The JBL Quantum Stream Wireless is truly unlike anything I've reviewed before, its JBLs attempt at a high quality lapel microphone and given JBL’s usual quality in their products I expect the Stream Wireless to be more of the same, but will it surprise me? Lets find out.
I wrote the above paragraph/intro before receiving the Stream Wireless microphone as I truly didn’t know what to expect from it. What I didn't expect was just how many ways this microphone could have. It's great for content creation both at your desk or of course on the move, the unexpected part was just how well it would perform as a gaming microphone for general chatting to your friends online. I did however have 2 gripes with the design of the products that somewhat dampened my experience.
Out of the box you get a familiar looking JBL charging/carry case, the microphone itself, the USB-C or lightning port dongle and a fluffy windshield. The case looks good and is very durable, the devices fit inside purpose cut slots that hold them very firmly in place. The case's closing force is sufficient that a small to moderate drop won't result in everything spilling out everywhere. However, one of my 2 biggest issues with the device is the fact that there's nowhere in or on the case to store the fluffy windshield. This isn't the biggest problem in the world, but as an all-in-one piece of kit, you'd think there would be the ability to carry the whole thing as one piece. I found myself misplacing the windshield at least a few times in the process of this review for this reason alone. I even washed it once after accidentally leaving it in my pocket. Of course the windshield isn't imperative for the microphones usage, it is nice to have and has a substantial impact on cutting out background noise.
Battery life on the Stream Wireless is very impressive. With 6 hours in the microphone and a further 18 in the case, you're very unlikely to run out of charge. If you do somehow run out of juice on your mic in the middle of a project a quick 15 minute speed charge will give you an additional 1 hour of recording time.
Both the microphone and the case have LED indicators which come in very handy, these allow you to always know when you're connected, recording and when your battery is running low. These lights are also dimmable in the app so as not to distract in low light situations. The dongle is either USB-C or Lightning depending on the device you're going to use it on, My particular one was the USB-C variant. These dongles feature an additional USB-C port to allow for charging while streaming.
With support from both the JBL Quantum Engine on PC and the JBL Headphone app for mobile devices you can customise a bunch of settings to suit your needs. With the JBL Engine you can quickly adjust EQ, noise reduction, gain and do things like mite and unmute yourself via your PC. With the mobile app you can do all of that plus change LED brightness, change the auto off settings and change the noise suppression settings etc.
The recording quality of the Stream Wireless is very good. It's not full on boom mic quality, but for its size it manages to deliver some truly impressive audio. Your voice sounds very clear and concise with no distortion whatsoever. The windshield not only blocks out a large amount of background noise, but helps give your voice a slightly warmer, fuller sound. With a 100m range, you're not bound too closely to your phone either. This gives you the freedom to do a bunch of things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to.
The other big issue I had with the device was with the dongle, I am not sure if this is specific to myself or if it's a common issue. But the USB-C connector that should be able to be used either way only worked when it was inserted backwards meaning the back of the dongle faced the front of the phone. I am not sure why this was the case or if it was an issue with my phone rather than the dongle, but it was a little annoying and meant the LED indicators on the device were not visible. Again, not the biggest issue and took very little away from the products functionality, just something that I noticed.
If you're a content creator, or a streamer, the Stream Wireless is a must have product, its portability, functionality and recording performance make it an essential purchase. For the price, I don't see there being another product as good on the market.
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