 The Razer Siren. What could be so exciting about a microphone, you might ask? Well, I wasn't sure either. In fact, when the press release first hit my inbox, I completely ignored it, and it wasn't until I received numerous tweets asking when I was going to review it, that I went ahead and sent over a sample request so I could evaluate Razer's expansion into an entirely new category. Microphones that actually sound good. By the way, this is the part where I would normally tease an upcoming video, but I can't this time. And I guess that's all I can really say. Cooler Master's Case Mod World Series is your opportunity to show off your modding skills and win great prizes. Entries close February 7th, 2015. Click now to learn more. So let's open with the packaging. Something that I rarely do these days, but in this case, I feel like it's warranted. First in the box, we've got some stickers, a very long braided mini USB cable, and a quick start guide, which I've asked them to revise, since it makes absolutely no mention of installing Synapse on the page that appears to have all of the steps. And if you don't install Synapse, then Windows seems to install a driver, but the microphone just doesn't work. A frustrating issue. The good news is that if you don't care about adjusting the grand total of two parameters within the software, you can uninstall it and use the mic like any other USB audio input. Next is some of the finest packing foam ever. A nice, dense, soft foam that feels like it would be as much at home in a carrying case as a product box. A really nice touch if you're someone like a game broadcaster who might actually travel with it. Now Razer could have taken this one step further and made the box a carrying case, but, uh, not this time. Although who knows? Maybe Siren V2, Razer? Which leads us to the microphone itself. Man, these guys are good at taking the most mundane things like keyboards, mice, and now microphones and turning them into industrial artwork. I mean, what's next? Webcams? Actually, I better not give them any ideas. The surprisingly well-built aluminum stand has a foam-covered base and two arms that have large thumb bolts running through them to hold the mic in place, but that also allow it a degree of movement to compensate for the, uh, height of the user. I feel like Razer missed an opportunity to use rubber instead of plastic here for better resistance to desk vibrations, but for folks who really care about the best sound quality, to go along with the optional pop filter, which reduces plosives, they've got an optional suspension mount accessory that'll work with third-party stands. Alright, so Linus, you mentioned sound quality. Are you gonna talk about that at some point? Yes, yes I will, it's coming, but first let me finish up with the mic body. On the bottom, you'll find the Mini B USB input, a threaded socket for third-party stands or the optional pop filter, a headphone jack that offers zero latency monitoring, something that's great for live broadcasters, and a toggle for the illuminated Razer logo on the back. On the back, under that logo, are two dials, one for the microphone gain control, and the other to alter the pickup pattern of the three 14mm condenser capsules hidden under the mesh at the top of the mic. The options are bidirectional, cardioid, omnidirectional, and stereo. And if you're not familiar with any of that terminology, Razer includes a handy little glossary in their manual that tells you the best pickup pattern for some of the most common applications. On the front of the mic is a mute button, the monitoring output volume control dial, and an OLED screen that displays volume and gain levels according to whatever has been most recently adjusted. But now that we've talked for four minutes about what the Siren is supposed to be and the box it comes in, it's time to answer the real question. Is it actually any good? The answer is yes, it's good, really good even, but I was expecting a little bit better. Not because the Siren isn't a well-built and likely very worthy upgrade to the audio recording solution you're using now, but because of the design philosophy of this product. Razer aimed to create a jack-of-all-trades mic here with the adjustable pickup patterns, and while its versatility is outstanding, I feel like most of the use cases they present for anything but the cardioid configuration are unlikely uses for this product. I mean, no one will be using it for instrumental recording. Conference calls and events? I mean, what does that even mean? Why would I want a microphone picking up literally everything around it in the middle of an event? And if you're conducting interviews, you need to mic up each person rather than relying on one mic to capture everything if you want to do things even remotely properly. So, because of that, I wish that Razer had delivered a more specialized product, the best cardioid mic they could build for streaming and voice recording, rather than a do-everything product, because I think it might have been a little better at what I think most people are going to use it for in that case. Now, I don't have a ton of quality microphones to compare it against, unfortunately, so I could only really compare directly to the Editors Keys SL300, a very similarly priced cardioid-only mic that I personally think sounds significantly better close up with that great AM radio sound, and from a distance with much better background noise isolation, and I guess I can also compare it to the built-in mic on my Audio-Technica ATH-AG1s. It's not a desktop microphone, but it's the best on-headset mic I've yet encountered, and for game streamers anyway, it's certainly a viable option. So, you guys can hear test recordings of a bunch of different configurations in the SoundCloud link below, but for the time being, here's a couple recordings of the Siren at least. All Razor Siren test recordings were done with the cardioid pickup pattern, unless otherwise noted. My first recording here is a best-case scenario, with the Siren between my keyboard and body with a double-layer pop filter. Note the significant background noise from other computers in the office, and the sound level of typing on the keyboard that's directly behind the computer. For reference, here's a recording of the Siren without the pop filter in the same position. This recording was done with the SL300 microphone in the same configuration. Basically a best-case scenario for this mic. Background noise is lower if you listen, and here is what background typing sounds like. And finally, here's the Siren positioned off to the side of my monitor. Less ideal for audio quality, but perhaps more convenient for folks who don't want their microphone in the way. And now for fun, I'm going to switch modes. Here's omnidirectional, with all the background noise in the room in its full glory. And here's stereo, with me leaning a little bit to the left, and now a little bit to the right. So, in conclusion, while I've ragged on Razer a little bit for the sound of the mic, I do have to give credit where credit is due. It's a lot better than what most people are using, and the versatility is better than both of the other two products that I was able to compare it against. While the SL300 has a minus 10 dB switch and a low-pass filter, it doesn't come with on-mic control knobs, a stand, or, much more importantly, a zero-latency real-time monitoring jack, and the ATH-AG1 headset mic is, well, aside from being expensive, attached to a headset. Something that not everyone wants to be stuck with. So I guess, at the end of all this, the Siren ekes out a recommendation. Not because Razer's naming scheme is getting any better. I mean, really, guys, it looks like you just misspelled the product name. But because the mic looks like a solid bet to me right now, but then again, who knows how I'll feel when Blue sends over their competitor, so stay tuned for that review. But before we can do any of that, a word from our, one of our most fun sponsors, Chiro. Now, normally Chiro is promoting some kind of awesome deal on one of their portable battery banks or something like that, but you guys have bought so many of these so far that they figured they'd offer an adorable accessory to go with what you've already got this time. This is the Danboard USB cable. The concept here, not exactly groundbreaking. You use it to charge or sync your Android phone or tablet or anything else that uses a micro USB connector, but the difference is that it's got an adorable little Danboard themed design that includes light-up eyes on the A-type connector end, and the pricing is very reasonable for a designer USB cable at around 10 bucks for up to a three foot length. A neat little gift idea. And they didn't send us any of these, unfortunately, grr, but their five pack of flexible magnetic cable clips are a solid little add-on for any cable management enthusiast and can be used to store money or other loose papers as well. So thanks Chiro for sponsoring today's episode. And oh yeah, I guess I should also probably mention we have links in the video description to Amazon where you can check out Chiro's Danboard cables. Thanks to you guys for watching. Don't forget to like this video if you liked it, dislike it if you thought it totally sucked. Leave a comment letting us know if your feelings are more complicated than this. And as always, you can check out the other link in the video description to support us. You can give us a monthly contribution, buy a cool t-shirt like this one, or change your Amazon bookmark to one with our affiliate code. So whenever you buy, you know, sweet, adorable USB cables or whatever else it is you buy on Amazon, we get a small kickback. That kind of thing helps us out a lot. Thanks again for watching. And as always, don't forget to subscribe.