There’s a wide selection of good USB microphones available, but it’s safe to say that when you dip below the $50 line, the number of quality choices begins to dwindle. The Razer Seiren Mini, priced at $49.99, aims to be one of the few super-affordable options worth recommending—the leader of the pack being the $50 Blue Snowball Ice. Like the Snowball Ice, the Seiren Mini lacks DSP (digital signal processing) and has no gain knob or headphone jack. Despite the no-frills design, the Seiren Mini is easy to use and aimed at live streaming gamers, but it’s also perfectly appropriate for podcasting or basic vocal recording. The Snowball Ice remains our Editors’ Choice winner in this price range, but the Seiren Mini offers a slightly warmer signal that will appeal to some.
Seiren Mini Design and Compatibility
Available in black, pink, or white models, the Seiren Mini has a pill-shaped build, with a built-in desktop stand that can tilt to angle up to the person speaking, and can also be angled slightly to the side, kind of like the 360-degree action of a joystick. The microphone’s top half is all speaker grille, with a recessed micro USB port on the rear panel (a micro USB-to-USB cable is included). The front face of the mic has a tiny status LED that lights up when the Seiren Mini is connected.
Behind the grille, the mic employs a 14mm condenser capsule that delivers a supercardioid pattern and a frequency range of 20Hz to 20kHz. The sample rate goes up to 48kHz, and the bit depth to 16 bits. The Seiren Mini also has some internal shock mount protection, according to Razer.
What’s missing? Well, for $50, it’s hard to complain, but there’s no headphone jack for direct monitoring, nor is there a gain knob or control of any sort. All recording and listening levels will need to be set in your streaming or recording software. Also, the manual claims that the Seiren Mini is only compatible with Windows 7 or higher, with no mention of macOS. But we plugged the mic into a relatively new iMac, and GarageBand had no issue recognizing the mic and using it for audio input—nor did the mic’s audio quality sound compromised in any way.
However, Mac users will miss out on Synapse 3, Razer’s PC-only software that includes basic controls for the mic. Again, the Seiren Mini worked just fine in Garageband, and it doesn’t need the bundled software in order to work properly. Any controls in Synapse 3 can likely be accessed within whatever recording program you choose to use.
Seiren Mini Performance
The Seiren Mini’s super-cardioid pattern means it tends to reject more background noise from the sides and anything behind it, putting a tighter focus on the sound source in front of the mic. This pattern is well suited for most vocals, placing the focus squarely on the person speaking.
That said, the Seiren Mini’s height and angle can affect performance. The screw-in stand and the tilt it provides is solid, but the tilt only goes back so far, and to actually align with your mouth, it has to be a notable distance farther away than is ideal. Placed within, say, 10 inches of whomever is speaking (assuming they are seated at the same desk the mic is sitting on), the mic’s capsule aims more at the person’s torso than their mouth.
Since the Seiren Mini can be unscrewed from this stand, it’s possible to connect it to a boom arm or another stand entirely—but, of course, that adds to the cost and somewhat negates the bargain this mic represents. One DIY solution is to simply place the mic on a stack of books, or anything else that is solid (not hollow) and flat. A lift of 3 to 6 inches, depending on mic placement, can make a tremendous difference in its performance. Once properly aligned with the vocalist’s mouth, we found the signal to be clear, with some added, subtle low-frequency warmth.
Compared with the Blue Snowball Ice’s signal, the Seiren Mini’s signal is a lot tighter and close sounding. In fact, even at a distance, the Seiren Mini provides a somewhat close signal—there’s not much room for ambient noise, whereas the Snowball Ice is more likely to give you a bit more room sound, for more of a natural, unprocessed feel. Between the two, the Snowball Ice sounds a little brighter and crisper when at its ideal placement, while the Seiren Mini is a bit warmer—it capitalizes on proximity effect, giving the speaker a richer low-mid presence while ensuring there’s still enough high-mid presence in the signal for things not to sound muddy.
There also seems to be a subtle amount of dynamic compression that smooths out the Seiren Mini’s signal when the speaker is closer to the capsule. You can actually get quite close to the mic without causing much of any distortion, which is surprising given the lack of DSP—but this is true only as long as you keep your vocal levels on the moderate side.
A Fine Affordable Mic for Streamers and Podcasters
The Razer Seiren Mini is a simple, easy-to-operate, barebones mic. Its price is its best feature, but it’s also a forgiving mic, so users with less general recording and audio experience are likely to get solid results despite the lack of DSP training wheels. Like all mics, it sounds different based on your proximity to it, but in general, there’s more warmth here and less room sound than the Snowball Ice provides. So if you’re going for an isolated sound, this could be the ideal budget option for you, whereas the Snowball Ice offers a more real-world, natural sound that includes some of the room’s reflections. For more money, meanwhile, we’re fans of the Blue Yeti Nano and the Shure MV5, both of which offer more features and options, albeit for twice the price of the Seiren Mini.
