---
title: 'Wave XLR Mark 2 vs Mark 1 - What Actually Changed?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=8XR3trGuCYU'
video_id: '8XR3trGuCYU'
date: 2026-07-28
duration_sec: 1019
channel: 'Trui'
---

# Wave XLR Mark 2 vs Mark 1 - What Actually Changed?

> Source: [Wave XLR Mark 2 vs Mark 1 - What Actually Changed?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=8XR3trGuCYU)

## Summary

This video compares the Elgato Wave XLR Mark II to the original Wave XLR, highlighting design tweaks and significant internal hardware upgrades. The presenter unpacks the new unit, discusses improved processing power for onboard DSP and VST plugins, and demonstrates the auto gain setup feature in Wave Link 3.0.

### Key Points

- **Design Differences** [02:37] — The Mark II features a continuous light strip instead of dotted lights around the base, and adds a microphone icon on the front. The bottom slip and overall shape remain nearly identical.
- **Improved Processor and DSP** [04:52] — The Mark II has a more powerful internal processor that handles VST plugins onboard, reducing latency. It also supports enhanced analog input and a better amplifier for studio microphones.
- **Auto Gain Setup** [06:01] — Using the free Wave Link 3.0 software, the Mark II can automatically detect your voice level and set the optimal gain, making it beginner-friendly.
- **Microphone Compatibility** [06:44] — Works with any XLR microphone, both condenser and dynamic. It provides 78 dB of ultra-low noise gain, enough for an SM7B without an external amplifier.
- **Clip Guard 2.0** [07:26] — The improved Clip Guard prevents audio clipping when speaking loudly, handling it better than the original.
- **Comparison with Pro Version** [08:11] — The Pro has two XLR inputs and can work standalone (without a PC). The Mark II has one input and requires a computer.

### Conclusion

The Wave XLR Mark II offers meaningful internal improvements over the original, especially in processing power and ease of use with auto gain. It is a solid choice for beginners and content creators who need a reliable single-microphone interface.

## Transcript

We're going to take a look at the Wave XLR Mark II. What is the difference with the Wave XLR Mark I, I guess. The >> [laughter] >> And what's in the box and things like
Let's jump right into it. We're going to start with unpacking the box. I think I need scissors cuz I recently got like gel lock my nails and I got it like I removed it too harshly and now my nails are really
this. So, I'm going to need scissors. Hey, but luckily I do own a pair. One. One. Two. Haha. Shaked.
Shake it. Shake it. Shake it. Shake it. Okay, that stretch isn't working that well as I thought. Okay, pulling is working a lot better.
>> Awesome. So, this is how it looks like inside the So, this is how it looks like inside the box. Try to be really gentle, okay? Cuz I am known for destroying boxes.
known for destroying boxes. So, this is the Wave XLR Mark II. paper. It feels like a present. It's my birthday and I'm unpacking this present in white paper.
well. I'm guessing there is a cable in it. cable in here. Cool.
And we have a little uh safety instruction guide as well. box. Let me check. Yeah, I think that's everything that's in this box. Awesome.
Okay. Um cool thing to note that this cable is wrapped with like cloth, which is like anti like like anti-tangle material, so it's not going to like First of all, I want to note the difference between the Wave:XLR and the
difference between the Wave:XLR and the Wave uh XLR Mark II. >> [laughter] >> I don't dust my the desk enough. I I swear I should do it like more often.
So, there is an accumulation of dust and especially at the bottom. Uh but the the quick thing that I see is there's like around the first one, there's like dots here, which are lights.
And around the Mark II, it seems to be a continuous strip instead of dots. Another thing I noticed um you've got the microphone icon right
um you've got the microphone icon right here. sure how good you're going to see it, but it's like a really minor thing.
Wave:XLR, the first one, doesn't have that. here. And the first one
dotted lights around instead. The back seems to be Yeah, I think the rest is kind of identical. Add the slip on the bottom. So, design-wise, it looks really, really
similar. Yeah. I don't think they changed much of the design, just the look of that thing itself.
bit, though. What has changed between these two is hardware inside of them. As you guys know, I'm not like some kind of tech girl that knows like all the ins and outs about like the processors and stuff like that.
I mean, I do know about like some Intel processors and Nvidia cards that go into processors and Nvidia cards that go into your PC, but I don't know about like this, of course. Um so, I'm trying to make it as simple
that you and I both understand what's going on. Right? So, there is a processor inside these things, right? It processes what goes on on these things.
better one than in this old one. What does that do? It allows the new one to be able to manage to do the plugins, the VST plugins, inside this thing
itself. Meaning that there is less delay. So, you don't have that delay while having your VST plugins. So, for is going to be handled inside this thing already.
>> [laughter] >> So, it has onboard DSP effects and VST insert support. It also has an enhanced analog input structure, and it has a
better amplifier for studio microphones. So, basically, higher-end studio microphones can work on it now, too. You probably don't have one of those. If you don't know what I'm talking about, if you never had that problem, you don't
have one of those. If you have that problem, this thing will fix it for you. And last thing you can do is it can automatically set your gain. And gain is like how loud your microphone is basically. And how you can do that is
you start Wave Link 3.0 software, which is free uh totally for people with Elgato stuff, but also people without Elgato products now. And you basically just connect this to your computer, it recognizes that you
your computer, it recognizes that you have the Wave XLR MK2, have the Wave XLR MK2, and it will go through a setup wizard, and you can automatically have it detect how loud your voice is,
and automatically sets the proper volume for it. So, you don't have to mess with it. So, if you don't know anything about audio, it will help you How convenient is that? Isn't it? I think that's pretty convenient. That
is really new friendly. Some questions that you might still have with this XLR which microphones will work on it? Uh basically any XLR microphones, condenser and dynamic microphones. Do third-party VSTs run as well? Yes, they
will run on it as well through a dedicated insert path, which will give you a lower latency than traditional software test cutting. Yeah. So, that's pretty awesome.
>> Especially for things like weird to sound voices, like robot voices and stuff like that. Those are pretty slow usually, so you can make them faster with this. It also makes use of Clip Guard 2.0. This one just made use
of Clip Guard, which is the improved version of Clip Guard. Basically, if I start screaming, it will prevent the audio to clip, so it will prevent the audio from being too loud basically. And it does it better than the previous one.
Can you hear yourself with zero latency when using this thing? Absolutely. Yeah, you can. You can hear yourself back with zero latency. It's a thing. What is the difference with this one and the Pro? I don't have
the Pro yet. I hope to be able to get that soon as well, hopefully. >> The Pro does have two inputs for XLR microphones. This one just has one input. So, if you're using two microphones, I would recommend the Pro.
The Pro can also do a standalone, and this one requires a PC. But, this one is just use one microphone and you're a noob, I would recommend this one. If you have a microphone with phantom power
that needs phantom power, I mean, um you just have to turn on the phantom power here. It has phantom power. You see the 48 V on this thing.
can use microphones with phantom power or without phantom power by just turning phantom power is, your microphone probably doesn't need it. How much gain does this thing actually provide? 80 dB of ultra-low noise gain. So, even with
microphones as the SM7B from Shure, you do not need an amplifier because this thing can handle it without an amplifier. No amplifier needed. Pretty good.
like, for example, from the light ring? Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can. Yeah, in the software. Can you remove this front panel thing for customization? Yeah, they have cool customization options. Can you use two of these bad boys on one
computer? I believe the WaveLink tree supports up to four right now. So, four of those. Can you use this without a computer? No. You can use the Pro without a computer, but not this one. Is it beginner-friendly?
Completely. Yeah. Like I said, you can set your gain automatically. The program set your gain automatically. The program you use the Elgato Wave Link 3.0 is easy to use. I do have a video on how to use it as well. If you're still wondering
how to use it, go check that video out. But it's super easy to set up and you just plug and play. There's I mean, the cables the USB goes into the USB like it's literally plug and play. It It doesn't
go anywhere else. The headphones It does have like a headphone icon on it. So, you just plug it into the headphone icon thing. And then your XLR microphone goes in the the one slot that goes into. So, it's just like you can't do it
[laughter] wrong. You literally I guess you could put the USB-C into the power supply instead of the PC. Put it in the PC, not in the power supply. wrong. You need to connect it to your PC. If
you have any more questions about this thing, let me know in the comments. I do going to connect this bad boy to my PC instead of this old one. I wanted to to the bag just as a dramatic effect and then I realized like it's still like
>> [laughter] >> I'm not going to waste that. It It It's I'm still using it. I connected it to my PC. I've connected it and you can see that in the Wave Link 3.0
we can see the um XLR kit too right here. We're clicking on that starting. And it tells you that you need to And it tells you that you need to connect your microphone.
right here. Um here, this is a mute button. it 5 seconds if you want to adjust the audio gain. Uh here is the
phantom power light. The volume tune. Ah, this is like the new feature. Get rich tape-inspired sound in seconds. Voice tune blends compression and harmonics to enhance any
signal. So, that's what these lights are for. Then this one is the set input gain. So, that's when the dial is on that. This is when the dial is on output volume for your headphones. And this is when it's
on the mix between the difference between what you hear like how much of the microphone you hear versus how much of the computer you hear through your microphone. You guys don't hear this microphone yet. You were just
And then you have to plug in your headphones. here. It's also telling you where to plug in the headphones. And then you have to position your
microphone right in front of your mouth. Yeah. Yeah. And then uh let's get started. And I'll speak into the microphone for 10 seconds so we can uh check your
levels. Uh speaking at a normal volume to test the gain. Make sure to everything okay. I spoke. I wasn't saying exactly what they wanted me to say uh because I was talking to you guys as well. Uh but I did talk the
whole time so that's good. Uh they adjusted my gain to right here. And now we're going to continue. And now um real-time voice monitoring. Um this is how much of myself I can monitor
monitor and I can hear myself right now. Uh I'm going to see if I can already like put you put the microphone in OBS right now. Yes, okay, cool. Uh I do hear myself very loud now. Cool.
We've got the self-monitoring here. I'm not sure if it mixes. Um unavailable. Oh, yeah, that's because
it's the old one. We want the new headphones in here. And then um we can just hear everything again. Cool. If you're wondering how I set this all up, uh I have that explained in the
other video. If you don't want the self-monitoring that loud, you can turn it back down a little bit or up, whatever you [snorts] want. Uh the output volume, how loud you want your headphones to be, you can also
turn up or down. Um I'm going to dial up Yes, I turned off the phantom power because this microphone does not need phantom power. Direct monitoring excludes software effects from self-monitoring. So, now I
don't hear the um effects. And now I do hear the effects. And uh so, I hear myself a little bit this. High power mode
optimizes volume and clarity for a high Oh, this is if you have like a fancy headphones, like a studio headphones, you can turn this on. If you don't have off. I'm wondering how this sounds. Oh my
god. I do have studio headphones. Um this sounds sexy.
really good. Hello. Hello. Mhm. You guys don't hear a difference. I It's just me, that's really cool. Okay. Um Um Hello. Hello.
>> [laughter] >> And we can put effects on it. Uh it also has effects on it already, like voice tune, expander, low cut filter. We can put in a compressor and an equalizer on. Uh the voice focus is on automatically.
We can turn this all off if you want. Um Um we can add more effects.
for thing. Hello? Yes, okay, we're back. I I just updated it for my update I was needing. Uh this is how we can >> change the color of the ring if you want it to be a different color when it's
muted. Uh we can also name it like trees. Trees thing. This is my serial number, my firmware number. way too bright. Let's make it less bright or brighter." No, it's already on
its brightest right now, so we can't. >> [laughter] >> And we can also do a sound check to listen for like how it sounds like. Uh right now it's on my scree- screen. No, this is my Yeah, this is my screen, I
>> [laughter] >> Uh it would be helpful to listen to how it will listen to on my headphones instead. Um but yeah, this is basically the settings for the Wave
XLR Mark II. And that's what it looks like. comments. Uh any comments, leave them also in the comment section is for. If you want to see more Elgato videos, I'll leave them
somewhere here, and I hope to see you in one of my other videos.