Logitech Blue Sona Broadcast Microphone
design
Everywhere I looked on the Logitech Blue Sona I found something new to like. Hats off Logi/Blue, this is a really nicely put together piece of kit that’s bursting with clever details.
There’s two versions of the Blue Sona, black or pearly white, I’ve been playing with the lighter option.
There’s a bit of a sci-fi weapon vibe going on with the Blue Sona. A rounded off rectangular frame held aloft by a robust, equally curvy mounting point with the XLR connection bolted on underneath. It’s the kind of thing that would look particularly at home hanging off the side of a ship in The Expanse. It’s wholly pleasant though and everything is nicely in proportion to itself.
Every part of the body, bar the windscreen, is metal which is both nice to see and realistically expected at this prosumer price point. You’ll find two interchangeable foam pop filters in the box which came as a fun surprise, not least because your options are a sleek black or eye-poppingly bright red. They’re easily swapped out with a gentle magnetic connector and it’s refreshing to see a brand offering customisation in the box, rather than as a paid add-on down the line. I rocked the flair red option and was greeted with more than one complement on it. It’s good to be bold sometimes.
There’s a surprising amount of heft to the Logitech Blue Sona, however thanks to the the attached bracket there’s great flexibility when it comes to mounting positions. In testing I found it worked equally well either hanging off or standing proudly on a mic arm, which you’re going to need as there’s no included stand. I prefer keeping my microphone off screen when live streaming and ran the Logitech Blue Sona mounted on its side and it lay happily floating in mid air throughout testing.
Hiding on the end of the Blue Sona is a secret panel, a magical trap door given away only by a helpful sticker. A little push on the Logi logo pops a magnetic panel off to reveal the onboard EQ switches. It’s a really clean, clever solution and also allows you to orientate the Logi logo the right way up no matter your mounting position, if you’re concerned about that sort of thing.
performance
At $349/£299 Logitech is setting expectations particularly high with the Blue Sona and it has a lot to live up to if it’s going to compete with other options in that lofty price range. Thankfully for Logi though, this is where the expertise of that Blue connection really starts to pay off.
Overall I was seriously impressed by what Logitech have put together with the Blue Sona. Audio performance is strong across the areas that matter most for streamers and podcasters and it’s clear plenty of time and attention has been put in to lean it all that way. Under the hood there’s a load of little tricks going on that come together to deliver excellent sound.
The result is vocal performance that’s super clean, even in environments that wouldn’t usually help deliver pristine audio. Admittedly there’s a couple of Elgato Wave Panels that offer some minor acoustic treatment in my streaming studio, but there’s also a wooden floor and a lot of hard surfaces to bounce off too so it’s far from perfect. I found the Logitech Blue Sona did a great job at making my voice the feature and there’s enough leeway there for even more challenging environments. My voice came across strong and clear while distractions like fans, mechanical keyboards or knocks on the desk were muted at best.
Out of the box the Logitech Blue Sona delivers a pretty balanced sound that I found to be a nice compromise between realistic and stylistic. There’s none of that overly intimate, late night radio host closeness but as a dynamic microphone there’s no hollowness either.
Logitech offer some tweaking options onboard as tucked away behind that magic panel are two two onboard EQ toggle switches. How beneficial these will prove is going to vary from one voice to the next so it’s worth playing around with them. For my voice and setup I found the changes a little intense so kept them both off.
It’s worth bearing in mind that there’s only an XLR connection on the Blue Sona so you’ll need an audio interface that’s capable of delivering phantom power. It’s also a BYO XLR cable situation as Logitech’s generosity didn’t quite extend that far. For my testing I used the Elgato Wave XLR and a cable from RODE.
summed up
It’s the first in the range but I’m hesitant to call the Blue Sona a debut streaming microphone for Logitech. That’s a complement as much as anything as in truth this could have been released under the Blue branding and still be a triumph and worthy of applause.
The $349/£299 price point is likely going to be a factor though, particularly for those who’ll need to grab an interface and cable. However the audio speaks for itself and price is near enough the only weakness. The Logitech Blue Sona is a strong performer that comfortably sits at the top end of options for a home streaming studio or podcast setup.
