What makes a microphone good? Well, that’s easy. But what makes a gaming microphone good? It seems that only SteelSeries can provide the answer, with their release of the mic that is perfect for streamers and everyone in gaming-adjacent positions.
Design
The Alias has a standard capsule design. It’s mostly plastic, with a fabric that covers its grille. It’s all very charcoal and not that exciting, although “exciting” is not exactly what I am looking for in a microphone.
Turn it on, however, and it lights up like a Christmas tree. The five-step LED indicator is here to measure peak levels, but you can change the colours to whatever you want. It also has an RGB LED on the very bottom — that one is here just for fun.
Overall, it’s a nice-looking microphone that reminds me of Alias Pro. It already has a stand which is quite heavy. The shock mount was designed to absorb all kinds of desk vibrations, and it does a great job. Even when banging on the keyboard, the mic manages to ignore all of the commotion. Flimsy is the one word I would not use to describe it. And if you want to use a boom arm, the mic comes with an adapter.
Read also: Steelseries Arctis Nova 5P review: mid-range PS5 headset with game-changing features
The SteelSeries Alias features a variety of buttons and controls. On the front, there is a volume dial at the bottom for adjusting headphone volume, the SteelSeries logo in the middle, and a touch-sensitive mute button at the top. On the back, there is a gain dial above the shock mount, as well as a USB-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Performance and the app
The Alias is a USB condenser microphone that records 24-bit/48kHz audio and has a frequency response of 50Hz to 20kHz. As expected, the vocals sound great when using the mic — they are full and lifelike. Even though there’s specialized software you can use, you don’t have to — it works great right off the box, even though some software noise-cancellation would be appreciated.
Speaking of software, SteelSeries loves making proprietary apps for its devices. Just last week, we took a look at the Steelseries Arctis Nova 5P with its special smartphone app, and now… I wish I could say more about the app here, but the problem is, SteelSeries decided not to make one for macOS. What app is there, is the standard GG, which allows for some settings, as well as RGB controls — but no more.
I played around with Sonar for Streamers (the official name of the app) on another computer, and it did seem robust enough. Sonar for Streamers is a virtual audio routing and mixing tool designed for content creators. It allows users to route hardware, and apps, and create custom audio submixes for their streams and games. Very neat! But really, the state of the program for macOS is not good: it even looks like a Windows app. I understand that Macs are not exactly gaming powerhouses, but plenty of streamers use them.
That shouldn’t stop you though: it’s a completely plug-and-play model that works great without any help from software.
Read also: NotchNook review: Dynamic Island for your Mac
Verdict
SteelSeries Alias is a perfectly fine microphone that sounds about as good as any other in this ($179) price point. It’s sleek, well-made, and offers fantastic quality. The main issue is software that is currently available only for Windows. Not great, but hardly a dealbreaker.