It looks nice, but I’m currently using the elgato wave. I bought into it back when you released it and compared it to an expensive mic. I’ve tried tuning mine but have never been satisfied with how I sound in recordings. Is there a company or place I can go to and send a recording and have someone customize settings to sound great that I can then adjust on my end?
how did they release this in its current state? Seems strange, like they didnt test it, not a big fan of "gaming gear" coming out unfinished in the same way some games come out unfinished nowadays. But great video- I am looking for a replacement for the GOXLR. So if you see anything that could do that, I would love to see it from this channel
Thank you for calling them out. They seem to know what makes a good product, but rush them out a bit. While a software-heavy approach might be always fixable later, it could also never happen.
I have so so so many of their best products and i love them (duh otherwise i wouldn't spend soooo much money on them) but they are overpriced definitely. I mainly bought them because of FaZe Clan even tho I have little to do with them. I am aware of the mistakes i made but i wont change. That should not be a reason to buy stuff but it was for me and now i have all of their stuff and am buying this microphone too.
good point, the apex pro was bad because they rushed it as other companies also started expirementing with the hall effect switches, for a long while they had the worst HE keyboard that wasnt alot faster but now... its the second best option due to a small redesign and software updates
Gotta say, I love the "It's good enough, so stop lying" stance. Besides, the streaming community is gonna research this stuff anyway- with the amount of money we're spending on our soft & hardware, we need the facts up front, lol
Jim Lill's latest video on microphones does a deep dive into this, trying out capsules of all mics, and with a nice testing rig actually play everything side by side with proper frequency distribution graphs and so much analysis. I wish consumer brands didn't treat us like babies and gave us more technical insight, give us the nerdy stuff, the graphs, the specs, even in the marketing material.
It's a wider symptom of anti-intellectualism and willful ignorance in the general public at large. They don't WANT to know too much, and more importantly, the leadership of major companies (not the engineers themselves) don't want you to know too much either. This is why R2R is SO goddamn important. I just saw a video by Sarah-n-Tuned that she posted an hour ago where she was able to use a 50-year-old technical booklet that had FULL technical instructions for the wiring layout. Even just 20 or 15 years ago, this sort of technical information was freely and widely available for a large variety of products. Now? Good fucking luck lol.
These mics dont target audio-enthusiasts. The marketing and probably also the mic itself is literally not made for you if thats what you want to see in short advertisements.
@@spdcrzy It's funny how software has been moving towards mass open-sourcing, while hardware is doing the opposite. Even computing hardware is overpriced and underdocumented, you can build a high-end server for less than $1000 with used 7-year-old parts lmfao
@@nade5557 Wrong brand and mic then. Professionals wouldnt care about those overmarketed buzzword filled toys. And honestly this video has as much bs in it as the advertisement for the mic itself.
I have always strayed away from organisations that post false marketing materials. There is no reason to do that as it's going to push away the people that understand from the brand. If the microphone's good, there's no need to make stuff up. I am loving my elgato wave1 and there wasn't the same bs there.
The worst thing is, there must’ve been an audio engineer involved in the design process of this thing at some point. And yet they got this so wrong in so many ways.
Yup. Probably because the marketing department didn't understand a word the engineer said, and just went with their own stuff. Happens so often, it seems.
@@floorpizza8074 The marketing department doesn't care, and it really isn't their job to care tbh. False marketing like this is only bad if they get punished for it, and they won't. If marketing can get away with straight up lying, they will do it and I can't even blame them. Unless regulatory agencies are allowed to tear these companies to shreds they will keep doing it because it is quite literally the best choice they can make.
so what ur saying is 1 audio engineer is suppose to come up w everything another would and both would perfect it....thats stupid. no one is equal so why would their ideas be equally as great? not even teams can get things 100% right why would you expect everything in the world to be 100% were only human
Honestly I've been using the Steelseries software for awhile now, it feels like they're constantly adding features to it. Lately it feels like they took a deeper dive into it and added a bunch more stuff, heck the added the auto-clipping, 3d aim trainer, the sonar streamer mode, and a lot of other small and big features. The keybinds part they added was also fairly recent. I wouldn't be surprised if they fix the weird mic thing in another update in under a month from now. Also always be sure to select the beta opt-in features as it sometimes has features that aren't fully realized and still being developed, that could've been what was causing the issue with the mic too tbh. Idk for sure, just a random user and have been using Steelseries for about 3-4 years now.
Thank you so much for this! I was looking at this mainly for the simplistic dual pc option. I was skeptical and was really hoping you’d review this before I made another purchase I’d be unhappy with! Thank you so much for all you do!
Always good stuff. Its mind blowing that companies are releasing things with massive shortcomings when its so obvious that there are huge channels like this that will point them out.
man, this attitude you had around this mic was not only informative, and helpful to me, but was a relief of authenticity TH-cam has been lacking lately, because the side of actually believing in the mice being good. Moreover, putting your morals front and center is a great influence on the world. I appreciate that. I hope SteelSeries sees this and doesn't feel attacked but more ashamed. Then i hope they act accordingly and do what you suggest to their product. Thank. you for making a great video. Side note, at 4:25, that mic and setup, you sound like that guy in "film editing pro" who, in my opinion, has one of the greatest audio treatments to him voice. very natural but strong.
I currently use and recommend the Shure MV7, dual inputs for growth and upgrades, sound comparable to the sm7b and dynamic helps to cut ambient noise. Harris, love the content and while I understand that bigger isn't better, them comparing to the yeti isn't far fetched since streamers either have a yeti or sm7b for the most part. Just like most streamers have a Sony alpha or brio. Same with goXLR yes most still have the goXLR still to this day. Don't believe me, do a poll. Keep up the good work though sir!
In the SteelSeries GG app the gain adjust for the mic is in the Mixer tab, not the Mic tab. Just make sure you have your mic set as the input device. It's on the far right column, but in the Mixer tab.
Really strange that you need a DC adapter, I use a dirt cheap behringer interface that can record 4 separate tracks at the same time and supply phantom power and that all runs off of the USB bud power
I'm considering a college engineering project involving modular audio equipment, allowing quick swaps of mic capsules and frames (e.g., dynamic to shotgun mics). Do you think there's a market for this, or should I stick to making a shotgun mic and mixer? The mixer would also be dynamic allowing a user to change the amount of faders buttons and more. If the project goes well I might expand on it and give more functionality.
I actually really like having easy access to a gain knob, but it has to be set up in a very specific way. I make sure that 50% (usually a cardinal direction) on the knob is the baseline, which means I can use it to fine-tune and easily return to the baseline. When you only use the gain knob for tuning then the way SteelSeries has it set up is actually more useful than having it go all the way to silent, which would make for a very sensitive knob.
Is there any chance the "gain" knob is bi-modal, i.e. press it once before turning it for gain control, then press it again before turning for monitor volume control. Good review! Thank you as always.
Clipping can be solved by turning down the artificial gain that windows puts on your mic to make it louder btw, in the sound settings. You dont want it at 100%, maybe more like 50 or 60.
Thanks for all your reviews and stuff, helps me choose my streaming gear without being too much in the unknown of what's good and what's not, really appreciate it, keep up the good work Harris ^^
One thing worth mentioning with the software: I've owned Steelseries Headsets since before they launched GG, and I still can't get into their new software. The old one hadd less fuctions sure, but it was a one time set and forget and it just worked. This new software I don't even use because it crashes every 5 minutes, and every time it crashes all the mic inputs and stuff to my OBS stop working and I have to manually reset it it all and re-add all my audio sources. I've not looked into this issue and this could be entirely a personal issue with my specific setup or fixed since I tried it last, but I feel it's worth mentioning. When it works it's awesome! It just isn't reliable enough from my experience if you want to use it for streaming etc
the reason it probably needs to be plugged into the wall is for 48v phantom power. the wall power is not for the control device, rather the microphone itself. it's not a "Passive microphone" as you would normally find with most pc microphones you can plug directly into the computer. it's an active microphone, needing power to operate.
I am fairly certain that the notion that a larger diaphragm and larger mass leads too such a lower Fs (resonant frequency in the diaphragm) that it matches the deep tones of human speech is a misconception. The main resonance in an LDC (large diaphragm condenser) microphone is usually around 7-9khz nowhere near the lower tones of human speech (though important frequencies in speech legibility) and SDC (small diaphragm condenser) microphones usually have it beyond human hearing (20khz) and can usually pick up a larger frequency range than LDCs. LDCs offer higher signal-to-noise as they pick up a higher SPL without needing as much amplification. The reason your Sennheiser shotgun mic sounds deeper when you put it closer to your mouth is due to the "proximity effect" which all directional microphones experience. An LDC might also sound deeper because its high end extension is worse and might therefore sound "warmer"
i love to see awesome content creators like yourself calling out these big companies when they lie to their customers, we need more people like you! It goes to show that there are still big companies lying about their products because people dont know better......
I hate the way they did the headsett, because they made it so it automatically switches to steelseries sonar gaming, so i have to switch to steelseries sonar media every single time, because the gaming one sounds beyond garbage...it might just be the software, but this has lastet atleast 2-3 years (i use the artics nova 7)
?!? Sonar is neither new (so no, they are not late to anything in this regard) or any kind of argument in favor for the microphones, so that chapter makes no sense to include here. Also that is not a 10-Band EQ, but a parametric one. The values are not set and you are relatively (!) flexible in how to EQ your audio, what is fantastic too. Biggest pro is that the setup of Sonar is super easy and that the software is constantly improving. Also a bigger capsule has clear positives, if utilized correctly (what is usually done in condensor mics) its of course not "bigger = better", but physics do matter when it comes to sound. (crazy, i know). So that statement is not false in itself. And "oh no, they are comparing their numbers in the most favorable way possible to their competition!!". Yeah, also what a crazy new concept that companies do this. So great that you have studied audio engineering, but you dont know the difference between EQ-types and that the size of capsules matters. (hence why different mics use different sized capsules) And a comparison with a shotgun makes NO sense whatsoever, being a completely different type of mic with a different use case and pickup pattern. It is literally build to be less sensitive for often outdoor use or for recordings when the person cant kiss the mic all the time. The fact alone that you are even explaining that bigger capsules tend to create a warmer sound, what is often sought for in microphones for voice-recordings these days, literally dismantles your critique. Is it a matter of taste? Yes. Is a bigger capsule better for every circumstance? No. Will it have a beneficial effect for the specific use case of this mic? Yes, absolutely. Some of the big capsule condensors create a fkin awesome sound. Just listen to a King Bee II. Unnecessary for TH-cam and an audience that mostly uses their smartphone, but for professional recordings in a the right environment - very VERY tasty, also due to its bigger capsule. Its really hard to criticize a company for talking bs, when you are doing the same. Yes, they do marketing aka. bringing up stuff that might mislead the average consumer... Not cool, but if you want to criticize SS for this, then have fun doing the same with every other company out there. The critique is overblown and framed + titled in a very bad and overdramatic way to generate clicks. If you want to criticize false advertising, do that in a more general way, because there is so much bs marketing out there for audio-equipment, its easy to do a whole video about it, but picking one company for doing the same shit everybody else does and try to criticize them with twisted arguments that ignore the product itself - sorry, but that is misleading on its own. And i think you should have higher standards with an audience of over half a million of people.
Speaking of false advertising, your title is doing the exact same thing. This is quite a stretch. THEY SAID 3 TIMES AND IT'S ONLY 2.2 - And I'm comparing to another above average mic!
I like the separate power brick. USB power is notorious for signal noise that is borderline unfixable. Even if USB power would be sufficient, auxiliary power at least as an option is a required feature for any decent audio interface imo.
As for the interface, I feel you missed the point. They provide the interface along with the XLR mic, which as far as I'm aware no other XLR mic comes with an interface. There are a lot of people who buy an XLR mic and then realize they can't connect it to their computer. That is who those interfaces are targeted towards. If you buy the mic you'll at least be able to use it. They sell it with the mic to avoid the issue where a lot of newcomers to XLR don't understand the requirements. As such they don't want to throw in some high-quality expensive interface into the package because then those who don't need it would pay for something they won't use. You're buying the mic, and they give you a basic, cheap interface to get it functional in case you don't have one, and that's literally all. It's not meant to be good, it's meant to function and allow the mic to work without really raising the price of purchase for the mic. One could argue they should just sell the interface separately then, but again that's not the point. If their goal was to make a good interface they'd have put something more than this out. If they offer the mic on it's own, many people without knowledge of XLR (they're not targeting audio engineers they're targeting streamers, content creators and gamers, who often especially when starting out do not understand what an XLR interface even is) will buy just the mic and not realize they need the interface. And this isn't supposition, there's many, many posts on forums and video asking how to connect the XLR to the PC. The interface in the package is basically a "Forgot to buy an interface? Well you can at least use this until you get a better one." Also please do not remove knobs for adjustment. The moment you start forcing the only way to adjust gain being in software, you'll lose a significant number of customers. Software for customization is useful, but opening up the software to adjust the gain is dumb. And especially inconvenient for those who travel with their interface/mic and might need to do field recording plugged into something without UI. Similarly with the power supply, for those on a computer this is fine but if you're on travel and using it as portable mic and interface for work or something else, it's not uncommon to plug into a phone or something similar, and the power output of those is substantially lesser than what you can get for bus power on a PC or even Laptop. Being able to plug into a wall or a power bank allows it to work regardless of how powerful the device it's plugged into is. This being said the power plug could be optional, it could detect the amount of power and require the supplemental power from a cord if the device can't provide enough. The marketing however, that's just so stupid. Who though they wouldn't get called out for that? They could have said 2x and actually been fairly accurate against the Wave 3 which is a very popular competing product, but they had to go to 3x comparing it against a product almost no one uses these days. And the bigger capsule better voice one is just sad. I do like the tone of large diaphragm mics better than small diaphragm mics, however that is subjective, it results in some difference in tone, but it's not objectively better or worse and that claim is just weird.
i think whats happening with the gain is that the input gain is set by windows the same way your headset mic is set and the gain knob is additional gain
The best thing about the sonar mixer is the constant crashing and just plain forgetting settings. I have a $200 arctis pro paper weight in my closet because the software was so annoying.
Correct me if im wrong but the XLR mic needs a power brick as the mic is a XLR condenser mic so it needs phantom 48v not the 5v provided by USB, the cheaper mic is straight USB so its not getting the most out of the condenser pod.
While the Audio software being free and not requiring any hardware is a huge W. As for the Hardware i wouldn't recommend this to anyone in a world were the Elgato Wave 3 Exists for cheaper than the USB option. And for the XLR option you can get a Wave XLR and DX option, or a Beacn Mic for high quality Dynamic Microphone for cheaper. All the while being easier to use and generally better products.
I have a RODE 2 Mic. combined with Voicemod - Voice Enhancer: tweak noise reduction, bass, treble, pitch, etc. It works well for a mid range microphone. great for anyone who want to upgrade from a cheap mic but doesn't want to spend thousands for a studio mic.
I really wanted to like the Alias Pro since I recently started a dual pc setup but the lack of total control of my stream audio was a deal breaker. I did one stream with it and decided to stick with my Wave 3 mic and Wavelink to control my stream audio. I still use Sonar for my gaming audio because the eq is amazing.
The Headphone Out monitoring volume is @ 12:15 on the lower left portion , you can fix the Monitoring there. That being said, I have this mic (Alias Pro) and bought it expecting the 2 PC setup to be a solution for 2 stream PC ... it is a solution, just not a great one. Still debating to keep it but there is nothing like it at its price.
Big agree on having a Gain knob be in software, because 9/10 you dial it in for your setup, and that's it. The rest is just level control. Would much rather see a software gain, and then interface be able to control your input level inside OBS or something like that, or have it set to control a mix level inside that wonderful mix software they provide (which is very cool about this product)
I will point out a giant oversight... You mentioned it has a horrid brick and can/should be able to be powered via USB... 48 phantom draws more than bus can provide not only that but the stepups that exist that are below 150-200 are also usually hot garbage to boot so yes... like any other cheaper interface this does need a brick especially since its a mixer from looks of thing instead of being a straight interface.
I know it's not in the segment you're discussing, but for me and my voice, my favorite microphone hands down is the beta 58A. It just sounds "right" to my ear.
I just got a Trust GXT 232 about 3 yrs back it's a cheap £20-40 price range mic and then I bought a mic arm for like £20 and then I spent £35 when voicemod was on sale for a lifetime membership no subscription needed that and OBS filters is all I use to tweak my mic the OBS is a little more complicated to set up for the non software savvy but voicemod's voice lab is relatively simple to use and you could pick how to use it in a quick 5-10 minute youtube tutorial I don't need a £150-350 mic to sound like i'm in a studio doing a podcast and I love it! plus alot of softwares have built in noise cancellation like discord so it's got you covered there too i'm getting a rog s core headset for £82 week after next and it's mainly for comfortability on pc it being only 270g and a nice big cushion for the headbad and ears! the mic is cheap but sounds decent enough that if I use my software that it wont matter! and voicemod has pop filter options these days
In the Steelseries GG Software, dial gain by going to the Mixer tab (you were on Mic tab 5:40) Chat/Game volume knob on the mic doesn't make sense (7:00) except maybe for content creation, but not everyone who wants a good mic is a content creator. Their line of headsets already has that. Gain volume makes sense on a mic. You can quickly adjust volume if someone says you're too loud. I can't defend their advertising though.
Ik the blue yeti for a long time was advertised as THE microphone to have for youtube but those times have been over for ages now so idk what that comparison means
Never really got into standalone mics but I can say from my experience with 3-4 of their "gaming headsets" they almost always have an issue with the mic/software, to the point people are hearing my voice twice or their voices are echoing etc. that's part of the reason I stopped buying their products. I've been a bit more cautious about what I buy bc of them and some of the razer headsets I tried out. So I typically just wait for an audiophile to review something and decide from multiple reviews
Top Notch review. Honest, to the point, and very informative. Just my 2 cents on it though, while they aren't specific, I do believe their claim to the diaphragm size is based on headset microphones, and not actual competition of their Alias. Which is very misleading, but we all know how much marketing teams like to "exaggerate" specs.
So, the Alias Pro is an XLR microphone, those require phantom power to function, and usb cannot provide enough power for it which is why there is a power adapter, its not a bad thing its an industry standard thing
I've been using the SteelSeries app because you don't have to have their mic to use it. The noise cancel/ noise gate which seems to work really well for me but I do find it really weird there is no gain
I used to like SteelSeries a lot years ago. But after some time every product i bought was breaking up. First, 2 mouses had the same problem with left click, then Apex keyboard that broke as well after short time. Also they were answering to people for over 9 months that they are working on a fix for Spotify for the keyboard's screen and after 9 months of lying they just deleted support for it (at least i haven't had it where i live). And last one was a random break up of the mic on headphones just because. I bought cheaper Logitech mouse after that just to fast replace... and after the time SteelSeries crap was already broken all my items still working well. And i will never touch any of their product at all.... And that's such a shame because my first mechanical keyboard was cheap SteelSeries and it works till this day...
The gain knob sounds like it's just broken, or not functioning as intended. Does have a neat lighted ring, but it feels like they went too far with the DC power input. Like someone calibrated it with only USB power (which is plenty to power XLR mics, from what I've seen).
SteelSeries also dropped the ball with the Arctis Pros even into newer iterations. Metal band not big enough for some heads, so limits their market from the jump, great hub design with hot swappable batteries.. incredibly convenient and well thought out... but then an audible buzz when a battery is on charge in the hub. Most people don't notice it, but it's one of those, if you're an enthusiast.. you send it right back. Then the mic quality was always subpar for £300. Mice are lagging behind competition, keyboard just catching up to wooting on software.. They're not bad at anything, but also not really great at anything.
I'm glad to see this because I got an Arctis 7 headset like 3 years ago and thought the mic was way worse than the $60 Corsair headset I had before. I thought maybe I just got a dud until my cousin got the same headset and his also sounded like shit. SteelSeries is okay. Everything they make is good enough, but none of it is really great imo. I had a full setup, and I ended up replacing all of it after my headset only lasted 2 years before the battery gave out on it. $130 only to last 2 years. Long enough to outlast warranty but not long enough to be worth my money.
As a user of voice meter, I’ll have to give the sonar mixing software a try. As much as I love voice meter, the lack of sub mixes always infuriated me and with this having hotkey capabilities, might be a worthy replacement
@rokur0_ personally i hate most streaming audio software for combining audio sources. I want to be able to edit my vods properly so i want everything on different tracks so I can edit the audio individually in post. I use voicemeeter to control all the audio going to me and OBS to control all the audio going to stream. That gives me my submix
@@laoify Potato is 100% more advanced than sonar, but sonar brings enough to the table with its presets and tuning options for me. Also their game presets have all I need (CS2, COD, Etc) I also use their moments software instead of geforce shadowplay since imo is way more fleshed out as a clipping software so why not use their sonar atp
i am NEVER buying steel series again, and i actively tell my friends and family not to either, especially there head phones. when they disconnect (on there own) they screech loudly till you manually hold down the power button. 200 -400 dollar headphones. they make pretty looking crap
Since they never specify the mic they are comparing to with the capsule size, i wouldn't be shocked if they were comparing it to gaming headset mic. I don't even know the size of the capsules in those things, but my gut tells me they are smaller than in a stand alone mic
The question with ribbon microphones and mostly any analog to digital circuit in audio; is it a good perfomer, ok great. Will it perform great after some years? Who knows. That's why people charge 1000 dollars for a microphone. Because the cicuitry components and the element in the microphone are engineered with really good materials therefore guaranteeing they will last and be durable. This is the lens which microphones, speakers and headphones should be viewed by in their primary function (recording vibrations/reproducing vibrations)
I miss my previous gen Arctis Nova 7 headset, I had to replace it with a Nova 7X and it no longer has the hardware chat/game mix. The hardware just controls the Sonar software which bugs out now and then. Also I can't turn it on for a few seconds after unplugging it and now and then it wont connect at all. Never had any problem with the old one. Just keep making that one.
I am so glad someone likes of yourself reviewed this as I found the typical creator hyped it so much. I was really considering this for my new setup to go with my new steelseries apex mini, honestly.. I just can't help the fact Elgato have the full setup of mic, shock mount, pop filter & LP arm for £230. Back to the wave 3 I go again!!!
The "deepness" you get when getting close to a microphone does not depends on the capsule size, rather from the capsule's polar pattern, and it's called proximity effect.
HTC had a magnetic phone case back in 2016-2016 ish and the HTC ONE case lit back lit holes in the front of the case and this mic looks almost inspired from that
now.... i'm waiting some Producer or Audio engineer who love experiment something to test this on several conditions like Overhead, room mic, Acoustic Mic-ing and Amp Mic-ing to decide it's worthy or just worthy for podcast and voice over something
oh my gosh bumping the gain on my mic or my output is such a big problem for me. I use a Steinberg UR12, brilliant interface, but the gain knobs are just so easy to bump, especially where my interface sits on my desk, behind my keyboard. And when I switch over from gaming to music production and move my keyboard, my wires get caught on it and my gain levels get messed up. Its so annoying!! I also use Steelseries GG and it is absolutely brilliant. I found Sonar because i have a Steelseries mouse and keyboard (Apex 7 and Sensei 310) and I cannot go back to not using the EQ functions for gaming. I don't use it for music production because that is on a different device, however for gaming, discord, and media consumption, being able to change the EQ for each type is incredibly powerful.
thank you for this review i was really hoping u would take a look at this mic and see if it was everything the ad said so thank yo harris for another amazing vid
The software does have a gain, it’s on the front page where u can change the gain on the different softwares, you can control the mic with the dial or type in a %, personally I have mine at 75% with my razer serien x, trying to upgrade but I don’t know what to get
Ive always found the software to be really wonky even with my steel series artis pro wireless being pretty old at the point. The noise cancelling seems to do nothing as my friends can still occasionally hear stuff happening in the background.
I Honestly don't like the sound of the mic at all, the procast sounds more natural i think. (it does sound like there's a heavy noise suppression filter on the steelseries) The mixer looks really nice though could be a great option if they fix it.
Hello! thanks for the informative video. I did just buy their mic, the normal one not the pro. It's working well for me, but Idk if i actually love it. the mute on it is awesome, i mean how easy it is and the way I can tell if it's muted or not. but like you said, the dial thing is a turn off for sure. I would love to hear from you about a recommendation about the same price, something not like the yeti that picks all sounds, even the dishes in the kitchen. But in the same time has great voice clarity, and good noise cancelation. While at it, could you please recommend a good app for the mic?
Thank you for this review, helps with my decision between standard or pro Alias that I was wanting to gift my brother. I just gotta hope a compatible boom arm comes around sometime soon if the Steelseries one isn't restocked in time lol
One of the best mics i've heard was a condenser audiotechnica AT8033, which had a very small diaphragm. SM57, which every professional studio has in large quantities to record everything, from brass and snares to vocals, is also a small diaphragm dynamic mic. So yeah, the point about capsule size is just dumb.
i bought this and actually didn't have the gain problem. but i returned mine because i have a dual pc set up but not for streaming, for work. and It just send all my audio back to the second pc not just the mic. they showed me how to just send my mic but i am forced to keep the sonar software in streamer mode and the provided xlr interface lacked so many options and features that i just couldn't use it. like to switch between headphone and line out you have to open the software click on master volume settings then switch it you cant set it to a hotkey and there is no other way to toggle it. that is so annoying every time you need to join a team call and have to switch from speakers to headphones. and no you can just set sonar to use default speakers and toggle it with other software sonar wont let you even pick system default as an option.
i use a blue yeti, still to this day, i just replaced it. its not a bad mic, im not streaming works good enough, so ud say its a fair comparrerson, not really for the XLR one but the usb one maybe
bigger capsule means you can capture more bass sounds but voice is mid ranged so it's kinda useless unless you have a really deep voice that you want to exploit, but even "big capsule" is not THE right choice, because you can set an EQ... I don't like "gaming brand" microphones because you can find a mic 10 times better for 10 times the price. Also if you are a beginner on youtube or whatever social media, 60 bucks is the max money you should invest in a microphone, like the Bird UM1 which sounds really good and is USB so it's plug and play.
There's a guy who did a full-on hour-long podcast going over how lav mics (those tiny little clip-on mics!) sound really good. If *lav mics* sound good, you know it's not "bigger capsule, better sound." It's more like different pickup characteristics. Sound quality is more about good tuning for your use-case and factory controls that consistently hit the same sound the mic is reviewed for/known for having so you can shop and know what you're getting for that use case. The video I'm talking about is by Adam Ragusea and it's called "In praise of tiny mics and Gen Z media". If you're not convinced capsule size =/= sound quality, go watch that or anything about lav mics. I had a hard time grasping the difference where you need a big speaker to do bass, but mics are NOT like that like you might think, and a small mic can still get you full sound for voice. Capsule size doesn't do what people expect it to do at all. ANYWAY, back on topic, thanks for the review, lol, and for helping to educate people a bit. It's really neat the good info is out there on the internet, as long as people will make sure to check stuff against people who have some expertise and reputation to make sure they don't get too off the track looking things up online.
Kinda funny that I immediately guessed they were comparing to the blue yeti.. Which is weird, cause you're right.. the blue yeti is way below the cost of this thing.. obviously it should perform better. Its like saying a Bugatti is faster than a fiesta and making that a selling point. Makes no sense..
well if anything, their software seems a lot more intuitive and straightforward than voicemeeter, so if i ever dip my toes in streaming, i’ll know what to use… though that’s still installing proprietary software that may or may not embed itself into my system so deep, not even a hard drive wipe will fix it
What do you think of the mic OR what's your favorite mic right now? (or answer both, whatever, I'm not the boss of you)
my CAD GXL2200 is amazing
I dig their pro headphones that you recommended years ago. Not sure the mic will be an upgrade for me.
It looks nice, but I’m currently using the elgato wave. I bought into it back when you released it and compared it to an expensive mic. I’ve tried tuning mine but have never been satisfied with how I sound in recordings. Is there a company or place I can go to and send a recording and have someone customize settings to sound great that I can then adjust on my end?
how did they release this in its current state? Seems strange, like they didnt test it, not a big fan of "gaming gear" coming out unfinished in the same way some games come out unfinished nowadays. But great video- I am looking for a replacement for the GOXLR. So if you see anything that could do that, I would love to see it from this channel
My favorite Budget Mic Rn is the Rode-NT USB+, And favorite XLR Mic for streamers atm is the Lewitt 440 Pure
Thank you for calling them out. They seem to know what makes a good product, but rush them out a bit. While a software-heavy approach might be always fixable later, it could also never happen.
I have so so so many of their best products and i love them (duh otherwise i wouldn't spend soooo much money on them) but they are overpriced definitely. I mainly bought them because of FaZe Clan even tho I have little to do with them. I am aware of the mistakes i made but i wont change. That should not be a reason to buy stuff but it was for me and now i have all of their stuff and am buying this microphone too.
@@Alexifeu bro did NOT learn his lesson
@@Alexifeu "I'm aware of the mistakes I made, but I won't change." I'm genuinely dumbfounded by your comment.
@@Kamiyada27 I can't tell if it's just a bait because wth kinda mindset is that
good point, the apex pro was bad because they rushed it as other companies also started expirementing with the hall effect switches, for a long while they had the worst HE keyboard that wasnt alot faster but now... its the second best option due to a small redesign and software updates
Gotta say, I love the "It's good enough, so stop lying" stance. Besides, the streaming community is gonna research this stuff anyway- with the amount of money we're spending on our soft & hardware, we need the facts up front, lol
u need viewers too and i doubt in the beginning they care about the mic being the quality of a studio recording mic
But that's the thing: this mic is already good. They don't need to lie, the truth will sell the thing just fine.@@undergroundjem645
It's a trash stance that lowers the standard of living. It's a trash usb mic with a scam xlr version. Don't eat this slop up and buy a behringer c-1
@@CaptKami18 U DONT COMPREHEND ANYTHING LMAOOOO LOSER
A lot of streamers by garbage though. Pretty lights and name brand = good.
Jim Lill's latest video on microphones does a deep dive into this, trying out capsules of all mics, and with a nice testing rig actually play everything side by side with proper frequency distribution graphs and so much analysis. I wish consumer brands didn't treat us like babies and gave us more technical insight, give us the nerdy stuff, the graphs, the specs, even in the marketing material.
It's a wider symptom of anti-intellectualism and willful ignorance in the general public at large. They don't WANT to know too much, and more importantly, the leadership of major companies (not the engineers themselves) don't want you to know too much either. This is why R2R is SO goddamn important.
I just saw a video by Sarah-n-Tuned that she posted an hour ago where she was able to use a 50-year-old technical booklet that had FULL technical instructions for the wiring layout. Even just 20 or 15 years ago, this sort of technical information was freely and widely available for a large variety of products. Now? Good fucking luck lol.
These mics dont target audio-enthusiasts. The marketing and probably also the mic itself is literally not made for you if thats what you want to see in short advertisements.
@@spdcrzy It's funny how software has been moving towards mass open-sourcing, while hardware is doing the opposite. Even computing hardware is overpriced and underdocumented, you can build a high-end server for less than $1000 with used 7-year-old parts lmfao
@@CallMeTeci It comes down to being able to do your due research if you want to. And not lying in an advertisement
@@nade5557 Wrong brand and mic then. Professionals wouldnt care about those overmarketed buzzword filled toys.
And honestly this video has as much bs in it as the advertisement for the mic itself.
I have always strayed away from organisations that post false marketing materials. There is no reason to do that as it's going to push away the people that understand from the brand. If the microphone's good, there's no need to make stuff up. I am loving my elgato wave1 and there wasn't the same bs there.
The worst thing is, there must’ve been an audio engineer involved in the design process of this thing at some point. And yet they got this so wrong in so many ways.
Yup. Probably because the marketing department didn't understand a word the engineer said, and just went with their own stuff. Happens so often, it seems.
@@floorpizza8074 The marketing department doesn't care, and it really isn't their job to care tbh. False marketing like this is only bad if they get punished for it, and they won't.
If marketing can get away with straight up lying, they will do it and I can't even blame them. Unless regulatory agencies are allowed to tear these companies to shreds they will keep doing it because it is quite literally the best choice they can make.
so what ur saying is 1 audio engineer is suppose to come up w everything another would and both would perfect it....thats stupid. no one is equal so why would their ideas be equally as great? not even teams can get things 100% right why would you expect everything in the world to be 100% were only human
@@undergroundjem645 What are you talking about man
@@ltcuddles685 im answering to the comment the original one goofy...have you ever been in engineering curriculums
Fellow audio engineer dropping by. Everything said here checks out. Great vid 🫡
I swear if I catch you pulling a KickedTripod I'm revoking your audio engineering license.
Agreed. I’ve used mics made by DPA that are so so tiny, but still blew me away with how good they sound.
TIL Theo is an audio engineer?
@@trebabcock no he's just a moron
Honestly I've been using the Steelseries software for awhile now, it feels like they're constantly adding features to it. Lately it feels like they took a deeper dive into it and added a bunch more stuff, heck the added the auto-clipping, 3d aim trainer, the sonar streamer mode, and a lot of other small and big features. The keybinds part they added was also fairly recent. I wouldn't be surprised if they fix the weird mic thing in another update in under a month from now. Also always be sure to select the beta opt-in features as it sometimes has features that aren't fully realized and still being developed, that could've been what was causing the issue with the mic too tbh. Idk for sure, just a random user and have been using Steelseries for about 3-4 years now.
Transparency in this industry is paramount. Thank you for pointing this out
Thank you so much for this! I was looking at this mainly for the simplistic dual pc option. I was skeptical and was really hoping you’d review this before I made another purchase I’d be unhappy with! Thank you so much for all you do!
Always good stuff. Its mind blowing that companies are releasing things with massive shortcomings when its so obvious that there are huge channels like this that will point them out.
man, this attitude you had around this mic was not only informative, and helpful to me, but was a relief of authenticity TH-cam has been lacking lately, because the side of actually believing in the mice being good.
Moreover, putting your morals front and center is a great influence on the world. I appreciate that.
I hope SteelSeries sees this and doesn't feel attacked but more ashamed. Then i hope they act accordingly and do what you suggest to their product.
Thank. you for making a great video.
Side note, at 4:25, that mic and setup, you sound like that guy in "film editing pro" who, in my opinion, has one of the greatest audio treatments to him voice. very natural but strong.
With regards to the 3.2 larger claim, i took it to mean vs gaming headsets and not other standalone xlr / usb mics.
I currently use and recommend the Shure MV7, dual inputs for growth and upgrades, sound comparable to the sm7b and dynamic helps to cut ambient noise. Harris, love the content and while I understand that bigger isn't better, them comparing to the yeti isn't far fetched since streamers either have a yeti or sm7b for the most part. Just like most streamers have a Sony alpha or brio. Same with goXLR yes most still have the goXLR still to this day. Don't believe me, do a poll. Keep up the good work though sir!
Also own and use an MV7 and agree it is a fantastic mic. Pricy, but but you’re absolutely getting a quality mic.
I love my MV7, have it connected to a Scarlett Solo, works and sounds great.
I have the MV7X (MV7 with XLR connector) and love mine. Big upgrade to what I was using before.
In the SteelSeries GG app the gain adjust for the mic is in the Mixer tab, not the Mic tab. Just make sure you have your mic set as the input device. It's on the far right column, but in the Mixer tab.
Truth in advertising is a major sticking point for me and makes me glad I went with the Elgato Wave DX instead.
Really strange that you need a DC adapter, I use a dirt cheap behringer interface that can record 4 separate tracks at the same time and supply phantom power and that all runs off of the USB bud power
The Wave 3 also still sends a signal when the gain is all the way down.
Videos Awsome! Ty for all your hard work! have helped me more than any other videos on YT and love what you do for the Community
I'm considering a college engineering project involving modular audio equipment, allowing quick swaps of mic capsules and frames (e.g., dynamic to shotgun mics). Do you think there's a market for this, or should I stick to making a shotgun mic and mixer?
The mixer would also be dynamic allowing a user to change the amount of faders buttons and more. If the project goes well I might expand on it and give more functionality.
a modular mic would be cool, I think it's good enough of a niche to work
100% there is a market for that. Audio designers for games and movies could seriesly benefit from having an easily swappable pickup method
I actually really like having easy access to a gain knob, but it has to be set up in a very specific way. I make sure that 50% (usually a cardinal direction) on the knob is the baseline, which means I can use it to fine-tune and easily return to the baseline. When you only use the gain knob for tuning then the way SteelSeries has it set up is actually more useful than having it go all the way to silent, which would make for a very sensitive knob.
Is there any chance the "gain" knob is bi-modal, i.e. press it once before turning it for gain control, then press it again before turning for monitor volume control. Good review! Thank you as always.
Clipping can be solved by turning down the artificial gain that windows puts on your mic to make it louder btw, in the sound settings. You dont want it at 100%, maybe more like 50 or 60.
Thanks for all your reviews and stuff, helps me choose my streaming gear without being too much in the unknown of what's good and what's not, really appreciate it, keep up the good work Harris ^^
One thing worth mentioning with the software: I've owned Steelseries Headsets since before they launched GG, and I still can't get into their new software. The old one hadd less fuctions sure, but it was a one time set and forget and it just worked. This new software I don't even use because it crashes every 5 minutes, and every time it crashes all the mic inputs and stuff to my OBS stop working and I have to manually reset it it all and re-add all my audio sources. I've not looked into this issue and this could be entirely a personal issue with my specific setup or fixed since I tried it last, but I feel it's worth mentioning. When it works it's awesome! It just isn't reliable enough from my experience if you want to use it for streaming etc
the reason it probably needs to be plugged into the wall is for 48v phantom power. the wall power is not for the control device, rather the microphone itself. it's not a "Passive microphone" as you would normally find with most pc microphones you can plug directly into the computer. it's an active microphone, needing power to operate.
1> You might be peaking but I hear no clipping - also you have OBS to thank for mic filters, that WILL lower the gain and will clean up the mic audio.
I am fairly certain that the notion that a larger diaphragm and larger mass leads too such a lower Fs (resonant frequency in the diaphragm) that it matches the deep tones of human speech is a misconception. The main resonance in an LDC (large diaphragm condenser) microphone is usually around 7-9khz nowhere near the lower tones of human speech (though important frequencies in speech legibility) and SDC (small diaphragm condenser) microphones usually have it beyond human hearing (20khz) and can usually pick up a larger frequency range than LDCs. LDCs offer higher signal-to-noise as they pick up a higher SPL without needing as much amplification. The reason your Sennheiser shotgun mic sounds deeper when you put it closer to your mouth is due to the "proximity effect" which all directional microphones experience. An LDC might also sound deeper because its high end extension is worse and might therefore sound "warmer"
i love to see awesome content creators like yourself calling out these big companies when they lie to their customers, we need more people like you!
It goes to show that there are still big companies lying about their products because people dont know better......
I hate the way they did the headsett, because they made it so it automatically switches to steelseries sonar gaming, so i have to switch to steelseries sonar media every single time, because the gaming one sounds beyond garbage...it might just be the software, but this has lastet atleast 2-3 years (i use the artics nova 7)
7:52 this is actually super useful for Windows 11 users since Microsoft just decided we don't need a built-in mixer anymore
?!? Sonar is neither new (so no, they are not late to anything in this regard) or any kind of argument in favor for the microphones, so that chapter makes no sense to include here. Also that is not a 10-Band EQ, but a parametric one. The values are not set and you are relatively (!) flexible in how to EQ your audio, what is fantastic too. Biggest pro is that the setup of Sonar is super easy and that the software is constantly improving.
Also a bigger capsule has clear positives, if utilized correctly (what is usually done in condensor mics) its of course not "bigger = better", but physics do matter when it comes to sound. (crazy, i know). So that statement is not false in itself. And "oh no, they are comparing their numbers in the most favorable way possible to their competition!!". Yeah, also what a crazy new concept that companies do this. So great that you have studied audio engineering, but you dont know the difference between EQ-types and that the size of capsules matters. (hence why different mics use different sized capsules)
And a comparison with a shotgun makes NO sense whatsoever, being a completely different type of mic with a different use case and pickup pattern. It is literally build to be less sensitive for often outdoor use or for recordings when the person cant kiss the mic all the time.
The fact alone that you are even explaining that bigger capsules tend to create a warmer sound, what is often sought for in microphones for voice-recordings these days, literally dismantles your critique.
Is it a matter of taste? Yes.
Is a bigger capsule better for every circumstance? No.
Will it have a beneficial effect for the specific use case of this mic? Yes, absolutely.
Some of the big capsule condensors create a fkin awesome sound. Just listen to a King Bee II. Unnecessary for TH-cam and an audience that mostly uses their smartphone, but for professional recordings in a the right environment - very VERY tasty, also due to its bigger capsule.
Its really hard to criticize a company for talking bs, when you are doing the same. Yes, they do marketing aka. bringing up stuff that might mislead the average consumer... Not cool, but if you want to criticize SS for this, then have fun doing the same with every other company out there. The critique is overblown and framed + titled in a very bad and overdramatic way to generate clicks.
If you want to criticize false advertising, do that in a more general way, because there is so much bs marketing out there for audio-equipment, its easy to do a whole video about it, but picking one company for doing the same shit everybody else does and try to criticize them with twisted arguments that ignore the product itself - sorry, but that is misleading on its own. And i think you should have higher standards with an audience of over half a million of people.
Beautiful! 2:27 Edit: Can we get a Steel Series GG video run down all to itself?
RandomFrankP had a great one. He goes into serious detail.
TheFrugalStreamer has good coverage on Sonar/SteelSeriesGG as well
🤯Thank you for the review! I believe SteelSeries may have been referring to a headset mics in microphones diaphragm comparison
Speaking of false advertising, your title is doing the exact same thing. This is quite a stretch. THEY SAID 3 TIMES AND IT'S ONLY 2.2 - And I'm comparing to another above average mic!
This video came up at perfect timing. Looking at new mics for the future right now and was eyeing some of their mics and headsets.
I like the separate power brick. USB power is notorious for signal noise that is borderline unfixable. Even if USB power would be sufficient, auxiliary power at least as an option is a required feature for any decent audio interface imo.
As for the interface, I feel you missed the point. They provide the interface along with the XLR mic, which as far as I'm aware no other XLR mic comes with an interface. There are a lot of people who buy an XLR mic and then realize they can't connect it to their computer. That is who those interfaces are targeted towards. If you buy the mic you'll at least be able to use it. They sell it with the mic to avoid the issue where a lot of newcomers to XLR don't understand the requirements. As such they don't want to throw in some high-quality expensive interface into the package because then those who don't need it would pay for something they won't use. You're buying the mic, and they give you a basic, cheap interface to get it functional in case you don't have one, and that's literally all. It's not meant to be good, it's meant to function and allow the mic to work without really raising the price of purchase for the mic. One could argue they should just sell the interface separately then, but again that's not the point. If their goal was to make a good interface they'd have put something more than this out. If they offer the mic on it's own, many people without knowledge of XLR (they're not targeting audio engineers they're targeting streamers, content creators and gamers, who often especially when starting out do not understand what an XLR interface even is) will buy just the mic and not realize they need the interface. And this isn't supposition, there's many, many posts on forums and video asking how to connect the XLR to the PC. The interface in the package is basically a "Forgot to buy an interface? Well you can at least use this until you get a better one."
Also please do not remove knobs for adjustment. The moment you start forcing the only way to adjust gain being in software, you'll lose a significant number of customers. Software for customization is useful, but opening up the software to adjust the gain is dumb. And especially inconvenient for those who travel with their interface/mic and might need to do field recording plugged into something without UI. Similarly with the power supply, for those on a computer this is fine but if you're on travel and using it as portable mic and interface for work or something else, it's not uncommon to plug into a phone or something similar, and the power output of those is substantially lesser than what you can get for bus power on a PC or even Laptop. Being able to plug into a wall or a power bank allows it to work regardless of how powerful the device it's plugged into is. This being said the power plug could be optional, it could detect the amount of power and require the supplemental power from a cord if the device can't provide enough.
The marketing however, that's just so stupid. Who though they wouldn't get called out for that? They could have said 2x and actually been fairly accurate against the Wave 3 which is a very popular competing product, but they had to go to 3x comparing it against a product almost no one uses these days. And the bigger capsule better voice one is just sad. I do like the tone of large diaphragm mics better than small diaphragm mics, however that is subjective, it results in some difference in tone, but it's not objectively better or worse and that claim is just weird.
i think whats happening with the gain is that the input gain is set by windows the same way your headset mic is set and the gain knob is additional gain
this
Oh shit double gain
The best thing about the sonar mixer is the constant crashing and just plain forgetting settings. I have a $200 arctis pro paper weight in my closet because the software was so annoying.
Correct me if im wrong but the XLR mic needs a power brick as the mic is a XLR condenser mic so it needs phantom 48v not the 5v provided by USB, the cheaper mic is straight USB so its not getting the most out of the condenser pod.
Recently found out about their free mixer software. Definitely a game change for anyone without something similar. No purchase required.
While the Audio software being free and not requiring any hardware is a huge W. As for the Hardware i wouldn't recommend this to anyone in a world were the Elgato Wave 3 Exists for cheaper than the USB option. And for the XLR option you can get a Wave XLR and DX option, or a Beacn Mic for high quality Dynamic Microphone for cheaper. All the while being easier to use and generally better products.
The power brick is for the ability to power condensator microphones with 48V phantom power via XLR port.
FINALLY the person I’ve been waiting on to talk about this mic. legoo
I have a RODE 2 Mic. combined with Voicemod - Voice Enhancer: tweak noise reduction, bass, treble, pitch, etc. It works well for a mid range microphone. great for anyone who want to upgrade from a cheap mic but doesn't want to spend thousands for a studio mic.
I really wanted to like the Alias Pro since I recently started a dual pc setup but the lack of total control of my stream audio was a deal breaker. I did one stream with it and decided to stick with my Wave 3 mic and Wavelink to control my stream audio. I still use Sonar for my gaming audio because the eq is amazing.
The Headphone Out monitoring volume is @ 12:15 on the lower left portion , you can fix the Monitoring there.
That being said, I have this mic (Alias Pro) and bought it expecting the 2 PC setup to be a solution for 2 stream PC ... it is a solution, just not a great one. Still debating to keep it but there is nothing like it at its price.
Big agree on having a Gain knob be in software, because 9/10 you dial it in for your setup, and that's it. The rest is just level control. Would much rather see a software gain, and then interface be able to control your input level inside OBS or something like that, or have it set to control a mix level inside that wonderful mix software they provide (which is very cool about this product)
What makes you consider voicemeeter anti-consumer? I've been using it for years and am just curious
Thank you for all of the reviewing that you do! and also love the streaming setup vids!
I will point out a giant oversight... You mentioned it has a horrid brick and can/should be able to be powered via USB... 48 phantom draws more than bus can provide not only that but the stepups that exist that are below 150-200 are also usually hot garbage to boot so yes... like any other cheaper interface this does need a brick especially since its a mixer from looks of thing instead of being a straight interface.
I know it's not in the segment you're discussing, but for me and my voice, my favorite microphone hands down is the beta 58A. It just sounds "right" to my ear.
I just got a Trust GXT 232 about 3 yrs back it's a cheap £20-40 price range mic and then I bought a mic arm for like £20 and then I spent £35 when voicemod was on sale for a lifetime membership no subscription needed that and OBS filters is all I use to tweak my mic the OBS is a little more complicated to set up for the non software savvy but voicemod's voice lab is relatively simple to use and you could pick how to use it in a quick 5-10 minute youtube tutorial I don't need a £150-350 mic to sound like i'm in a studio doing a podcast and I love it! plus alot of softwares have built in noise cancellation like discord so it's got you covered there too i'm getting a rog s core headset for £82 week after next and it's mainly for comfortability on pc it being only 270g and a nice big cushion for the headbad and ears!
the mic is cheap but sounds decent enough that if I use my software that it wont matter! and voicemod has pop filter options these days
In the Steelseries GG Software, dial gain by going to the Mixer tab (you were on Mic tab 5:40)
Chat/Game volume knob on the mic doesn't make sense (7:00) except maybe for content creation, but not everyone who wants a good mic is a content creator. Their line of headsets already has that. Gain volume makes sense on a mic. You can quickly adjust volume if someone says you're too loud.
I can't defend their advertising though.
Ik the blue yeti for a long time was advertised as THE microphone to have for youtube but those times have been over for ages now so idk what that comparison means
Never really got into standalone mics but I can say from my experience with 3-4 of their "gaming headsets" they almost always have an issue with the mic/software, to the point people are hearing my voice twice or their voices are echoing etc. that's part of the reason I stopped buying their products. I've been a bit more cautious about what I buy bc of them and some of the razer headsets I tried out. So I typically just wait for an audiophile to review something and decide from multiple reviews
Top Notch review. Honest, to the point, and very informative. Just my 2 cents on it though, while they aren't specific, I do believe their claim to the diaphragm size is based on headset microphones, and not actual competition of their Alias. Which is very misleading, but we all know how much marketing teams like to "exaggerate" specs.
So, the Alias Pro is an XLR microphone, those require phantom power to function, and usb cannot provide enough power for it which is why there is a power adapter, its not a bad thing its an industry standard thing
I've been using the SteelSeries app because you don't have to have their mic to use it. The noise cancel/ noise gate which seems to work really well for me but I do find it really weird there is no gain
I used to like SteelSeries a lot years ago. But after some time every product i bought was breaking up. First, 2 mouses had the same problem with left click, then Apex keyboard that broke as well after short time. Also they were answering to people for over 9 months that they are working on a fix for Spotify for the keyboard's screen and after 9 months of lying they just deleted support for it (at least i haven't had it where i live). And last one was a random break up of the mic on headphones just because.
I bought cheaper Logitech mouse after that just to fast replace... and after the time SteelSeries crap was already broken all my items still working well. And i will never touch any of their product at all....
And that's such a shame because my first mechanical keyboard was cheap SteelSeries and it works till this day...
The gain knob sounds like it's just broken, or not functioning as intended. Does have a neat lighted ring, but it feels like they went too far with the DC power input. Like someone calibrated it with only USB power (which is plenty to power XLR mics, from what I've seen).
yeah my interface has all the knobs on top and I have it placed well out of the way on the side of my desk :) Also it has not easily knocked buttons.
SteelSeries also dropped the ball with the Arctis Pros even into newer iterations. Metal band not big enough for some heads, so limits their market from the jump, great hub design with hot swappable batteries.. incredibly convenient and well thought out... but then an audible buzz when a battery is on charge in the hub. Most people don't notice it, but it's one of those, if you're an enthusiast.. you send it right back. Then the mic quality was always subpar for £300. Mice are lagging behind competition, keyboard just catching up to wooting on software.. They're not bad at anything, but also not really great at anything.
I'm glad to see this because I got an Arctis 7 headset like 3 years ago and thought the mic was way worse than the $60 Corsair headset I had before. I thought maybe I just got a dud until my cousin got the same headset and his also sounded like shit.
SteelSeries is okay. Everything they make is good enough, but none of it is really great imo. I had a full setup, and I ended up replacing all of it after my headset only lasted 2 years before the battery gave out on it. $130 only to last 2 years. Long enough to outlast warranty but not long enough to be worth my money.
If you go to the mixer setting in their software the mic part on the far right is the gain setting I believe
As a user of voice meter, I’ll have to give the sonar mixing software a try. As much as I love voice meter, the lack of sub mixes always infuriated me and with this having hotkey capabilities, might be a worthy replacement
lack of sub mixes? you can do sub mixes in voicemeeter with the streamer view. Its a little clunky but def gives you sub mixes
@rokur0_ personally i hate most streaming audio software for combining audio sources. I want to be able to edit my vods properly so i want everything on different tracks so I can edit the audio individually in post. I use voicemeeter to control all the audio going to me and OBS to control all the audio going to stream. That gives me my submix
use potato, much better than sonar at least technical wise@@JadeNeoma
wat? @@laoify
@@laoify Potato is 100% more advanced than sonar, but sonar brings enough to the table with its presets and tuning options for me. Also their game presets have all I need (CS2, COD, Etc) I also use their moments software instead of geforce shadowplay since imo is way more fleshed out as a clipping software so why not use their sonar atp
Add the Elgato XLR audio interface, the auto Gain Clip feature will enhance the audio quality, making it ideal for streaming game screams.
i am NEVER buying steel series again, and i actively tell my friends and family not to either, especially there head phones. when they disconnect (on there own) they screech loudly till you manually hold down the power button. 200 -400 dollar headphones. they make pretty looking crap
Try moving your monitor out of the frame for the wide shots when you’re talking to the camera. It’s a little dustracting
Since they never specify the mic they are comparing to with the capsule size, i wouldn't be shocked if they were comparing it to gaming headset mic. I don't even know the size of the capsules in those things, but my gut tells me they are smaller than in a stand alone mic
As soon as steelseries makes a product they call it the best
The question with ribbon microphones and mostly any analog to digital circuit in audio; is it a good perfomer, ok great.
Will it perform great after some years? Who knows.
That's why people charge 1000 dollars for a microphone. Because the cicuitry components and the element in the microphone are engineered with really good materials therefore guaranteeing they will last and be durable.
This is the lens which microphones, speakers and headphones should be viewed by in their primary function (recording vibrations/reproducing vibrations)
I miss my previous gen Arctis Nova 7 headset, I had to replace it with a Nova 7X and it no longer has the hardware chat/game mix. The hardware just controls the Sonar software which bugs out now and then. Also I can't turn it on for a few seconds after unplugging it and now and then it wont connect at all. Never had any problem with the old one. Just keep making that one.
I am so glad someone likes of yourself reviewed this as I found the typical creator hyped it so much. I was really considering this for my new setup to go with my new steelseries apex mini, honestly.. I just can't help the fact Elgato have the full setup of mic, shock mount, pop filter & LP arm for £230. Back to the wave 3 I go again!!!
The "deepness" you get when getting close to a microphone does not depends on the capsule size, rather from the capsule's polar pattern, and it's called proximity effect.
HTC had a magnetic phone case back in 2016-2016 ish and the HTC ONE case lit back lit holes in the front of the case and this mic looks almost inspired from that
now....
i'm waiting some Producer or Audio engineer who love experiment something to test this on several conditions like Overhead, room mic, Acoustic Mic-ing and Amp Mic-ing to decide it's worthy or just worthy for podcast and voice over something
oh my gosh bumping the gain on my mic or my output is such a big problem for me. I use a Steinberg UR12, brilliant interface, but the gain knobs are just so easy to bump, especially where my interface sits on my desk, behind my keyboard. And when I switch over from gaming to music production and move my keyboard, my wires get caught on it and my gain levels get messed up. Its so annoying!!
I also use Steelseries GG and it is absolutely brilliant. I found Sonar because i have a Steelseries mouse and keyboard (Apex 7 and Sensei 310) and I cannot go back to not using the EQ functions for gaming. I don't use it for music production because that is on a different device, however for gaming, discord, and media consumption, being able to change the EQ for each type is incredibly powerful.
thank you for this review i was really hoping u would take a look at this mic and see if it was everything the ad said so thank yo harris for another amazing vid
The software does have a gain, it’s on the front page where u can change the gain on the different softwares, you can control the mic with the dial or type in a %, personally I have mine at 75% with my razer serien x, trying to upgrade but I don’t know what to get
Is that a Majesty guitar at the back?! :O
Ive always found the software to be really wonky even with my steel series artis pro wireless being pretty old at the point. The noise cancelling seems to do nothing as my friends can still occasionally hear stuff happening in the background.
I Honestly don't like the sound of the mic at all, the procast sounds more natural i think. (it does sound like there's a heavy noise suppression filter on the steelseries)
The mixer looks really nice though could be a great option if they fix it.
Hello! thanks for the informative video.
I did just buy their mic, the normal one not the pro. It's working well for me, but Idk if i actually love it. the mute on it is awesome, i mean how easy it is and the way I can tell if it's muted or not. but like you said, the dial thing is a turn off for sure. I would love to hear from you about a recommendation about the same price, something not like the yeti that picks all sounds, even the dishes in the kitchen. But in the same time has great voice clarity, and good noise cancelation. While at it, could you please recommend a good app for the mic?
Has the gain problem been addressed since the release of this video?
ive been using steel series gg since i got my apex 3 tkl and can honestly say between moments and sonar, i absolutely love it
pretty sure windows does sound app separation now so even if u dont want sonar u can still do it
You want my thoughts? I think the LEDs being in the middle looks stupid. Along the edge would be sick
Thank you for this review, helps with my decision between standard or pro Alias that I was wanting to gift my brother. I just gotta hope a compatible boom arm comes around sometime soon if the Steelseries one isn't restocked in time lol
One of the best mics i've heard was a condenser audiotechnica AT8033, which had a very small diaphragm. SM57, which every professional studio has in large quantities to record everything, from brass and snares to vocals, is also a small diaphragm dynamic mic.
So yeah, the point about capsule size is just dumb.
i bought this and actually didn't have the gain problem. but i returned mine because i have a dual pc set up but not for streaming, for work. and It just send all my audio back to the second pc not just the mic. they showed me how to just send my mic but i am forced to keep the sonar software in streamer mode and the provided xlr interface lacked so many options and features that i just couldn't use it. like to switch between headphone and line out you have to open the software click on master volume settings then switch it you cant set it to a hotkey and there is no other way to toggle it. that is so annoying every time you need to join a team call and have to switch from speakers to headphones. and no you can just set sonar to use default speakers and toggle it with other software sonar wont let you even pick system default as an option.
i use a blue yeti, still to this day, i just replaced it. its not a bad mic, im not streaming works good enough, so ud say its a fair comparrerson, not really for the XLR one but the usb one maybe
I've been waiting for this video to come out from you as soon as they released this mic.
bigger capsule means you can capture more bass sounds but voice is mid ranged so it's kinda useless unless you have a really deep voice that you want to exploit, but even "big capsule" is not THE right choice, because you can set an EQ... I don't like "gaming brand" microphones because you can find a mic 10 times better for 10 times the price. Also if you are a beginner on youtube or whatever social media, 60 bucks is the max money you should invest in a microphone, like the Bird UM1 which sounds really good and is USB so it's plug and play.
Can you do a quick video explaining/setting up this microphone when it comes to a dual PC set up?
I have been using steelseries gg for around 4 months and have been loving it for its mixing for gaming
love the music man in the background; solid guitar and worth every penny
There's a guy who did a full-on hour-long podcast going over how lav mics (those tiny little clip-on mics!) sound really good. If *lav mics* sound good, you know it's not "bigger capsule, better sound." It's more like different pickup characteristics. Sound quality is more about good tuning for your use-case and factory controls that consistently hit the same sound the mic is reviewed for/known for having so you can shop and know what you're getting for that use case.
The video I'm talking about is by Adam Ragusea and it's called "In praise of tiny mics and Gen Z media". If you're not convinced capsule size =/= sound quality, go watch that or anything about lav mics.
I had a hard time grasping the difference where you need a big speaker to do bass, but mics are NOT like that like you might think, and a small mic can still get you full sound for voice. Capsule size doesn't do what people expect it to do at all.
ANYWAY, back on topic, thanks for the review, lol, and for helping to educate people a bit. It's really neat the good info is out there on the internet, as long as people will make sure to check stuff against people who have some expertise and reputation to make sure they don't get too off the track looking things up online.
Kinda funny that I immediately guessed they were comparing to the blue yeti.. Which is weird, cause you're right.. the blue yeti is way below the cost of this thing.. obviously it should perform better. Its like saying a Bugatti is faster than a fiesta and making that a selling point. Makes no sense..
well if anything, their software seems a lot more intuitive and straightforward than voicemeeter, so if i ever dip my toes in streaming, i’ll know what to use… though that’s still installing proprietary software that may or may not embed itself into my system so deep, not even a hard drive wipe will fix it