Audio is the most important part
of any content creators work.
And filming in a room full of echo
could really ruin a video.
So Elgato decided
to step into the audio space once again
and release these,
the Elgato Wave Panels,
their new modular
acoustic treatment system.
Hey, I'm Chris Wilmshurst
and this right here
is an Elgato Wave Panel.
The panels are sold in a starter kit
with six for around £110
and a two pack add on kit for £40.
They certainly aren't cheap,
but compared to the basic foam panels
you can pick up from Amazon
and professional acoustic panels.
They sit right in the middle,
so let's take a closer look.
The foam panels come in
this hexagonal shape
and feature a dual density construction.
The lower level fiber
is thicker to absorb low end frequencies
and the top level
is softer and it's great
for high end frequencies.
The foam currently comes in two designs.
This is one of them
and you'll get three
of each in a starter kit.
Currently you can only buy them in black,
but Elgato has stated blue is coming
and they are open to suggestions
on other colours.
The bracket design is really smart.
6 pieces clip together at the ends
to create a hexagon shape.
There are then mounting points
for the foam holes
for drilling into the wall
and mounting slots
for the supplied connectors.
The brackets are made
of a lightweight plastic
and they're very brittle,
so be careful with them.
They do break very easily like this one.
It fell off the wall and snapped
at the join in two places,
so it's currently
being held on the wall with 3M tape.
The mounting tape supplied isn't the best.
I'd highly recommend
picking up some of this
3M double sided tape
as it doesn't leave any marks,
and from the three or four times
I've rearranged them it's
been very strong.
The supply connectors
are a really intuitive way
to layout your panels.
They make sure each panel
is aligned perfectly
and allows the foam to connect
so there isn't any dead space.
Once I had them up on the wall,
I started to think to myself
that six just wasn't enough.
I work in the corner of my room
and film videos there from time to time
and I felt that I would probably need
about six to twelve to make it
more visually appealing.
I'm not 100% settled on how
it is right now,
but I'm glad I can easily
pop them off and rearrange them
whenever I like.
But looks aside,
will they actually cut down on echo?
Now before we start,
I just want to say
how good these panels are from
an installation perspective,
I can just take them on
and off with ease
and this will make
testing so much faster.
Well done Elgato.
So how am I going to test them?
Well, we've got four microphones laid out
and I'm going to do the test
with the panels on and the panels off.
I've got a Maono USB microphone here.
The Shure SM7B here.
just out of shot
is the Rode VideoMic Pro+,
and on me is a lav mic.
So let's find out.
This is a test of the Elgato
Wave Panels without foam.
This is a test of the Elgato wave panels with foam.
This is a test of the Elgato
Wave Panels without foam.
This is a test of the Elgato
Wave Panels with foam.
This is a test of the Elgato
Wave Panels without foam.
This is a test of the Elgato
Wave Panels with foam.
This is a test of the Elgato
Wave Panels without foam.
This is a test of the Elgato
Wave Panels with foam.
And to my surprise,
in the corner, it does seem like
there is a small difference
to the overall echo.
From my impressions, it isn't drastic,
but there is a noticeable difference.
Now the only question
you have to ask yourself is,
is, is that small difference worth spending £100 on?
I think to get a huge difference in sound
I would need to fill
the majority of this room
with them, and realistically
that will probably set me back
about £1200.
I don't have £1200 to spend
and I wouldn't want to personally
fill my whole room
with hexagonal foam pieces.
I mean they look good,
but I don't like them that much.
Now I do believe
what Elgato are doing here is great
and the moves they keep making
in the streaming and content creation
space is very much needed,
But the Wave Panels are expensive
and it's very hard to look past that.
I'll personally be sticking with the six
I have for the foreseeable future,
as I just can't justify
spending that much more money on them,
but you might have more
expendable income than me.
And that's my impressions
on the Elgato Wave Panels.
What do you think?
Do you like what
Elgato is doing with these?
Do you think they
make a substantial enough difference?
Well, let me know in the comments,
and if you're not already
subscribed, please consider doing so.
Thanks for watching
and I'll see you in the next one.