NZXT Capsule Mini Microphone and Mini Boom-arm Review

Conclusion

For our review we were supplied both the arm and the microphone as a package, but they’re available separately on the NZXT website. We’ll cover the Boom Arm Mini first as there is less to say.

It’s easy to get overly picky with such things, so firstly the build quality is surprisingly good for an arm costing just £60. There are no squeaks or rattles, and once you’ve got it setup to a position you like it will happily stay there. The addition of some cable routing certainly helps keep your desk tidy, and in a world where you might be streaming and thus have keyboard, mouse, controller, webcam, Stream Deck and the Capsule Mini, any chance to keep some of the cables out of the way has to be praised. The adjustments aren’t built in using springs and counterweights like you might find in a monitor arm, or a higher priced microphone arm, but they do the job. We do wish there was a little bit of rotation built into the actual head though. Whether it was our review sample or a side-effect of the low cost nature of the components, but once the microphone was installed the ‘front’ faced away from us, and the only way to have it facing forwards is to loosen the screw, which makes it wobble a little. Not a game changer, but worth bearing in mind if you’re considering the arm.

The Capsule Mini itself is very much a cut-down version of the NZXT Capsule. Instead of having a quick release desk stand you have to fiddle about with the two screws that mount it into the desk stand. There is still a headphone jack on the base, and the ability to control the volume is there, but the live gain dial has been removed, leaving us having to use the NZXT CAM software to control input levels. Lastly the full circle of lighting on the Capsule to indicate live or muted has been swapped for a single LED, that’s fairly easy to miss.

How does it fare? It’s okay. The 24-bit/48kHz resolution is half that of the full-sized Capsule, and if you’re the type of person who, due to circumstance or shyness, isn’t loud when talking then even with the gain all the way up it’s still surprisingly quiet unless it’s very close to you. The microphone is a cardioid pattern – meaning it’s largely “listening” at the front rather than all around – so if you’ve got your keyboard and the like behind the Capsule Mini then it shouldn’t be picked up too badly, and in our experience it wasn’t.

The primary point of the Capsule Mini is its relative affordability. £59.99 at launch. Unfortunately NZXT have a sale on their full-fat Capsule at the moment at just £69.99, and the extra resolution and features are, in our opinion, more than enough to justify the extra £10. If it was full price then the Capsule Minis trimmed feature set is worth the price reduction. Either way if you’re looking to take your first steps onto the ladder of spreading your voice with the world, and don’t want to splash out on a RØDE then the NZXT Capsule Mini is deserving of its place as an entry level model and wins out OC3D Value For Money Award.

NZXT Capsule Mini (black reviewed, white available) : £59.99
NZXT Boom Arm Mini : £59.99

  

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