Shure MV6 USB Gaming Microphone Review

If there’s a brand more synonymous with high-quality audio capture than Shure, I can’t think of one. If you find yourself in a recording studio or watching a live band at a local venue, a quick look at the microphones will almost certainly reveal a Shure model or two in the range. We’ve been rating the Shure MV7 as our best gaming microphone for a while now, and it’s the one I’ve used for a few years for all sorts of vocal recording.

Now there’s a fresh kid on the block. The Shure MV6 is the company’s first attempt at a dedicated USB gaming microphone, and as if to prove it, they’ve adorned the outer casing with a lime green ring beneath the foam and placed a gigantic green capacitive button on top for quick muting. Yours for 149 PLN/£129, significantly cheaper than the $250 asking price for the MV7, which has unfortunately been discontinued in favor of the MV7+.

Aside from the gamer-friendly green accents, it’s a fairly basic-looking device, and considerably smaller than the elderly MV7. That was a mic that required either a boom arm mount or a separately sold desk stand to keep it up. Here, though, you get a standard desk stand — and it’s also pretty stout.

The footprint here is a bit too large for a stationary device, but at least that means it won’t go anywhere. It’s suitably ponderous and overbuilt, so there’s nothing to worry about on a flat surface. It reminds me of a miniature microphone stand, the kind Steven Tyler might have attached scarves to and thrown around if he were only a foot high. You can enjoy that mental image for free if you like. I did.

Anyway, I digress. The real news is that Shure claims to have taken all of its microphone know-how and shrunk it down into a USB gaming mic. It’s a energetic unit, which should give it a more focused sound than conventional condenser mics. The downside is that energetic mics can be sensitive to needy mic technique, such as changing speaking position or constantly adjusting distance.

To combat this, Shure uses Auto Level mode in its Motive Mix software suite. It intelligently adjusts the gain in real time to keep your audio volume consistent, lowering the gain setting if you suddenly start shouting, and boosting it if you start moving away from the mic or squirming in your seat. While Auto Leveling is nothing fresh to those familiar with VST plugins, building a decent version of this mode into the software and enabling it by default is a sharp move when giving us inexperienced gamers a energetic mic to play with.

Once you connect the mic via the included USB Type-C cable and open the software, you’re greeted with a quick tutorial on how to best operate it, with the suggestion to hold the capsule between 6 and 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) from your mouth for best results. A good tip for most mics, I’d say, is to get the richest, most focused sound possible — especially energetic ones. That said, this is a bit more tough to achieve here than most, depending on your setup, since the cable is only 39 inches (100 cm) long.

Even if your computer is on a desk like mine, that’s not a lot of cable length for positioning options. A bit of a nasty detail, although most of us will probably have a longer cable somewhere in a desk drawer.

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Fortunately, though, this automatic level control works brilliantly. While you’ll always get the best vocal results with this type of mic up close, you can place it at a good distance and still get a clear, distinctive sound. I tried different ways to pick this up, but the response is pretty immediate – meaning you don’t have to stick to the foam like a professional podcaster to get a good result out of it.

Speaking of close-up, if you do decide to move the mic closer to your mouth for a affluent, sultry effect, you’ll find that it’s much less susceptible to plosives than previous models. The MV7 is a wonderful, wonderful mic, but it does tend to make “poof” and “buh” sounds when you bring it close to your mouth. Here, the MV6 uses another software trick, the delightfully named Digital Popper Stopper. Again, this is on by default, and does a great job of preventing percussive sounds from overwhelming the rest of your sound.

There is also built-in noise reduction, something I think is necessary for any stationary microphone, even a energetic one, which is less likely to pick up background noise. It is very powerful, but I would say that if anything, it is a bit too aggressive for my taste. Any noise reduction set to a sufficient level can introduce a slightly fuzzy, raspy quality to some vocal tones, and here it was occasionally noticeable.

There is no slider adjustment, just an on/off setting, which makes it a somewhat uninteresting instrument. It does, however, reduce ambient noise considerably.

The slider does have a tone control though. It’s basically an EQ setting that goes from Dark to Natural to Bright. It defaults to the middle at Natural, where most will probably keep it, although as a fan of the “hot radio” sound I like to push it towards Dark to richen the tone.

Speaking of tone, the vocal capture quality here is excellent. While you’ll still want something like the Shure MV7 up close if you’re recording the audio of a podcast, audiobook, or anything really “professional-sounding,” the audio quality the MV6 is capable of capturing from a desktop position is seriously impressive. It’ll definitely improve the audio quality at your next meeting over anything lesser, and as a gaming mic, I’d say it’s much better at preserving vocal tone while rejecting unwanted noise compared to most desktop units, with the support of software.

It’s also very basic to operate. The Motiv Mix software is thankfully straightforward, with a built-in soundcheck function that lets you adjust gain levels and record a tiny clip of yourself with different settings to find the right sound for you. The mic itself is also fairly unobtrusive as a desk item, even with those lime green accents, so it should blend into the background like a good desktop mic.

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That large base at the bottom of the stand does give me pause, though. It’s rock solid and won’t tip over, but it does take up a fair amount of space if you want to place the mic as close as Shure suggests. Still, it doesn’t wobble and feels like you could operate it as an improvised weapon in a zombie emergency, so that’s a plus.

The real question is whether you should buy the MV6 over the MV7 if you’re looking for a USB gaming mic? Well, if you’re going to leave it on your desk, thanks to the included stand, ease of operate, and less obtrusive design, I’d say yes. It’s also cheaper, and the capacitive mute button on the top is a handy extra feature.

If you really want the highest quality sound, though, and don’t mind having a large mic pointed in your face, I’d still go with the MV7 as the overall better choice. It’s a bulkier, bulkier beast, but it also has a slightly warmer, more defined quality that I couldn’t replicate in the MV6, even when I got up close with a boom arm. The MV7 also has an XLR connector, so it’s just as good in a professional studio as it is with a standard computer.

Honestly, I’m becoming an audio nerd and looking for things that others probably never notice, and picking up on details that most gamers really shouldn’t bother with. It’s still pretty pricey, I suppose, and both the Audio-Technica AT2020USB+ and the Razer Seiren Mini are good options for much less money, but both pale in comparison to the quality — in terms of build, vocal pickup, and features — of the MV6. The SteelSeries Alias ​​is also worth considering if you want a mic that really minimizes your desk space with good distance pickup, but it’s more pricey than the Shure, and the sound quality doesn’t quite match it.

Bottom line: Shure has created a mic here that’s built like a tank, can be used comfortably from a reasonable distance, and is significantly cheaper than the MV7 — all while minimizing most of the problems you have with conventional desktop mics. And that’s pretty impressive. Just give us a longer cable next time, Shure?