Just lately, SteelSeries launched its new Alias and Alias professional microphones aimed toward streamers. Whereas different firms have been faster to place audio merchandise available on the market, SteelSeries has appeared to take its time, analyze what’s out there and its downfalls, and launch a product that I’m actually enthusiastic about. And nearly as good because the microphones are, one of the crucial thrilling options is SteelSeries Sonar. It’s a strong program for streamers and players that addresses some points I’ve personally confronted previously with organising a stream. Make sure you hit the video under to see the entire particulars of those new mics and try what Sonar has to supply.
SteelSeries Aka
First off, let’s check out the bodily design and options of the Alias, which is available in at $180. At its core, Alias is a USB microphone with a big condenser capsule, some helpful bodily controls, and a built-in shock mount.
Fairly than a number of condenser capsules for various polar pickup patterns, like seen within the Blue Yeti X or Quadcast S, Alias incorporates a single huge 1-inch condenser capsule in a cardioid sample.
Alias comes with a beefy desk stand however will be mounted to a growth arm, which is how I desire to make use of it. Examine this one out from Amazon if you’re on the lookout for a growth arm on a funds.
The mount attaches to a shock absorber to take out desk impacts, which was a giant subject of the HyperX Solocast in its inventory kind.
On the entrance of the mic, there’s a headphone quantity dial on the backside. There’s a 3.5 mm port on the again of the mic that may be managed with this dial. Transferring up the microphone, there’s a small touch-capacitive mute button. Often, the button doesn’t activate as I feel it ought to. It takes a pair extra faucets to get it to mute. It’s straightforward to inform when the mic is muted, although, as there’s a massive crimson LED “X” that seems on the entrance of the microphone.
These LED lights additionally act as a RGB stage monitor. It grows inexperienced, yellow, or crimson, relying on the amount.
Across the again is the three.5 mm port, a USB-C port, and the dial to manage the achieve from the Alias.
SteelSeries Alias: Video
Positioning the mic
As a condenser microphone, setup and positioning are a bit completely different than dynamic microphones just like the Shure MV7 that we’ve been utilizing on most of our dwell streams. Dynamic mics have their very own execs and cons, however with a give attention to correct vocal recording, SteelSeries went with a condenser capsule.
Condensers are extra delicate, which means sometimes, they’re positioned additional away from the supply of the audio. Dynamic mics aren’t as delicate, so you’ve gotten them proper towards your mouth when recording or performing.
In a briefing with the SteelSeries workforce, they talked fairly a bit concerning the design of the microphone and the significance of placement. Alias is designed to be positioned 8-12 inches away from the streamer’s mouth. That goes towards what feels pure to me, as sometimes, I feel it sounds higher nearer, however these distances work effectively.
Whereas condensers can document a extra correct vocal efficiency, additionally they decide up much more room noise as a result of their elevated sensitivity and distance from the supply. SteelSeries does an unbelievable job of combating room noise with SteelSeries GG, although, which we’ll check out additional down.
SteelSeries Alias Professional
Alias Professional takes a variety of the Alias, however it’s an XLR mic fairly than USB. Along with the mic, the Alias Professional comes with a customizable stream mixer.
One main design function of the Alias Professional stream mixer is the twin USB-C ports on the again. That is straight aimed toward streamers with a two-PC setup. I’ve by no means personally run a two-PC streaming setup, however I’ve heard from different streamers that it may be a ache to get the audio routed appropriately. The stream mixer may help fight that with its twin USB-C outputs.
Moreover, on the again are an XLR enter, a 3.5 mm port, an influence button, and an influence plug.
Whereas Alias Professional lacks the on-mic controls of the USB Alias, the stream mixer retains the microphone controls close to at hand. By default, the left dial controls microphone achieve, and the appropriate controls headphone out. The fitting dial will be custom-made to manage different quantity ranges, although.
Under these is a mic mute button on the left. On the appropriate is a further mute button that may also be custom-made to mute different mixes from Sonar.
A lot of the lighting may also be custom-made. The button colours and ambient glow underneath the stream mixer will be set inside SteelSeries GG.
A dive into SteelSeries Sonar
Nearly as good because the microphones are, what actually takes them to the following stage is the Sonar, which is present in SteelSeries GG.
I do know some folks aren’t followers of getting software program to manage units, however there are a ton of options within Sonar that I feel make streaming simpler.
Sadly, there’s a lot to Sonar, and we aren’t going to cowl the complete app on this evaluation. We’ll simply be specializing in the Alias and the way it may be managed.
Within the mic tab, there’s a configuration drop-down with choices for the Alias and Alias Professional – each in desk stand or growth arm setups. Created by SteelSeries, these configurations make the Alias and Alias Professional sound unbelievable. Even in my room – which isn’t sound-treated and has a keyboard and mouse close by – the mix of settings makes the Alias and Alias Professional sound crystal clear, highly effective, and noise-free.
Under that’s an equalizer that’s auto-set when the configuration is chosen, however it may also be totally custom-made. One other neat function right here is the drop-down toggle subsequent to the labels of the frequencies on the prime of the EQ panel. When set to voice, these labels change to replicate what elements of a voice the frequencies will have an effect on.
One other enormous profit is the “Streamer mode” that may be toggled on within the Mixer part of Sonar. Enabling this mode splits every class right into a playback and stream combine. These can every have their particular person ranges set and have separate mute controls for every channel.
Moreover, audio sources will be merely dragged and dropped into completely different classes. With different {hardware} I’ve used previously, just like the Razer Audio Mixer, these needed to be manually set from inside Home windows’ sound mixer choices. Having a easy drag-and-drop function within SteelSeries GG makes this a lot less complicated.
The very best factor about Sonar could also be that it’s not restricted to only SteelSeries merchandise. You should utilize any headset, microphone, enter, or output. Obtain it without spending a dime in your PC or Mac, give it a shot, and see the way it can enhance your microphone. I busted out my HyperX SoloCast to see what Sonar may do, and it reworked the microphone to sound higher and knock out background noise with out utilizing Nvidia Broadcast.
9to5Toys’ Take
Personally, I feel SteelSeries knocked it out of the park with the Alias and Alias Professional, however Sonar is basically what has impressed me essentially the most. These microphones sound nice, however let’s face it – there are many great-sounding microphones available on the market as of late – lots of them less expensive than these from SteelSeries. However the customized configurations, EQ, and noise cancellation discovered inside Sonar take it to the following stage.
I can see how the skilled streamer with a dual-PC setup would possibly lean in direction of the $330 Alias Professional. Sure, that’s some huge cash, however the options make it an awesome match for this type of setup.
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