The Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP is a low-profile mic arm, allowing you to slip discreetly under a screen and carry your mic close to you. The big advantage is that it’s easy to store, and comes in from the front, depending on how you use it. In fact, it may not take up too much space, unlike a side arm.
First impressions and aesthetics
What I particularly like about the Wave Mic Arm LP is its clean aesthetic. I aspire to an organized and neat office, so it’s essential for me that the mic arm lives up to this. The brushed matte finish and cut-outs for cable management, combined with the discreet design, make this mic arm look as subtle as possible. Of course, it’s impossible to completely conceal a product like this (unless you want to disassemble and reassemble it every time you use it, which would be tedious), but among mic stands, this one really does make a statement.
Installation and use
Installing the Wave Mic Arm LP is child’s play. It comes with a number of thread adapters for connecting a variety of microphones (not just Wave microphones), and assembly of the arm itself takes just two minutes with the supplied Allen key.
Once the arm has been correctly installed and adjusted (some microphones are heavier than others, of course), using it is a pure pleasure. I’ve found that my microphone, the Elgato Wave 3 that I use, sits perfectly in place, and personally, I find that a microphone arm that pops out from under your screens looks much neater than one that dominates the desk like an excavator arm, although this remains a completely subjective opinion.
What also contributes to its superior aesthetics to that of a standard microphone arm are the grommet rails. They can be removed easily because they’re attached by magnets, and in my opinion, this is one of the Wave Mic Arm LP’s strong points. Once everything is properly installed, all you really see is the arm and the mic; there are no dangling cables.
What surprised me was the height it can reach. Fully assembled, the upper arm is 16 centimetres from your desk (measured from the top of the arm) in its lowest configuration. Depending on the height of your mic and how high you want to position it, you’ll need to add quite a few centimetres to this, which means you’ll need to have a fairly high monitor panel if you want to fold the mic behind the screen when not in use.
I mention this because, depending on your position and the size of your desk, mounting it on its side isn’t always an option. The second part of the arm can be raised, but the ‘base arm’ will still float 7 centimeters above your desk, which doesn’t leave much room to move your mouse arm freely, for example.
But of course, this is inherent in a low-profile microphone arm. If your desk is cluttered or you need a lot of free space, you’d probably be better off with a standard mic arm (Elgato also offers one), but I wanted to mention it for completeness in case you’re considering this arm.
Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP review
The Wave Mic Arm LP is an exceptional product for its price. You might think it’s just a stand for your mic, but you only need to use a mediocre mic arm for a few hours to understand why it’s worth investing in a quality model.