When we got the official word that Razer announced a microphone capable of recording at studio-grade quality, we couldn't help but snicker a little bit, but after examining the materials, we're more convinced that this might actually be a very capable product. Meet the Seirēn, which is pronounced "sigh-ren."
The microphone looks like a high-end studio microphone, featuring a black anodized aluminum body and a large aluminum desk stand. It also has an LED-lit Razer logo that faces away from the user.
Razer also separately sells a filter to reduce hisses and pops when certain letters are spoken, along with a shock mount that reduces the noise brought into the microphone from external movements in your furniture.
The microphone has three 14 mm condenser capsules, and it responds to frequencies ranging from 20 Hz through 20 kHz. It has a sensitivity of 4.5 mV/Pa at 1 kHz, and it has a maximum SPL of 120 dB with a total harmonic distortion of no more than 0.5 percent at 1 kHz.
For monitoring, the microphone also comes with a built-in headphone amplifier. This one has an impedance output of 16 Ohms and a maximum power output of 130 mW, and it will play frequencies ranging from 15 Hz through 22 kHz with an SNR of 114 dB.
The microphone is powered by a USB interface, and it has a 192 kHz sampling rate with a bit-rate of 24 bits.
The microphone has four different controls: a microphone mute button; a button to change the recording polar recording pattern (with cardioid, stereo, omnidirectional, and bidirectional options); a microphone gain control; and a volume knob to adjust the playback volume of the headphones.
Razer aimed this product at streamers, hoping to appeal to the YouTube and Twitch communities. Whether this microphone will live up to the standards of professional musicians remains questionable at best, but it should certainly be more than adequate for streaming applications on YouTube and Twitch.
"Platforms like YouTube and Twitch are a big part of how people experience their media today, and they shape how we interact with each other," said Min-Liang Tan, Razer co-founder and CEO. "Tuned for a professional-style setup and able to be assembled and transported quickly and easily, the Razer Seirēn is a microphone designed specifically for streamers and YouTubers."
Pricing sits at $179.99 for the microphone alone and $229.99 for the bundle that includes the shock mount and pop filter. The two accessories are available separately for $49.99 each.
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