Introduction

The AVerMedia Live Streamer Mic 350 (AM350 for short) is a USB condenser microphone aimed toward streamers, aspiring singers, musicians, podcasters, ASMR content creators, and pretty much anyone else looking to produce high-quality recordings of their voice or instruments. It caught my attention with the “DIRAC Custom Tuned” badge that it carries. As some of you probably know, DIRAC is a Swedish company best known for its DIRAC Live room correction technology, which does wonders for adapting speaker output to rooms creators find themselves in. I ran into DIRAC Live while testing stereo amplifiers and AV receivers multiple times over the past couple of years. Every time I was left with the same conclusion: DIRAC makes hands down the best room correction technology currently available. I just had to find out what they can do with a $200 microphone marketed for demanding home users rather than industry professionals.

The AVerMedia Live Streamer Mic 350 offers a lot of useful features, including two polar patterns (cardioid and omnidirectional), direct microphone monitoring, integrated microphone gain dial and headphone/microphone mixing dial, and comprehensive software support, allowing us to play with voice profiles and effects, noise cancellation technologies, equalization, and even sound mixing via virtual input channels, with an integrated VST plugin support. The latter is potentially interesting to streamers, as it gives them a lot of the functionality that they would normally get by buying a dedicated audio interface. Including it with a USB microphone certainly adds value to the AVerMedia Live Streamer Mic 350. Thanks to its seamless USB-C connectivity, the microphone can be easily connected to computers (Windows, macOS) and smartphones (Android, iOS) alike.

AVerMedia also provided me with several accessories for the Live Streamer Mic 350: the Live Streamer Pop Filter ($30), Live Streamer Shock Mount ($40), and the exceptional Live Streamer Arm ($150). As a part of the launch promotion, the Live Streamer Pop Filter and Live Streamer Shock Mount are bundled with the microphone at no extra cost. After the promotion ends, the microphone is going to sell for $200 as a standalone unit, without the aforementioned accessories. AVerMedia was unable to verify when exactly is that going to happen, so if you like what you find out about the microphone in this review, it’s best to grab it as soon as possible.

If you miss out on the promotion and end up paying for the accessories, they will raise the price of the whole package to $420, and that gets us into the legendary and beloved Shure SM7B dynamic microphone territory price-wise, although you still need to invest into a microphone arm with the SM7B, so the comparison is not entirely fair. In this review, we’ll not only examine the AM350 microphone, but also all of the aforementioned accessories, and the entire kit working as a single, ambitious unit.

Specifications

• Capsules: Condenser electret, 2x 14 mm
• Polar Patterns: Cardioid, omnidirectional
• Frequency response (specified by the manufacturer): 20-20,000 Hz
• Sensitivity: -41 dB FS/Pa @ 1 kHz
• Sample Rate/Resolution: Up to 24-bit/96 kHz
• SnR/SPL: 84 dB / 120 dB
• Ports: USB-C (USB 2.0, 5 V/120 mA required), 3.5-mm headphone out (direct monitoring)
• Cables: 2.5 m USB-C to USB Type-A
• Supported platforms: Windows, macOS, Android, iOS
• Size: 56 x 230 mm (with stand)
• Weight: 302 g (microphone only) / 604 g (microphone with stand)