lengths of cable, this makes it really easy while also
keeping things super organized.
I guess if I had a complaint- not that I have many, is that it doesn't
come with any sort of tie for this extension tube, so your your cable kind
of just floats around so I had to take another Rode velcro thing from an XLR
cable and then I just put that here
and now my cable is nice and organized.
And so the Elgato Wave Arm itself is nice enough.
The skeleton of the arm is metal.
It feels very much like there's probably just something that looks
a lot like a Rode PSA 1 in here.
But it has this outer plastic casing, which I think actually looks really nice
on camera, but it feels kind of cheap.
So the PSA1 Plus has this fabric here, which usually comes with
big logos that I took off of mine.
This doesn't have any logos or anything other than this little subtle one right
here, but this plasticky-ness definitely does make the arm feel kind of cheap.
I don't think it's going to fall apart.
I don't think it's cheaply made.
I just, it doesn't feel great when you use it.
But it does come just with a metal counterweight that can go
right on the end here if you want.
You don't have to use this, but if you find that the boom arm is not
staying put where you want, especially if you're using a very lightweight
microphone, this counterweight will sort of help counteract that balance.
Now even though I've been mainly using a heavier-ish mic, like the SM7B with
this boom arm, I have been using the counterweight because I like the extra
heft and the extra sort of sturdiness that it gives the otherwise semi plasticky
feeling boom arm, and it just sort of makes it feel a little bit better.
And then we have the mount itself, which is the same as the Low Profile
arm that I've had for a while.
It's sort of this weird little nubbin that Elgato uses, and it works fine.
The downside is that it's fairly proprietary, so you can kind of
only use their ball mount that comes with the arm, which works well,
so it's not like that's a problem.
This sort of clamps around here, and then you tighten it down, and then
you have a ball mount, which I've had a ball with because it allows for so
much versatility in mic placement.
Much better than pretty much any other mount that I have found.
A really weird thing with this mount though is that it comes with a 1/4
20, which is very much not a standard microphone size, usually 3/8 or 5/8.
It does come with 3/8 nd 5/8 adapters, so right out of the box
you can use it with any microphone.
But adapters are always a little bit annoying to use.
I'm guessing that Elgato thinks you could probably also use this for cameras
and lights, and so a 1/4 20 is more universal, which is why they put that
instead of a 3/8 or 5/8, and it's easier to adapt bigger than to adapt smaller.
So I'm guessing that's why they did that.
So now that the Wave Arm is fully set up again, I'm back on the SM7B over here.
And it works really well if you want to do this sort of traditional
positioning where the the mic is, you know, on a boom arm like this.
But I've also found it works well if you want to position the mic a little lower
or at different angles, which is nice.
And see how I have this little extra loop here.
Now I can just pull this.
straight and now there's no extra tension in my mic cable.
So this ball mount adds some nice versatility because as you can see
what I've been using here is actually something that I really love and recommend
which is this little Audio Technica-
this by itself is quite expensive.
It's like $40 or $50.
This is the Audio Technica AT8459.
I'm getting really good at remembering Audio Technica product names.
And it is incredibly heavy duty.
So it just has a 5/8 and a 5/8 mount on either side and that way you can attach
it to a mic arm or a mic stand and then you have all kinds of versatility.
But the cool thing is once you lock it down it's really really sturdy so
the mic isn't going to go anywhere once you have it positioned like that.
And the reason I've been using it is because on other boom arms like the
PSA1 and the PSA1 plus even though Rode redesigned this mount on the PSA1 Plus,
it's still not as versatile as I'd like it to be.
It is better than the mount on the original PSA1, but it still doesn't have
all the versatility that I would like.
And so I've been adding on this because some of my microphones,
like the Lewitt LCT240 Pro, have these very specific shock mounts.
So microphones like the SM7B or the PodMic, it's a little easier to
position them, and they have their own built in yokes, and they can sort of
adapt to a wider variety of boom arms.
But a lot of microphones, especially condensers that come with sort
of very proprietary shock mounts.
I have a problem with that because if I have a boom arm like this where it's to
the side of me, which is a very common place for a boom arm to be, and you have
this mic that has to be facing forward in its shock mount, there's no way to
position the mic facing you where you need it to be because you can't pivot here.
So by adding in this adapter, it adds in that extra versatility and then
I can position the mic where I want.
I have been using this sometimes on the Elgato arm to add in even extra
adaptability and versatility, but it's not 100 percent necessary anymore.
Now I can have the Lewitt LCT 240 or the 440 Pro facing me exactly as I need to,
even though the boom arm comes out from the side and I don't need any additional
adapters or mounts to make that possible.
From what I can see, the Elgato Wave Arm makes it possible to use
basically any microphone in any mount and have it positioned where
you need it to be positioned.
It does do the same thing that the Rode arms do, which is really nice.
As I raise or lower the arm, the microphone doesn't
change the angle of the mic.
There are some cheaper boom arms that when you move them, then the
mic actually changes its angle.
So this keeps it, whether it's high or low, it keeps it at the same
angle and kind of keeps it level and lets me position it wherever I need.
And I guess we should here too, it doesn't, it doesn't do a really a
better or worse job at rejecting handling noise than any other
boom arm does or table noise.
It pretty much functions exactly the same as the Rode arms do.
And in case you're wondering, the Elgato arm is rated to hold
microphones weighing between 250 and 1000 grams, which is about just over
half a pound to just over two pounds.
Now when I said there's no such thing as a perfect boom arm, this
is pretty close because it kind of does everything that I want.
The only things that I don't really like about this arm, which aren't deal
breakers, is the plasticky construction.
It just, it looks better on camera than it feels in person, but I don't think
it's going to fall apart anytime soon.
I've been using the Rode arms, I've been using the PSA1 Plus since it was
released about two years ago at this point, and I've been using the original
PSA1s for like over ten years, both personally and professionally, and
they've always held up really well.
So they're very reliable arms.
I haven't used the Elgato arm long enough, that long, to say if it's going
to hold up the same way that those arms do, but I don't see, even with
the plasticky-ness, I don't really see any reason that this would suddenly
start falling apart after six months.
I love that they include the extension arm with the boom arm, because even
if you don't think you need it, If your setup changes over time, you know
that the arm can adapt to whatever you need if you need more height or less
you've got that right there and you don't have to like buy anything extra.
The versatility of the ball mount is great like I just showed but there is
really no way to use anything else other than this elgato proprietary mount, which
fortunately is pretty decent, but this is where most boom arms drop the ball.
Here's what I would like with a perfect boom arm: I think there
are so many companies out there that make a really great arm.
There's an army of great arms out there.
A lot of companies kind of whiff it when it comes to the mount down here.
Fortunately, like Rode and Elgato, they make good mounts and good
clamps that work really well.
It's always here, where you have to actually attach your microphone.
This is where things like usability,
the reliability just isn't there.
I think that any decent mic arm should allow you to position the mic horizontally
and vertically because that is going to then let you do what I'm doing right
here and position the mic exactly where you need it regardless of the direction
that the boom arm is coming in from.
And while the Elgato arm works pretty well, a problem is just
gravity, believe it or not.
I hope you understand the gravity of this situation.
Sometimes if you're using mics, especially when you have adapters and things, If
they're tilted just a little bit and the center of gravity is off, then
the mic can start unscrewing itself and come loose sort of like that.
It hasn't been much of a problem with this arm, but I would love
for it to never be a problem.
This is an iFootage articulating arm for like, you know, monitors
and lights and things, and attaching them to cameras and cages and stuff.
This has a knob that you loosen, you can adjust the arm, and then you tighten it.
But take a look at these teeth on this arm and how just sort of
like much they chomp in there.
Once you tighten this down, you can't accidentally move it at all What I
would love is a boom arm like this.
This is perfect Maybe a little better build quality the Rode boom
arms definitely feel like they have significantly better build quality than
the elgato one So the versatility of the elgato arm Combined with the build quality
of the Rode arms, but when we get down here to this part, I would love basically
an eye footage type arm or mount.
So I would love to see an arm where here there's almost like multiple of these
joints, one horizontal and one vertical.
So that way with just one hand, you can unlock it.
Adjust the arm where you need it, and then firmly lock it into
place, and nothing can move it.
Doesn't matter how off center the gravity of the microphone is or anything
like that, it won't go anywhere.
To me, that seems like the simplest design idea in the world, but nobody
has done it, so maybe iFootage needs to be the one to do it, since they make
these arms and they work really well.
And the reason I said it's important to have only one knob instead
of two is because on an arm like the Rode ones, where you have to
use both hands to adjust these knobs and then the microphone it sort of feels
awkward and you kind of find yourself doing this sort of thing a lot which
is just awkward and uncomfortable.
At least the Elgato here I can do one hand to adjust this.
The other hand to move the microphone and then lock it down.
So you always need to be able to have one hand adjusting the arm and one
hand holding and moving the microphone.
Especially- you want to take care of any microphone, but imagine if
you have a really high end one.
What if you have like a Neumann $9,000 microphone?
You're Podcastage and you've got a $9,000 microphone (not
that I'm jealous or anything).
And you want to make sure that when you're adjusting it, you're holding it
nice and securely so it doesn't fall or risk falling and getting damaged.
So that's been my frustration with boom arms all these years is that I
feel like they get 85 or 90 percent of the way to being perfect and then it's
like they just clocked out for lunch and we're just like, "Ah, it's fine."
So that's how I would make a boom arm if I could make one from scratch,
but until the time comes that I can manufacture my own boom arm from
scratch the Elgato Wave Arm is the closest one I found to being perfect.
And I'm so surprised because I really overlooked it for just such a long time.
And speaking of things you definitely don't want to overlook for a long
time, thank you to everyone who helps support my channel through Patreon
and YouTube Channel Memberships.
If you'd like to support the channel, the perks are the same between YouTube
and Patreon, so it just depends on which platform you prefer, and then
you could have your name on screen, like all these fine folks here.
And believe it or not, there's a lot to say about boom arms, so I do have several
other boom arm reviews and comparisons if you'd like to check those out right here.