NZXT Capsule focuses on the smoothest plug-and-play experience. No initial setup or software is required to use the microphone.

The Capsule adopts an extremely clean and simple industrial design, offering a full matte black finish, or a matte white microphone body and a matte black dial, stand and other components. The design is almost entirely metal, the grille and dial are made of plastic, and there is a rubber ring at the bottom of the base for grip, which is the unique purple of NZXT.

The NZXT logo on the front has a semi-gloss finish, which keeps it subtle and does not detract from the overall beauty, but it is still readable. Below the logo is a dial for microphone gain adjustment and headphone volume. However, only the latter has a symbol below to indicate its purpose, although considering its size and surface treatment, this is a symbol that is quite easy to miss.

There are raised dot textures around both for easy gripping, and the icons on the two dials indicating the direction of rotation to increase the corresponding settings have the same finish as the NZXT logo, but in this case it is almost too subtle, in some cases The angle and underneath disappear a certain amount of lighting.

There is a ring light around the bottom of the microphone, which emits a white light with a bluish tint to indicate that it is active and red when it is muted. The bottom of the microphone is a 1/4" female thread and USB-C and 3.5 mm connector. Mute the microphone by pressing the microphone gain dial, because it doubles as a button. The Capsule can be tilted to any forward or backward The angle until it touches the bracket actually limits it to tilt between about 30 degrees forward and less than about 90 degrees backward.

The box next to the Capsule includes a 3-meter USB-C to USB-A cable, 1/4" male to 3/8" female microphone mounting adapter, bracket quick release cover, and a card with support link and QR The card takes you to the code of the manual. Saving paper by ignoring the inclusion of a physical copy of the manual is a commendable environmental measure. However, considering the accompanying card, declaring the line of microphone muting by pressing the microphone gain button will help eliminate guesswork and the need for a reference manual.

The back half of the microphone is a small metal part, connected to the brackets on both sides, inserted into the microphone body, and can be removed by pressing the middle button. This will disconnect the stand from the microphone, leaving an opening on the back of the microphone for the included cover to be inserted. It is designed for use with the microphone with a cantilever or other mounting solution. NZXT sells its own cantilever to supplement the Capsule, and the included microphone threaded adapter is also required for the Capsule.

Internally, the Capsule has an internal pop-up filter to reduce popping noise and an internal shock absorber to dampen vibration and help eliminate noise transmitted to the microphone. The microphone has a cardioid directivity. It captures sound from a 120-degree cone that radiates from the front and tapers to eliminate sound from the side and back, helping to emphasize the voice directly into the microphone.

The gain is pre-configured to 50% out of the box, but the user can adjust it as needed. To receive volume through headphones, you need to set the audio output device on Windows 10 to Capsule, but plugging in a microphone will automatically switch the audio output. The volume knob works independently of the system volume of the microphone as the output device, so both must be set to the desired level.

Both the microphone gain and headphone volume knobs can be rotated freely, and there is no stopping point for setting the minimum and maximum settings, so if the level is reset (for example, when the microphone is unplugged and reconnected), adjusting either setting to the same point will change Difficult. Therefore, the lack of software specifically designed for Capsule can be an obstacle because it can display the exact level of any setting and configure them to return to the set point when the microphone is disconnected.

Given that NZXT has its own PC monitoring software in the form of NZXT Cam, which even has an audio part, Capsule does not appear to be a supported device for configuration. This seems to be a missed opportunity.

When adjusting the microphone gain, if the earphone is connected to the 3.5mm output end of the microphone, the microphone monitoring will be turned on at the same time. Microphone monitoring is a useful feature, you must ensure that your voice is maintained when the sound in the headset prevents you from hearing your own voice, but it is frustrating not to adjust it as a separate feature.

I personally prefer to disable it and adjust my gain to ensure that any level of my speech (whether I can hear it or not) is suitable for other people and enjoy the sound insulation provided by my headphones. Unfortunately, if there is no software to adapt to this, it is impossible to disable or even adjust the microphone monitoring more or less for different amounts of gain based on user preferences.

Despite the cardioid directivity, environmental sounds like mechanical keys can still be picked up by the microphone because they radiate through the microphone, even if their source is behind the microphone, and become more pronounced as the gain increases. Using a program like Discord, it will automatically determine the input sensitivity during transmission based on voice activity, and will not transmit these environmental sounds, so increasing the microphone monitoring and gain to improve the user's awareness of unwanted audio sources will only cause trouble.

In addition to microphone monitoring, compared with other competitive or even 16-bit/44.1 kHz or 16-bit/48 kHz solutions, the bit depth and sampling rate of 24 bits and 96 kHz, respectively, increase the recording quality and the price. High microphone. This is particularly useful for recording vocals or any sounds to be edited later, because more data is captured in any sample, resulting in a more realistic recording and maintaining higher quality in any compression.

NZXT Capsule is a beautifully designed microphone with powerful recording capabilities due to its high bit depth and sampling rate.

Limited to the cardioid directivity limits the range of the best recording scenes. However, for target audiences such as gamers, anchors, etc., it should be more than enough and help make the microphone more affordable. Capsule focuses on plug-and-play, direct use, no need to worry about making any adjustments.

However, for those who tend to use some form of software, whether it is integrated with the existing NZXT Cam or independent, to adjust the microphone monitoring, mute, microphone gain and headphone volume values, this excellent microphone will be almost perfect. .

NZXT Capsule is a beautifully designed microphone with powerful recording function and stable price. However, lack of software and microphone monitoring issues may avoid gamers/streamers.

Jak joined the TweakTown team in 2017 and has since reviewed more than 100 new technology products and kept us informed about the latest science and space news every day. Jak's love of science, space and technology, more specifically, his love of PC games began at the age of 10. That day his father showed him how to play Age of Empires on the old Compaq PC. From that day on, Jak fell in love with the development of games and various forms of technology industry. Unlike typical FPS, Jak occupies a very special position in RTS games.