The Shure MV6 might not be cheap but it does more than enough to justify the price. USB plug and play means you don't need an audio engineering degree or additional equipment and while it was designed to be set up once and forgotten about, Shure's Motiv Mix companion software makes changing settings a breeze should you ever need to.
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Design
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Performance
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Features
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Value
Very few companies are as ubiquitous as Shure when it comes to microphones. If you’ve ever been to a live music event there’s a 98% chance you’ve seen a Shure microphone, like the SM58, and if you enjoy watching podcasts you’ll probably recognise the SM7B.
Recently, the company followed those up with the Shure MV6, a dynamic microphone aimed squarely at gamers and streamers looking for something that’s easy to use without sacrificing audio quality and a kidney. We’ve spent some time yelling into the MV6 to see if Shure could successfully translate its years of professional recording experience into something appealing to gamers.
Don’t fix what isn’t broken
Shure has kept the design of the MV6 in line with its other dynamic vocal microphones. Both the mostly-black cylinder and included desk stand are well-constructed of durable materials and have a reassuring heft to them. The MV6 sports a bright green backlit touch-to-mute button and capsule cage, as well as Shure branding on both sides. That might not matter to you seeing as the cage is covered by a foam pop filter, especially if you’re mostly going to be looking at your screen, but if you’re going for an understated look Shure could’ve done less.
Around the back of the MV6 is where you’ll find the USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone monitor jack. Unlike the Shure MV7+, which also launched this year, the USB-C port is the only way to connect the MV6 to your recording device. That shouldn’t be an issue for most gamers, although we did find the included cable to be a little short. We would’ve also liked to see the option of a USB-C to USB-A cable as well since even high-end PCs still don’t have as many Type-C ports as they do Type-A ports.
The backlit bright green touch-to-mute button is the only thing to fiddle with on the MV6. We liked that it wasn’t a physical clicky button because that would have almost certainly been audible every time you muted which could be a problem. But the fact that it’s touch-sensitive introduces a different problem: it’s real easy to accidentally activate while repositioning the mic.
The magic happens behind the scenes
The Shure MV6 might seem barebones externally because all the magic happens in the background. The real star of the show is Shure’s highly capable DSP (digital signal processor) which is responsible for audio reproduction and the smart features that make the MV6 great for gamers.
Once you’ve connected the mic, opening the Motiv Mix app allows you to enable the auto-level function or set a specific gain level, adjust how much of yourself you want to hear from the monitor jack on the back, change the tone of your voice with a slider, and engage the real-time denoiser, popper stopper, and set a high-pass filter.
The auto-level function allows the mic to automatically adjust the gain in real-time for consistent levels without any input needed from you. This makes up for changes to your recording position or if there are sudden volume changes like when you lose a game and the frustration gets to you.
We found the real-time denoiser and popper stopper worked as intended. The former aggressively removes background noise leaving only your dulcet voice, while the latter setting works with the foam filter to lessen the harsh explosions of air from your mouth when you say ‘buh’ or ‘puh’ sounds, like if you had to say ‘Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers’.
Your teammates have no excuse
Once you’ve found your preferred settings, the Motiv Mix app can be closed and forgotten about. But if you need a simple interface for recording a podcast of your own, that can happen right in the same app. It provides a basic tutorial with some best-practice mic tips and it’s fairly unobtrusive when you leave it running in the background – we saw it using less than 250MB of memory when open but not in use.
Tired of your teammates complaining they can’t hear your callouts? Get the MV6 and they’ll have no excuse. As far as the audio reproduction performance goes, the MV6 is all any gamer needs. With a frequency bandwidth of
50Hz-15kHz the MV6 isn’t going to do well if you want a studio-quality recording of an instrument – you’ll want to look for a condenser microphone in that case.
But if all you’re after is that radio sound for your voice while gaming, streaming, or both, this is the mic to get. The fact that it produces natural-sounding vocals is enough of a seller but to do so at this price point and with this level of accessibility impressed us even more.
Shure MV6 verdict
While the term ‘gaming microphone’ usually conjures images of fit-inducing RGB lights, the Shure MV6 is fighting to take back that term. You won’t find RBG lights here, just an easy-to-use microphone that’s capable of excellent audio reproduction over a simple USB-C cable.
The DPS and all the features it enables make a meaningful difference in using the MV6 and is what makes this a great microphone for gamers. Add to that a sturdy desk stand, a well-constructed mic that will survive a few knocks, and unobtrusive companion software, all for around R3,500 and it’s hard to ignore the Shure MV6.
