The microphone is packed with useful features like four recording patterns, on-mic headphone monitoring, a shock mount, and even programmable RGB lighting typical of gaming peripherals. The QuadCast is an 8-inch cylinder with a 2.2-inch diameter and soft-touch rubber caps on the top and bottom. The top half of the cylinder is made of metal grills over clear foam (an internal pop filter) through which the microphone’s RGB lighting shines. The bottom half of the cylinder is opaque, with a white HyperX logo near the bottom. The top cap doubles as a mute button, which also turns off the RGB lighting when the microphone is muted. The bottom cap is a large gain wheel. In addition to the mute button and gain adjustment, the QuadCast has a four-position mode selector switch located on the back just below the grille. The dial lets you choose between cardioid, omnidirectional, stereo, and bidirectional configurations. Below the dial is a USB-C port, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack for monitoring. The QuadCast S comes on a stand with an integrated shock mount. The base of the stand is a nice, heavy metal block with a round base that keeps the microphone stable. However, the shock mount and the short arm that connects to the stand are plastic. This is disappointing, as both the microphone itself and the base are so sturdy that the shock mount seems a bit cheap in contrast. The microphone comes with an adapter that fits 3/8- and 5/8-inch threads, although the plastic mount still needs to be used. By default, the microphone’s lights rotate in a rainbow of colors that flow between the top and bottom lights, forming a gradient in the middle. You can customize the lights using the HyperX Ngenuity software. You can set different color effects, such as solid color lights, flashing lights, the entire microphone alternating between colors, the colors flowing between the top and bottom lights, and flashing like lightning. You can set it to switch between your favorite colors, although only the “wave” effect shows two colors at once; the other effects show a single color across the microphone. Of course, you can also turn the lights off or dim them. Just make sure you save your settings on the microphone itself.
