Audio Recording: Buying Advice, Tips, and News

Don't rely on the wimpy microphone built into your phone or laptop. Here's how to find the best USB (and XLR with USB) mics for content creation, gaming, podcasting, and recording music, including our top-tested picks.

A good hook can draw listeners in, but bad sound quality can drive them away. From mics to headphones, here’s the best podcast gear we’ve tested for recording professional-quality audio.

The DJI Mic Mini is your new recording buddy. Its unmatched audio quality makes everything sound more legit, and now, you can save $60 on this Editors' Choice winner.

Shure takes what was great about its MV7+ microphone and adds a second analog input to make two-track recording nearly foolproof.

Whether you like to listen to music through headphones, blast it from a boombox, or record it yourself with a high-quality mic, check out the five best audio products we found at CES 2025.

The DJI Mic Mini is a small, portable wireless microphone system that's simple to pair with your phone or camera and captures clean audio from just about anywhere.

Rap producer Don Cannon and mix engineer Leslie Brathwaite take PCMag on a tour through Means Street's Atlanta recording studio and dive into the tech behind their tracks.

With a built-in pop filter, an automatic denoiser, and dual XLR/USB-C connections, the Shure MV7+ brings meaningful upgrades to an already great mic.

Shure's MoveMic wireless recording solution includes an easy-to-use mic with good battery life and high-quality sound, but a costly add-on receiver is necessary to get the most out of the system.

The DJI Mic 2 mic system produces clean wireless audio from up to two sources, comes with lots of useful accessories, and works well with just about any recording device you might use.

The SteelSeries Alias Pro is an easy-to-use all-in-one kit for integrating an XLR microphone into your recording or streaming setup.

The affordable Monoprice Dark Matter Sentry Streaming Mic looks classy and captures a clear signal via four selectable patterns.

The affordable NZXT Capsule Mini USB microphone records clean audio, but it lacks some expected functions and onboard controls.

The Sennheiser Profile Streaming Set is an excellent all-in-one vocals solution thanks to its combination of an easy-to-use USB mic and a sturdy boom arm.

The Rode NT-USB+ microphone delivers a quality signal for podcasts and vocal work at a reasonable price.

The Rode NT1 5th Generation mic gives you the choice of an XLR or USB input, captures clear audio, and comes with a generous array of add-ons and desktop apps.

Although the compact SSL Connex USB mic is useful for conference calls and recording vocals, its main advantage is an immersive recording mode that simultaneously captures audio from its four condensers.

Although it relies a bit on digital signal processing, the MSI Immerse GV60 microphone records quality audio in all of its capture modes and offers low-latency monitoring.

The 512 Audio Tempest USB microphone captures a pure signal and looks quite cool, though we would have liked a pop filter or a sturdier stand in the box.

The Razer Seiren V2 Pro is a good USB microphone for content creators, but you really need a Windows system to unlock all of its features.