Nzxt Capsule
A great first outing for the company!
The streamer peripheral market continues to build at a rapid pace, with quality products coming out regularly. Now Nzxt is gearing up to take on the big guns of the streaming world with its brand new Capsule cardioid USB microphone. So do they have what it takes to compete?
Right off the bat, things look pretty good, with an unboxing experience to rival most Apple products. It looks and feels high-end; the shock-mounted base is heavy, solid and grips the table well, while the mic itself has a sturdy quality to it. The unit weighs in at a hefty 883g but manages to look elegant and professional at the same time. There are two dials on the front, one controlling microphone gain that also doubles as a mute button, and the other a headphone volume control for the built-in amp. The base has a standard audio jack for headphones to allow for monitoring and pc audio playback, alongside a boom arm mounting screw (adapter included) and USB-C port. When powered up there is a pleasant pale blue glow from a thin RGB ring around the bottom of the microphone.
The Capsule boasts some pretty impressive specs – capable of a 24-bit bit depth and 96KHz sample rate it’s about as good as it gets for this market segment, and ahead of rivals like the Elgato Wave 1 (24-bit/48KHz) and the venerable blue Yeti (16-bit/48KHz). But do the premium looks and fancy numbers translate into audio performance?
For the most part, yes. The cardioid design does a good job of suppressing unwanted noise and the shock-mounted stand is surprisingly effective. No need for a pop filter either as the front grille takes care of that. Tuning the gain on the fly is a breeze, the dial has a linear response that does feel plasticky compared to the rest of the unit. Pressing mute gives a solid click response and the pale blue ring turns a bright red – it’s an excellent effect and makes forgetting you’re on mute pretty much impossible.
At the Windows-default 48KHz, the sound profile is good but not outstanding. It edges toward a bassy and slightly muted tone, but not unpleasantly so. Bump it up to 96KHz and things get interesting – the profile noticeably changes, the bass is toned down, and fidelity takes a massive step up – it’s a much more neutral sound and cuts through the noise of the game well. This is a good thing but during quiet times, the extra sampling means you can hear every little detail, good and bad.
If this is what we can expect from Nzxt’s re-entry into the audio market, there’s a lot to look forward to. Premium build quality, beautiful aesthetics and solid sound performance give buyers every reason to consider the Capsule. The decision will be whether you will make use of the extra sample rate. If you are yearning for that extra fidelity to set your streams apart, this could be the one for you.
Chris Radvan