EPOS B20 review: "Immaculately presented with solid sound" - wakefieldthedis1939

Our Finding of fact

A strong debut mic that needs a few small revisions to sincerely compete at this price level.

Pros

Informed looks
Four polar patterns

Cons

No more volume or put on markers
Sound can't cut IT with Blue's Abominable snowman X

GamesRadar+ Verdict

A strong launching mic that needs a few small revisions to truly contend at this price point.

Pros

+
Sophisticated looks
+
Foursome polar patterns
+

Cons

-
No volume or pull ahead markers
-
Sound can't cut it with Blue's Abominable snowman X

Although Epic poem' origins go back more than a hundred years, the EPOS brand public figure itself is a congener fledgling to the hotly contested play audio frequency securities industry. While IT got a proverbial leg-up from Sennheiser by working in collaboration with the audio frequency jumbo and later succession production of what were erstwhile Senny's gambling headset lines, ventures into the better mike for flowing market is are a new direction.

This EPOS B20 is a step into the unknown, and priced just under $200/£200 it's a bold step at that; one that takes information technology right into the bowl with Blue's formidable Yeti X. It's about time someone toppled the Logi-owned party from the top of the streamer mic power structure in the name of greater mathematical product invention, but can EPOS pull the sword from the chromatic and do it?

Design & Features

As the price indicates, this is a premium proposition. No expense has been spared connected the B20's packaging, nor on the look on and flavour of the unit itself. The mic capsule itself is terminated to a high standard in a semi-lusterlessness aluminium caparison, with physical polar traffic pattern, volume, gain, and silent controls set in rows at either side. The gain and mass controls have a weak problem - there are no markers on the dial or the abridgement, and the dials themselves rotate 360 degrees, so there's no way of logging your settings once they'ray dialled in nicely, or knowing when you've accidentally changed them with an uncontrolled hand gesture.

That capsule sits along a weighted ring stand by which doesn't remove up a great deal of blank space on your desk, and the mounting allows for vertical or horizontal configurations. At this point, we'd usually say you'll overcome sound up close away mounting the mic happening a boom arm, but the placement of the B20's controls makes that a little trickier - you'd need to desolate a shock cage and mount information technology via the arm that connects to the ring base, rather than mounting the capsule directly. Non a biggie, but it makes fine-tuning the mic locating that bit much of an implicated task.

EPOS B20 microphone — (Image credit: Epic poem)

Heroic poem has its own app, the EPOS Gambling Suite, for foster tweaking such as EQ profiles and test recordings, but mercifully it's non required for operation. All you deman is a spare USB slot and you're up and running within seconds.

A tote up of four mic patterns are open here: cardioid, spatial relation, bidirectional, and stereoscopic picture. Of those iv, cardioid and omni prove almost useful, the former for streamers and podcasters who just want to get their voice detected, and the latter for those with a home recording dented and an ear for Steve Albini-style board noise. Biface and stereo modes can be accustomed record two sources at one time, in a pinch, only if you're unplayful about sound quality it's always better to bewitch two sources with two mics so that you can tweak two separate waveforms advanced behind the line.

Carrying out

Let's get stuck into the sound. Using the cardioid pattern, the B20 captures vocal inputs with a warmth and midrange that's fix for broadcasts over Nip and the like - considering their compressing standards, a dish out of studio effervesce is lost in the broadcast anyway. However, it lacks a little detail compared to the Yeti X, which picks up sibilants to a greater extent precisely and seems to better trance the magnificence of an individual voice's timbre. The Abominable snowman fares better at slightly longer distances, too - 0.5m away from the rootage, both mics introduce a noticeable amount of room noise, but the Yeti X retains a natural quality, whereas the B20 sounds 'EQed'.

However, the B20 fares fitter in minimising pops and leveling out volume. The Yeti X has a delicious studio-style compression when impelled at high gains, but when you peak, you really know around it. EPOS' algorithms seem punter tuned for retention elated gain inputs audible palatable.

Overall - should you buy it?

Just equal its headsets - and the Sennheiser gaming headsets that came before - the first mic from Epic poem is immaculately conferred with solid sound, and takes its visible cues from high-ending partisan audio while retaining the features streamers and gamers call for on hand. Combining this mic with an other Razer streaming setup, operating theater adding information technology to a setup that already has the unexcelled capture card, and the best ring light and the best green screen is noneffervescent a move we can recommend - and you won't be disappointed.

However, a handful of small design missteps shackle its useability, and sadly IT can't rather match Dejected's imperious Yeti X for sound quality, but this remains an encouraging first twinge at the market from an pushing make.

EPOS B20

A strong debut mic that necessarily a few small revisions to truly compete at this price point.