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the razor siren what could be so

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exciting about a microphone you might ask well I wasn't sure either in fact

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when the press release first hit my inbox I completely ignored it and it

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wasn't until I received numerous tweets asking when I was going to review it

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that I went ahead and sent over a sample request so I could evaluate razer's

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expansion into an entirely new category

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microphones that actually sound good by the way this is the part where I would

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normally tease an upcoming video but I can't this time and I guess that's all I

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can really

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say cooler Masters case mod World Series is your opportunity to show off your

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modding skills and win great prizes entries close February 7th 2015 click

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now to learn more so let's open with the packaging something that I rarely do

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these days but in this case I feel like it's warranted first in the Box we've

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got some stickers a very long braided USB cable and a quick start guide which

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I've asked them to revise since it makes absolutely no mention of installing

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synapse on the page that appears to have all of the steps and if you don't

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install synapse then Windows seems to install a driver but the microphone just

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doesn't work a frustrating issue the good news is that if you don't care

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about adjusting the grand total of two parameters within the software you can

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uninstall it and use the mic like any other USB audio input next is some of

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the finest packing foam ever a nice

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dense soft foam that feels like it would be as much at home in a carrying case as

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a product box a really nice touch if you're someone like a game broadcaster

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who might actually travel with it now Razer could have taken this one step

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further and made the Box a carrying case but uh not this time although who knows

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maybe siren V2 Razer which leads us to the microphone itself man these guys are

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good at taking the most mundane things like keyboards mice and now microphones

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and turning them into industrial artwork I mean what's next webcams actually I

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better not give them any ideas the surprisingly well-built aluminum stand

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has a foam covered base and two arms that have large thumb bolts running

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through them to hold the mic in place but that also allow it a degree of

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movement to compensate for the uh height

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of the user I feel like Razer missed an opportunity to use rubber instead of

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plastic here for better resistance to desk vibrations but for folks who really

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care about the best sound quality to go along with the optional pop filter which

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reduces plosives they've got an optional suspension Mount accessory that'll work

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with third party stands all right so Linus you mentioned sound quality are

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you going to talk about that at some point yes yes I will it's coming but first let me finish up with the mic body

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on the bottom you'll find the mini USB input a threaded socket for third party

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stands or the optional pop filter a headphone jack that offers zero latency

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monitoring something that's great for live broadcasters and a toggle for the

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illuminated razor logo on the back on the back under that logo are two dials

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one for the microphone gain control and the other to alter the pickup pattern of

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the three 14 mm condenser capsules hidden under the mesh at the top of the

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mic the options are bidirectional cardioid omnidirectional and stereo and

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if you're not familiar with any of that terminology Razer includes a handy

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little glossery in their manual that tells you the best pickup pattern for

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some of the most common applications on the front of the mic is a mute button

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the monitoring output volume control dial and an OLED screen that displays

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volume and gain levels according to whatever has been most recently adjusted

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but now that we've talked for 4 minutes about what the siren is supposed to be

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and the box it comes in it's time to answer the real question is it actually

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any good the answer is yes it's good

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really good even uh but I was expecting a little bit better not because the

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siren isn't a well-built and likely very worthy upgrade to the audio recording

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solution you're using now but because of the design philosophy of this product

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Razer aimed to create a jack of all trades mic here with the adjustable

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pickup patterns and while its versatility is outstanding I feel like

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most of the use cases they present for anything but the cardioid configuration

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are unlikely uses for this product I mean no one will be using it for

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instrumental recording conference calls and events I mean what does that even

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mean why would I want a microphone picking up literally everything around

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it in the middle of an event and if you're conducting interviews you need to

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mic up each person rather than relying on One mic to capture everything if you

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want to do things even remotely properly so because of that I wish that Razer had

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delivered a more specialized product the best cardioid mic they could build for

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streaming and voice recording rather than a do everything product because I

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think it might have been a little better at what I think most people are going to

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use it for in that case now I don't have a ton of quality microphones to compare

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it against unfortunately so I can only really compare directly to the editor

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Keys SL300 a very similarly priced

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cardioid only mic that I personally think sounds significantly better

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closeup with that great AM radio Sound and from a distance with much better

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background noise isolation and I guess I can also compare it to the built-in mic

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on my Audio Technica atth a1s it's not a

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desktop microphone but it's the best on headset mic I've yet encountered and for

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game streamers anyway it's certainly a viable option so you guys can hear test

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recordings of a bunch of different configurations in the SoundCloud link

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below but for the time being here's a couple recordings of the siren at least

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all Razer siren test recordings were done with the cardioid pickup pattern

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unless otherwise noted My First Recording here is a best case scenario

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with the siren between my keyboard and body with a double layer pop filter note

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the significant back background noise from other computers in the

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office and the sound level of typing on the keyboard that's directly behind the

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computer for reference here's a recording of the siren without the pop

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filter in the same position this recording was done with

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the SL300 microphone in the same configuration basically a best case

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scenario for this mic background noise is lower if you

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listen and here is what background typing sounds

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like and finally here's the siren positioned off to the side of my monitor

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less ideal for audio quality but perhaps more convenient for folks who don't want

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their microphone in the way and now for fun I'm going to switch

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modes here's omnidirectional with all the background noise in the room and its

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full

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glory and here's stereo with me leaning

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a little bit to the left and now a little bit to the

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right so in conclusion while I've ragged

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on Razer a little bit for the sound of the mic I do have to give credit where

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credit is due it's a lot better than what most people are using and the

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versatility is better than both of the other two products that I was able to

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compare it against while the SL300 has a

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minus 10 DB switch and a low pass filter

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it doesn't come with on mic control knobs a stand or much more importantly a

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zero latency real-time monitoring Jack and the atth A1 headset mic is well

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aside from being expensive attached to a headset something that not everyone

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wants to be stuck with so I guess at the end of all this the siren EES out a

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recommendation not because Razor's naming scheme is getting any better I

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mean really guys it looks like you just misspelled the product name but because

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the mic looks like a solid bet to me right now but then again who knows how

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I'll feel when blue sends over their competitor so stay tuned for that review

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but before we can do any of that a word from our one of our most fun sponsors

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cherro now normally churo is promoting some kind of awesome deal on one of

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their portable battery Banks or something like that but you guys have

114
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bought so many of these so far that they figured they'd offer an adorable

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accessory to go with what you've already got this time this is the danboard USB

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cable the concept here not exactly groundbreaking you use it to charge or

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sync your Android phone or tablet or anything else that uses a micro USB

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connector but the difference is that it's got an adorable little Dan board

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themed design that includes light up eyes on the a type connector end and the

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pricing is very reasonable for a designer USB cable at around 10 bucks

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for up to a 3ft length a neat little gift idea and they didn't send us any of

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these unfortunately G but their five-pack of flexible magnetic cable

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clips are a solid little add-on for any cable management Enthusiast and can be

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used to store money or other loose papers as well so thanks cherro for

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sponsor in today's episode and oh yeah I guess I should also probably mention we

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have links in the video description to Amazon where you can check out chero

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danboard cables uh thanks to you guys for watching don't forget to like this

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always you can check out the other Link in the video description to support us you can give us a monthly contribution

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by a cool t-shirt like this one or change your Amazon bookmark to one with

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USB cables or whatever else it is you buy on Amazon we get a small Kickback

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that kind of thing helps us out a lot thanks again for watching and as always

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