You want a great sounding microphone that’s also affordable?

Well, a lot of streamers love the Elgato Wave microphones.

But if you’re trying to decide whether the Wave 1 is the right live streaming microphone for you or you should go for the Wave 3, I’ll help you make that decision today.

[Check out those waves, bro…]

I’m going to give you a side by side comparison so you can hear the microphones yourself. And then we’ll talk about the similarities and the differences between the Wave 1 and the Wave 3.

I’ve got both mics in a similar position side by side, and I’m recording both of them at the same time.

They’re both at about 50% on volume and I’m about six inches away from the mics.

[The things that make me different are the things that make me me.]

[The things that make me different are the things that make me me.]

And now I’m about 2ft away from the mic, and obviously the closer you are to the mics, the better the audio.

Headphone warning! We’re about to turn off the volume.

This is the volume at about 75% on both mics.

Now we’re at about 100% beware of clipping beware of clipping.

Now I’m going to be silent for a second so you can hear just the room noise.

[silence with background noise]

Now I’m back at 50% because that’s more of a reasonable volume.

Now, some people tend to type while streaming, so here’s how that would sound.

[typing bunch of gibberish]

And if you happen to be a desk hitter, here’s how that sounds.

By the way, we have a video to show you how to create a super, super simple studio setup that’s coming out soon.

So if you don’t want to miss that, go ahead and click subscribe.

Turn on the bell notification so you get notified.

The Elgato Wave 1 is $129 and the Elgato Wave 3 is $159, so a $30 difference, at least at the time I’m recording this.

Links in the description actually have current pricing.

They both have a cardioid polar pattern, which is designed for voice, and it does a good job at isolating room noise as long as you’re placing it properly.

A cardioid polar pattern is both sensitive to the audio coming from the front of the mic rather than the sides or the rear.

They both have a similar frequency response, meaning that it can pick up the highs and lows of different types of voices.

They both have a clip guard, which automatically prevents distortion of your audio if you get too loud.

They’re both compatible with a Stream Deck, meaning all of the functions that you get with the physical dial you could actually control through Stream Deck.

And they both work with Wave Link.

And this is an eight channel software mixer, and it does more.

And I have an entire video all about that.

So don’t forget to hit subscribe.

Turn on that bell notification so you don’t miss it when it comes out.

Okay, that’s a lot of similarities, but what makes them different?

In order to mute the Wave 1, you’re going to press the volume button. But on the Wave 3, you get a mute button on top, and pressing the volume button actually allows you more controls.

Also, on the Wave 3, you get a visual indication of how high your volume is, whereas on the Wave 1, you need to use software.

The Wave 3 has a higher sampling rate.

Vocabulary time.

The sample rate, essentially is the number of times per second the microphone is picking a sample from the audio and processing it.

The higher the sample rate, the better.

We’re talking the Wave 1 with a sample rate of 48 khz and the Wave 3 with 96 khz.

Now, most people can’t tell the difference between 48 and 96 khz unless you’re an audio file and you have really good headphones or speakers.

But if you want the highest quality recording and you’re gonna be processing that audio, maybe for a podcast, you’ll want to go for the higher sample rate.

So essentially, the Wave 1 and the Wave 3 have almost the same exact audio quality.

The Wave 1 is a great low barrier to entry microphone with no frills.

The Wave 3 offers some additional features to make it smoother and easier to use without relying on software.

If you’re asking me, I would go for the Wave 3 because of the visual indicators that make it easier to use. And also that extra boost in quality with the sample rate.

But what about you, Wave 1 or Wave 3, which is your choice? Leave that in the comments.

If you have questions about the Wave 1 or 3, go ahead and bring them to a live Q n A so I can answer them.

And if you want help deciding on the rest of the gear in your studio, check out this playlist to dive into all things gear, and I’ll see you over there.