Gadgetory

you know a gaming microphone for streamers is not such an outrageous idea given the massive growth in that streaming sector but it is becoming evidently clear that gaming companies go too far to create a product that caters to their target audience with an overload of features that to me sabotage the product itself and so today we're talking about the Asus Magnus streamers microphone it's also a sound card it's also USB hub and it's also this RGB illumination thingy and also depending on your humor level insert your deodorant stick joke here although the Magnus looks so out of place anywhere but your gaming station because of the edgy looks but to me this rog design direction is awful it's different but it's awful so then how does this 200 plus dollar microphone fit within our vocal needs let's find out right after this so it was kind of a love at first sight you know there's really nothing like this exterior I love the metallic color the tinted glass panel the RGB fans at the front it's basically a see-through case and who doesn't love that your graphics card can go vertical the top is ready at a friendly and the right side is so unique when exposed thanks to these cable covers so you can show off everything you've got with the aged 500 p weight Coolermaster check it out inscription below okay so first of all the metallic shell and the leather like material in between is a bit misleading visually because it looks so premium and like aluminium and leather but it is all plastic the microphone has no weight to it and the shape is awkward for on desk use despite issues claims this to be 50% smaller than the competition I still find the blue Yeti and the audio technica at2020 and the razer microphones to be more desk friendly because the Magnus is a USB microphone with a truly terrible side cable exit that is junkie with that angle or plastic tip and the braided cable is not long enough at only 1.5 meters so if you have your PC little bit further away no luck it is also super thick it kinks easily and because the mic is so light it's actually difficult to find a good position for it on your desk because of that cable drag one walk around of course is to mount it on the mic understand but that only highlights the terrible USB port location and that whole cable exit the RGB elements are all for the show of course the air control 3d or a software nice and simple but there is also a physical lighting switch on the actual body that I find pointless and it cycles between static breathing and the RGB cycle oh and there's also a bottom firing LED that is not visible when it's on a flat surface but it does illuminate whatever is underneath it if you're mounting it on the stand and so this lighting side is supposed to face the camera when you're streaming for that AC recognition and this part facing you because that's how the mic capsules are installed here we get a headphone jack with a volume wheel for this headphone port and mic mute button that goes red when active on the other side there is an auxilary import for connecting instruments or other media and the dial for microphone sensitivity or gain and there are three stages on that dial but I would prefer numbers so it'd be easier to dial in your perfect sensitivity every time and we also have a USB 2.0 pass through port on the side for peripherals or USB sticks and I find that completely hilarious but hey it's a gaming product so I might as well connect something to it right and finally there are three recording modes cardioid which is what you'll be listening to now there's a stereo mode and also noise cancelling and what you've been hearing so far has been recorded with the Magnus in the cardioid pattern I think the signal is super clean there is no digital noise even if I boost the game through the dial the only thing is because the microphone is quite sensitive you have to reduce the gain and move it closer to you the way I have it set up right now can like underneath your mouth in front of your keyboard so that not too much of the ambient sound is picked up then switching over to the stereo mode it's only good when it's flat on your desk because check this out so the left and right channels are switched in my ear but because you're looking this at a flipped image like you would on a stream this is a clever integration from a soos to also switch those left and right channels so that what you're hearing is correct to the visuals and so if you have the microphone upside down then the left and right channels would be messed up and if you had this on a boom arm on the side then your left and right would be up in there and would totally mess up the whole stereo mode so it's only good when it's placed right in front of you on the flat surface pretty good and finally the third profile works really good to mute the background noises so the microphone is not picking up my very loud heater that is heating up the space you can still hear my voice clearly but that hum in the background is no longer audible but now let's switch to the cardioid and of course you can hear that stuff in the background clearly alright so how does the Magnus stand compared to other microphones and what you listen to now is the son Heiser game one by far my favorite gaming headset because of a quality boom microphone it's rich its detailed it's close by it's not like ambient distant sound this is the mod like five I love this one because it's modular so I can attach it to any pair of headphones so my HD 6 X X plus my HD 800 both have the little magnetic thing so I can interchange them and you know just attach the mod mic there what you're hearing now is the Sun Howser MD 46 it has fantastic background compression it's a cardioid microphone as well just like this one and but it requires an XLR interface to be recorded into something and so let me switch back to the magnets now so you guys can hear a little bit of a difference in terms of how these two microphones pick up my voice differently and what you listen to now is my favorite condenser microphone the AEG c3 one for it's a fantastic one I do all my voiceovers with this one it's got this really nice rich backup it's good for my voice and let's go back to the Magnus so you guys can compare to see which one you like the best I think this one's a bit more ambient to pick up clearer as well but this one has a bit more compression from the vocals of course it's XLR based as well but I would say for more you know serious streamers they would have some sort of audio interface that they can plug in multiple devices and have those manual controls in terms of levels and adjustments and stuff on that so this whole USB direction I would say is simplified and while it is catering to that streamers audience perhaps it's not catering to the really professional streamers audience I don't know let me know if you agree all right so I'm gonna conclude by saying that the microphone quality is really good and you guys be the judge of that the cardioid pattern is for clarity detail and just regular ambient pick up the headphone output port is awesome so it's like a sound card slash microphone built into one but I think Asus kind of overcomplicated this product for a few reasons one the extra USB port is absolutely unnecessary I will never plug anything in here and you know if you have a USB stick or something from data like it looks ridiculous especially because on the other side we have the giant angular cable coming out so design aspect of it are not ideal especially because they also added the lighting button that is unnecessary since everything is controlled through the software anyway and lastly because no stand is included I think that's a big mistake because the microphone is otherwise not properly grounded on your desk and can easily be moved and just like flipped over on your desk simply because of that thick cable so I'm gonna include some microphone options down in the description below that you can check out for streaming or just regular recording that are more convenient than this guy but of course if you love our GB if you love ROG and want to go with the whole gaming direction then yeah the Magnus may be for you so let me know what you think of the quality of this microphone and would you buy one if you're building yourself a streaming setup or something like that why or why not leave them in the comments below thanks so much for watching we'll see you in the next video