We’re checking out the Razer Seiren Mini, a surprisingly great sounding budget mic with accessories for around $50 dollars, on sale sometimes at $40. If you’re looking to upgrade the sound of your stream or just need online calls to sound better, this may be the easy upgrade you’re looking for.
The Razer Seiren Mini is a compact, entry-level, side-address mic which is plug-and-play with Windows, and apparently Macs too. The super-cardioid pattern is great for talking or streaming, and I was really impressed with the sound- balanced with a tiny bass uplift, it’s good for my voice too, which is not exactly easy to find a mic for. With a 1 year warranty, and priced currently at $40 dollars, it’s pretty attractive.
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The unit is sorely lacking a mute button, as there’s no volume controls or other knobs, just a green LED. There’s no headphone jack for monitoring, though I’d rather plug into an audio controller than the mic, and for better or worse, there’s no software integration. The pill shape is small and doesn’t get in the way, but may not work with all pop filters, ours just barely stays on.
And while it comes with a base, mounting is possible with the included 5/8 adapter, but the small pill shape is too small to fit some boom mounts, requiring a bit of a workaround. The 6 foot usb cable plugs into a recessed micro-usb port that Razer doesn’t offer a replacement cable for, the non-mini yes, but not this one. It won’t replace a professional mic, but upgrading from a headset mic it’s a huge leap up. A great sounding bare-bones mic, the Razer Seiren Mini delivers.
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*Record audio same time on PC for this section* *test input volume in windows*
Let’s do a mic test. This is an audio sample recorded with the Takstar SGC-598 just above my head. // This is an audio sample recorded with the Razer Seiren Mini on the included Razer base, adjusted. // This is an audio sample recorded with the Razer Seiren Mini on the base, no processing.
This is an audio sample recorded with the Razer Seiren Mini on a boom arm. // This is an audio sample recorded with the Razer Seiren Mini on a boom arm, adjusted. With a super-cardioid microphone, the narrower cardioid pattern rejects more background noise from the sides. Available in this black, Mercury white and Quartz pink, this side-address mic has a 14mm condenser capsule with a 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency response. // For me it sounds tailored for speaking and I like the slightly more present bass.
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With a max sound pressure level of 110 dB, it inputs 16-bit sound at either 44.1 or 48 kHz for Windows, and though no MacOS compatibility is listed, I found videos showing it connecting and working for some Mac users. The outside build construction is very sturdy, and evidently has internal shock protection for the condenser according to Razer. The unit measures 55 millimeters wide and deep by 104 millimeters high.
—On Screen Text—
55 x 55 x 104 mm (167 with base)
2.2″ x 2.2″ x 4.1″ (6.6″ high)
Mic: 120g + base 242g (4.2 oz / 8.5 oz)
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The equatorial band gives the oval shape egg-like tendencies, so it’s headed for the floor as soon as you look away. (*) So make sure it’s on a towel or in a cradle while you set up. Putting it on the 90 millimeter/3.5″ base was super easy, and there’s a tilt adjustment, but the overall height is pretty short. The mic is really too far away from where you’ll be talking, so you’ll need to mount it on a boom arm.
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This reduces sounds from desk bumps, and being positioned farther away will reduce noises from your keyboard and mouse. However this is where I ran into problems with Razer’s poor construction design choices- as the mount at the bottom of the mic capsule and the base have different thread sizes.
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Because the mic is short, I need to use the short pole to increase the height, but the top outside and bottom inside threading doesn’t match, so you can’t use the 5/8″ adapter at the bottom, it can only go on the mic, which sucks. I had to make this setup of nuts, washers and a long bolt to add distance and connect it to this shockmount.
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In addition, the wire is pretty hard to remove making repositioning the cable in and around a real shock mount very difficult. The micro-USB plug is recessed which makes replacement challenging as Razer doesn’t appear to offer extra cables at the time of writing, and with a replacement wire you’ll need one with a pretty small connector. We actually found replacements locally, but your results may vary.
___SOFTWARE___
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We had to double check that there’s no software integration, as PCmag’s Mr. Gideon says “the Seirin Mini… doesn’t need the bundled software”. While yes, it doesn’t need software, this is incorrect on two counts- one, to be clear sir, bundled means “tied or coming together in a parcel” and no software came in the box. Two, after downloading and installing the not-bundled Synapse 3 software, the mic didn’t show up. We confirmed it’s also not in the device supported list on Razer’s site. You can’t always trust reviewers to actually do the work. SE wah wah fail
“However, Mac users will miss out on Synapse 3, Razer’s PC-only software that includes basic controls for the mic. Again, the Seiren Mini worked just fine in Garageband, and it doesn’t need the bundled software in order to work properly. Any controls in Synapse 3 can likely be accessed within whatever recording program you choose to use.”
By Tim Gideon
___GREAT SOUND, BUT ___ (___FOR IMPROVEMENT___)
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So with great sound quality, mini design and simple plug and play functionality, this is a quick and inexpensive upgrade for streaming, voice chats or even sounding a lot better for business meetings.
For improvement, it needs a touch style mute button, non-recessed USB port, and consistent post threading through the construction so it’s easier and more versatile for mounting. Razer, you need to offer a replacement cable for the mini, there’s one for the non-mini, but not this one. I’d like to shout out to Senpai Gaming on YouTube who covered this mic and inspired me to grab and try it for you guys.
Senpai gaming- Best BUDGET Microphone in 2021
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There’s also the Hyper X Solocast mic with a competing audio delivery that comes with a mic button for about 10 bucks more, comment below if you’d like to see other more budget mics reviewed. If you grab the Razer Seiren Mini or other tech, shopping through our affiliate links below will help us here with no extra cost to you. And follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at techspinreview, and there’s companion posts to our reviews on techspinreview.com.
___VIEWER QUESTIONS___
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We have a viewer question, Zfttke5731 says they have a problem using long HDMI cabling, with her TV picture blacking out from switching on lights or an electronic ignition on a stove burner.
So electronics are affected by power surges and sags, but because this doesn’t happen with your short HDMI cable, this means the long HDMI is picking up electrical interference or EMI. Long cables act like antennas and are easily affected by EMI, and the key here is you said installed in the wall. You never want to run sensitive HDMI cabling alongside power wires.
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4K 120Hz needs HDMI 2.1 cables which have better shielding, and consider shorter length cables. Or fix the problem source- CFL or compact fluorescent lights cause an EMI spike as the ballast kicks them on. Replacing them with LED lights should fix this, but requires electrical work as LEDs don’t use ballasts and will fry. Your stove and TV may be on the same circuit, try some different locations of wall sockets and see if this helps. Maybe it’s time to upgrade the stove or get a new igniter. Hope this helps.
___SPONSORED OUTRO___ (thanks again to…)
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That’s it for today, and let us know what gaming and streaming accessories you’re looking at getting. Whether it’s microphones, keyboards and mice or other tech, let us know what you’d like to see reviewed next. Join the discussion in the comments, and please hit Like, subscribe, the bell, *ding* to see upcoming episodes. We really appreciate you watching this far, thanks for your time, and we’ll see you on the next. Bye for now.
The Cooler Master HAF 500’s glass side is 449 millimeters wide by 474 high, with metal supports bottom to connect to the ledge and top to snap into the dual sockets, with a thumbscrew at the top back, the tempered glass is 3 mils thick. The feet on this side form a ledge which is flush with the glass.
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The case comes with an ARGB board needing a SATA power connector that connects up to four fans, with an extra ARGB header to connect to other devices. There was weirdness during wiring this up with the Cooler Master ML360L V2 ARGB, this took longer than normal to chain up, maybe it has a preferred port or something, we never did determine the exact cause.
The inclusion of an angular fan on the drive bays is unique, vertically GPU temps go down a few degrees as it feeds it room temperature air more directly and assists pushing air out the rear, at 45° it’s still beneficial but the effect is less, according to testing done by Gamers Nexus.
GPU power wires also run through this area, you’ll need to ensure stock wiring pigtails don’t fall into the spinning fan blades, be careful here. We’re using Silverstone extensions for a clean look, and we had to run the GPU power wires through the top drive bay, that’s a first for me.
We recommend you first build on a motherboard box, test then remove power cabling to install it. Building in the Cooler Master HAF 500 was easy, setting aside the side panels safely, and always matching motherboard standoffs holes as you install it With the CPU in and AIO cooler installed, then an m.2 drive and DDR4 or 5 plugged into the motherboard, the AIO radiator was resting up front with no fans as we plugged in the CPU 8-pin and Motherboard 24-pin power.
For CPU only thermals we saw 45.9°C case thermals after 10 minutes, and GPU only thermals hit 53.6°C. This isn’t tested with this same build, unfortunately time was tight and this build needed to be finished quickly as it’s about to be sent out.
For this build, we have a MSI B660 Tomahawk WiFi DDR4, an Intel i5-13600K, a Cooler Master ML360L V2 ARGB with the rad mounted up top, paired with 32 gigs of Kingston Fury RAM. An MSI RTX 3080 Suprim is our GPU, with a ThermalTake Toughpower GF 850 watt power supply./ We’ll throw testing we did here up on screen, showing what this setup achieved for thermals.
HAF 500 + CM ML360L V2 AIO
Case temp, 21°C ambient
*Only CPU 100%: 23.4°C avg
*Only GPU 100%: 29.1°C avg
*Testing with new digital thermometer probe,
values may be inaccurate, further testing required
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The Cooler Master HAF 500 has everything you want, lots of airflow, big ARGB fans and filtered intakes, 10 Gigabit Type-C USB 3.2 Gen2, and a removable top panel and PSU cover for easy building, plus an extra assist fan for your GPU. Spacious and long enough for new RTX 40-series cards, the only problem may be finding this at a sale price.
A very solid case, building in the Cooler Master HAF 500 was very easy due to the removable PSU cover and especially the top panel. Making this a convertible means a lot of structural rigidity is needed in the design and frame, and there’s just a little flex which is pretty impressive. The ARGB is also vibrant, and with a huge magnetic top filter, the finished build looks great.
Both the top and front supporting 240, 280 and 360 millimeter radiators gives the consumer lots of placement options, and the top being removable makes using a 280 up top less of a headache, though we don’t have a 280 rad to test. Usually the headache caused with a 280 is from the width interfering with top corner motherboard wiring and even RAM height, but working with 360 was fairly easy.
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If you pick the Cooler Master HAF 500 or are looking at another case, shopping through our affiliate links below will help us here with no extra cost to you. And follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at techspinreview, and there’s companion posts to our reviews on techspinreview.com.
A big thanks to TeamGroup for being our sponsor, they’re a leading solution in DDR4, DDR5 and SSDs, and they won’t break the bank, check them out at the link below. Join the discussion in the comments. Please take a second to hit Like, subscribe, the bell, and we often reply to your feedback so if you have a question, fire away. We really appreciate you watching this far, thanks for your time, and we’ll see you on the next. Bye for now.
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