There was a time when not many people needed a decent home microphone. But with the rise of content creators, podcasters and even people working more from home, more of us need to record high quality audio.

And Razer mics have been some of the best and most reliable USB microphones around. And I should know, because I’ve been using my trusty Razer Seiren X for podcasting for years. They’re great quality mics and you get a huge amount of control when recording, but because they’re plug in and play, there’s no faffing about with drivers.

So, when I was asked to road test the Razer Seiren V3 Chroma, I was pretty confident it was going to sound great. What I wasn’t prepared for was all the other tricks the Chroma V3 had up its sleeve.

Clearly made to look great on streams and video content, what I wanted to know was what could the Chroma offer content creators, how have Razer mics evolved since my Seiren X, and did all those RGB lights do anything other than look flashy?

Let’s find out…

Razr Seiren V3 looks good!

The first thing to say about this microphone is that it looks great. I’ve never had complaints about my Seiren X – which looks very smart. But you can tell that the Seiren V3 has been made to be seen. (Check out the two side by side in the photo above). The V3 has this rounded design that gives it an almost vintage look. I wasn’t expecting an RGB USB mic to actually look so stylish! But combine that with the RGB lights and you have something that’s both retro and futuristic.

But let’s talk about those lights!

Reactive lighting

So, admittedly the lights coming from the mic look cool – but they serve a purpose too. When your mic lights up, it generally means something. If you’re speaking on mic and it turns red, it means you’re peaking. This is an extremely useful warning since you don’t want distorted audio.

But even if you start shouting, the Seiren V3 is on the case. Its Digital gain limiter means that if you’re yelling with excitement, it will automatically compensate. You don’t need to be a sound engineer to get great quality audio, since the V3 will take care of it for you.

Tap the mic once at the top and it’ll mute the mic, turning it a solid red. And that’s actually a great idea. The problem with muting your mic is that you can forget to unmute, and nobody can hear you. And you don’t have to be a streamer for that to be a problem. If you’ve ever been in a Teams meeting, you’ll know what I’m talking about!

Rather than having to open and close software, that tap function comes in really handy – especially if you’re trying to concentrate on lots of different things. If you’re playing a game on stream, you’re not going to want to worry about your audio level. And there are other tap functions too:

Double tap – this lets you switch between the lighting modes.

Triple tap – turns the lights off.

Press and hold – You can then use the volume wheel to adjust the gain. With red being the lowest volume and green being the highest.

Press and hold again – This time it’ll turn blue, which means you’re adjusting the headphone level.

You can also customise these in the accompanying apps, where you can even switch things up to your preferred lighting colour. For example, you can swap out the red for muting or audio peaking to a colour that’s more your style.

Stay in the app and you can also adjust brightness, since during the day you’ll probably want brighter colours than at night.

Sounds amazing

Having used the mic to both play games online and record podcast audio, I’m really impressed with the sound quality. The Seiren V3 gives a really clean and crisp recording. And so it should. It’s a supercardioid condenser mic, which basically means its most sensitive to sound coming at it from the front, so it stays focused on our voice, cutting out other noise.

The accompanying Synapse app is really useful. I went in and set the sampling rate to 96 Hz – which gave me a great recording. There are good monitors for audio levels too. Keeping an eye on levels is really important, since experience has taught me that you can’t trust what comes through your headphones to tell you how your recording will sound.

Made for streaming

The Razr Synapse app also gives you the ability to create lots of Virtual Channels that you can set up and adjust. This means you have control over lots of different audio settings in one place.

So, if you’re streaming, you’ll be able to adjust lots of levels individually or group them how you like – everything from the game you’re playing, your voice, background playlists, stream sound effects, headphones and a lot more. And if you’re turning your stream into a video for YouTube, you’ll have different audio tracks that you’ll be able to edit separately too.

If you’re quite new to recording, this can be a game changer. A lot of recording software can be unnecessarily confusing for newcomers, so this app is a big help.

Mic stand vs studio arm

The included desk stand isn’t very tall, but you can adjust the mic so that it’s pointing at your face. Personally, I like to use a studio arm. It’s the easiest way to keep the mic close to my face – which I always find gives me a quality recording. Suspended away from everything else, I find an arm-mounted mic less likely to pick up or record any background noise. But whatever you choose, the Seiren V3 comes with a shock absorber – that helps deliver a clean, steady sound.

The included cable is a good length, long enough to have your mic in one place and your computer pretty much wherever you want it. I also like the headphone jack in the microphone. It’s a lot better running audio recording and audio output in one place, and I tend to find it cuts latency.

Conclusion

For all its pretty colours, the Razer Seiren V3 Chroma is, at its heart, a great USB mic that will give you very crisp audio – whether you’re podcasting, streaming or you’re just chatting with friends. But add in those RGB lights and the power to customise them, and you have something that looks great on video and gives you loads of cool features that are genuinely helpful. Looks great. Sounds great. What’s not to like?

And whether it’s streaming, meetings or gaming, get set up with expert advice on our Computer accessories buying guide.