TheJBL Quantum Stream Studiois a premium USB condenser microphone with a wide variety of advanced features, great noise rejection, and good sound. Its features give it a premium look and feel, but it may be ideal for users with more niche needs.
JBL Quantum Stream Studio
The JBL Quantum Stream Studio is a USB condenser microphone with a wide array of premium features such as four polar patterns, superb noise rejection, built-in EQ and dynamic range compression via software, and a capacitive mute button. However, the mic’s out-of-box audio is a bit underwhelming and requires more extensive configuration to sound its best.
Price and Availability
The JBL Quantum Stream Studio costs $149.99 and is available from JBL, Amazon, and Verizon. It also occasionally goes on sale for $124.99.
Specifications
This Mic Is Phenomenally Built and Designed
Starting with the build quality and ease of use, the JBL Quantum Stream Studio is sturdy and feature-rich. It uses a metal body, various hardware controls, and surprisingly informative lighting. The controls range from a button to change the mic’s polar pattern for capturing audio to a capacitive mute button and a volume dial with buttons to toggle between adjusting the mic’s input volume and headphone monitoring volume.
In terms of lighting, the volume dial provides a preview of your input’s volume level, allowing for at-a-glance estimations to see if your settings are correct. It also has a light on top, indicating whether the mic is muted. These lights are quite bright and informative, but I also found them a bit distracting with the flashing volume indicator and bright ring around the capsule. That said, lighting and other features can be toggled off or otherwise configured insoftware available from JBL’s website(available for Windows and Mac).
All in all, the mic’s physical build is incredibly thoughtful, with a surprisingly wide variety of hardware controls, lighting indicators, and quality-of-life considerations. Premium physical build and hardware controls aren’t everything, but I’d generally rather have them than not.
Its Audio Quality Is Good but Tinny
As good as a mic can look, its audio quality is the most important aspect. The JBL Quantum Stream Studio features solid audio quality, but without modifications such as EQ adjustments and compression, the sound of its recordings is both a bit muddy and tinny. Notably, high-end microphones like theShure SM7Balso have somewhat muddy out-of-box sounds without adjustment.
However, even with my minor complaints about its out-of-box sound, the mic performs quite well. Below is a sound sample of the mic at various distances.
Considering the $150 price tag and sound that requires adjustments and filters to sound its best, I’d have to consider this a mic for more advanced users who understand how to adjust filters like equalization and compression for their voice. Thankfully, the mic has these features built into its Windows software, though at a limited capacity.
Built-in EQ and Dynamic Range Compression Are Underwhelming
In the mic’s software—only on its Windows version—you can adjust lighting, polar patterns, and EQ, as well as toggle Dynamic Range Compression. As a relatively simple compressor, Dynamic Range Compression softens your loudest sounds and raises quiet sounds to make the volume more level.
Unfortunately, it seems to struggle at hitting that level of volume initially, as in the recording below, you’ll hear a few especially loud moments at the beginning of phrases when speakingbefore the audio becomes level.Be warned that the first moment of the audio below is extra loud.
As for EQ, the mic only features five bands of frequencies to adjust, which is frankly nowhere near sufficient for the fine-tuning needs of advanced users. Additionally, the EQ presets are rather disappointing, and most of them didn’t improve my voice’s sound at all, other than the vocal boost preset. Below are audio samples of each EQ setting.
I deeply appreciate microphones that offer built-in filters and effects, as these make using these effects significantly easier for creators. However, JBL’s implementation was underwhelming, and I’d recommend that creators use other options for adding EQ and compression for this mic. Below, I’ve run the initial audio sample with my own EQ, compressor, and de-esser filters.
This mic does provide a good canvas from which you’re able to adjust its sound with filters, but the filters built into the software are lacking. Moreover, the software is incredibly disappointing on Mac, only allowing for device updates and no additional features.
Noise Rejection Is Surprisingly Great
While I may not love the mic’s out-of-the-box sound, it does an amazing job of rejecting noise without using any noise rejection filters or effects that I’m aware of. Below is a test of desk noise, handling noise, and fans set on high to evaluate how well it manages.
I expected all of these noises to be more audible, but in every scenario, the difference in volume between my voice and all types of noise is outstanding. Many mics are highly sensitive to handling noise, tapping, and background hums or fans, and the JBL Quantum Stream Studio handles them all like a champ—it truly focuses on your voice, or multiple voices under other polar patterns.
Four Polar Patterns Add Major Flexibility
This mic allows for toggling between four different polar patterns: cardioid (front-only), omnidirectional, stereo (left/right split), and bidirectional (front/back). JBL provides use cases for each, such as conference room recording with omnidirectional, music with stereo, and interviews with bidirectional. Below, you can hear samples of me speaking to all sides of the mic with each setting.
It’s also easy to adjust on the fly, as the mic has a button on its bottom for cycling through each option. However, this also means you might accidentally change polar patterns.
This feature will not be useful to many people, especially creators using it at their desk, but for those who need it, it might be one of this mic’s most important selling points.
Should You Buy the JBL Quantum Stream Studio?
I have deeply mixed feelings about theJBL Quantum Stream Studio. On one hand, it offers a vast array of premium features ranging from its superb noise rejection, polar pattern options, and software features. However, the mic itself is somewhat underwhelming in practice with tinny audio and weak software, requiring external configuration such as post-processing or OBS audio filters to get the best sound.
Unless you know you’ll need this mic’s premium but nice-to-have features, like multiple polar patterns, I recommend that most buyers look elsewhere. It is a decent mic for sure, but the microphone part of the product is not premium enough to warrant the premium features and $149 price tag. Similarly, with the lack of proper software support, I also wouldn’t recommend this mic for Mac users.
If you want a premium mic that offers a wide variety of features but takes some work to make sound its best, this might be for you! While this mic is quite good, if you want complexity in features and setup, you may be better off investing in an XLR setup.
