Microphone Performance

By now, it should be obvious that the ROG Strix Magnus is packed with nice features. But how does it sound? That depends on the recording mode you set it to. On the right side of the microphone is a switch that lets you choose between the Cardioid, Stereo, and ENC (Environmental Noise Cancelling) modes. What you actually do is change the pickup pattern of the three built-in condenser capsules.


The illustration sums it up nicely. In Cardioid mode, the Magnus has an unidirectional pickup pattern, which means it will pick up the sounds directly in front of it, and it won't pick up too much of the sounds behind it (however, you will still be able to hear the mashing of your mechanical keyboard and clicking of your mouse). Take a listen of my sound sample, recorded by using Audacity, with the microphone gain set to 100% in the Control Panel and the microphone's sensitivity dial set to approximately 60%. As pictured above, the microphone is placed exactly where Asus suggests you put it - between myself and the keyboard. After a short introduction, I'm simply reading a bit of promotional text written off Asus' official webpage.



As you can hear, my voice sounds very good; it's perfectly clear and has plenty of depth and dynamics to it. I'm pleasantly surprised, especially when I take into consideration that the capsules are placed about 30 centimeters below my mouth due to the microphone's compact form factor. When I first started testing it, I was certain I would have to put it on some sort of a table stand to get anything out of it, but the tests proved me wrong. The condenser capsules do their job properly without being level with my mouth, which is great! Don't push the microphone's sensitivity too hard because some clipping will occur if you start shouting. On the other hand, there's no need to do so - I can't think of a scenario where you'd want it to be set above 75% of its total range.

In Stereo mode, the pickup pattern is bidirectional - the Magnus uses the center, left, and right capsules to pick up the sounds in front of it, but also on both sides, in order to achieve a recording that sounds wider. When set to Stereo, the microphone can also be used to record the voices of two people sitting on both of its sides. To demonstrate, I made two samples - one where I'm talking into the microphone while sitting in front of it and another where I'm moving my head from the left to the right and back. You should get a pretty good idea of what Stereo mode actually does.




Will you use it over Cardioid mode for your streams? That's completely up to you. The basic sound quality is similar - Stereo mode perhaps sounds a bit airy, and it does slightly soften up the mouse and keyboard clicks, but do keep in mind that you're actually picking up more ambient noise in Stereo mode than when using Cardioid mode. With that in mind, your mileage may vary, depending on your exact home setup.

Finally, we have ENC (Environmental Noise Cancelling) mode. In this mode, a small microphone on the back of the Magnus records the ambient noise - keyboard mashing, mouse clicking, whirring fans and such - and the device tries to eliminate it. While you do get a certain level of noise cancellation, especially of the sounds that don't oscillate too much in frequency, voice quality heavily degrades. I wouldn't consider using ENC mode for serious streaming. There are other ways to quieten down your environment for that kind of usage, namely the Noise Suppression and Noise Gate filters in OBS Studio. I recorded a clip where I simply talk into the microphone and another where I'm simultaneously typing and clicking the buttons on my mouse. Take a listen:




Here's what the microphone sounds like in other two recording modes, Cardioid and Stereo, when you're talking, typing, and mashing your mouse at the same time. This is exactly what you can expect while streaming. Do keep in mind that this is a raw audio recording without any filters applied. If you're a serious streamer, you're probably going to use the Noise Suppression filter in OBS Studio.




For comparison with the Magnus, take a listen of the sound samples recorded by using the Rode NT-USB and Audio-Technica AT2020USB+, two excellent studio microphones that are often used by streamers. For this test, both of them have been positioned the same way as the Asus microphone - between myself and the keyboard. Their sensitivity has been set to 100%.




Even though both definitely sound a bit better than the Asus ROG Strix Magnus - especially the Rode NT-USB, which truly has an unparalleled depth and warmth in this price range - I'm obliged to point out two things: First and foremost, they're much bulkier in size. The Rode NT-USB is so big that it actively kept drawing my attention from the screen and generally bothered me while streaming. Mounting it on a microphone arm is a must, and that's going to set you back about $100 if you're going to aim for a proper arm. The AT2020USB+ isn't as large, but still felt a bit out of place in front of the keyboard. Below is a photo of all three of them for a size comparison.



Then there's the fact that both of are more sensitive than the ROG Strix Magnus and significantly more prone to sound degradation as the distance between the speaker and the microphone increases. They also pick up more environmental noise, and it's much harder to set them up so that you can freely use Voice Activation mode in your favorite VoIP app, such as Discord or TeamSpeak. That's the one where the microphone stays deactivated when you're not talking, but immediately turns on when you say something.


With the ROG Strix Magnus, this is an easy task. To test this, I placed it below my monitor, which meant it was sitting about 80 centimeters away from my mouth, and it had a clicky mouse and mechanical keyboard in front of it. There was absolutely no trouble using Voice Activation in Discord and TeamSpeak with this kind of positioning. I tried to do the same with the Rode NT-USB and Audio-Technica AT2020USB+, but there was no way; the sound quality wasn't good enough and they kept activating when they weren't supposed to. Here's a sample of my voice with the ROG Strix Magnus below my monitor:



What this means is that you can keep the Magnus tucked away from your keyboard while you're casually gaming and chatting with your mates. You'll simply sit in front of your PC, put on your headphones, turn on your VoIP app of choice and start talking - everyone will be able to hear you perfectly, and the sounds of your keyboard and your mouse won't trigger the microphone. Only when you're starting a Twitch/YouTube stream or want to record a voiceover will you have to relocate the microphone to the front of the keyboard.


I also tried mounting the Magnus on a simple table mount, just to check on what it would sound like if the capsules were a bit more level with my mouth. This is the clip I've recorded in Cardioid mode:



If you compare this clip to the first one, where I also used Cardioid mode, but had the microphone simply sitting on top of the table without a mount, you'll hear a slight difference in the sound signature. However, I don't find it significant enough to justify spending money on a mount, especially when I take into consideration that a mounted microphone becomes less practical to move around. I can't even say for certain whether everyone will prefer the sound quality of the mounted microphone over the one where the microphone is just sitting on the table.

With all of these recorded samples and my numerous Twitch and YouTube streams taken into consideration, it's very clear that one of the main qualities of the ROG Strix Magnus is that it doesn't have to sit extremely close to your face in order to sound good.