There are two new Yeti microphones and neither are made by Blue Microphones. The Yeti Orb and Yeti GX will be available later this month, and both are Logitech G products, marking the beginning of the end for Blue.
Blue Microphones was bought out by Logitech back in 2018 for a grand sum of $117 million. Since then, it’s been left relatively untouched by its parent company, occasionally launching the odd special edition Yeti microphone or a compact mic for streamers. That all came to an abrupt end over the summer, however, as Logitech pulled the Blue website, scrubbed the sub-brand from its site, and confirmed that ‘Blue’ will hereafter only refer to Logitech’s audio technologies.
The first hardware to ditch the Blue brand since are new versions of Blue’s most famous product: the Yeti.
The Logitech G Yeti GX is a “premium” gaming microphone (it has RGB lighting) and comes in a pod shape with a built-in desk stand. Sort of your Blue Yeti Nano in Logitech G flair. It has a supercardioid pickup pattern to focus on your vocals and less of the background noise, so say Logitech. It also uses what the company calls “Smart Audio Lock”, a tool to adjust gain to pickup your voice while limiting unwanted sounds coming through. My previous experience with desk-mounted mics would suggest being careful with whacking your desk if you do keep this thing on its included stand, though it comes with an adapter for a boom arm if you prefer.
The most genuinely interesting bit of this mic, which will appeal to major hardware nerds like me, is the inclusion of a scroll wheel ripped from one of Logitech’s gaming mice for the mic’s gain control. That does sound quite enjoyable, fair play—maybe this consolidative capitalism thing is alright, after all.
The Yeti GX will set you back $150 in the US, or £149 in the UK.
On the cheaper side of things, there’s the Logitech G Yeti Orb. A familiar sight, this looks like an inflated version of the Blue Snowball—one of the first dedicated microphones I ever owned, besides this thing. From the specs sheet, this thing looks a lot like the Snowball, though it comes with RGB now so… we’re clearly winning. It’s not quite as cheap as the Snowball, the Orb will cost you $60/£60, but it’s close enough considering the Snowball has been around for an age. Here’s hoping the Orb also similarly drops in price sooner rather than later.
Rounding off the lot, there’s a gaming key light. More in Logitech’s usual stable, this RGB capable light opts for a dual-sided approach rather than the more traditional flat panel we’ve seen from Elgato and Razer. It’s $150/£150, which means it’s still very much in the realm of serious streamer gear, though it’ll happily run all day, according to Logitech.