There is a lot of hardware that can easily fall into the category of wicked cool, but not really useful and sadly a lot of mics are just like those, then there is the Seiren X from Razer, a small mic, but still quite powerful.

When you think of microphones, there are usually two types that spring up for people, the ones you use at a karaoke bar, or the ones used at a press conference or such and while they are the common type, there number of mics actually reaches into the dozens, more so when you are looking at custom ones. What makes the Seiren X stand out, a soon as you open the box is that it is tiny, at least compared to a lot of other mics that offer the same features, even when completely assembled, it stands only 19 cm tall. Given that a lot of other broadcasting mics can be over 30cm tall, and twice as wide as the Seiren X, this is an impressive feat.

Of course, being small means nothing if the sound quality it captures is not there, thankfully in true Razer fashion, the size is deceptive as it is packing some impressive tech inside, which overcomes that. Razer are touting the device as having a supercardioid pickup pattern and while I could not begin to explain it to you, at least in a scientific sense, I can say that what it does, is allows for more sound to be picked up ahead of the mic, rather than from all around, like most mics do. So, this means if you are a streamer and have the mic facing you, you will not need to worry about the mic picking up your PC or console running in the background, a nice feature to have. The mic only has two control options built in, one for headphone volume, more on that later and the other for muting the mic itself, the best part, clicking that button is near silent, so if you have a need to do so, people won't hear an ungodly click as you do it, quite handy.

But the increased pick up range is not the only little trick this mic is hiding as it also mounts the mic inside on a shock mount, meaning that if you get a little angry and that snipe kill that took you out in Apex Legends, and bump your desk, the mic should not translate that thumping sound. Of course, this is dependent on how hard you hit it, but as the mic is designed to absorb some vibrations, anything short of whacking it with a hammer should be ok, just please don’t buy one to test that. The base that it comes with, also packs a nifty little feature and I don’t mean the little piece that raises it up, but where that connects to the base. The mic allows itself to be adjusting by tilting the extension piece, meaning that you should be able to get away with slight adjustments, to better record your epic gaming moments, however if you want to mount the mic on a boom arm, or something similar, then you will need to get a separate adaptor.

Previous microphones that I have used will generally connect to your PC in one of two ways, USB or 3.5mm connection and while the later is really good for a lot of things, it does generally require a little more set up. The Seiren X however uses USB and it makes exceptional use of that, included in the base of the mic is a 3.5mm headphone jack, which means as long as you have a front facing USB port, you don’t need to rearrange your set up, just plug in the mic and a set of headphones to it and you are good to go. The sound quality that I had in my Plantronics RIG 600LX Headset, was just as good as if I plugged it into the computer directly, plus it had the benefit of the connection being closer to myself, meaning less cord stress.

Not all is well however, as the USB and headphone ports are on the underside of the unit, which is not a terrible thing, just poorly designed. The included cable has a short piece of plastic between the USB end and where the cable begins, but the one I was using, had a larger one, which gave very little clearance between the bend when the cable began and the base. The same was true with the headphones that I was using, the longer connection piece meant that I had to be very careful when connecting it. I had thought of connecting everything, with the base off, but then realised that I would not be able to attach the base, without getting it wrapped up in a series of cables, if the connections were on the rear, or side of the mic when it was facing you, that would be better.

Razer have proven themselves, time and time again, for being able to take known products, making them smaller and somehow, increasing the performance and quality of them, compared to others. The Seiren X is much the same, it has a large range of recording frequencies, which should fit almost any environment you game in, plus given it was designed with assistance from some Streamers, it should be a perfect mic for first time streamers, or any streamer looking to upgrade their gear.

Review unit supplied by Razer