American audio company JBL has branched out with a range of microphones designed for content creators, gamers and video calls.
Quantum Stream Talk US$49.99 (A$74.40)
The first, the Quantum Stream Talk, is a USB connected mic that’s an entry level product, selling in the US at US$49.99 .
The mic has a dual 14mm electric condenser and a basic 96kHz sampling rate.
JBL says the mic’s two voice pick-up lets a user switch between a cardioid mic for single voice use and an omnidirectional mic for multiple voices.
You can rotate the mic 360 degrees on its stand or attach it to a boom arm or camera tripod.
It’s cheap and useful, but we’re yet to see whether it can offer anything like professional sound for serious creators.
Quantum Stream Wireless US$99.99 (A$148.80)
The Quantum Stream Wireless is a small wearable microphone whose shape suggests you’d slip it into your top pocket rather than pin it to your lapel.
But it does come with a clip designed to make it wearable.
It is an omnidirectional mic so it will capture audio from all around. JBL says an algorithm reduces unwanted ambient noise, but we’ll have to see how useful it is in a noisy environment.
The mic receiver appears to come with an Apple connector but presumably it will include a USB-C connector both for Android users and Apple users with iPhone 15 (and beyond).
Quantum Stream Studio US$149.99 (A$223.20)
This is a higher quality condenser microphone that captures 192 KHz/24 bit sound.
That’s superior to what’s offered by the Quantum Stream Talk and more akin to broadcast quality.
It has three condenser microphones, and offers mic gain, mic muting and mic monitoring, an audio voice monitor, and noise reduction.
The Australian dollar amounts listed above are indicative of US pricing. We are yet to see Australian availability and local pricing.
