Elgato Voice Focus vs HARQ ClearVoice

Elgato Voice Focus is an AI-powered audio effect for cleaning a user’s microphone during streaming, recording, meetings, video editing, music production, and podcasting. It targets background noise, room reverb, and echo while preserving vocal warmth and detail. Elgato says its models reconstruct missing vocal frequencies, and one slider ranges from light processing to full processing. The standalone plugin is VST3 for Windows and AU for macOS, working in software that hosts those effects, including streaming tools, video editors, and DAWs. Named integrations include OBS Studio, Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, Final Cut Pro, Logic, Pro Tools, FL Studio, and Audacity. Zoom, Teams, and Slack require routing through Wave Link. Voice Focus processes only the user’s microphone. Processing occurs on-device in real time, without cloud transmission, recording, or model training. The standalone lifetime license costs 49.99 USD as a one-time purchase, with three total activations; Wave Link includes it free for listed Wave devices.

HARQ ClearVoice is paid workstation software for real-time microphone noise cancellation and accent neutralization during calls. It filters sounds such as traffic, barking dogs, and other agents before audio reaches a softphone. HARQ states that processing has 40 ms latency, runs on the CPU, and does not require a GPU. Audio remains on the workstation instead of being sent to a server, and the software can work offline. Accent neutralization is described as signal-level speech enhancement that preserves natural speech; it is not translation or text-to-speech. A virtual audio device outputs the processed signal, which the user selects as the softphone input. Named compatibility includes Talkdesk, Genesys, Five9, Avaya, and any SIP client using that device. ClearVoice is enabled as a toggle on an existing HARQ presence agent, without a separate installer. Auto-updates are included per device. Pricing is metered per device per month through an AWS Marketplace private offer, with rates supplied by sales.