Maono are a name I was previously unfamiliar with that have seemingly been stepping into the spotlight for newcomers to streaming. Though they originally reached out to me to review something separate that has unfortunately been delayed, I was quite interested to see what the fuss was about with their more regular products. I have the PD200XS dynamic microphone on hand, and to cut a long story short, I'm pretty impressed.

Inside the Box

The PD200XS is on paper an entry level microphone, coming in at £95 at the time of writing on Amazon UK for the package I have here. For that price you're getting the microphone itself in a shock mount, a decent quality USB C to USB C cable that has an adapter on the end for USB A too, and even a full boom arm. I'll say here in passing that the boom arm isn't anything special, lining up with the ones I've picked up in the past for £20 or so, but for those getting off the ground I can certainly see the appeal of just getting an all in one set like this. If you do already have an arm on hand, you can save a little money, with the standalone microphone going for £76.

If you’re interested in a full breakdown, you can find the spec sheet straight from Maono themselves:

• Connector Type: USB, USB Type-C, XLR
• Polar Pattern: Cardioid
• Bit Depth/Sample Rate: 24-bit/48kHz
• Sensitivity: XLR:-52dBV USB:-10.5dBFS/Pa(Max)
• Max SPL: >130dB SPL
• Material: Metal
• Compatible Devices: Laptop, Audio Interface, Personal Computer, MAC OS, Smartphone
• Hardware Platform: Audio Interface, PC, Smartphone

Setting up the microphone will vary slightly in complexity depending on whether you're using the USB C connection, or the additional XLR connector. I unfortunately don't have an audio interface at the time of writing, so my comments are limited to the more accessible USB C connectivity. And accessible it certainly is. You don't need any software, with the microphone being picked up out of the box on any system I've plugged it into.

On the body of the microphone you have access to a volume knob to control the input volume, as well as a mute button to, as you might expect, mute yourself. The mute button has an LED ring around it that glows red when active, and various intensities of green to signify the current volume setting. It's certainly functional, but out of the box I did feel it a shame they somewhat overlooked the much larger LED ring that neatly wraps around the entire microphone. Through external software, that I'll come back to later, you're able to set the colour of this and its brightness, and at the time of drafting this review I was sure there was no way for the larger LED ring to mirror the functionality of the smaller one. This was a frustration for me as somebody who uses a low profile arm with the microphone mounted from below. This does appear to have changed via a software update to the driver app though, with there now being an option to disable the larger LED ring when the microphone is muted.

For those wanting to hear how they sound without fiddling with whatever they're plugged into, the PD200XS also has a 3.5mm headphone port for a live feed of what's going into your system of choice. Note this only works when in USB mode however.

So How Does it Sound?

As a whole the microphone feels pretty no frills, and I really do appreciate the fact that it just works. It also comes with a pop filter over the capsule, though you can obviously add your own if you want to take it a step further. To cut to the chase here, the PD200XS sounds really good even with a novice like myself driving it. For the simplest means of recording the audio quality, I plugged the microphone directly into an audio recorder via USB C with no enhancements on maximum gain. You can check out the short video below if you want to have a listen for yourself.  

With any microphone, there are gains to be had from finding the perfect settings, especially with things like your surroundings and various ambient sounds having an impact on the final recording quality. With a focus on those getting into the game though, I really love to hear things sounding this clear right out of the box.

Support Software

When it comes to software support, the PD200XS weirdly has two apps to pick from to tweak its settings: Maono Link, and Maono Arena. Both apps allow you to make changes to how the microphone sounds, as well as altering the RGB ring on the body of the microphone itself. I’ll be focusing more on the Link app here, with Arena actually being a tool for managing various audio channels for streaming. I did want to give it a mention either way since it does have more options for Maono tech. Link is more of a standalone tool that really just boils down the essentials you’d expect to find in microphone driver software. There are a few nice extras on show though.

The Link app is remarkably simple to get going with. On the “Standard” tab of the app you’re given some very basic and easy to follow controls, allowing you to customise basically all the things you could do from the body of the microphone. You can set your gain and headphone volume between 0 and 100, toggle the “lighting linkage” mentioned earlier to sync your larger LED ring with your mute state, and set a tone. The tones are simple presets that just change how you sound, with the options of “Deep”, “Original”, and “Natural”.

By switching over to the “Advanced” mode you’re given a much finer control of how the microphone will sound going into apps like OBS, Microsoft Teams, or whatever else you decide to use it with. You get three EQ presets including a high pass filter, a “presence boost”, and a combination of the two, as well as the ability to create your own custom preset. On top of this you can find easy options to add a limiter, compressor, and a setting just labelled “Noise”. That last one seems to be a recent addition that I assume is a noise gate, but there doesn’t seem to be any documentation or additional tool tips to confirm that. The alternative is some kind of noise filter, but given these settings are saved to the microphone itself, I’d be a little surprised if it had that kind of processing on-board. All of these changes can be monitored in real time using the on-microphone headphone jack, with everything being quite portable thanks to the aforementioned saving of settings directly to the mic. The software isn't entirely without frustration, with the standard and advanced toggle making certain features inaccessible without offering an alternative; the light linkage feature is the one I've noticed. You can still set it in standard mode and then flick the switch, but it's a hassle all the same.

In the grand scheme of things though, this software is easy to use, actively being improved upon and added to, and doesn’t need to be running all the time. It’s everything I want to see and more.

A Solid Pick

When I've been at my desk, the PD200XS has been my microphone of choice, and at the price being asked, I do feel it's a genuinely compelling pick. Thanks to the USB C port it's entirely plug and play to get off the ground, with room for expansion in the future should you decide to invest in an audio interface for the XLR connection. If that is something that interests you, I would recommend looking into other reviews that are able to test that part of the microphone for the fullest picture. Even limiting my views to it being just a USB C microphone though, I would be happy paying what it costs.