Asus ROG Strix Magnus
Magic mic
PRICE $ 299 www.asus.com/au
Looking something like a Transformer’s deodorant stick, the ROG Strix Magnus is the most aggressively “gamer” styled microphone we’ve ever seen. It has weird silver flanges and cutouts, and, of course, the ubiquitous RGBs capable of syncing up with Aura technology so every Asus product you own can flash at the same time. Luckily there’s more to the Magnus than flash. It’s quite a compelling mic. Aimed squarely at the streamer/YouTube creator market, the Magnus features three condensers for three different recording modes; cardiodal for clear focussed single user recording, stereo for two or more on opposite sides of the mic and omnidirectional ENC (environmental noise cancelling) to cut down on feedback during like casting or in loud environments.
The unit is surprisingly light but is well built and delivers some very clear and precise audio recording. In cardiodal mode the quality of recording is excellent and clear. Voices sound rich and full. The bidirectional stereo mode is a little less precise but still pretty damn good. Unfortunately ENC didn’t prove to be particularly effective, but if your recording space is loud enough to warrant needing active noise cancellation it’s time to rethink your studio.
The Strix Magnus is a good, compact mic but the one thing that stands against it is the price tag. The RGBs do nothing but up the cost, making it around $100 more than the excellent Audio Technica AT2020 USB+. DANIEL WILKS