Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro
design
The Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro is built almost entirely from metal and you feel that quality the moment you lift it out of the box. At 2kg, this thing has serious heft to it but not in an awkward way, here that weight is reassuring and immediately lives up to that ‘pro’ moniker. Unlike the cheapest mic arms you’ll find on Amazon, the Wave Mic Arm Pro is clearly built for the long haul, an investment rather than a stepping stone that’ll need replacing in a few months. It’s available in black or white, I’ve got the latter clamped to my desk, though both feature a simple matte finish that’s sleek and understated.
While it’s not unique to the Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro, it was the low profile approach that was of most interest to me initially. Rather than kinking upwards and bringing your mic down from high over your desk, the Wave Mic Arm Pro runs parallel to your desk and comes in from below. Admittedly this won’t work for every setup, but I found it a really refreshing approach and perfectly suited to mine. The arm is still made up of two main sections, but rather than forming an elbow joint here you’re given a horizontal base arm and an adjustable forearm that actually holds your microphone.
The base arm sits just 60mm above your desk surface, though you can boost this to 100mm if you use the included riser. Each has a clever cable management channel running through it, and unlike Elgato’s original Wave Mic Arm LP, the magnetic covers are properly strong. They click into place with authority and stay there even when you’re routing chunky XLR cables through. It’s one of those details that seems small until you’ve dealt with cable covers that pop off every time you move the arm, then you appreciate just how well this works.
The desk clamp is everything I’ve come to expect from Elgato gear. It’s well made and well padded to protect your desk surface, with a nifty ratcheting handle that makes getting it properly secured much easier than a standard screw mechanism. This has been a feature of all of Elgato’s mic arms but I’ve spoken to far too many creators that didn’t know it did this. Rather than spinning 360 degrees, tighten as far as you can then pull the handle down and it’ll freely turn to allow you to work with just 180 degrees of room. Genius.
The Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro will handle desktops up to 60mm thick, though if you’ve got a desk with a backboard, limited overhang, or a cable management tray like the SecretLab MAGNUS Pro I’m using, you’ll want to measure first as the clamp does have some bulk to it. At the business end you’ll find a standard 1/4″ thread mount, and Elgato includes adapters for both 3/8″ and 5/8″ threads in the box. You’ve got a full 360-degree rotation with a single tension knob controlling everything, making positioning adjustments quick and simple.
The Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro has an impressive 750mm reach, giving you plenty of flexibility in where you can position your microphone. The vertical rotation offers 70 degrees up and 50 degrees down, with full 360-degree horizontal movement. It’s rated to support up to 3kg too, which means even heavy microphones like the Shure SM7B won’t start drooping. Through testing I’ve paired it with the Elgato Wave DX and RODE PodMic USB.
performance
Setting up the Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro was as simple as you could ask for, I’d say it took me about ten minutes to go from box to fully mounted and cable-managed. Just bolt the base to your desk, connect the two arm sections together, route your cable through the channels, snap the magnetic covers on, and you’re away. Elgato also sells a desk plate add-on if you’d rather mount it through your desk rather than clipped to the edge of it.
The gas spring suspension is particularly impressive and easily the best I’ve experienced on any mic arm I’ve used. Adjusting the Wave Mic Arm Pro’s position is completely silent and silky smooth. I could move my mic mid-recording without any creaking, squeaking, or mechanical noise bleeding into the audio – you don’t realise just how common this is until it’s gone. For streamers and podcasters, this is a big deal compared to cheaper arms that seem to want to announce every movement you make.
The arm holds position perfectly once you’ve adjusted it too. I’ve been using it with both lighter USB mics like the Elgato Wave DX and chunkier options like the RODE PodMic USB and Shure MV7. In both cases the Wave Mic Arm Pro stayed exactly where I put it. No gradual sagging, no sudden drops, no bouncing, just rock-solid positioning no matter where I left it. The tension is adjustable via a knob on the main joint, you’ll need a hex key to adjust this though I found the default setting worked well for most microphones without needing to touch it.
Now I’m a total convert to that low profile design, it works brilliantly for keeping things tidy and out of view of my face cam, but it does come with a consideration. Make sure you think about your desk layout before committing. The base arm hovers above your desk surface, which means if you’re planning to mount this centrally, you’ll have an arm running across part of your workspace. It’s never been in the way of my keyboard or mouse because there’s enough reach in the second, elevated half, but you do need to be mindful of where cables and other desk items like a Stream Deck, or audio mixer might sit.
Cable management through those magnetic channels works exactly as you’d hope. The cables stay neatly hidden within the length of each arm, only briefly popping out to navigate the middle joint. The channels run along the underside of each arm though so even the exposed few centimeters of cable are nicely hidden and down near your desk surface. The covering panels attach magnetically and thankfully are noticeably stronger than those one the Wave Arm LP which had a tendency to want to pop off at the merest glance. Throughout a few weeks of testing and movements I never had one of the covers come off accidentally.
summed up
The Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro delivers on every one of its promises. Not only is this Elgato’s best attempt at a mic arm, it’s probably the best boom arm I’ve ever tested. It’s exceptionally well built, silent and secure in operation, and that low profile design solves headaches for content creators who want their mic positioned properly without cluttering their shots or workspace.
At $179.99/£179.99, it’s certainly a premium option and a solid five times more expensive than budget alternatives. That’s definitely a factor at play here but the quality gap is so obvious and wide-reaching. This isn’t just incrementally better than cheap boom arms, it’s not a small improvement or simply a branded version, the Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro is operating in a different class entirely.
