Corsair Built Its First Microphone — And Handed the Software to Elgato
By Dan Whitfield··6 min read
In three decades of building keyboards, coolers, chairs and power supplies, Corsair had never sold a standalone microphone. On September 16 it did: the VOXARA, a 25mm USB condenser at $199.99. The interesting part is not the capsule. It is that half the product is software made by a company Corsair bought in 2018.
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The Elgato part is the product
Corsair has owned Elgato since 2018, and until now the two brands stayed politely out of each other's way: Elgato sold the capture cards, Stream Decks and Wave microphones, Corsair sold everything with RGB in it. VOXARA is the first product where the wall comes down. The hardware is Corsair's. The brain — Elgato Wave Link, the free mixing application that splits your PC's audio into independent channels — is Elgato's, and so is AI Voice Focus, the real-time noise removal the whole pitch rests on. Plugins come from the Elgato Marketplace.
That matters when you are deciding what you are buying. Plugged in raw, VOXARA is a competent $200 condenser with unusually good on-body controls. Plugged into Wave Link, it becomes a routing hub that can send one mix to your stream and a different one to your headphones — the thing people buy an audio interface or a GoXLR for. If you were never going to install the software, most of the premium over a cheaper USB mic evaporates.
What it actually does better
The screen is the point
Most USB mics give you a gain knob and a mute button and expect you to alt-tab for everything else. VOXARA puts an OLED screen on the body, driven by a multi-function scroll wheel: input gain, headphone level, monitoring mix and mute state, all readable mid-sentence without leaving the game. On a mic you stare at for six hours a day, that is not a gimmick — it is the difference between fixing a level and finishing the stream at the wrong one.
Tap-to-mute, not click-to-mute
The top of the mic is a capacitive sensor. Tapping it mutes; there is no switch to knock, no click to travel down the stand and into the recording. HyperX popularised this on the QuadCast and it remains the most useful physical feature on a streaming mic, because the moment you most need to mute is the moment you have no time to find a button.
AI Voice Focus does the room treatment you didn't do
Corsair's answer to the condenser problem (below) is software: AI Voice Focus strips keyboard clatter, fan hum and room tone in real time and isolates your voice. It runs inside Elgato Wave Link, so it applies before the signal reaches OBS. This is the feature the whole product leans on, and how well it holds up on a clacky board in an untreated room is the one thing worth waiting for reviews on.
It inherits Elgato's software stack whole
Wave Link gives you multi-channel routing and two independent mixes — one for your stream, one for your headphones — so game audio, Discord, music and mic each land on their own fader. Plugins come from the Elgato Marketplace, and iCUE Murals (in beta) drives the lighting. Corsair built the hardware and borrowed the software from the company it already owns.
The catch: it hears your room
VOXARA is a condenser, and every condenser trades rejection for detail. It will capture your voice more richly than a dynamic mic at the same price — and it will also capture your keyboard, your case fans, the room echo and whatever is happening two doors down. AI Voice Focus exists precisely because that is true. If you stream from an untreated bedroom with a loud board, a dynamic mic like the Shure MV7+ at $299 solves the problem in hardware rather than asking an algorithm to solve it in software.
This is not a knock on the VOXARA so much as the oldest question in streaming audio, and Corsair has answered it the modern way. Whether the answer holds up is the one thing a spec sheet cannot tell you, and the reason to read a hands-on review before ordering.
Full specifications
| Capsule | 25mm condenser, cardioid |
|---|---|
| Audio engine | 32-bit / 192kHz |
| Frequency response | 20Hz – 20kHz |
| Max SPL | 110 dB |
| Signal-to-noise | 73 dB |
| Connection | USB-C (3m USB-A to USB-C cable included) |
| Monitoring | 3.5mm headphone jack |
| On-mic controls | OLED screen, scroll wheel, tap-to-mute sensor |
| Lighting | RGB knob — Multi-Color, Solid, or Level Meter |
| Mounting | Built-in shock mount and pop filter, 5/8-inch thread, 1/4-inch and 3/8-inch adapters |
| Stand | Detachable aluminium, 360° rotation, 30° tilt |
| Platforms | PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Switch, Switch 2 |
| Colours | Meteorite Black, Frost White |
| Warranty | 2 years |
Source: Corsair product listing. Price and stock verified on Amazon US, 2026-09-28.
Corsair's launch video
Where it lands, and who should buy it
At $199.99 the VOXARA sits in the gap between the gaming USB mics and the broadcast dynamics: above the HyperX QuadCast 2 ($139) and the Logitech Yeti ($129), below the Shure MV7+ ($299) and the SM7B ($399). All five are on our best streaming microphones list.
Buy it if
- · You already run Wave Link, a Stream Deck or other Elgato gear
- · Your room is quiet, carpeted or treated
- · You want mixing without buying an interface or a GoXLR
- · On-mic gain and monitoring you can read at a glance matters to you
Skip it if
- · You stream from a noisy or echoey room — buy a dynamic
- · You have no intention of installing Wave Link
- · $139 buys you a QuadCast 2 that covers most of this
- · You need XLR for a future interface or a second mic
Where to buy the VOXARA
$199.99 in both colours. Amazon US showed the listing as temporarily out of stock when we checked on 2026-09-28, so Corsair's own store is currently the better bet.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How much does the Corsair VOXARA cost?
$199.99 on Amazon US. As of September 28, 2026 the listing shows it as temporarily out of stock — it launched on September 16 and demand has outrun the first shipment. Corsair's own store is the more reliable place to check stock right now. It ships in Meteorite Black and Frost White at the same price.
Is the VOXARA Corsair's first microphone?
Yes. Corsair's newsroom describes it as the company's first premium USB gaming condenser microphone, and Corsair's own product pages call it its first and only microphone. Corsair has shipped countless headset mics, and its subsidiary Elgato has sold standalone mics for years under the Wave name — but this is the first standalone microphone to carry the Corsair badge.
What is Elgato Wave Link and do I need it for the VOXARA?
Wave Link is Elgato's free audio mixing software. It splits everything your PC makes — mic, game, Discord, browser, music — into separate channels and lets you build two independent mixes, so your audience and your headphones can hear different things. The VOXARA works as a plug-and-play USB device without it, but AI Voice Focus, the routing and the plugin support all live in Wave Link. Buying this mic and not installing Wave Link means paying for features you then don't use.
Is a condenser microphone a good choice for streaming?
It depends entirely on your room. Condensers are more sensitive and more detailed than dynamics, which is why studios use them — but that sensitivity is indiscriminate. In an untreated bedroom a condenser picks up your keyboard, your PC fans, the road outside and the reflection off the wall behind you. A dynamic mic like the Shure SM7B or MV7+ rejects most of that by being far less sensitive to anything beyond a few inches away. If your room is quiet or treated, a condenser sounds better. If it isn't, a dynamic sounds better — and no amount of processing fully closes that gap.
What does 32-bit / 192kHz actually get you?
Headroom, mostly. A 32-bit signal path is very hard to clip: if you shout into it, the peak is recoverable instead of destroyed, which matters on a live stream where you get one take. The 192kHz sample rate is well past what streaming platforms transmit — your audience hears it re-encoded far lower. Treat the spec as insurance against your own gain staging rather than as audible quality.
VOXARA or the Elgato Wave:3 — aren't they the same company?
They are: Corsair has owned Elgato since 2018, which is why Corsair itself publishes a VOXARA-versus-Wave:3 comparison. Both are USB condensers running the same Wave Link software, so the decision comes down to the hardware — VOXARA's OLED screen, scroll wheel, RGB and 32-bit path against the Wave:3's smaller footprint and lower price. Nobody is getting locked out of an ecosystem either way.
Does the VOXARA work with a PS5 or Nintendo Switch?
Yes — Corsair lists PC, Mac, PS4, PS5, Switch and Switch 2. On console it behaves as a standard USB audio device: you get the mic, the headphone jack and the on-body controls. Wave Link and AI Voice Focus are PC and Mac software, so console users get the hardware half of the product only.