A good mic is, at least to me, criminally underrated equipment. After all, a good mic is the difference between sounding great on your next podcast, stream, or meeting, or sounding like you're trapped in a drainpipe with a few angry cats.

The best microphones used to be a bit expensive and required an XLR mixer and lots of cables. But not anymore. Now you can get a good, usable mic for a very reasonable price. And the Amazon Prime Day sale is a great opportunity to buy audio upgrades at a discount.

But which one to buy: ...... I wish someone who uses a number of microphones could guide me through all the options. ...... Looks like someone's here.

Hello. Here are the top 3 deals on Mike's for Prime Day. Ladies and gentlemen. Let's hear some audio.

Not only is this the cheapest mic on this list, it's also the cutest. But before you think it's just a toy, know this. This little microphone is capable of capturing stunning sound. That's it. This little microphone is capable of capturing stunning sound.

Of course, there were some budgetary concessions. There is no dedicated mute button, and the cable is quite frustratingly a proprietary Razer model. But otherwise, this microphone is virtually the very definition of cheap and cheerful.

With a supercardioid pickup pattern and a 14 mm condenser capsule, this little mic connects to your machine via USB and captures warm and accurate audio primarily from whatever is in front of it. In this case, of course, yourself. For $39 right now on Amazon, you can get a small, good-looking little mic that does the job and works very well, as we found in our review.

Plus, it looks like a boiled egg in an egg cup. What more could you want?

Sometimes looks matter. If you want your microphone to fit in a frame, or simply look good on a desk or mounted on a boom arm, then the HyperX QuadCast S must be it.

But it's not just about looks. It has a built-in pop filter that works very well (so you don't have to suffer the indignity of talking into a cheap clip-on filter), and it has a capacitive mute button on the top that shuts off vocals with a light tap. A single microphone can be used to record just yourself or multiple speakers.

The included Ngenuity software is unfortunately a bit basic, but it gets the job done. But the best thing about this microphone (as we found in our review) is that it picks up vocal sounds beautifully. You can adjust the volume with the gain control, and while you probably don't want to overwhelm others in the meeting, don't let anyone tell you that this mic is shy.

This mic captures bold, crisp audio and makes a visual statement about it. Or you can turn off all the fancy lights and get a great mic for under $110. It's up to you.

I may be a little hazy here, but I love this mic. Sad, but true. It seems the new Shure MV7+ is slowly destroying it. We haven't had a chance to get our hands on the MV7+ yet, but I can say with absolute certainty that it will take a lot of effort for the MV7+ to sound better than the original.

Not only is this mic my top pick for best mic overall, but I own two myself and have used them for years for recording podcasts and vocal audio. I can attest to the outstanding sound quality, build, and ease of use of these mics more than any other equipment I own.

My two units, despite being thrown in backpacks, dropped down stairs, and placed in front of all kinds of people, have never let me down. Not once. More than that, it picks up wonderfully warm, rounded, yet crisp vocal audio, and with both USB and XLR connections, these two rag-tags are as good for studio work as they are on my desk.

Yes, they are. I need a boom arm or desk stand. For some reason, Shure does not provide one as standard. But more than that, this mic is very good in its performance and sounds really great. In front of loud speakers, it might be a little too loud. Other than that, it's nearly perfect. Don't take my word for it. Our reviews say pretty much the same thing.

With all due respect, I'm holding two models in the corner and saying they're fine. Considering it's still $249 with the Amazon discount, you might think that's a lot of money to spend on an old mic. But let me tell you, I paid more per unit and have never regretted it.

I plan on using these mics for the rest of my life. If you want the best mic I've ever used, here it is.