If you’re serious about gaming and streaming, it’s time to say goodbye to generic mics and level up your setup with the SteelSeries “Alias” series. Designed specifically with gamers in mind, these two broadcast-grade microphones — aka the Alias and Alias Pro — aim to take the sound quality, versatility, and control of your audio setup to new heights.

Both mics are built around a custom-made 1” condenser capsule that’s 3x the size of those found in other microphones on the market, capturing a wider range of vocals as a result and ensuring your voice is always crystal clear. Meanwhile, a cardioid polar pattern keeps background noise and feedback to a minimum.

Additionally, both models come equipped with a shock mount that reduces unwanted vibrations and ensure clearer sound. The shock mount is compatible with each mic’s included desktop stand, or you can pick up the series’ specially made boom arm for an even more professional setup. ($100, sold separately)

As for the differences between them, the Alias is a USB mic that features a 5-stage LED indicator on the front that provides real-time mic monitoring and mute status at a glance:

It also has customizable RGB lighting underneath so you can personalize your streaming setup to match your style:

The Alias Pro on the other hand is an XLR mic that provides superior audio performance and versatility for professional-level streaming setups. Rather than having LEDs on its face or an RGB downlight, it comes with a separate XLR stream mixer with RGB lighting of its own:

The mixer enables advanced audio mixing and customization options for up to five audio channels to create immersive streaming experiences for your audience. One of its neatest features though is the optional ability to stream from two computers simultaneously.

To round things out, the mics are powered by Sonar, SteelSeries’ free studio-grade software suite for streamers that offers all the tools you need for high-quality audio production right at your fingertips.

Elevate your gaming and streaming experience with the SteelSeries Alias ($180) and SteelSeries Alias Pro ($330) microphones and sound like a pro without being a pro.

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Released just this morning — happy Leap Day 2024, by the way! — Razer’s Seiren V3 Chroma RGB microphone adds a touch of visual flair to your gaming setup and/or streaming studio, with 16.8 million colors and countless vibrant lighting effects that can dynamically react to in-game events and stream alerts.

On top of its ability to amp up both your showmanship and gaming immersion, the Seiren V3 Chroma makes use of a supercardioid condenser with a tight pickup pattern to capture every nuance of your voice with exceptional clarity, while suppressing room noise, typing, and mouse clicks alike.

Whether you’re coordinating with teammates or chatting with your audience, this microphone ensures every word is heard with precision.

The mic also sports a multi-function tap-to-mute sensor that adds convenience and control to your streaming experience. With just a simple tap, you can adjust audio output and lighting, toggle the microphone’s digital gain limiter, and even check mic monitoring levels — all without interrupting your flow.

Lastly, the Seiren V3 Chroma is a plug-and-play device that doesn’t require any special software or drivers to operate, and it’s compatible with popular streaming software such as Discord, OBS Studio, and XSplit. Once it’s hooked up, you can start using it within seconds — it’s that easy.

Add an extra layer of excitement to your content by picking up the Razer Seiren V3 Chroma mic for $130 on Amazon.

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Logitech G, the branch of Logitech dedicated to gamers and content creators, has just released the new Yeti GX ($150) and Yeti Orb ($60), two gaming/streaming microphones with designs based on the iconic Blue Yeti and Blue Snowball mics, respectively.

The GX is a dynamic supercardioid mic capsule built to deliver rich, polished, broadcast-quality audio and has a gaming mouse-style mic gain adjustment dial built into the body, along with a button to enable a “Smart Audio Lock” feature that prevents clipping and reduces background noise.

Meanwhile, the Orb is a sleek condenser mic capsule that offers the easiest plug-and-play USB setup for your gaming streams, utilizing a cardioid pickup pattern to zero in on your voice and ignore background sounds like keyboard clicks.

Both mics have removable desktop stands that, if you prefer, can be removed in favor of mounting on a boom arm. They also both have LIGHTSYNC RGB zones (a logo and light ring on the GX, and just the logo on the Orb) that can be customized with Logitech’s G HUB software and then synced with other LIGHTSYNC-enabled devices for an immersive, full-spectrum lighting experience around your gaming space.

That same G HUB software grants you access to what Logitech calls Blue VO!CE, a microphone technology that delivers real-time professional voice filters to make you sound clearer, cleaner, and more resonant than ever:

Pretty sick, right?

Check out the Yeti GX and Yeti Orb listings on Amazon to learn more and make your purchasing decision. See (and hear) ya on stream!

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If you’re doing any kind of vocal or instrumental recording and want to capture the fullest, richest sound you can without blowing your entire savings on studio equipment, Sennheiser’s MK 4 condenser mic is a quality option that can’t be beat at its price point.

Within the MK 4’s one-inch true condenser capsule is a large diaphragm plated in 24-karat gold for enhanced conductivity and corrision resistance, not to mention allowing it to capture the warm and clear, detailed sound of higher-end live mics, whether you’re in the studio or on stage.

The capsule is elastically mounted internally to keep handling and vibration noise to a minimum, which can be further improved with an elastic shock mount (pictured just above, sold separately).

Specifications:

• Frequency response: 20 Hz – 20kHz
• Max sound pressure level (SPL): 140 dB
• Dynamic range: 130 dB
• Inherent self-noise: 10 dB
• Power supply: 48V phantom powering

Overall, this mic is a fantastic value with a lot of versatility in what you can do with it. Get the MK 4 for $300 on Amazon.

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The RØDE Wireless GO bundle combines the company’s Lavalier GO mic and their Wireless GO transmitter/receiver set, making it a perfect broadcast-quality recording solution for vloggers, newscasters, on-camera presenters, etc.

The transmitter and receiver can talk to one another across 70 meters (229 feet) if they’re in direct line-of-sight, and they transmit via 2.4GHz with 128-bit encryption. Even if you’re in a place packed with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other radio frequencies — think hotels, convention centers, and malls — the audio comes through crystal clear. Either device can be clipped on or simply put in a pocket; they’re both small enough you’ll hardly notice one way or the other.

It’s worth mentioning that the transmitter gadget already has an omnidirectional condenser mic built in, and it’s quite good for what it is, but having the ability to plug in the quality lavalier mic makes the whole setup work that much better.

Get this handy field recording kit for $278 on Amazon.

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Focusrite’s Scarlett Solo is a super simple USB audio interface for getting studio-quality recordings at home. Whether you’re a musician, podcaster, vlogger, voice actor, voice-over artist, or have any other high-performance recording needs, it’s a reliable and intuitive piece of hardware that always captures clear, detailed audio.

However, what’s really cool is that, with just a bit of tinkering with your setup, you can connect the Solo to your USB-C iPad Pro to create a mobile recording studio you can take anywhere!

Once it’s plugged in and set up, all you have to do is fire up your favorite app and you’re ready to go. It’s already been tested extensively with apps like Garageband, Cubasis 2, Auria Pro, Ampify Launchpad, Ampify Groovebox, Ampify Blocs Wave, and FL Studio.

You can get a taste of the audio quality that’s possible by watching the awesome iPad workspace walkthrough video Christopher Lawley sent to us over at The Sweet Setup yesterday, which has kind of raised the bar for setup submissions there:

While the standalone 3rd-gen Solo is unavailable on Amazon right now (July 22nd, 2020), you can still get it as part of a $220 bundle that includes a condenser microphone, an XLR cable, and a set of closed-back headphones.

Or, you can get the even higher-end kit for $260 that also includes a suspension boom scissor arm for the mic with a basic shock mount on the end, along with a pop filter.

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Look, I won’t sit here and pretend to be an expert about on-camera shotgun microphones, but I do know that the RØDE VideoMic Pro+ is a beast of a mic that will make your vlogs, films, and interviews sound exceptionally clean and crisp. It’s best to hear it for yourself, so here’s Beau Chevassus’ comparison between the RØDE and an iPhone mic:

Notice how resonant his voice became when he switched audio inputs? Yeah.

As he mentions in that review, one of the best things about the VideoMic Pro+ is that it automatically shuts on and off with the camera, which is hugely helpful for battery life, which in turn gives you peace of mind that your recording likely won’t cut off mid-session. I love it when good products simply take away problems I would normally have to think about.

It’s a fairly large camera mic as these things go, but it’s plenty lightweight enough for most uses. This video covers some of the other features that make it great:

The VideoMic Pro+ is $279 on Amazon.

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Whether you’re a vlogger or a podcaster, or you have some other reason to record yourself (or others), the ability to whip out your iPhone and capture quality audio on the go is a power move for sure. With Shure’s highly portable MV88 mic, that’s exactly what you can do.

Equipped with a Lightning connector only — sorry Android users — the tiny MV88 is capable of picking up pristine, detailed sterior sound, and it can be angled up to 90° for use in all kinds of situations. It’s great for interviews, concerts, family gatherings…you name it.

To get the most out of the mic, you’ll want to use it with Shure’s MOTIV app, which allows you to switch between the mic’s four audio patterns — stereo (with 60º–135º width adjustment), mono cardioid, mono bidirectional, or raw mid-side — and apply any one of five DSP preset modes: speech, singing, flat, acoustic instrument, and loud. With a few quick taps you can trim and share your recorded audio in multiple formats.

The MV88 won’t exactly replace more expensive microphones you may already own, but if you’re just trying to take a step (or three) up from the iPhone’s built-in mic, you can get it for $139 on Amazon.

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Whether you’re a podcaster, musician, YouTuber, livestreamer, screencaster, voice-over artist, or field recorder, you want a quality microphone to capture your audio at the highest possible level for a reasonable price. Audio-Technica’s AT2020USB+ condenser mic is the real deal. It’s one of those studio-level mics that will give you instant “Radio Voice”.

The AT2020USB+ is one the more sensitive microphones I’ve ever come across. In fact, it picks up so much ambient sound — with crystal clear quality, mind you — that you’ll find yourself having to dampen the acoustics of your recording space if you haven’t done so already. It’s amazing what it will pick up, even two or three rooms away. Fair warning.

It comes in black or white and goes for $149 on Amazon. Or, you can bump up to the $199 streaming/podcasting pack, a really good deal that also includes a set of ATH-M20x headphones and an adjustable boom arm. The mic does have a built-in headphone jack (with volume control!) so you can listen in while you record, and it’s totally delay-free so you won’t hear distracting echoes of your own voice or anything.

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Podcasting from an iOS device is one of those things you don’t see very often since most microphones require a USB port to record through. Thankfully, the number of mobile-friendly mics is always growing, and today I’ll point your attention to the Shure MV5.

This small MFi-certified digital condenser microphone can be directly connected to an iOS device via a micro-USB → Lightning cable. Just plug it in, open the (free) ShurePlus MOTIV app — or any recording app that supports external microphones — and start recording. On the back of the “ball” is a 3.5mm headphone jack for monitoring sound quality while you record, and that same ball can be removed from its stand for ultra-portability.

As for how well the mic works, you needn’t worry. The recorded audio from this mic comes in crisp and clear, and several reviewers have said they get by just fine without even needing a pop filter.

The Shure MV5 is available in gray+black and black+red for $79 each on Amazon.

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The Shure Beta 87A is an excellent handheld microphone — more specifically, of the supercardioid condenser variety — that’s ostensibly designed for singing live onstage, particularly if the performer travels around a lot. However, it also happens to work well for podcasting thanks to its impressive ability to filter out ambient noise while still producing a smooth, rich vocal sound.

In fact, this is the podcasting mic used by our friend Stephen Hackett, who has paired it with this Neewer shock mount set on the K&M 23850 microphone desk arm. It’s also Marco Arment’s top pick, which if you know anything about Marco, is high praise indeed.

Get the Shure Beta 87A for $249 on Amazon.

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The Samson C01U Pro is a great entry-level USB condenser mic for musicians or anyone looking to get into podcasting — especially those looking to record on-the-go — without breaking the bank.

For a “budget” mic it sounds surprisingly good (more samples here) and does a great job rejecting room noise. The mic is totally plug-and-play over USB, making setup a breeze, and there’s a 1/8″ stereo headphone jack built right onto the front so you can plug in a set of monitor headphones while recording. A nice little feature is the green LED power light, which flashes red to indicate if your audio starts peaking.

Included in the box is a 10-foot USB cable, a tabletop tripod stand, and a swivel mount, so it’s ready to record wherever you are. Toss an Apple Lightning-to-USB adapter into the mix and you’ve got an iPhone- and iPad-ready recording setup for even better portability.

Get the Samson C01U Pro for $80 on Amazon.

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More and more often, I find myself pleasantly surprised by what an iPhone or iPad can accomplish with the right accessories. External keyboards like the Logitech Ultrathin help take our writing to another level, and mics like the Apogee MiC are great for recording podcasts, music, and even video interviews.

The MiC’s sound quality is superb, especially for how portable it is. It captures 24-bit audio that sounds rich, full, and natural, all while cutting out the majority of background noise. It truly is studio-quality. And, since it can plug into an iPhone or iPad via its Lightning adapter, it’s also the perfect travel mic. Dan Benjamin of 5by5 approves, which should be enough recommendation for anybody.

The Apogee MiC is $229 on Amazon, and comes with a small tripod stand for easy setup anywhere. A separate $20 carrying case is also available.

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