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Jan 17, 2024

The 7 Best Boom Arms for Streamers

Need to adjust the position of your microphone on the fly? For content creators,

Need to adjust the position of your microphone on the fly? For content creators, a boom arm is an essential piece of equipment.

As you follow the path of a content creator, you'll acquire a myriad of accessories for your home studio—stream decks, lights, monitors, and microphones. The latter is, of course, one of the most essential devices to have, which is why you should consider enhancing its usefulness by installing a microphone boom arm.

If you've watched a stream or two, maybe a few dozen YouTube videos, you might have noticed a long, seemingly metal arm attached to the content creator's microphone. That's a boom arm! It's a great way of lifting the microphone off the desk and into a position that's best suited for you. Best of all, they can be adjusted on the fly.

Here are the best boom arms available today.

With the Elgato Wave Mic Arm, you not only get a premium, low-profile boom arm, but you also get a nice selection of options to best satisfy your needs through the various kits and sizes available.

The Elgato Wave Mic Arm itself is constructed from highly durable, anti-torsion metal that has the strength to handle microphones and accessories totaling 4.4 pounds. Though its arm is much thicker, it's to make room for the easily accessible cable channels that give your space a cleaner and much tidier presentation. However, it's the ball head that should get the most praise considering it can adapt to 1/4-inch, 3/8-inch, and 5/8-inch screws.

It's just as accommodating to workspaces, too. The Elgato Wave Mic Arm allows for 360 degrees of horizontal adjustments and 90 degrees of vertical rotation. And since it can be clamped to the side of your desk or permanently fixed, you’ll have no trouble finding the most comfortable position.

The On-Stage MBS5000 is a sturdy, versatile boom arm that fits a wide variety of microphones. In addition to durability, the On-Stage MBS5000 is also quite accommodating to smaller spaces.

The On-Stage MBS5000 is built from quality aluminum, reinforced by dual suspension springs that make it far more convenient for moving and adjusting the boom arm on the fly. More importantly, due to its strength, it can handle a variety of microphones weighing 3.5 pounds, in addition to alternative devices like tablets, lights, and cameras.

With a reach of 19.5 inches, the On-Stage MBS5000 is a bit on the shorter side, but since this boom arm can be clamped to the desk or permanently fixed, its short reach is inconsequential.

Being a streamer—whether it's for podcasts, content creation, or gaming—requires a bit of investment, so you might be limited to the budget of your day job. You can get the most bang for your buck by grabbing the Neewer NW-35, while also being a great option as an upgrade.

The Neewer NW-35, for starters, is incredibly durable thanks to the use of steel. It has a great reach of 27.6 inches with a maximum capacity of 3.3 pounds. More importantly, you can make very fine adjustments to the boom arm due to its 360-degree fully rotatable and 270-degree pivotable spigot.

Other than being compatible with a variety of microphones, the Neewer NW-35 comes bundled with a double-layer pop filter to keep sound quality clear and free of noise, which can also be adjusted.

If audio quality is a big concern of yours, keeping background noise to a minimum—or outright eliminating it—is obviously a must. With the Rode PSA1, you can move closer to that goal of having a noise-free environment for recording clean audio.

The magic is in the two spring-loaded sections, in addition to 360-degree rotation, allowing you freely move and adjust the Rode PSA1 on the fly without creating so much as a peep. It's a must-have feature if you often broadcast live or frequently perform voice-over work.

Another great aspect of the Rode PSA1 is its ability to fit into just about any setup. It comes with both a c-clamp mount for fashioning it to the end of the desk (no drilling required) and a threaded desk insert for a more permanent solution.

Functionality and performance are a must, but who says you should ignore aesthetics? To improve the overall presentation of your studio, take a gander at the fully articulated Heil PL-2T Boom Arm.

For starters, the Heil PL-2T hides many of its unsightly design aspects. Screws are capped in order to hide them away, as well as the use of internal springs. More importantly, you can thread your microphone cables through the boom arm itself. Altogether, it leaves your setup looking clean, tidy, and aesthetically pleasing.

Of course, the Heil PL-2T doesn't ignore performance either considering it can handle equipment as heavy as 3.5 pounds. And those internal springs mentioned earlier? They won't make a sound when you’re making adjustments, keeping the audio nice and clean.

The Samson MBA38-38 is a highly durable boom arm that's perfect for content creators looking to improve the production value of their content. To do that, additional accessories need to be added, so having a boom arm that can withstand extra weight is a must.

Made from strong steel, the Samson MBA38-38 is incredibly durable. More importantly, that sturdiness allows it to withstand 4 pounds of equipment. If you opt for the 48-inch model, that increases to 5 pounds, making it one of the best boom arms for heavy microphones.

What's equally beneficial is that in the event you have to relocate, the Samson MBA38-38 can be detached from its position, folded entirely, and reinstalled elsewhere. No need to buy another boom arm!

The Blue Microphones Compass is a premium, low-profile option that comes with a surprising collection of small, yet appreciated features handy for streaming, podcasts, and content creation.

The Blue Microphones Compass takes a different approach to design, employing a much thicker arm for better durability and a way to conceal your cables. Its reach is 32 inches, which is only a tad short, but if you have a standard desk you won't notice the length. Additionally, the hinges are very quiet, so quiet that they won't muddy up your audio quality.

What's arguably the best aspect of the Blue Microphones Compass is how accommodating it can be with all standard shock mounts. It comes with a mount adapter that allows for both 3/8-inch and 5/8-inch threading.

Yes, it is definitely worth investing in a microphone boom arm—especially as a content creator.

Assuming content creation is your career (streaming, podcast, etc.), you'll find yourself investing in quite a few gadgets like stream decks, mouse bungees, more monitors, and so on. Over time those accessories shrink your available space, so adding a microphone on top of that is yet another device.

By installing a microphone boom arm, you lift the microphone off the desk and into the air in a position that's most comfortable.

The two most important aspects to look for in a boom arm are 1) compatibility and 2) maximum capacity.

Starting with capacity, you have to be sure the boom arm can hold your microphone. Whatever the maximum capacity of your chosen boom arm is, compare it to the weight of your microphone. However, if you add a pop filter, that needs to be considered as well, but thankfully they're only ever a few ounces in weight.

Compatibility not only refers to the threads but the clamp as well if you decide to clamp rather than permanently fix the boom arm to your desk. Boom arms will list how wide the clamp can go, which should never exceed the thickness of your desk.

Not all microphone boom arms are permanently fixed to the chosen location. "Permanent" just refers to mounts that involve screws or other methods of securing the microphone into place other than clamps.

If you'd like to avoid sticking screws into your desk or mounting it to the wall, then go with a microphone boom arm with a c-clamp. Some even provide two installation options such as a c-clamp and a flange mount.

Brady has been crafting buyer's guide for MakeUseOf since 2021, though his professional writing experience stretches as far back as 2018. He focuses primarily on gaming, using his background as a video game journalist to help readers find the right gadgets, accessories, and hardware to get the most out of their setup.