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RAZER SEIREN MICROPHONE REVIEW
Design and Features
If Razer is known for anything, good or bad, it's the company's RGB Chroma lighting system. Everything from its keyboards to its laptops have programmable lighting schemes, but it's absent from the Seiren. Instead, it has only a green mute button (red when activated) and a small LCD screen on the front
The LCD serves up volume and pattern information at a glance. Volume adjustment for both mic and pass-through headset are displayed on the front, with a little icon to let you know which is being changed. There's also an icon showing you which pattern you're using when it's recording.
Headset volume is controlled with a knob on the front, while mic gain is controlled with a knob on the rear. It's a little bit confusing, since most people conflate volume with gain. Having both be controlled by the same knob wouldn't work, but it would be better if the mic gain and headphone volume knobs were both on the front of the device. Making gain adjustments on the fly can be a bit tricky, since the pattern selector and gain knobs are hidden from view typically.
Just like competitor Blue's Yeti mic, the Razer Seiren has 4 different recording patterns: cardioid for straight-on voice recording, stereo for capturing vocals, omnidirectional for music or room recording, and bidirectional for conversational uses like interviews.
On the bottom of the Seiren is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a switch for turning the logo illumination on or off, a threaded base that accepts a standard mic stand mount, and a USB Mini-A jack. Mini-A is somewhat more common than the USB Type-B seen on mics like the Yeti Snowball, but it's still an uncommon cable. Either round up your old PS3 controller cables, or do your absolute best not to lose the included cable, because there's a good chance you won't have an extra from another device if you ever misplace it.
The Seiren includes a beefy metal mic stand, and the mic sits inside of it with thumb screws holding it in place. Razer has shock mounts and other stands available as accessories, but the stock option is great for desktop use. I didn't like the extra hardware required for the stock stand, however. There are two spacers that fit between the stand and the mic itself, and as nondescript and as small as they are, it seems like they'll be the first things to go missing once you take the mic on the road.
Software
Setting up the Razer Seiren isn't difficult, but it does require Razer's Synapse software. One big advantage the Blue Yeti mic has is its lack of proprietary software. Razer's solution is handy if you're running more than one piece of Razer hardware-- in that case, it puts everything in one central location and changes can be made across all your pieces of kit. But if you're only using the mic, having to use Synapse feels unnecessary, especially since half the appeal of Synapse is changing lighting patterns on Chroma-enabled hardware.
Performance
The Seiren's recording quality is very good, but not notably exceptional. It does a great job of capturing clear sound, and having lag-free pass-through headphone monitoring is extremely nice. I did find myself having to unravel some of the sound settings in Windows when I wasn't plugged into the mic, because Windows wants to set the default speaker output to the Seiren. It gets confusing.
It does a great job during streaming, picking up sound at a much higher quality than is possible through a simple headset mic. Podcasts, too, benefit from the sound of a dedicated USB microphone like the Seiren. Less expensive microphones lose out on that natural, conversational sound. Recording with the Seiren is almost like being there, and even over something like Discord or Skype, the sound is noticeably better than with a cheaper headset mic. Podcasts, too, benefit from the sound of a dedicated USB microphone like the Seiren. If you're a serious audiophile, Razer (like Blue with its Yeti) offers a more expensive "Pro" version, with XLR support. That means you can use industry-standard XLR cables to plug into a professional mixing board for the ultimate in sound quality. Just make sure your mixing board has 48 volts of DC phantom power.
Purchasing Guide
The Razer Seiren Elite has an MSRP of $179.99, but is usually sold for $10-$20 less on Amazon:
The Verdict
At $179.99, the Razer Seiren is well-made and does a fine job as a streaming, podcast, or voice-over microphone. It is very good, but fails to do anything that its cheaper competitors don't already do.
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