Antlion Audio ModMic 5 Modular Microphone Review

Antlion ModMic 5 – A Closer Look and Recording Quality

With a clean, compact design and magnetized connection point, the ModMic 5 is a very nice piece of tech. Antlion has gotten the size of the ModMic 5 reduced over the years, while improving the build quality and feature set of the product. The ModMic 5 uses a standard gold plated 3.5 mm audio jack that is compatible with any number of extensions out there. The modular nature of the ModMic 5 means that even if you lose the included cable sets, you can easily source new cables from any number of outlets. The cable from the ModMic 5 is about six inches long, which means it can make a short run into headsets with a built-in 3.5 mm microphone jack.

The Antlion ModMic 5 uses very strong 3M adhesive to attach the small magnetic attachment point to headphones. The magnets of the mounting mechanism snap together when in close proximity and have a great hold to them. You can attach magnets to multiple headsets if you want to run the ModMic 5 on various devices and Antlion includes a couple of extras with the ModMic 5. If you are concerned about the mounting magnets getting lost or running out of 3M mounting hardware down the road, ModMic actually has full replacements available for the mounting hardware and other components of the ModMic 5.

The Antlion ModMic 5 is capable of both omni-directional and uni-directional recording, which is perhaps its biggest evolution over the ModMic 4. Changing these modes is done with a simple switch on the base of the ModMic 5, with the full circle selection representing the omni-directional mode. This clever design makes the ModMic 5 really versatile, as uni-directional mode reduces the response of the microphone, but it also cancels surrounding noise more than the omni-directional mode. Unless you are in a really noisy area, such as a LAN party, I’d recommend sticking with omni-directional mode to get that full response and clarity from your beautiful voice. A quality pop filter is included with the ModMic 5 and it was used for the recording tests.

The uni-directional recording mode offers noise cancellation at the expense of recording range. The lower range is cut off in uni-directional mode, so bass tones won’t be picked up as well. Uni-directional mode offers a 100 Hz10 kHz recording range, which is more than adequate for competitive gaming and VOIP situations. Uni-directional mode would come in really useful during LAN parties or other situations where you will be in a noisy environment, but still need clear communication.

Using omni-directional mode will allow for more full recordings, with noise cancellation off. 30 Hz17.5 kHz is the recording range in omni-directional mode. Unless you are in a noisy environment or have specific reasons, using omni-directional mode will be optimal.

The HyperX Cloud Alpha built-in microphone has good quality, but pales in comparison to the pick-up and range provided by the ModMic 5.

The ModMic 5 sits between a nice desktop microphone and this type of microphone in terms of quality, leaning towards the likes of a Blue Snowball or other decent entry desktop microphone in terms of quality. The noise cancelletation offered by the ModMic 5 is excellent, as is the included pop filter. Overall, the ModMic 5 has great build quality and solid sound quality. The overall package was all very easy to get set up and use, as well, thanks to Antlion including every accessory necessary and then some.