Relating to microphones, XLR mics are typically thought of to be way more sophisticated than easy plug-and-play USB mics. They will supply richer and extra detailed sound with a very untouched sign to work with, however it is advisable fear a couple of mixer and issues like phantom energy so the setup course of requires extra effort and planning. SteelSeries’ Alias Professional simplifies that setup by together with the XLR microphone and a single-port mixer within the field, with each elements designed to work seamlessly collectively whereas highly effective software program allows you to tweak the sound to your coronary heart’s content material. At $329.99, it’s dearer than most USB mics we favor just like the all-in-one Sennheiser Profile Streaming Set ($199), however its accessibility, sign flexibility, and wonderful audio high quality all justify the value and earn the Alias Professional our Editors’ Selection award.
Microphone: No Lights or Knobs, Simply XLR
The Alias Professional package deal consists of two elements: the microphone itself and the mixer. The microphone is a 7.4-by-2.1-by-1.7-inch (HWD) pill-shaped enclosure with a matte black plastic physique and a flat entrance coated in black grille material. Extra material runs alongside the highest and sides in skinny bands, and a big part on the again. That is an XLR mic, so it solely has an XLR connection for the included cable on the again facet, close to the underside. In contrast to the USB Alias, there aren’t any controls and no RGB lighting on this mannequin. XLR is all about audio high quality, not flashiness, and the mic doesn’t assist lighting or alerts past the sounds the capsule picks up.
(Credit score: Will Greenwald)The microphone makes use of a 25mm condenser capsule in a cardioid configuration for unidirectional recording. It samples at 24-bit and 48kHz, has a frequency response of 50Hz to 20kHz, and a most SPL of 120dB.
A round desk stand manufactured from darkish grey steel is included to carry up the mic. The stand contains an adjustable hinge for pivoting up and down, and a built-in shock mount that suspends the mic in its ring-shaped arm. The microphone can alternatively connect to an included increase arm adapter that helps each 3/8- and 5/8-inch threads.
Mixer: Buttons, Dials, and Ports
The opposite half of the Alias Professional is the XLR mixer, a significant part for connecting the microphone to your laptop. It measures 4.4 by 2.0 by 3.2 inches and includes a triangular profile that angles the mixer’s face towards you. The mixer may be very easy, with a big multi-purpose dial on the highest proper, a smaller achieve knob surrounded by a standing ring mild on the highest left, and two flat rectangular buttons under them for muting the microphone and the linked headphones or audio system. The mute buttons glow and have customizable RGB lighting, and a separate mild bar is hidden beneath the entrance lip for extra programmable atmosphere.
(Credit score: Will Greenwald)Along with the XLR enter, the again of the mixer holds a connector for the ability adapter, two USB-C ports for connecting to as much as two computer systems (that is useful if in case you have a streaming PC and a separate laptop to run PC video games), a 3.5mm line out port, an influence button, and a standing LED for +48W phantom energy. A headphone jack sits on the left facet. The mixer offers +48V of phantom energy, which you’ll be able to optionally flip off within the configuration software program. There’s no cause to disable it, nevertheless, because the mic requires phantom energy to work, and neither the mic nor the mixer are presently offered as separate merchandise. As a limitation, there’s just one XLR enter, so the mixer cannot develop with you if you wish to broaden your recording setup to assist a number of microphones.
The headphone jack is nice for having a constant wired audio output you may exactly management with the mixer and software program, however bear in mind that it’s solely an output and never an amp. This gained’t be an issue for many light-weight wired headphones with pretty low impedance, however audiophile headphones with increased impedance will sound a bit tender. Whereas listening with Sennheiser HD 58X headphones by way of the mixer, audio sounded very clear however not notably loud even at most quantity. The HD 58X headphones have an impedance of 150 Ohms whereas most wired headphones hovers round 32 Ohms, so except you’re a headphone fanatic this doubtless gained’t come up.
Software program: Sonar Does It All
SteelSeries’ GG software program for Mac and Home windows offers a number of the strongest audio configurations we’ve seen in any app from a gaming model. The Sonar part in GG offers intensive customization choices, together with parametric equalizers for aux, chat, sport, media, and mic audio. You possibly can spend time tweaking each curve to refine what you hear and what you sound like with the EQ, or select from a collection of presets for each. The Mic tab allows you to toggle a number of further options, together with Clearcast AI noise cancellation, background and affect noise discount sliders in case you don’t wish to use Clearcast (for distant, droning feels like followers and nearer, punchy feels like keyboards), a compressor, and a noise gate. The Sport tab additionally permits spatial audio by way of any wired headphones linked to the mixer.
(Credit score: SteelSeries)Sonar includes a mixer for aux, chat, sport, media, and mic sources by default, but it surely actually provides energy if you swap to Streamer Mode. This mode splits every supply into private and stream mixes with particular person degree sliders for every system, so you may tweak what you hear individually from what your stream hears. With the software program mixer correctly adjusted, you may then arrange the non-public combine to go to your headphones and have the stream combine go to Streamlabs, OBS, or every other streaming or recording software program.
The Engine tab treats the mixer as its personal system, and allows you to program what the non-gain dial and the non-mic mute button management. They default to the headphone output, however they will mute and modify the non-public or stream ranges of the aux, chat, sport, grasp, media, or mic alerts.
Engine additionally allows you to modify the lighting on the mute buttons and the mixer’s mild bar, although these choices are oddly beneath totally different menus. The mute button settings reside within the system menu, however the mild bar should be configured beneath the Prism tab. Prism is an early entry characteristic for programming RGB lighting on SteelSeries merchandise, providing a wide range of customizable results much like Razer’s Chroma software program for its units. The sunshine bar can cycle by way of totally different colours and even replicate no matter colour is outstanding on a bit of your display, whereas the buttons are restricted to a single colour for each.
Clear, Adjustable Sound
The mic, piped by way of the mixer with Sonar options enabled, sounds wonderful. Take a look at recordings of my voice sound full, detailed, and clear sufficient for streaming or recording podcasts. The Clearcast AI Noise Cancellation, aided by the easy unidirectional nature of a cardioid capsule, blocked out close by fan, dishwasher, and keyboard noise with out altering how my voice sounded.
(Credit score: Will Greenwald)Default settings with the Alias Professional Desk Stand EQ preset sounded superb, however my voice lacked a number of the crisper edge higher USB mics I’ve examined supply. Switching to the Balanced EQ preset, which pushes frequencies between 1kHz and 10kHz increased than the opposite setting, shortly cleared issues up. Immediately my voice sounded clear and pure, as if I used to be listening to myself in the identical room reasonably than listening to a recording.
Since everybody’s voice and speech fashion are totally different, Sonar’s intensive choices are helpful to have. In the event you can’t discover a preset that works for you, the parametric equalizer will allow you to create a customized curve for a way you discuss and the place your mic is positioned. Lag-free listening to the mic feed by way of the mixer, mixed with the achieve knob, makes it fast and straightforward to verify that you just sound simply as you need to and weed out any kinks for streams or recordings. And since it’s an XLR microphone going by way of a mixer, the sign itself begins utterly untouched and isn’t topic to any mic-bound digital sign processing (DSP), a limitation of many USB mics.
I’ve no musical means myself, and critical musicians will most likely need a extra purpose-built recording setup than a mic paired with a single-port mixer that is designed primarily for streaming. The sign high quality is there to work with, although, and it is a minimum of comparable with equally priced cardioid XLR microphones for dwelling studios. A music check recording sounded about as wealthy and crisp captured by way of the mic because it did in actual life, so whereas the Alias Professional is meant principally for streamers, it may be used for musical tasks in a pinch (recording one observe at a time, in fact).
Simple XLR Audio for Everybody
The SteelSeries Alias Professional is a incredible microphone for critical content material creators who need the clear, full sign XLR can present with the relative ease of a USB microphone. The XLR mixer and SteelSeries’ software program allow clear recordings with just a few clicks, whereas the sign chain and instruments provide the flexibility to really refine the way you sound. It’s a strong one-mic toolkit that cuts again the training curve and house necessities of constructing your personal mixer setup, incomes the Alias Professional our Editors’ Selection award. That stated, an XLR answer isn’t important for single-mic recording or streaming, and you may get clear sound, a clear sign, and a increase arm for about $130 much less with the Sennheiser Profile Streaming Set, our Editors’ Selection for USB microphones. In the meantime, the Rode NT1 fifth Era ($259) is a compelling various in case you plan to improve to XLR sooner or later because it options each USB and XLR connections, together with as much as 192kHz, 32-bit sampling.
