Kaotica Eyeball Review

Kaotica Eyeball is an acoustic foam shield, with a pop-filter included, used to reduce reverb. It is placed onto the microphone to capture sound before it hits the wall and bounces back into the microphone.

Kaotica Eyeball encases a microphone and is an effective tool for reducing reverb. It also offers a lot of flexibility for recording, however, Kaotica Eyeball has its drawbacks.

In this article, we will review whether it is worth spending $200 for the famous Kaotica Eyeball.

How good is Kaotica Eyeball at preventing reverb?

Kaotica Eyeball is an effective tool to reduce reverb. You will hear a significant difference when using Kaotica Eyeball, especially in poorly acoustically treated space.

Kaotica Eyeball is also great for producing similar-sounding audio in different environments and can be combined with a duvet or other soft material to create a decent environment for audio recording.

Nevertheless, don’t trust Kaotica Eyeball alone to remove all of the reverb completely. You won’t be able to create reverb-free recordings. You can only expect to reduce reverb somewhat effectively.

It does not compare or even come close to vocal booths; however, Kaotica Eyeball is only $200, making it a good alternative to expensive vocal booths.

How does Kaotica Eyeball work?

Kaotica Eyeball works by putting it onto the microphone and encasing it. It has a hole at the front where the microphone is positioned.

When speaking into the microphone encased by Kaotica Eyeball, its foam absorbs sound and prevents it from traveling further, hitting the wall and coming back into the microphone.

The closer you get to the Kaotica Eyeball the better it can absorb your voice and prevent reverb. However, if you get too close, you will suffer from the proximity effect.

To get the best results, you should be 2 to 6 inches (equivalent to 5cm to 15cm) away from Kaotica Eyeball when recording. The further away you will get, the less effective Kaotica Eyeball will become.

Kaotica Eyeball is very easy to set up and doesn’t weigh much. Even a cheap boom arm should be able to carry its weight.

Kaotica Eyeball doesn’t reduce background noise

Kaotica Eyeball doesn’t reduce background noise. It is not created for that purpose.

It has a hole at the front which will allow noise to come in, rendering it almost useless for noise reduction.

Consider how just a slightly opened window allows almost the same amount of noise into the room compared to a fully opened window. The same principle applies to Kaotica Eyeball.

You can read more about how to avoid background noise when recording here

Is Kaotica Eyeball good for voice acting?

Kaotica Eyeball is great for amateur voice actors and auditions, however, will not suffice for professional voice actors.

Kaotica Eyeball does not completely remove reverb and therefore is not comparable to studio or vocal booth sound and therefore is not suited for TV, radio or any other professional work within the voice-over industry.

Still, Kaotica Eyeball may be considered for Fiverr, Upwork or other less demanding job offers. When combined with some additional room treatment, it might be just enough to provide a semi-professional sound.

With that said, even professionals might find Kaotica Eyeball useful when traveling and auditioning. Studios and vocal booths aren’t very mobile and when traveling Kaotica Eyeball, which is light and quite durable, is a great option for auditioning on the road.

Is Kaotica Eyeball good for music?

Music industry doesn’t require to completely remove reverb and while vocal booths might sound too “dead”, Kaotica Eyeball might be just the right option as it still allows some reverb.

Therefore, Kaotica Eyeball is a great option for singers that don’t have an opportunity to record within a studio environment and want to produce music at a low cost.

It is also great that you can control how much reverb is allowed into the recording by adjusting the distance between the singer and the microphone encased by Kaotica Eyeball.

Kaotica Eyeball obstructs your vision

For me, one of the biggest drawbacks of Kaotica Eyeball is vision obstruction. Kaotica Eyeball is quite large and obstructs your vision when reading a script.

You definitely can peek over the top of the Kaotica Eyeball or you can position it slightly to the left or right. However, unless you have a massive monitor the vision will never feel perfect.

Does Kaotica Eyeball prevent plosives?

Kaotica Eyeball has a pop-filter included which will protect your microphone from plosives. However, you still should try not to breathe directly into the microphone as pop-filters can only reduce or prevent smaller plosives and don’t completely protect from plosives.

How does Kaotica Eyeball compare to its alternatives?

Kaotica Eyeball is not the only acoustic foam available in the market. One of the best alternatives is Alctron PF8, but there are many more.

These alternatives are significantly cheaper and the quality is comparable. However, with Kaotica Eyeball you get a premium product that offers custom colors and has different versions that are more designed to suit end-addressed microphones, front-addressed microphones and bulky microphones.

You can read more about Alctron PF8 here.

You can find more information about alternative products similar to Kaotica Eyeball in this article.

Is Kaotica Eyeball Worth $200?

I think Kaotica Eyeball is a useful tool that is the best in the industry among similar products. With that said, there are a lot of alternatives that offer similar quality at a much lower price.

I would choose Kaotica Eyeball if I didn’t want any compromises on quality. However, if your budget is tight, you’ll probably want to spend more on a better microphone and stick with cheaper alternatives such as Alctron PF8.

How much does Kaotica Eyeball weigh?

Kaotica Eyeball weighs around 142g.