We’ve been big fans of the Elgato Stream Deck ever since its first incarnation. It’s a neatly executed device for controlling all sorts of aspects of your gaming, streaming, or work PC setup, and today it just got even more capable, or at least the Stream Deck + version did. That’s thanks to the announcement of two new accessories, the Stream Deck + XLR Dock and USB Hub.
As these imaginative names subtly imply, these two Elgato accessories respectively provide an XLR input for a microphone (along with a headphone output) and a host of extra USB ports. They just slot into the back of the best stream deck you can buy right now, and instantly provide it with loads more connection features.
There is one immediately obvious downside to the two new units, though, which is that you can only plug in one or the other. You can either have lots of USB plugs, or the audio connections, but not both – can anyone else see an XLR Hub appearing in the not-too-distant future?
Looking more closely at the XLR Dock, it essentially provides most of the features found on Elgato’s Wave XLR interface. That standalone unit provides an XLR input, headphone output, USB-C connection for your PC, and then there’s a big dial on the front, along with some LEDs, that you can use to control headphone volume, microphone volume, and how much of the microphone you hear through your headphones.
The XLR Dock lacks the big dial on the front, but this feature can instead be replicated via various programmable buttons and dials that the Stream Deck + offers.
As for the USB Hub, this add-on provides two USB-A ports and four USB-C sockets. However, as is so often the case with USB-C ports these days, the setup here is slightly more complicated than it first appears.
Two of the USB-C sockets are just standard USB 3.0 5Gbps ports that can provide 7.5W of power (the same as the larger USB-A ports), but the other two have specific purposes. One is the data uplink that you’ll connect to your PC, while the other is a dedicated power port that can be used to connect up to a 100W USB-C power supply for a laptop. It definitely feels like Elgato could have arranged the ports a little better so you could easily tell which port is which from the front.
A neat little extra with the USB Hub is that it also provides SD and microSD slots for easily plugging in your phone/camera/Steam Deck storage cards.
The XLR Dock and USB Hub are available to buy now, with both items already available on Corsair’s website. The XLR Dock price is a hefty $119.99 but this is cheaper than the $159.99 Wave XLR. Meanwhile, the USB Hub costs $59.99, making it a more affordable upgrade.
For more desk and audio upgrades, check out our best gaming microphone and best gaming mouse pad guides.
