Genesis Radium 600 review

by Lars
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Build quality & design

The Radium 600 is dressed to impress. It’s presented in a lush-looking flight case with foam inserts inside to keep everything neatly organised – with all of the included components, the kit has a surprising amount of weight to it. On the surface, it looks like a premium product.

Unfortunately, the premium look is something of an illusion. The flight case is basically made of cheap board with black vinyl wrapping stuck on and plastic. The metal clasps that keep it closed are thin and unlikely to keep it secure under duress, and basically all of the weight comes from the microphone’s solid metal stand. The black covering on the case’s exterior doesn’t even extend beyond what’s visible when the foam insert is inside. What looks like a handy, premium addition to the mic set is basically just a neat way to keep all the parts together when you’re not using it. It’s a cardboard box with extra steps.

The mic itself is lightweight and put together nicely. Gain and headphone volume dials are well-placed, making it nice and easy to adjust.

Genesis love their red LEDs – I’m assuming they have some sort of gigantic surplus to get rid of – and it seems like they just couldn’t resist chucking one underneath the microphone’s grill. This is a bit of an obnoxious choice – if you have the mic pointed directly at your face, the LED glares directly into your eyeline, and with no apparent way to disable it, I have to knock some serious points off. It’s a confusing addition, especially for a product marketed to content creators who like to be able to manage their lighting.

Performance

The Radium 600 uses a cardioid pick-up pattern, ideal for streaming as it allows for a small range of motion around the microphone whilst recording nothing from behind. I tried using it off to the side of my laptop, pointed directly at my face, and while I could be heard, the sound was very quiet – even with the gain turned all the way up. The quality itself is great, clear, sharp (a pop filter and wind cover are included, both great ways to reduce hissing/popping that can occur with unshielded mics) and the included stand makes it easy enough to get into position.

The directional pickup isn’t especially sensitive. Your voice will quickly lose volume if you move even a few inches away from the mic, and ultimately I found it performed best when used as a “shotgun” mic pointed straight at my face. Obviously with the bright red LED in the grill, this left me feeling uncomfortably like someone was aiming a laser sight at my forehead, but Genesis do seem quite fond of that military aesthetic.

Radium 600

Value for money

This tends to be an area where Genesis consistently fall short, and in part that may be because they aren’t very established in the UK just yet. It’s sold on Amazon for just over £100 at time of writing, and even the most cursory look at Amazon’s “also viewed” reveals a range of premium alternatives at a similar price point.

The Razer Seiren X is cheaper with a supercardioid pickup and a much more compact, desk-friendly form factor. It doesn’t include a case or pop filter, but considering these can be picked up separately for pennies and aren’t specific to any particular mic, that’s no big deal. Blue‘s classic Yeti range offers models only slightly more expensive, and these are widely considered to be some of the best USB microphones for the price. Convincing anyone to take a punt on the Radium 600 when some of the industry’s biggest brands are offering alternatives at the same – or even lower – price point is going to take some doing.

I’ll be frank. You can buy a basic cardioid microphone with a pop filter and stand included that performs at the Radium 600‘s level for under £40. This is a good microphone – there’s no doubt about that – but it is far, far too expensive for what it is.

Genesis need to evaluate their pricing if they want to expand into bigger markets. As it stands, they’re offering well-made peripherals that would excel if they were marketed as cheap takes on essentials, but they’re priced and presented as many premium products would be. The accessories and case included in the price are certainly decent additions, but they just don’t warrant the extra cash.

Genesis Radium 600 overall thoughts

The Radium 600 delivers good overall performance in fancy-looking packaging. If not for the price, this would be an instantly recommended starter kit for content creators looking to move beyond the basics, but it’s currently priced out of that by quite a wide margin. It’s a great entry level mic at a high price, and while the included case and pop filter are important additions, they don’t make this mic worth the entry fee. Not unless you really like that branded flight case.

If you’d like more information on the Radium 600, head over to the official website here. You can read more of our reviews – on Genesis products and beyondhere.

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