Shure MV7+ podcast microphone review

When I found out Shure was discontinuing the Shure MV7 Podcast microphone, I felt a genuine twinge in my stomach. Y'see, I've been using two of the big beasties for vocal audio capture for years, and they've become like old friends. Slightly unwieldy perhaps, but as plug and play microphones, they were unparalleled. 

It wasn't just me that thought so, either—until recently, the Shure MV7 topped our best microphone for gaming guide, only to be replaced by the excellent Shure MV6, thanks to its more gamer-friendly sizing and desktop placement options. Now the Shure MV7+ is here, and at first glance not a whole lot seems to have changed.

That's until you put it side by side with the original MV7. The MV7+ is longer, thanks to a more substantial foam filter. The slightly fiddly touch panel controls are also now reduced to a single LED strip acting as a touch to mute button by default. Other than that though, the Shure MV7+ looks and feels just as good as the original did.

It'd better feel like the bee's knees, given the price. You can get a lot of great gaming microphones for under the $200 mark, but Shure will sell you an MV7+ for $279/£269. That's chump change for studio grade vocal mics, but for your average buyer that's still a lot to pay for something that really only does one job.

Type: Dynamic
Polar pattern: Unidirectional (cardioid)
Connectivity: USB Type-C/XLR
Recording sample rate: 16 or 24-bit, 44.1 or 48 kHz
Frequency response: 50 Hz to 16,000 Hz
Features: Top-mounted RGB light strip w/ touch controls, Motiv mix software with auto levelling, noise reduction, plosive reduction
Price: $279 | £269 

That being said, given the MV6 has properly introduced Shure into the world of USB gaming microphones, the MV7+ now strikes as something more purposeful. This is a podcast and creator microphone through and through, with none of the MV6's gamer-friendly green accents. It's a subtle, handsome looking device, designed to look professional on a stream or in a recording