Overall and Final Verdict
Going all the way back to when I took a look at the first Razer Seiren microphone to come into our office 9 years ago I’m happy to see that Razer has continued to evolve. Their two latest microphones continue that evolution and also mirror what I’ve seen from a lot of the competition as well with having two different models with one cheaper budget-friendly option like the Seiren v3 Mini and then a higher end flashy microphone like the Seiren v3 Chroma. The Seiren v3 Chroma adds in a lot more metal into its design which makes it feel a lot more stable along with a mount that is closer to a traditional microphone setup. That mount design does still sit on your desk which opens up some potential issues but it can be angled up correctly and does a better job isolating the microphone even when compared to the Seiren v3 Mini. The Seiren v3 Chroma also has fully embraced the RGB life with the entire perforated housing being backlit with Razer Chroma lighting. You get a volume control knob on the front and a headphone jack and the audio performance was great but a little quieter than the Seiren v3 Mini. The top button is easy to reach and the mount setup does support being added to an arm as a nice upgrade in the future. For downsides, the Seiren v3 Chroma does use the Chroma lighting for all of its status indicators which I would still prefer to have dedicated LEDs for a few things, though having the entire microphone light up red when it is muted is nice. Razer is also behind Logitech on the software side when it comes to the amount of control you have over your audio settings, the comparable Logitech Yeti GX has all of the voice effects and basically a full mixer to help tune out any issues but the Seiren v3 Chroma doesn’t have most of that. Also on the software side, you do have to do a reboot after installing it or even after adding the Seiren v3 Chroma which is annoying.
The Seiren v3 Mini shares a lot of the same features as the Seiren v3 Chroma including the the most part its performance which made this especially good considering its size and price. The Seiren v3 Mini has a lot more compact design though which for a lot of people will be easier to deal with on your desk. It does have a metal perforated section but the rest of its construction including a lot of the mount is plastic but because the base has metal in it it does feel a lot more solid than the Yeti Orb that it competes with. Razer also offers the Seiren v3 Mini in three different colors with white, as I tested, black, and a cool Pink that they call Quartz. Its compact base however doesn’t have much adjustment and is hard to tilt up to aim at your mouth but it has been threaded to support a microphone boom arm mount if you want to upgrade in the future. The top-mounted mute button is easy to reach and use and while both microphones use a capacitive button for this which I normally am not a big fan of I don’t hate it in this situation. Like with the Seiren v3 Chroma, on the software side of things, the Seiren v3 Mini is behind the Yeti competition, specifically on how much control Yeti’s have in mixing your sound and with fun voice effects. But when it comes to pure performance the Seiren v3 Mini was still surprisingly good.
As for pricing, the Seiren v3 Chroma has an MSRP of $129.99 and the Seiren v3 Mini will run you $59.99. The Seiren v3 Mini is spot on pricing when compared to the Yeti Orb which is also $59.99. Then the Seiren v3 Chroma is actually a little less than the Yeti GX which was $149 and is currently listed at $135. Adding in a microphone arm in the future would be a big help for either, they did a solid job of isolating desk noise but that would be the next step to go even further. But overall performance wise either would still be a good option, especially if you are already in the Razer ecosystem. But I do hope that they expand on the control you have to tune your sound in the future to be more competitive in that aspect.
Live Pricing: HERE
Live Pricing: HERE
