greetings earthlings today i'm back with a review of a brand new microphone from razer because
gamers broke gamers rise up is that still a thing i don't even know
the microphone we're looking at today is the razer siren mini which is a usb
condenser microphone if you are interested in this mic it will cost you around 50 dollars like always
i'll throw some links down below also in the sake of full disclosure i do need to let you know that
razer sent me this microphone free of charge for the sake of doing this review and for this review
i have the microphone connected directly to my mac my input gain is set at around 60 percent
and i will not do any kind of post processing to the audio but i may boost it a little bit in post
so check the doobly-doo to see what i didily did and now let's talk about what comes in the box
it's it's i'm getting too good at this i'm getting too good at this major leagues call me of course
you are going to get the microphone you'll get the desktop microphone stand with this little
extension to it you'll get a 2 meter micro usb to usb a cable some documentation and a sticker
then as far as the build quality it doesn't feel that great
mainly because the body is made all out of plastic and it feels a little bit cheap
the grill is very sturdy metal and i can't seem to dent it with my hands on the front you'll find a
little green light so you know if it's plugged in and getting power and on the bottom there is a 5
8 inch threading so you can mount this to a standard microphone stand and also the microphone
is made in china then as far as the specs we have a surprise here we have a super polar pattern a
frequency response of 20 hertz to 20 kilohertz a sensitivity of approximately negative 35 db
a max spl of 110 db a bit depth of 16 bit and a sample rate of up to 48 kilohertz now i am
rotating the razer siren mini to 90 degrees so you can hear the off axis rejection and coloration
we'll continue around the microphone and we will end at the 180 degree side at the rear of the mic
continue around the microphone to the second 90 degree angle here we are and then we will rotate
an end of the front of the microphone now let's see how well this microphone does at rejecting
plosives please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto please bring pizza pronto
now i am right on top of the microphone so you can hear the proximity effect on this
thing about three inches off of the microphone with it pointed at the corner of my mouth
and here is how it sounds about one foot away from the microphone two feet away from the microphone
and about four feet away from the microphone now i am typing on a keyboard with gatoron blue
switches so you can see how much of my voice verse how much of the keyboard it picks up
and for you elite gamers now i am typing on the sad w keys
i do want to make a quick note about the polar pattern since this is a super cardioid that means
that the dead area the area of the microphone that picks up the least amount of noise is no
longer at 180 degrees or the rear of the mic now it is at 135 degrees so when you're placing your
microphone make sure the noisiest instruments that you have whether it be your keyboard or a computer
fan make sure those are at about 135 degrees from the front of the microphone now i'm gonna go
ahead and place the microphone about a foot and a half away from my mouth and here is how the audio
sounds in a well-treated room and here is how the microphone sounds in a completely untreated room
now i want to demonstrate why i typically don't recommend using a provided desktop
stand i will place the siren mini directly in front of me about a foot
and a half away from my mouth i will tap the desk
you should be able to hear how much of that noise it can reject and then i will type on my keyboard
and the keyboard is in the dead area of the polar pattern
and that's how much of the noise it picks up and for comparison sake here's how the razer siren
mini sounds on a microphone stand i'll bump the desk so you can hear how much of that it picks up
and i will type the keyboard so you can hear how much of that it picks up
now i'm going to go ahead and throw the razer siren mini into my box of doom which
is an isolation cabinet and we will measure the noise floor of the microphone's preamp
now i want to do a very quick comparison between the razer siren mini and a couple
of other microphones on the market so we can see how it compares against its competition
we'll start off on the razer siren mini i am six inches off of the mic my gain is set at around 60
on my mac and here is how the audio sounds let's jump to another usb microphone so you can hear
how it compares to that first up we are on what i believe is the razer siren mini's main competition
the blue snowball this is a 50 to 55 old usb microphone no headphone jack no nothing max
is out at 16 bit 44.1 if i am not mistaken same distance gain is set at around 65 to 70 percent
and here's how it sounds compared to the brand new razer siren mini back on the razer siren
mini as a reminder this is a 50 usb condenser mic with no headphone jack no monitoring no nothing
but here is how this sounds let's jump to another mic and compare it to that now we are on one of my
most recommended microphones this is the samson q2u which is a usb xlr dynamic microphone the
price on this now ranges from 50 to 75 dollars and it's a dynamic mic six inches off of it my gain
is set at 75 percent this is the first usb mic so far that also has a headphone jack which allows
for zero latency monitoring and computer playback but here is how this sounds make sure to check the
lower third because i will likely have to boost this a little bit more in post but there you go
usb xlr dynamic mic against the razer siren let's jump back to that mic i don't know how
many of these we have done yet but we are back on the razer siren mini pro plus x10 9 whatever and
here's how this microphone sounds this is razer this is not apple why am i calling it the x10
here's how it sounds let's jump to another microphone now we are on the rode
nt usb mini this is a 100 dollar usb condenser microphone headphone jack zero latency monitoring
all of that stuff and my gain is set at 50 percent six inches off here's how rhodes offering at 100
sounds compared against the razer siren mini which does not have a headphone jack that's going to be
the main difference between the razer siren and all these other mics there you go rode nt
usb mini i bet you wouldn't have thunk it because gamers like to play tricks on people
and they like to prank people but i am back on the razer siren mini shock shock you're shocked
act shocked here's how this microphone sounds let's jump to another one and compare it to that
now i am speaking into the blue yeti nano which is a 100 multi-pattern usb condenser microphone
it has a cardioid and omnidirectional polar pattern i am on the cardioid polar pattern my
gain is set at around 25 and i am six inches off of this microphone and here is how a 100 blue usb
condenser mic sounds like compared to the what is this one the razer siren mini x
something i'm confused let's jump back to this mic alrighty we are back on the razer siren mini and
i hope this is the last one here is how this microphone sounds as a reminder it's 50 bucks
i'm six inches off of it my gain is set at 60 percent and all of this info has been in the
lower third here's how it sounds let's jump to one last mic so you can hear how it compares to that
and lastly i would be remiss if i did not include a comparison to the razer siren x this is the big
brother to the razer siren mini one hundred dollars and this does have a headphone jack
if you want that in your razer siren is remiss what does that even mean i would be remiss i just
hear people saying that but regardless six inches off of the mic gain set it about 72-ish percent
and here is how it sounds let me know in the comments down below which of these
microphones did you like the best did you think the razer siren mini was the best value for money
do you like the razer siren x the blue yeti nano the samson q2u the blue snowball
the blue snowball whatever the road nt usb i don't know what i've mentioned let me know in
the comments down below which one did you like the best now as far as the latency of the razer
siren mini with a sample rate of 48 kilohertz and an io buffer size of 64 samples we have a seven
milliseconds round trip latency or two and a half milliseconds output when we jump up to 128 samples
we have a nine and a half millisecond round trip or 3.7 milliseconds output and when we jump up to
256 samples we have a 15 millisecond round trip latency or six and a half milliseconds output
so
i've got another microphone to test
myself stinky stinky butts
i have no i have no words okay i know i told you to be shocked just a few moments ago but now i'm
the one who's shocked because i think razer has made a pretty good sounding microphone
and first up in terms of pros i think the addition of a super cardioid polar pattern was smart
because it will allow you to reduce a little bit more of the background noise if you play
the polar pattern correctly and place those loud sound sources at 135 degrees on the microphone
additionally the small form factor of this thing makes it very easy to forget that it's there and
that's going to appeal to those who really don't want a microphone shoved in their face
and lastly this microphone is incredibly affordable for the sound quality that
you're getting and then in terms of cons my main gripe is the fact that there is no headphone jack
meaning there's no way to get zero latency monitoring and monitor the audio that you're
getting out of the microphone i think that is pretty much essential in most cases i know some
folks don't want it but it's something that i personally always look for in a usb microphone
also the build quality doesn't feel amazing it's mainly the plastic body that feels a little bit
cheap and i don't like that there's no mute button i think for streaming or for conference calls
that would be a nice feature to have as well and now what are my overall thoughts and opinions of
this microphone on the electric guitar you're not going to be buying this thing for music you're not
buying this to throw this on an electric guitar cab but i gotta say i was pleasantly surprised
it did get a little bit woofy in the low end but if i was in a pinch and i had to throw this in
front of a guitar cab with a little bit of eq i was really happy with the tone that i got out of
this thing then on the acoustic guitar i wasn't a fan of it i thought the top end was a little bit
too crunchy and a little bit too forward it was just a bit too top-heavy the low end didn't have
enough oomph to it it didn't sound like it had any body or warmth to it so on the acoustic guitar
i wasn't a fan next up for singing the main thing that i hear on this thing is that it
is very crisp it has a lot of top end and it is very crispy if that's what you're looking for it
does that well but let me reiterate you are not buying this thing or i should say 99.9 of people
are not buying this to produce music with they are buying it for streaming or conference calls
and then if you have to use it for singing i think you can get away with it you may need to
throw on a de-esser but it is a workable sound and lastly for spoken word the upper frequencies in
this microphone do tend to be a little bit crunchy sounding although that is me being quite critical
in general i guess they are fairly clear and open sounding the mids are very uncongested it doesn't
sound too nasally it doesn't sound closed off and the low end is nice and controlled it doesn't get
boomy it doesn't get overpowering it is nice and clear and it is very easy to understand
what is being said into it and to wrap up would i recommend the razer siren mini yes and no
first off if you're a streamer i highly recommend you look at another usb microphone that does have
a headphone output that allows for zero latency monitoring that at least allows you to hear the
audio you're getting to ensure you're not clipping and distorting and sending terrible sound to your
audience but if you're weird and you have zero desire to listen to yourself i suppose it could
work for that application because for the price range it does sound pretty good also if you're
a musician i would not recommend this thing it is not a music microphone it can work in a pinch
but with the no zero latency monitoring with the limited bit depth and sample rates i don't
necessarily think that it's cut out for that job either but then we get to who i really recommend
this microphone for and that is folks who are working from home and need a teleconferencing mic
the reason i'm saying that first off it's affordable secondly it is incredibly easy
to set up you don't have to download some software like blue you just plug it in you set your levels
and you're good to go and for the price it is a surprisingly good sounding microphone it does
fairly good at background noise rejection and it is very clear and it's easy to hear what is being
said and because of those features and those attributes i think this microphone is a great
option for people who are working from home and just want an affordable mic to plug in and get a
better sound for their conference calls all right i think that's going to wrap up for today but
like i always do i want to pass a question off to you which of the microphones that i compared this
against did you like the best did you like the razer siren mini did you like the razer siren x
the rode nt usb mini blue yeti nano blue snowball yeah right samson q2u which one did you like the
most let me know in the comments down below with that being said being said ben said bean said if
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