Shure MV6 review: Gaming mic has a neat look
Getting started is as simple as plug and play, but you’ll need software to dig into every setting. I’m not a big fan of Motiv Mix software suggested on the box. Before I could download, Shure asked for my full name, city and state, zip code, and email address to update the software, which seemed unnecessary.
The software gives you the option to switch to manual gain, adjust the tone slider from Dark to Light, with Natural in the middle, and enable or disable the denoiser and fader as well as adjust the filter high pass for background noise. There are also settings for monitor and mute if you choose to record with Motiv Mix. Nothing groundbreaking here, but there doesn’t seem to be any other way to access these settings. I wish there were just buttons on the mic.
Can you hear me?
As far as I can tell, the settings you change will remain the same even when the software isn’t open, so feel free to adjust, then close it and go back to what you were doing. I ran several comparison tests with different settings while recording myself, and after listening back, I generally felt the default settings worked well enough. There’s nothing here that I consider unusual or silly in any way. The volume fader works well enough to not need a pop filter for my Ps. I didn’t notice a particularly drastic change from turning off the noise canceler, although that may have been helped by the microphone’s rear cancellation, which helped eliminate noise from my keyboard.
Auto-leveling did cause me to peak a bit if I suddenly shouted after whispering, but it adjusted quickly enough and brought me up quickly when I spoke softly. It’s nice not to have to worry too much about levels since there’s no interface to quickly check, and MV6 doesn’t have any built-in controls or feedback.
People who listened to the recording or chatted with me on Discord commented that my voice sounded clear and crisp, a marked improvement over My usual gaming headset. I think you can easily use this microphone for regular streaming or podcasting and you won’t get any complaints. I don’t feel like I’m missing anything sensible if I use this instead of mine Audio-Technica AT2035At least when it comes to general speaking quality. Professional audio engineers may feel differently, but if you don’t test waveforms or record audiobooks, you probably won’t.
Photo: Brad Bourque
