Trust is a computer electronics company from the Netherlands that's well-known for manufacturing devices with an excellent price-performance ratio. One of the areas in which they are active is computer microphones, and the latest such product in their portfolio is the new Trust GXT 258 Fyru. Advertised as being a USB 4-in-1 multipurpose microphone, the Fyru sounds like a great choice for home recording. We've had the pleasure of testing and using for about a week, and now we'd like to tell you more about it. If you're curious about what the Trust GXT 258 Fyru can do and whether it's the right choice for you, read this review:
Trust GXT 258 Fyru: Who is it good for?
This multipurpose microphone is a good choice if you:
- Are a gamer and like streaming your games
- Need a multipurpose mike for creating podcasts or taking interviews
- Play an instrument or vocals and want to record your performance at home
Pros and cons
These are the best qualities of the Trust GXT 258 Fyru:
- The audio quality of sound recordings is top-notch
- Supports four different types of sound pick-up patterns
- Great build quality
- Plug and play - all you need is a USB port. No drivers or software are required
- User-friendly operation and useful controls
- Lighting that's useful, indicating sound pick-up patterns, as well as whether the microphone is muted
There a few caveats too:
- A noise reduction or echo cancellation feature is missing
- The lights have only five presets you can choose from (no software included)
Verdict
We like the Trust GXT 258 Fyru, and we recommend it to anyone looking for an excellent microphone for home recording. Its performance is first-class regardless of what sound pick-up pattern you use: cardioid, bidirectional, stereo, or omnidirectional. Its build quality is excellent, the controls on it are easy to understand and use, while the RGB-like LEDs are surprisingly useful. If you don't want to spend a fortune on a microphone, and you want a device of good quality, the Trust GXT 258 Fyru USB 4-in-1 is one of the best choices you could make.
Unboxing the Trust GXT 258 Fyru microphone
The Trust GXT 258 Fyru microphone is packaged inside an attractive box. On its sides, you can get a glimpse of what the Fyru looks like, and you also find details about its essential features and specifications.
When you unbox the Trust GXT 258 Fyru, you discover that all the parts that make up this microphone, together with its accessories, are placed on a protective foam. Inside the package, you get the microphone, a tripod stand to put it on, a USB-C to USB-A cable, a Trust gaming sticker, a user guide, and the warranty papers.
Unboxing the Trust GXT 258 Fyru feels like a premium experience. The box looks first-rate, and everything inside it is additionally packaged, individually, so that nothing gets broken during transport.
Design and hardware specifications
The Trust GXT 258 Fyru is advertised as a USB 4-in-1 streaming microphone. Although it's clearly targeted for streamers, its abilities also recommend it for other purposes, including but not limited to podcasting, voice-overs, and acoustic music recording. On its top side, there's a button that switches between these four predefined recording modes:
- Cardioid: the microphone picks up sound from the front and a bit from its sides, but doesn't pick any sound from its back, and is best for things like streaming, gaming, voice-overs, video logs, voice calls
- Bidirectional: the sound pick-up pattern is adjusted for capturing audio from opposite-facing sources, like in face to face interviews or dialogs
- Stereo: is similar to bidirectional as it captures sound from opposite directions simultaneously, left and right, and it's the best choice for stereo recordings such as music
- Omnidirectional: the microphone receives audio signals from all directions, which makes this the best mode for multi-person recordings (podcasts, online meetings with multiple people in the same room, etc.)
This microphone's sampling rate is 48 kHz/16-bit, and its frequency response rate goes from 30 to 18000 Hz, which is a bit lower than on other multipurpose microphones, but more than enough for clear recordings. The microphone's sensitivity is -36 dB, and it offers an excellent signal-to-noise ratio that's equal to 130 dB.
Trust GXT 258 Fyru acquires sound using three condenser microphones with pop filters that efficiently clean pops and thumps (plosives and fricatives), which are undesired sounds that come out when you pronounce letters such as P or F. So, although it doesn't come with a noise reduction or echo cancellation feature, the recorded audio should be of high quality nonetheless.
In terms of looks, the Fyru microphone looks robust and beautiful. Its body is made of metal and features an aesthetically pleasant grille on all its sides. The tripod on which it stands is also "heavy metal" 🙂 as the company presents it, and tilt-adjustable. Furthermore, the microphone comes with a universal 5/8'' screw mount so you can attach it to any compatible microphone arm if you want a custom setup.
To make things even more interesting, there's also RGB-like lighting. You can adjust the illumination effects in five different colors: blue, green, purple, yellow, and white. Switching between the RGB modes is done via a small button that's hidden on the bottom of the microphone.
Speaking of buttons and connections, the Trust GXT 258 Fyru has quite a few, in addition to the Mode button we've mentioned earlier. First, you should know that this is a USB device: it connects to your computer through a USB-C port found on its bottom, using a 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) long USB-C to USB-A cable. You can use it with any computer, laptop, or gaming console.
On the front, the Fyru microphone features two knobs and a 3.5 mm audio jack. There's a gain knob which you can use to increase or decrease the microphone's gain as well as press, in which case it mutes the microphone completely. If you connect a pair of headphones to the 3.5 mm jack, the other knob lets you adjust their volume. The headphone port found on the Fyru microphone has zero latency, which means that you can listen to what you're recording in real time without any delay.
The microphone weighs 626 grams / 22.08 oz (1030 grams / 36.33 oz total, with the tripod mount) and is 183 mm tall (7.20 in), 63 mm wide (2.48 in), and 74 mm deep (2.91 in).
If you want to check all the official specs of this product, visit its official webpage: Trust GXT 258 Fyru USB 4-in-1 Streaming Microphone.
Using the Trust GXT 258 Fyru microphone
After using this microphone for a while, I can say that I'm really satisfied with what it has to offer. First, I noticed how heavy it is: at almost 1 kilogram, it's not easy to move on the desk, but that also means that it's pretty hard to knock down, right? 🙂
Once I've assembled everything, I connected the Fyru microphone to my desktop computer using its USB cable. The pleasant surprise was that it proved to be a true plug-and-play experience. Windows 10 instantly identified the microphone and set it as the main audio input source. Practically, I didn't have to do anything else to make it run properly.
When recording audio, regardless of whether it's while streaming, making a podcast, or whatever you might do, it's easy to switch the mike's mode. What I like about it is the additional LEDs found near the Mode button. When changing to Cardioid, Bidirectional, Stereo, or Omnidirectional, the LEDs light up to indicate from which sides the microphone picks up sound. It's a practical and user-friendly way of letting you know how the microphone is listening.
Regarding sound quality, I have only good things to say. The Trust GXT 258 Fyru microphone is able to capture audio at high quality, both from afar and up close. I'm not a singer of any kind, so I didn't test it at recording any heavy-metal covers. 🙂
However, I do play a lot of games, including online ones such as League of Legends, in which I do talk with my teammates. Using the Fyru microphone, all of them said that they could hear me very clearly, like we were in the same room. If you want to hear how a recording sounds, and how it handles plosives (P letters), listen to this sample audio that I've recorded:
Trust GXT 258 Fyru is an aesthetically pleasing and robust microphone that I would gladly recommend to anyone who wants to record his or her voice in high quality.
What's your opinion about the Trust GXT 258 Fyru microphone?
Now you know that we like the Trust GXT 258 Fyru USB 4-in-1 streaming microphone quite a lot. Before closing this review, let us know what you think too. If you already have it, don't hesitate to share your experience with other readers, in a comment below.