Cherry has finally officially launched its Xtrfy Ngale range of gaming microphones, five months after it first demoed the units. With quality mics, in-built headphone amps, and a smattering of RGB, they offer a top-tier sound with a retro look for gamers seeking something a little different from the usual mic options.
Cherry originally showed off the Ngale range at CES, alongside the Cherry Xtrfy M64 Pro gaming mouse – officially the fastest in the world at the time. Since then, the company’s been somewhat quiet on the launch but finally the new mics are out now and vying for a spot on our best gaming mic guide.
The Ngale range consists of three products at the moment. The two main ones are the Ngale R mid-range USB microphone and the Ngale X, which adds XLR output as well as a USB connection, for more pro-grade audio configurations. The final piece of the trio is the Ngale Boom Arm mic stand, which is a fairly standard three-pivot-point boom arm with trunking to allow you to stow your cables out the way in the arm.
Looking more closely at the Ngale R, it offers an intriguing nearly retro design with a flat rectangular look that’s reminiscent of old ribbon microphones such as the RCA 44-BX, but Cherry Xtrfy hasn’t quite followed through with the style. Instead of a classy stamped metal logo, you get a screen printed one, and the prominent RGB lighting behind the grille definitely breaks the illusion.
Inside, though, you get what should be a quality mic configuration with the single 16mm condenser capsule offering a cardioid pickup pattern. This capsule is slightly larger than typical 14mm ones, which means it if more sensitive overall but with less of a tendency to pickup higher frequencies. In other words, it should be ideally suited to general streaming, podcast and voice over recording, and even a range of acoustic instrument and singing recording.
For features, you get a front volume knob that switches between mic volume and headphone volume, with a row of LEDs above indicating the level of each. Round the back is a USB-C connection, a headphone jack, and a button that cycles through the RGB patterns. You can also engage a low-cut filter mode for quickly reducing the boom of low noises for voice comms.
As for the Ngale X, it is a dynamic microphone rather than a condenser which makes it better suited to use at a range of volumes – it’s less likely to distort when suddenly hit with high volumes. It also offers both USB and XLR outputs, with the former offering the same mic monitoring/headphone output and volume adjustment as the Ngale R – the XLR output just relies on your audio interface.
You don’t get a stand with the Ngale X. Instead, it requires some form of boom arm or other stand. RGB is less prominent here with just a ring of light on the back of the mic.
All three products are available now with the Ngale R priced at $119.00 – putting it into competition with the Corsair Wave 1, for instance – while the Ngale X is priced at $179.99, making it a markedly more premium option in line with options like the Rode X XDM-100.
The Ngale Boom Arm is similarly pricey at $119.99, though its integrated cable management does make it appeal over more basic boom arms.
For an alternative take on a gaming microphone, check out our Corsair Wave 3 review, which is currently our top pick overall for a dedicated USB gaming mic.