Razer streaming gear might be the best all-around content creation set on the market. Streaming can sometimes mean a slew of intricate software and hardware that has never been designed to work together, all competing for your CPU's attention. If these various components are all made by the same brand, it might make the process of asking them to cooperate a bit easier. With more options available on the market than ever for budding Twitch streamers, we thought it would be helpful to give you a guide to Razer's content tech.
Chances are, you'll know Razer from its headsets and microphones, but we doubt you'd know much about its forays into audio mixing desks and lights, too. For example, did you know that Razer also makes one of the best capture cards on the market? The company seems to be doubling down on this side of its brand, too, as it kicked off 2023 at CES by launching a new 4K webcam, among other things.
Getting streaming equipment can be quite a daunting investment. You never know if it'll be worth it and there's always a fear that you're flushing money down the toilet when you buy from a brand you don't know too well. Luckily, with the best Razer streaming gear, you can rest assured that the high quality from the rest of its gaming hardware is there in abundance.
The best Razer streaming gear 2023
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If you're at all familiar with that camera's design, the Kiyo Pro Ultra will be virtually indistinguishable from it. It has the same chunky build quality and rock-solid stand but now houses the biggest sensor ever placed inside a webcam. It also has a lens cover and internal shutter, giving you some simple privacy and protection options.
Sequels are so hard to get right these days. Particularly when one comes out hot on the heels of something as good as the Razer Kiyo Pro, which we deemed the best webcam on the market. The Kiyo Pro Ultra had a lot to live up to, and if you take things back even further to the original Kiyo, Razer might as well have a trilogy of films to cap off here. Other than a seriously steep price of admission to the tune of $300 / £300, this has smashed box office records, instantly become the best film in the series, and left all genre competitors in its wake.
There's no way around it - the Razer Kiyo Pro Ultra takes some stunning footage, and can capture 4K in 30fps, or lesser resolutions in up to 60fps. Even without a ring light to help you, the images are so well-balanced. It's almost as though the Kiyo Pro Ultra performs better in low-light scenarios than in the daytime when there was plenty of light in the room. This is excellent for streamers who rely on RGB lighting in a dark room. Razer's Synapse software helps to keep things under control, and you can use it to fine-tune basically any aspect of the webcam you need to.
This is a webcam for content creators that will roll a DSLR camera and face-cam into one package. As a result, you'd be hard-pressed to find a pricier webcam, and unless you really need 4K capabilities, it isn't necessary to spend this much. That said, I don't think there's a better webcam on the market if your budget can stretch this far.
The Razer Seiren X has a simple but elegant form factor and will neatly sit on your desk as a piece of desk furniture when not in use. Its obelisk form is compact and uncomplicated, perfectly-cylindrical, and flat-topped, its smooth shell only punctuated by the button for muting the microphone and the volume dial.
Away from its excellent aesthetics and design though, the Seiren X has a built-in shock mount, and utilizes Razer’s fancy ‘super-cardioid’ pickup pattern, where sound is recorded at a tighter angle. Razer says this reduces unwanted background noise and allows you to deliver your voice loud and clear.
And the sound quality itself is excellent. From individual voice recordings for voice-overs to multiple people gathering around it for internet meetings and calls, it’s sound performance is excellent value and really oozes Razer's pedigree and qualities. This is great value for the performance and so we - and I, as I have one of these personally too - are happy to give this a solid recommendation to readers.
If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery then Elgato must be blushing from head to toe. Anyone who’s ever looked at the Stream Deck, or indeed the Stream Deck + before will find the Razer Stream Controller X eerily familiar. And upon further inspection, it’s more than eerily familiar, it’s practically identical. This is the follow-up to Razer's first crack at a Stream controller, and we're glad to report that it's a real improvement.
In fact, this is probably the best stream controller out there if you've already bought into the Razer ecosystem and run a lot of things through the likes of Synapse. The Razer Stream Controller X is powered by Loupedeck’s software, and workers really easily when it comes to creating profiles for live streaming, general PC tasks, and video editing.
While in theory, you have 15 buttons to customize, in practice it’s 13 or 14 as the corners are allocated to navigating between pages of commands if you have them set up. It’s a strange choice, an unnecessary self-nerf when Elgato has proven a folder system works perfectly well. I’m all for suggesting a user allocates some buttons to paging, hey, even set that as the default, but don’t force them to give up buttons that could be used in other ways if they prefer.
Regardless, from a hardware standpoint, it’s great thanks to its strong build quality and super steady stand. If you’re deep in the Razer gear ecosystem and don’t mind the (albeit minor) drawbacks of the software, the Stream Controller X will certainly prove a helpful addition to your workstation.
This is the cream of the crop of Razert's streaming gear. If you can build your set up around the Seiren Elite then you'll be well on the way to having a professional streaming setup - or as near as one can get. It's also deceptively simple which means the Razer Seiren Elite is a very attractive, premium microphone.
The sleek, black capsule design not only means it's a great looking bit of kit and not an obtrusive bit of desk furniture, but it also ensures minimal electronic interference. Onboard the design, volume, gain, and mic mute controls sit in the design neatly and functionally simple and effective. It's also worth noting that the microphone's design enables it to be a great desktop mic, or one that can be more mobile, attached to a boom arm.
This microphone's clarity is ideal for streaming but also makes it ideal for recording at home, for work, or communicating online. A neat feature is the inbuilt high-pass filter. This cuts out unwanted low-frequency vibrations, like footsteps or machinery hums, ensuring only the cleanest recording signals are picked up, and at the other end a digital/analog limiter helps adjust your gains to prevent audio distortion, so you’ll always sound balanced and in control.
Getting all this in a premium package that also only requires a plug and play setup is an immensely attractive proposition for those looking to upgrade their streaming setup. The ability to simply plug it in a USB port, rather than messing around with external mixers and amplifiers, as some pro microphones require, is an enormous attraction, and make for a truly great streaming mic given its sound, audio and balancing qualities overall.
What the Razer Ripsaw HD can offer is a capture card that does 4K passthrough while streaming games in 1080p. This is brilliant, as you are very unlikely to find a true 4K capture card for the same price, and if you have a PS4 Pro or an Xbox One X in particular, the Razer Ripsaw HD is your best bet to scratch that high-res streaming itch. (Remember, for reference, the PS4 Pro's internal Share button and function will only record at a maximum of 1080p at 30fps.) A big plus point on top of this is that the Razer Ripsaw HD eliminates the hurdle of software-based audio mixing. You can mix audio, "hassle-free," using the hardwired mic and headphone jacks.
Unfortunately, the Razer Ripsaw HD does not come with its own streaming software, which is a big down point in our eyes; a shame, considering how easy the actual unit is to use and sort out. Therefore, to stream in 1080p as advertised, you'll have to plump for a premium membership with XSplit or rely on the less-intuitive and slightly less-reliable, but free, Open Broadcasting Software (OBS). On top of that, unlike the original Razer Ripsaw, this one doesn't support older consoles without a small collection of adapters.
Overall, however, it's a stellar bit of kit to get into your setup and does punch well above its weight for its price tag.
"You don’t need a better camera, you need better lighting" is the advice we see often shared with streamers looking to improve their production and Razer have stepped up to the plate with their solution, the Key Light Chroma. Sharing more than just a name with Elgato’s offering, the Razer Key Light Chroma looks eerily similar to its rival but shines when the lights come on.
In our testing, the all-metal body came across as very professional, and the included desk mounting arm was rock solid. With 2800 lumens of lighting power from its large, rounded rectangular panel the Razer Key Light Chroma also gave us more punch than you’re ever going to need. There’s a wide colour temperature range available, though fractionally less than Elgato’s Key Light, with step-less transitions from the toasty warm 3000K to icy cold blue 7000K.
There’s a hidden trick behind the opaque white panel though: RGB. It is a Razer product after all. The Key Light Chroma offers a choice of 16.8 million colours and a suite of customisable lighting effects which really set this light apart from competitors and proved that in our testing. The brightness and saturation of the colours are strong and the creative potential this offers streamers is rather impressive.
All light functions are controllable via Razer Synapse on Windows or the Razer Streaming mobile app. While these apps do work perfectly fine for controlling basic functions, we found them to be a bit limited in terms of on the fly changes and full integration with your stream. There’s no Elgato Stream Deck or hotkey support available and connections to alert services like LumiaStream are extremely limited.
All of the Razer Key Light Chroma’s current weaknesses are software related but easily improved. Right now it’s a great option for creators looking to set up their look and stick with it but for those looking to be more dynamic it may be worth holding tight and tracking progress on the software side. Overall though, the Razer Key Light Chroma is a powerful, high-quality option.
Read more: Razer Key Light Chroma review
Holding the crown of 'Razer products with the least exciting name', the Razer Audio Mixer is the gaming brand’s answer to the popular GoXLR Mini. In fact, bar two missing corners and a different logo at the top, we found they’re practically the same.
The Razer Audio Mixer is a USB audio interface offering an XLR input with phantom power, four audio faders, and a handful of semi-customizable rubber buttons. It’s a smart-looking unit and build quality is solid across the board. The faders are smooth with a pleasant amount of resistance, though they aren’t motorized so won’t react to level changes in the software and won’t dive to the bottom when you hit the mute button as you see with the GoXLR Mini. The rubber buttons are tactile and silent, though we found there to be a bit of a wobble to the two larger beep and mic mute buttons.
As an audio interface, our testing revealed that it performs well with XLR input making it a useful option for a range of microphones, Razer or otherwise. All of the four faders are easy to configure to different channels in Razer’s Synapse software but all of your audio routing for specific apps still happens using Windows native functionality.
It wouldn’t be a Razer product without customizable RGB lighting and there’s a range of options on offer with the Audio Mixer. Synapse provides control of everything from the Razer logo at the top to animating the fader lights. It all works neatly within the ecosystem so those with a Razer-heavy setup already will appreciate the harmony.
At $250 / £250, it’s a pricey option and almost double the price of the GoXLR Mini, but for those already aligned with the Razer world, it’s a quality, helpful addition to your stream setup.
Read more: Razer Audio Mixer review
Officially the smallest microphone in Razer’s lineup (and possibly any streamer microphone lineup) the Seiren BT is Razer’s first attempt at taking audio away from your desk. A tiny Bluetooth mic designed to give mobile streamers a quality, flexible audio option.
A sleek black pill, the Razer Seiren BT was built with portability in mind. The design features an in-built clip to attach directly to your collar, a handy feature that perfectly suits Razer’s IRL streamer goals. Six hours of runtime from the rechargeable battery offers plenty of juice and a pair of detachable windsocks for different conditions is a nice touch.
We found the setup via Bluetooth to be simple, connecting directly to our phone or the Razer easily - the latter unlocks some additional features. The Razer Seiren BT offers 3 levels of AI noise canceling which we found to do a good job of blocking unwanted background noise; perfect for putting you center stage when out and about. An omnidirectional pickup pattern means once it’s on, you can just about forget about which way it’s pointing and a 3.5mm headphone jack lets you monitor your audio on the fly.
For all the Razer Seiren BT does well, there is a trade-off: sound quality. Given the tiny form factor and $99 / £99 price point of the Seiren BT, this shouldn’t come as a major surprise. It’s important to taper expectations when it comes to performance here, as this microphone just wasn't able to deliver studio-quality vocals to us in testing no matter how hard the AI tries. Instead, it falls somewhere in line with most headset mics or Apple Airpods when it comes to audio quality. If wireless freedom is your primary need, however, the Razer Serien BT is definitely one to consider.
Read more: Razer Seiren BT review
Razer Streaming Gear 2023: FAQs
Can the Razer Blade 15 stream?
The Razer Blade 15 is up there with the best gaming laptops on the market, and that makes it an excellent resource for streamers and content creators. As the list of products above will tell you, Razer cares about making the lives of content creators easier, so you can have faith that any two bits of its hardware will work well together.
What equipment do most streamers use?
Each content creator is different, and varying genres of gaming content require different equipment, so this isn't the easiest question to answer. However, you can bet that a lot of popular and full time streamers use some of the best Razer streaming gear, because the brand is so solid. Razer has invested a lot into its content creation projects in recent years, and whether its a stream controller, lights, microphones, or webcams, Razer's consistency makes it easy to recommend.
What is RazerStreamer?
Not only does it produce some of the best streaming gear around, but Razer also supports up and coming content creators through an initiative they call #RazerStreamer. It isn't exactly an official branding sponsorship, but it is a way to get support and perks that will help you on your conquest of Twitch or YouTube. You'll also get affiliation, meaning you might have more ways to make money from your favorite hobby. To find out more, you can head to Razer's community FAQ page.
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