Best Microphone For Gaming in 2024 – Budget, Standalone, USB & More
Our Shortlist Of The Best Gaming Microphones, Whatever Your Requirements
If you’ve come searching for the best mic for gaming, look no further. With various great options at each price range, you’re sure to find the best standalone microphone for gaming to suit your needs.
We’ve gathered a list of great mics at various price ranges, all competing for one goal: to be the best microphone for gaming. Depending on your needs, all of these mics could fit that bill for you but, together, we’re going to find out which one will suit your needs the best.
There are seven microphones to choose from in this article. Of those seven, roughly four are considered overkill for gaming purposes and are only advised if you have non-gaming needs, such as vocal and audio recording.
The first three microphones in this article, however, are powerful and versatile solutions for gamers everywhere. In fact, a few of them can also be used for other purposes, too!
Ultimately, what you settle on is wholly dependent on your budget and whether or not your needs stretch past just gaming. Stick with us and we’ll tackle all of these mics for your reading and gaming pleasure.
Our Top Picks
What Do I Need For Gaming Purposes?
As you may have gathered from our roundup, a few of these mics are a bit impractical for gaming due to their pricing compared to ingame sound quality.
In our opinion, everything up and including the Blue Snowball is practical for a gaming-only audio experience. The Snowball is also versatile enough to be used for other applications, making it a popular mic among Twitch streamers worldwide.
From the AT2020 and onward, however, you’re breaching overkill territory. At this point, you should only be buying the microphone if you plan on using it for other things, or if you want the flexibility to one day use it for those other things.
Ingame voice codecs aren’t usually that great and get significantly worse in older titles. A $250 mic and a $100 mic will sound virtually identical to your teammates in-game, so you really shouldn’t blow up your wallet if you don’t need to.
We opted to include these other options in case gaming wasn’t your only concern. If you’re also serious about Twitch streaming, YouTube video creation or even music recording, these other mics are here for you.
You’ll probably want a decent pair of headphones too, particularly for streaming, we recently reviewed Corsair’s Virtuoso Pro open-back headphones, designed specifically for hi-fi audio, and with streamers in mind.
Some Extras You Should Get
First, get a pop filter. Aside from the ModMic, none of the mics on this list have a pop filter and without one your Ps and your Bs are going to be noticeably loud in your voice comms.
Second, if your mic necessitates it or you just want more flexibility, it’s worth investing in a mic scissor arm stand. These are large constructs that will be somewhat cumbersome to set up, but will ultimately save you desk space and adjustment headaches in the future.
The The 7 Best Gaming Micropones For 2021
In-depth Review
- Overkill for gaming, astounding for other purposes
- Plentiful directional options
- Best directional range
- Best sensitivity
- More reputable manufacturer, higher build quality
- Extremely expensive for a gaming mic
- No included pop filter
The Yeti Pro is a god-tier mic for most people and it has the $250 price tag to match. This beast of a microphone can handle anything you throw at it with ease and will offer the best sound quality for gaming, streaming, vocal recording, and more.
For gaming purposes, though… this is a little bit unnecessary.
- Overkill for gaming, astounding for other purposes
- Plentiful directional options
- Best directional range
- Best sensitivity
- More reputable manufacturer, higher build quality
- Extremely expensive for a gaming mic
- No included pop filter
As with the Yeti-Pro the same applies here – The Razer Seiren Elite offers amazing sound quality and recording, but far beyond what is practically needed for any gaming scenario. This may surprise those that are accustomed to Razer as a gaming brand.
If you’re seriously considering buying one of the Pro mics, do so only if you’re serious about non-gaming applications. Otherwise, pick one of our cheaper options.
- Overkill for gaming, great for other purposes
- Plentiful directional options
- Great directional range
- Great sensitivity
- More reputable manufacturer, higher build quality
- Expensive for a gaming mic
- No included pop filter
The Yeti is a bit more expensive than the AT2020 (listed below), but also boasts higher sound quality and more suitability for gaming.
While its stand may be comparable to Fifine’s Plug & Play, the increased range and sensitivity of this mic means that it doesn’t need to be placed between you and your keyboard for a good recording experience. Unlike the Snowball, it’s also much smaller and doesn’t stick out on your desk at all.
As far as gaming microphones go, this is about where all sense of practicality ends, since your gaming applications won’t have any benefit from the increasing sound quality anymore.
However, by buying this mic, you’ll also be pretty much set for any other uses that come to mind, including streaming and recording.
- Slight overkill for gaming, pretty good for other purposes
- Plentiful directional options
- Good directional range
- Good sensitivity
- More reputable manufacturer, higher build quality
- Expensive for a gaming mic
- No included pop filter
- Buying extra mic stand essentially required
The AT2020 comes in around $100 on most days and offers superior range and sensitivity to the Snowball as well.
The AT2020 is one of the most popular budget picks for people who are serious about recording audio. It’s popular among musicians running home studios and is more than enough for an awesome gaming audio experience.
Unfortunately, it has no included stand or arm. To use this for gaming, you’ll have to buy something extra in order to utilize it: there’s no real way around this, unfortunately.
For solely gaming purposes, it’s still a bit overkill. But, if you want to do some high-end audio on the side, the AT2020 is a viable choice. Just remember to buy a stand and pop filter with it.
- Great for gaming, good for other purposes
- Included tripod means no need to buy a stand
- Can be used at a healthy distance for game chat
- Plentiful directional options
- Good directional range
- Good (estimated) sensitivity
- More reputable manufacturer, higher build quality
- Costly for gaming purposes
- No included pop filter
The Snowball has great all-around sound quality, making it perfect for gaming and good for other usage scenarios as well.
One of its greatest achievements, however, are in its included adjustable tripod and high range/sensitivity. Thanks to these combined elements, you can place the mic at a healthy distance away from you on your desk.
You only need to simply point it in your direction for the best result.
In addition to its ideal form factor and sound quality, there are plentiful directional options for multiple usage scenarios. This is also the first mic on this list that comes from a high-end audio company, so it’s much better built than the ones before it.
If you’re trying to find a middle ground between gaming utility and other uses, the Snowball comes highly recommended. At $70, though, it’ll cost you.
- Good for gaming, OK for other purposes
- Great budget desktop mic
- No included pop filter
- Low frequency range
- Low sensitivity
- Included stand requires you place mic between you and your keyboard
Fifine’s Plug & Play Mic could easily be considered the best microphone for gaming under $50. It also competes for best desktop mic for gaming, but it doesn’t quite reach that territory.
It’s also surprisingly gorgeous, considering its price range. Its flamboyant, golden design is sure to stick out on your desk.
The main downside of this microphone is shared by a lot of the others: the included stand pretty much requires you to place the mic right in front of you for the best results. This can be awkward when trying to make room on your desk and figuring out the right angling.
However, it’s uncontested among entry-level microphones. You aren’t gonna find anything better than this for under $50 and it will prove quite adequate for gaming purposes.
It’s also okay for other purposes, like vocal recording, but will require some extra audio editing and the such on your part for everything to sound good. At only $30, though, who can complain?
- Great budget mic
- Good for gaming but not much else
- Form factor is very convenient Included pop filter
- Can be attached to existing headphones
- Lowest frequency range
- Lowest sensitivity
- Few directional options
- Not very good outside of gaming scenarios
The ModMic is often called the best budget mic for gaming, considering it’s dirt-cheap, better than your usual headset mic and can be attached to your pre-existing headphones. It’s also the best clip on mic for gaming, for sure.
Also, unlike other options on this list, it has an included pop filter! This means that your setup and extra investment is minimal.
All you have to do is plug it in, clip it onto your headset and you’re in business.
While this mic is garbage for non-gaming purposes, it’s fairly effective at just-gaming purposes. Most ingame audio codecs aren’t going to support great audio quality, and you don’t need high sensitivity or frequency range if you’re talking right into the mic.
The ModMic is the budget gaming mic option. But, if you buy it, note that it’s not good for much else at all.
Final Word
And that’s it!
Hopefully, reading this article helped you find the best microphone for gaming…for you.
If gaming is your absolute only concern, the ModMic or the Fifine Plug & Play should serve you well.
If you want room for professional-level audio recording and streaming, the Snowball is a great middle-of-the-road option. If you’re serious about pro applications in addition to gaming, you can also opt for one of the $100+ mics.
There’s no real wrong answer here. Get the one you want, and tell us about it below!
WePC is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Prices subject to change. Learn more
