The original Saramonic Air had a conventional design for a wireless mic kit, with two blocky rectangular transmitters and a chunky receiver that had a mini OLED screen. This screen showed you essential information such as the input sound levels from the wireless mics. The original Saramonic Air also shipped with wired lavalier clip mics that you could plug into a transmitter and then clip to your shirt like a pro sound recordist.

March 2026 saw the release of the Saramonic Air SE. Despite the similar name, the SE (Special Edition) is a different beast. This newer version has been streamlined to meet the ‘plug and play’ needs of the average content creator who may not have much experience adjusting sound levels on the fly. There are no lavalier clip mics to attach. You simply stick a tiny thumb-tip-sized mic to your subject’s shirt via a mini magnet, plug the equally small receiver into your smartphone’s USB socket, and start recording your voice wirelessly from up to 100 metres.

Saramonic has been paying attention to the needs of social media content creators, so this mic features a neat design touch that enables you to hold it in your hand without looking silly while talking into a tiny handheld clip mic.

Specifications

Price

A key difference between 2025’s Saramonic Air and 2026’s Saramonic Air SE is the price. The newer SE mic kit retails for $49.99 / £45 / A$99, which is considerably cheaper than the original version’s cost of $129 (or $149 if you need the version with a cabled lavalier mic).

This huge reduction in price for the Saramonic Air SE reflects the streamlined design and auto functionality that novice sound recordists will appreciate, while the older, more expensive version will still suit the needs of experienced professional content makers.

Oh, if you're on an older iPhone model, you can buy a version of the Saramonic Air that ships with both a USB-C and Lightning connector receiver for the slightly higher price. I think that the Saramonic Air is fairly priced, and it will make a huge difference to the quality of audio recorded at a distance (and in noisy locations).

Design and handling

The original Saramonic Air had a relatively conventional design for a wireless mic kit, with two blocky rectangular transmitters and a chunky receiver that featured a mini OLED screen. This screen showed you useful information such as sound levels.

2026’s Saramonic Air SE has been stripped down to the essentials in terms of design and function. It consists of a dark grey, rectangular charging unit that fits comfortably within your grip. At the top and tail of the charger sit two mini microphones. The mics are magnetically attached to the charger, so it’s a quick and easy job to pull out a mic, detach its magnet, and fix it via the magnet to your clothing.

The mics are perhaps the smallest wireless mics that I’ve encountered, and as they only weigh 5g, there’s no danger of them causing your clothing to snag. Their smooth dark plastic body causes them to look relatively discreet when attached.

Unlike some other mic kits, there is no option to use a sprung clip to attach the mic to the subject. The Saramonic Air SE’s transmitter mic relies entirely on a single magnet to stay attached, so if the magnet slips down inside your clothing and you lose it on location, then the mic can no longer be used as a lavalier mic.

This is a bit of an ‘Achilles’ Heel’ design feature. However, if you do lose a magnet, you can still reattach the mic to the rectangular docking station and hold the docked unit like a little stick mic. This clever design feature will be useful for those who want to conduct interviews without having to attach a mic to their subject.

Oh, there is also one spring clip attachment supplied, and this enables you to attach a mic to a subject if you do happen to lose the mic’s magnet.

Once you’ve attached a mic to your subject, you can then pull the mini transmitter out of its dock in the centre of the charging case and slide it into your smartphone’s USB-C socket. The USB-C prong on the receiver was long enough for it to fit into my iPhone 17 Air without removing its protective case.

An LED on the mic and the receiver turns a solid blue to indicate that they are paired. You can even press the button on the transmitter mic to start and stop recording via your smartphone’s native camera app.

Performance

Now, I had the Saramonic Air SE for at least a month before it was officially released, which gave me plenty of time to test it. I’m glad that I had lots of test time because I made a few mistakes during the first couple of tests that didn’t show the mic kit at its best. This trial-and-error approach eventually helped me get the most from the Saramonic Air SE and bumped up its star rating.

My first test of the Saramonic Air SE involved interviewing professional model Maryna Sedin (Insta: @gluecklichmarinalp). As a young sound recordist back in the 80s, it was common practice for me to pass a cabled lavalier mic up inside an interviewee’s jumper and over their shoulder before clipping it to their lapel. Luckily, the Saramonic Air SE’s transmitter microphone is cable-free, so I asked Maryna to attach the small mic transmitter to the front of her dress via its magnet. I plugged the tiny receiver into my iPhone 16 Pro and started recording her via its native Camera app.

As you’ll hear from this review’s supporting video, Maryna sounded clear enough, but there was some echo from the location’s concrete walls and a hint of unwanted ambient noise from a cleaning machine in the background. In hindsight, I might have benefited from turning on the low-level noise reduction setting, but the audio quality was acceptable, as you’ll hear from the test video.

My second test shoot involved interviewing another model! Outdoors, on a cold spring day, she wore a big fur coat, so I asked her to magnetically attach the mic to her jumper. Unfortunately, I didn’t monitor the audio from the mic, so I didn’t realise that her voice was being muffled by the coat overlapping the mic (like a giant wind shield).

I got her to perform a distance test and then interviewed her about her modelling career, but none of the footage was usable due to the muffled audio, so it didn’t make it into my test video review. This poor audio wasn’t the fault of the Saramonic Air SE - it was a schoolboy error on my part for not monitoring the audio or playing back while on location. To be fair, I couldn’t monitor the audio while recording the sound and footage on the iPhone’s native Camera app. However, if you use the Saramonic app, you can set it to Audio and select a ‘Real-time monitoring’ option. If I’d done this before recording the model, then I would have noticed the muffled audio problem with her fur coat! Totally my bad!

To do the Saramonic Air SE justice, I took it for a third test shoot at a vintage railway station - the Bluebell Railway. This turned out to be the perfect location for a test shoot. I magnetically attached one of the two transmitters to my shirt and plugged the tiny receiver into my iPhone 17.

A loud steam engine behind me threatened to drown out my voice during a take, so I was able to test the two noise reduction settings that you can activate by pressing the button on the receiver. Once noise reduction has been selected, the blue light on the receiver goes green.

The Strong noise reduction setting almost completely (and miraculously) removed the background steam engine noise, yet unlike with some mics, my voice didn’t sound too thin or electronically processed. Very impressive (as you’ll hear from my test video). A second press of the receiver’s button set noise reduction to Weak, which restored some of the steam engine noise while keeping my voice sounding clean, clear, and fairly full-bodied. A third press caused the receiver’s green light to turn blue, indicating that no AI-powered noise reduction was being applied.

My voice sounded the same as it did with Weak NR applied, but the steam engine was too loud. I was very impressed with how the Saramonic Air SE’s noise reduction feature enabled me to sound nice and clear in loud locations!

With every wireless mic (and I’ve tested dozens for Digital Camera World in the last few years), I perform a distance test. I popped my iPhone 17 on a Hohem iSteady V3 and placed it at one end of a vintage railway platform. I then walked and talked to the far end of the platform. The tiny mic was able to transmit my voice clearly to the receiver on the iPhone for most of the test, even when I walked away from the camera, and the mic lost line of sight with the receiver. It was only at about 80 metres that I encountered signal drop-out with my back turned to the camera, but when I faced the lens, even from a distance of approximately 100 metres, I sounded loud and clear.

Verdict

The Saramonic Air SE certainly outperforms the previous year’s Saramonic Air in relation to sending a clear signal over a distance. I was also impressed by the pocket-sized nature of the SE, which could make it my ‘go-to’ mic if I need to record an interview or ‘piece to camera’ while on the go. I was also impressed with the option to clip the tiny mics onto a subject via magnets, or dock a mic into the rectangular charging station and use it as the whole unit as a mini gun mic (which looks a lot less silly than holding a clip mic in your hand). I can certainly recommend the Saramonic Air SE to smartphone content creators who want to increase the audio production values of their video content.

Alternatives

The newly launched Insta360 Mic Pro features e-ink displays on the clip-on mics so that, rather than displaying the company's logo, you can add your own design to them – and change it job by job.

In other regards, this new product has a lot in common with the product category that Rode and DJI has already made a lot of ground in.

The Insta360 Mic Pro is a 32-bit float system capable of wireless recording to either a mirrorless or DSLR-style camera using a shoe mount, or a phone using an adapter.

If you've see the best wireless microphones – and perhaps specifically the DJI Mic 3 – then you'll understand exactly what I have in mind, but what really makes this different is the e-ink display, seen here with an emoji and an Insta360 Logo.

The microphones can also be switched between different patterns. There is a cardioid, figure-8, and omnidirectional option, as well as a Voice Focus mode to lock out other sounds.

That's thanks to a 3-mic array on each TX. Another specialist feature Insta360 is pushing the envelope with is processor-powered noise cancelling on the device.

Insta360 users will be able to achieve direct connection – without the need for the RX (receiver) using X5, X4 Air, Ace Pro 2, and GO Ultra cameras – and record 48 kHz audio. Others can use the RX to connect to nearly any device.

The e-ink display can show any color – not just yellow – and has two modes, either grading shades using a pattern of its (six) primary colors, or forcing a logo to fit the nearest solid color, more useful for graphics.

Insta360 are positioning this as a flagship Mic (to take on the likes of the DJI Mic 3), as opposed to the Insta360 Mic Air which the company already offers for simple remote sound capturing.

The system is capable of using multiple TX and or multiple RX – in order to get multi-person audio onto one device or to record the audio onto up to four cameras for syncing.

It is shipping now from $99 / £89 / AU$159.99 (mic only) to $329.99 / £279 / AU$529.99 for 2-TX and 1-RX in a charging case.

Field monitors, at every part of the cost spectrum, are ten a penny these days. You can buy a budget option for around a hundred pounds, or spend more than ten times that on a full-loaded pro model. But the differences between the low and high end seem to be diminishing in recent years. These days it’s easy to find a wallet-friendly monitor that has a full feature list, usable screen, and a pretty rugged build quality, so what’s next? Feelworld would have you believe that its P6XL could be the winner, when you start shortlisting your next purchase and for good reason. On paper, it does look to have it all, but a spec sheet is only part of the story. You can check our buyer’s guide to the best field monitors, but will the P6XL make the cut?

I spent some time with it mounted on my Sony A7R IV to give it a run for its money and I was, for the most part, pleasantly surprised.

Feelworld P6XL: Specifications

Feelworld P6XL: Price

The Feelworld P6XL comes in at £199/$199 and considering the feature set, build quality and overall package, that’s a good deal, pitting it against other popular lower budget options like those from Viltrox.

Feelworld P6XL: Design & Handling

If I’m being honest, I wasn’t expecting much in terms of materials and build quality but how wrong I was! The P6XL has a sturdy aluminium body, which is nicely machined and finished in a soft grey/blue. I’m less a fan of the colour but that’s neither here nor there. There is only one single button to be found here and that is for power on/off. It feels fine but it’s a long press button, where I’d prefer a switch. That’s personal preference and being long press should avoid any accidental powering problems. When you boot it up you hear a quiet wiring from the cooling fans but it’s quiet enough not to be picked up by an on-camera mic.

Elsewhere you’ll find two USB-C ports. One for updates and one for power. There’s a 3.5mm headphone output and a single HDMI input. No SDI but at this price point that’s to be expected. I’d like to see a version with this included though.

The P6XL ships with a clip on hood. It’s a little unrefined but once in place it does the job just fine and even has a felted interior to negate reflections.

The lack of buttons might put some off but the IPS touch screen is really rather good. It’s responsive and accurate, with no need to keep jabbing at it for a response. It has some gestures too which work equally well. The screen is split in two, so swiping up or down on the right adjusts volume, on the left adjusts brightness.

It’s often expected that cheaper devices skimp on the accessories, or supply substandard ones, however I was really pleased that the cold shoe mount here is fully metal, articulated and has a nicely designed thumbscrew to help you crank it down properly. The monitor side thumb wheel has holes so you can use a small tool to tighten it that two and the chassis of the monitor also has arri style recesses for anti twist pins. These small details make the Freeworld feel much more premium.

So, it looks good and feels good but does it actually function well?

Feelworld P6XL: Performance

First up is the interface. Being completely operated by touch means the GUI needs to be spot on. Easy to navigate, responsive and logical. Luckily Freeworld has done a fine job here and, while you won’t find much text on show, the icons are all pretty standard and very easy to swipe through and activate or deactivate with a single click.

There are bucket loads of options to aid the shooting experience too, from simple zebras and peaking to false colour, vectorscopes, waveforms and more. You get markers for composition, safe zones and aspect ratio. Speaking of which you can shoot anamorphic with a number of common de-squeeze ratios supported. On top of that you can load and use up to 32 LUTs, so you can view your shots much closer to your final output.

The screen itself is pretty accurate, although not as comparable as some pricier options. It’s an 8 bit display and while it does support HDR I’m not entirely convinced how well it does this. It’s a nice feature to have though. Just know it isn’t a full reference monitor and you’ll be happy.

The single HDMI will take a 4K signal at up to 30p. Not the widest range but more than acceptable for most. Now, that 4K signal will be downscaled to Full HD to fit on the display but if you need to see full detail there is an option to punch in for pixel to pixel viewing and it works really well. If the P6XL was a 4K monitor it would be significantly more costly and this workaround strikes a great balance.

Ok, so let's talk about batteries. On the whole I think Freeworld has got it right for the majority of users but it won't be perfect for most. The battery is built in and rechargeable by USB-C. All good. If you shoot outdoors you’ll want the screen on full brightness, which is 1200 NITS. At this brightness you get around 2 hours, which is fine for a quick shoot here or there but you’ll need to account for this if your shoot is longer. It’s a better story for indoor use, where you don’t need to crank the screen. At 60% brightness you increase battery life to 3 hours. Much better but still not even half a working day. With most field monitors, you’d simply swap out an NPF battery and keep shooting but that isn’t an option here. Instead you’ll need to strap a power bank to your rig to keep shooting. Freeworld does supply a bracket to make doing this easier and sleeker. It’s an extra £20 but I would suggest doing so, even if you don’t plan any longer shoots. It’s a workable solution.

The downside is clear then but on the plus side having a built in battery means fewer items to pack and manage and, for all the gimbal users out there, the weight is more centered on the device, which could be handy. Not that you’d mount this on your camera when on a gimbal.

Overall the P6XL works very well indeed and to get this level of field monitor for under two hundred pounds is remarkable. This kind of quality and feature set would easily have cost four times as much not that long ago and I for one am very glad we have access to tools that aid our creativity at non eye watering expense. I’m just waiting for an SDI ‘pro’ version.

Feelworld P6XL Verdict

What’s not to like? At this price you really can’t complain about anything. The screen is bright and accurate, the interface is fantastic and it has every option you could want. The battery is a mixed bag but works well for most situations. Longer shoots might be a pain but overall you can’t go wrong with the P6XL. Highly recommended for the financially astute shooter.

Alternatives

DJI has collaborated with artist Victo Ngai (a Society of Illustrators Gold Medalist, since you ask) to create four colorful magnetic covers for the new DJI Mic Mini 2, released today.

The entry-level microphone is designed for vloggers and others wanting a low-cost (below $100), lightweight, portable microphone system, with a single or multiple 11g microphones with built-in transmitters (TX) and a receiver (RX) that plugs into your phone's USB-C socket.

DJI say the new selection of cases will help creators match the style to any scene. The covers are Dawn (purple), Surge (blue and green), Blaze (red/orange), and Glimmer (black gold) and attach magnetically, just as the mic does to the small magnet underneath the garment, as well as a range of artist-designed covers seen above.

Additionally, for users of DJI's Osmo devices (Pocket 3, Pocket 4, Osmo Action 5, Osmo Action 6, Osmo Nano and Osmo 360), the Mic (TX) can be connected wirelessly without the need for any additional gear.

This is an update to the DJI Mic Mini, 48kHz, 24-bit audio. There is now a choice of modes (Regular, Rich, and Bright) and two-level noise cancellation (offering alternatives for quieter indoor settings as opposed to noisier outdoor environments). As before, there is automatic limiting, five-level gain adjustment, and dual-track recording, all controlled with the DJI Mimo app.

Battery cases can top the devices up to 48 hours, though DJI claims that in ideal circumstances the transmitter can deliver over 11 hours and receiver over 10.

DJI has set prices at £89 GBP for the full bundle – DJI Mic Mini 2 (2 TX + 1 RX + Charging Case) – and £49 for the DJI Mic Mini 2 (1 TX + 1 Mobile RX + Charging Case). They are shipping in the UK from DJI's own store and other retailers today.

• See on DJI website (link does not work in the USA, due to availability)

I wonder how long before this appears in our guide to the best wireless microphones in place of the older DJI Mic Mini?

It’s arguable that audio is more important than picture quality in any filmmaking project, so finding the best mic for your purposes is a key decision when choosing kit for your shoot but where do you start? This will depend on many factors such as crew size, environment, camera choice and so on. For many, a camera mounted mic will be best, as it allows for single shooters to capture sound and picture together. In these scenarios a shotgun mic, mounted on the camera is a great option and there are many available. Audio Technica has released the new ATV-SG1 and SG1LE with this in mind and they promise to deliver just what is needed for a range of tasks from vlogging to documentary and more. Both mics share a lot of the same build and features, with the LE version skipping a few to bring the price point. I’ll treat this review as one of the non-LE version but will be sure to mention any differences as they come up.

I studied commercial sound production, as well as film and photography, at university and have used countless mics over the years, so I was really keen to see if the SG1 could fit my needs and I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found.

Audio Technica ATV SG1: Specifications

Audio Technica ATV SG1: Price

$249/£175 is a great price for the quality and features on offer. The package is simple but effective, giving you all you need to introduce the mic into your kit. If you don’t need all the bells and whistles, then you could save a chunk of cash with the LE version, which is just $119/£85.

Audio Technica ATV SG1: Design & Handling

You get all you need in the box, including a windshield/dead cat, cables, and the mic itself. The SG1 is a small shotgun mic meant for hotshoe mounting, although it could be used with a boom arm; an extension cable would be needed. Most users will stick to mounting directly on their cameras, the way it’s intended.

While the SG1 is compact, it feels weighty, in part thanks to the solid construction and its metal grille, but also due to the fact that it has a USB-C rechargeable battery built in. It’s a device of two parts, with the mic, in its surrounding grille, sitting atop the IO and control section. Everything feels robust, and the switches and knobs feel positive and responsive. I particularly appreciate that the gain knob has a partial shield to prevent accidental adjustments. Nice touch.

My only niggle is that, with the wind shield fitted, you end up needing to move the fluff out of the way to see the mode switch. Not a big deal, and it's really the only issue I found with it.

You’ll find a power button, external input, and a low cut filter on the left, a USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone out, and volume control on the right, and the mode switch on the rear, next to the gain knob.

Another neat touch is the fact that the mount, which attaches to your hot shoe, is on a rail, allowing the mic to slide back and forward around 40mm. This means if you switch to a wide-angle lens, you can ensure the mic doesn’t intrude into the frame.

You may also have noticed that there’s a cold shoe on the top/rear of the mic. This could be used for anything, but it’s designed for use with a wireless receiver. I’ll talk more about this later, but it’s possibly one of the key features of the SG1.

The LE version is similarly designed but lacks some features, having only a single output on the body, which also doesn’t slide.

Vibrations can be a nuisance for microphones and can lead to unwanted noise that is tricky to eliminate in post, so many people opt for a suspension system of some kind, which can lead to a large setup and fragile mounts. The SG1 (and LE) has an internal shock mount, keeping unwanted disturbances to a minimum while keeping everything compact.

Audio Technica ATV SG1: Performance

In use, the SG1 couldn’t be easier. No apps to connect to, no menus to dive into, and not even a battery to replace. In fact, a single charge lasted me well over 24 hours, and there’s no need to even switch it on or off, as it does that for you when you power your camera on.

The only thing you need to do is decide on a mode and whether or not you need to engage the low-pass filter (great on a windy day), set your gain, and off you go. The mode options are Normal, for everyday recording situations, safe, and Ext. Safe is a fantastic redundancy option. It basically shifts the main audio to one track and records a separate track of the same audio but with a 6 dB reduction, meaning that should you end up capturing something unintended, like a passing train or a moment of traffic, you won’t have blown out audio, and you can edit them in post to keep your audio as clear as you need.

Ext mode is, I think, really exciting. This is where the cold shoe mount up top comes into play. Say you’re recording a piece to camera, but you want to be further away. In this situation, a shotgun starts to be less useful, as it will mean your vocal recording needs to be boosted. This will, in turn, boost ambient noise too. However, if you have a wireless mic, you can use that in conjunction with the SG1, recording the SG1 audio to one side and the external mic to the other. This makes it really easy to dial in the exact result you intended while not introducing harsh differences in audio tone, which could ruin a shot.

I mentioned ambient noise, while it does pick some up, the SG1 is very directional, which is a good thing. It easily eliminates sound from everywhere, not directly in front of it. Not entirely, which I prefer, as it keeps things sounding natural but enough to make whatever is in front of the camera centre stage.

When it comes to the technical side of things, the SG1 has a great range, sitting at 20Hz-20KHz, meaning it can pick up pretty deep bass to sparkling high end, and it does so in a really balanced way. It is slightly mid-focused, but I think that's a wise choice as it is aimed at the content creator, where vocal capture is most important. I recorded some acoustic guitar, too, which sounded great, but this really isn't the form factor for that, so I'd suggest keeping this on camera.

Some mics start distorting much earlier in the input range than I'd like, but thankfully, the SG1 doesn't do this. It has a maximum input level of 114 dB, which is the kind of volume you'd get at a loud rock concert.

This makes for a really good solution for content creators and vloggers, who spend a lot of time talking to the camera but want things to sound natural.

For monitoring, you may want to use an output from your camera, but there is a headphone output on the mic, with a volume control. I’m not sure what preamp is used here, but it sounds good, with decent levels of clarity in the highs and punch in the low end. The midrange is focused and clear too, perfect for vocals and everyday recording, much like the mic's capture itself.

Audio performance between the LE and non-LE versions is very similar, but if you want to gain control, a low-cut filter, and the fantastic external mic and safety, spending the extra on the non-LE version is well worth the cash.

Audio Technica ATV SG1 Verdict

The SG1 is a wonderful mic for content creators and vloggers. Audio quality is excellent, and the balance between directional and ambient sound is just right, but what makes this a truly useful mic is the addition of the safety and external modes. Plus, the compact nature, versatile mount, and robust build make this a winner. The SG1 is highly recommended.

Alternatives

Panasonic has announced the new Lumix DMW-DMS1, a compact digital shotgun microphone designed to integrate seamlessly with its latest mirrorless cameras and offer top-quality audio without the usual tangle of cables. The DMS1 is positioned as an all-in-one solution for hybrid creators shooting everything from travel vlogs to studio interviews and live events.

The microphone connects directly via the camera’s hotshoe, drawing power and transmitting digital audio without the need for additional leads, helping to streamline run-and-gun setups. At launch, the DMS1 is compatible with the Lumix S1II, S1RII, S1IIE, S5II, and S5IIX, with support for the GH7 and G9II planned via future firmware updates.

The DMS1 is built around a newly developed large-diameter 10mm microphone array, which Panasonic says delivers crisp, focused sound even in challenging environments. An internal floating shock mount is designed to minimise vibration noise from movement, while the supplied windscreen and a new wind noise cancellation system aim to suppress wind interference without compressing the intended signal.

One of the headline features is support for 32-bit float recording, enabling the microphone to capture audio without distortion at sound pressure levels of up to approximately 120dB – roughly equivalent to standing near a siren or at the front of a concert. For additional peace of mind, Panasonic has also included two backup recording modes. In 4-channel mode, channels three and four can be used as backups to safeguard important audio or capture ambient sound.

To suit different shooting scenarios, the DMS1 offers six selectable directional modes. These include forward cardioid for talking heads, stereo and wide stereo for immersive ambience, forward and rearward supercardioid options for focused pickup, and a bidirectional supercardioid mode intended for two-person interviews. The aim is to reduce the need for multiple microphones or complex setups on location.

Weighing approximately 100g and measuring around 73.7 x 45 x 63.7mm, the DMS1 is designed to be pocket-friendly. Physical switches provide direct control, with a protective cover to avoid accidental changes, while the directional mode buttons feature adjustable brightness for visibility in low-light environments.

The Lumix DMW-DMS1 will be available from mid-March, priced at $399 / £349 / €399.

Wireless mics step up the audio on videos using a mic and receiver – but one audio giant is working to allow iPhone and iPad users to shoot videos without a mic receiver at all. Rode has introduced firmware for the Wireless Pro and Wireless Go (Gen 3) mics that allows users working with iOS and iPadOS to skip the receiver that plugs into the smartphone or tablet’s port.

Instead, the feature, called Direct Connect, allows those mics to use the Bluetooth inside the mic and the Rode Capture app to connect to the wireless mic. That eliminates the need for plugging the receiver into the phone or tablet.

The company says that the update is due in part to the success of the Wireless Micro, a mic that gained Direct Connect last year through a major firmware update.

Eliminating a pesky dongle is only part of the equation. Connecting the Mic through Bluetooth allows creators to free up the USB-C port for other accessories, like external storage SSDs, external monitors, or actually using the charging port for charging.

The iPhone and iPad app also gives creators a few different controls for the mics, including the ability to record two mics to separate audio channels, adjusting the output gain for more volume control, and LED lightness for a more discreet screen.

The Wireless Go and Wireless Pro require a firmware update using the Desktop Rode Central software. Once the firmware is connected, connecting without the receiver works much in the same way as connecting a pair of Bluetooth headphones, but inside the Rode Capture app.

While the update is limited to iPhone and iPad – making the dongle a must for Android as well as working with dedicated cameras – the feature raises a few questions. Could this receiver-free Bluetooth connection eventually roll out to Android? Could dedicated cameras with Bluetooth eventually support such a feature? Regardless, the dongle-free connectivity is an interesting direction for the mics to take.

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Browse the best wireless mics or the best iPhone microphone.

Shure have been successfully designing and selling microphones for a century now, which indicates that they know what consumers of audio equipment require and meet those needs. With smartphones increasingly serving as video and audio recording tools for journalists, vloggers, and content creators, Shure has dedicated their efforts to creating a microphone tailored to this demographic. In 2015, they unveiled the first iteration of the MV-88 - a directional condenser mic that plugged straight into an iPhone via a built-in Lightning plug.

To enable Android users to enjoy using a version of the MV88, Shure then released the MV88+ Video Kit. This enabled Android users to attach the mic to their devices via a USB-C cable, while the mic sat in a cradle above their mini tripod-mounted smartphone. In 2025, Shure released a wireless version of the MV88 - the MoveMic 88+. This versatile mic’s Bluetooth connectivity removed any need to physically connect the MoveMic 88+ to any brand of smartphone, making it compatible with both iPhone and Android devices.

In 2026, Shure has come full circle with the release of the MV88 USB-C Stereo Mic. The 2015 version was only compatible with Apple’s iPhone, but the 2026 version’s USB-C connector means that any smartphone user can plug the MV88 into their device and instantly enjoy using a wide range of pro mic features, such as four polar patterns, auto level control, and AI-powered audio denoising.

Specifications

Price

The official price for the Shure MV88 USB-C is $159 / £145 / €169. This is an excellent price for a pro-specced plug-and-play mic, especially as it has four adjustable polar patterns to suit a range of recording scenarios (such as an interview or a live music recording). The mic’s auto level control and real-time Denoiser also enable you to capture a better quality audio recording without requiring you to have professional sound engineering skills.

The MV88 USB-C is also much cheaper than its similarly specced wireless sibling, the Shure MoveMic 88+ (which will cost approximately $100/£100 more), so it offers a more affordable way to capture pro-level sound recordings from your smartphone.

Design & Handling

As I mentioned in the intro, the Shure MV88 USB-C is similar in design and specifications to the other three incarnations of this mic (which began with 2015’s lightning-only MV88), with pro features such as adjustable polar patterns - more on those later. One key design improvement in 2026’s incarnation of the MV88 is the extra-long USB-C prong that enables you to plug the mic straight into your smartphone while it is still wearing a case, and this works with cases up to 2.1mm thick. I’ve encountered kits before where I needed to take the phone out of the case every time I wanted to plug a mic (or a receiver) into my smartphone, so this is a very useful and welcome design feature.

As the Shure MV88 USB-C is designed to record audio in a wide range of ‘on the go’ locations, the addition of an auto level control is a very welcome design feature. This means audio levels will be adjusted automatically on the fly so that quiet subjects will sound louder and noisy ones will be less likely to add distorting peaks to the recording. This makes the Shure MV88 USB-C an excellent choice for entry-level sound recordists who just want to plug-and-play, while pros can manually adjust the sound levels (and EQ) using the Shure MOTIV Audio for Video apps.

One thing the MV88 USB-C lacks compared to some predecessors is a headphone monitoring connection. This means you need to play back a recording to check for issues like wind noise (unlike the MV88+ Video Kit, which allows you to monitor audio live through headphones plugged into the mic). The absence of a headphone monitoring socket enables the more compact MV88 USB-C to be small enough to plug directly into your smartphone.

Indeed, when the MV88 USB-C was zipped into its rugged and compact carry case, I could carry it in my jeans pocket, though it did create a noticeable oval bulge. This brought a potential slogan to mind - “Is that a Shure MV88 USB-C in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me!” Sorry. Couldn’t resist!

2015’s original MV88 was an Apple-only device, so the MV88 USB-C is a response to meeting the needs of Android users as well as Apple fans. Talking of Apple, the MV88 USB-C has been designed to be a plug-and-play device for modern iPhones and it is fully Apple certified, as the Made For Apple logo on the box attests.

The MV88 USB-C is small, but it’s made from a reassuringly sturdy aluminium, which is a refreshing change from the many plastic mics and receivers that I’ve tested in the last few years. When plugged into your smartphone, a reassuring green light indicates that the mic is being powered by your device, so there’s no issue of you turning up to a shoot with a flat battery on your mic.

A really cool design touch is that the mic can be rotated on a hinge so that it’s pointing directly at your mouth if you’re using a mono-cardioid polar pattern to treat it like a mini shotgun mic. Or you can stand the mic vertically so that it will record both you and an interviewee when set to the bi-directional (figure of eight) polar pattern. A helpful L and R on the MV88 USB-C enables you to point the mic at a subject, such as a band, and capture an accurate left and right stereo field. You can also rotate the mic so that the stereo recording field is set up horizontally. This attention to design detail is a hallmark of a company that knows the needs of its sound recording customers.

Performance

To test the Shure MV88 USB-C, I took it to a local park where there was plenty of background noise, such as running water, wind, and barking dogs. Check out this section’s supporting video to hear how the various polar patterns adjusted the sound captured by the mic when it was plugged into my iPhone 17.

To set up the MV88 USB-C, you can use the free MOTIV Audio smartphone app. This enables you to choose one of the four polar patterns: Stereo (adjustable between 60 and 135º), Mono Cardioid (perfect for talking straight to the camera without picking up unwanted sounds from behind your smartphone), or Mono bi-directional (for listening to both sides of the mic during a two-person interview or podcast). There’s also the RAW mid-side polar pattern, which is more like a combination of the Mono Cardioid and the Mono bi-directional polar patterns, giving audio professionals more to create a custom stereo image in a post-production audio editing app. For the average user, the first three polar patterns will be the most useful.

What’s great about using the MV88 USB-C and the MOTIV Audio app is that every setting that you choose is then stored in the mic. So if you’ve set up the mic in the morning to record using a Mono bi-directional polar pattern, then it will still be set up that way when you plug it into your smartphone to record your interview later in the day. If you’ve set it up to record a gig, then the precise stereo angle that you’ve dialled in will still be set on location. Nice touch! The app also has five audio presets to help you quickly choose suitable settings for various scenarios: Speech, singing, flat, acoustic, and loud. Audio pros can dive deeper with advanced controls such as microphone gain, five-band EQ, limiter, compression, and a high-pass filter.

As well as choosing a polar pattern, the app also enabled me to turn on auto level control and the real-time Denoiser during my test shoot. As you’ll hear from my supporting video, the Denoiser did a great job of reducing the presence of consistent background ambient noise (such as wind and running water), but short loud sounds, such as a barking dog, did break through the denoising threshold (which is to be expected with any real-time noise reduction). The 24-bit 48 kHz audio quality recordings sounded rich, full, and clear. Denoising on many mics can make the voice sound a little thin, flat, and electronically distorted, but on the MV88 USB-C, my voice was nice and clear with minimal noise reduction artefacts.

Verdict

I’ve reviewed dozens of smartphone mics for Digital Camera World, and these tend to be wireless kits, with a transmitter that broadcasts your voice wirelessly to a receiver plugged via a USB-C connector into your phone. The Shure MV88 USB-C is more unusual in that you plug the mic directly into your device, so you don’t have to worry about pairing it via Bluetooth or suffering from signal drop-out.

Unlike a wireless mic, you do need to be relatively close to your smartphone-mounted mic to capture a strong, clear voice recording via the MV88 USB-C, so this will suit vloggers who want to chat straight to a handheld smartphone or journalists who need to perform an interview where they can sound as loud and clear as their interviewee.

Musicians will also enjoy using the stereo polar pattern to capture an orchestra or band rehearsing (as this will be loud enough to be recorded from a distance). So for certain types of content creators, this portable and professionally specced plug-and-play mic will certainly elevate the quality of your audio production values, but if you need to record your voice from a distance, then consider the wireless version of this mic, the Shure MoveMic 88+.

Alternatives

Wireless mics drastically improve audio for video and content creation – but they don’t always hide well. But SmallRig’s latest plug-and-play wireless mic has just an 8.8mm – or .35 inch – logo-free clip. And, the new mic even has eight different color sleeves to better blend with different outfits.

The SmallRig S70 is a budget-friendly, beginner-friendly wireless mic. The mic looks poised to compete with other similar wireless mics designed to be discrete and simple, like the similarly compact Hollyland Lark M2S and the DJI Mic Mini.

The mic mixes a simple plug-and-play design designed for audio newbies with a handful of fine-tuning features. The mic comes with nine EQ presets –tuned by four-time Grammy winner Luca Bignardi – that allow new users to quickly adjust the settings based on the scenario. For example, those presets include settings for male and female speakers, singing, guitars, and recording environmental sound effects.

Along with those presets, the mic has three recording modes with mono, stereo, and a safety track (which records a lower volume backup when connected to a camera).

SmallRig says the S70 is designed to blend in. The clip portion of the mic that’s visible outside of clothing has no logo and is just 8.8mm or .35 inches wide. SmallRig will also offer eight different color covers for that clip so users can help the black mic better blend with different colors of clothing.

While the S70 is targeted towards beginners and content creators on a budget, the S70’s spec sheet includes 48kHz 24-bit audio, a 300m or 984 foot range, and eight hours of continuous recording without recharging. Settings on the mic can be adjusted inside the SmallGoGO App as well as some settings available from the receiver.

The S70 bundles two wireless mics along with two receivers – one USB-C for phones and one for cameras – along with a charging case and windscreen. The charging case can hold up to 40 hours of use time for recharging on the go. The camera receiver has a five-level adjustable gain, while the phone receiver has a three-level gain.

SmallRig unveiled the S70 during CES – the accessory brand’s first time attending the large Las Vegas tech show.

The SmallRig S70 is expected to start shipping in the US on January 12 and in other regions on January 15. The wireless mic kit retails for $89.99 / £81.90 / AU$141.90.

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Compact and portable microphones that connect with mobile phones are becoming the go-to audio recording solution for most on-the-go creatives. That's why it's no surprise to see Shure extending their MV88 microphone family with the MV88 USB-C Stereo Microphone.

Revamping the original MV88, the new MV88 USB-C reimagines the classic stereo condenser mic with a USB-C connector (rather than the iPhone-only Lightning connector of the original MV88, launched in 2015). That means Shure has taken the sound quality of the original and packaged it up into a small and compact form factor that connects directly to a phone or tablet.

The USB-C connection means users don't have to worry about pairing, range, dropouts, or battery life. It's also compatible with both Android and iOS platforms, which makes it as ubiquitous as they come.

Shure continues the simple design with an easy-to-use feature set. This includes an Auto Level Mode that continuously adjusts gain in real time to ensure audio is never too loud or too quiet. It's also paired with the high-powered, simple-to-customize audio processing found in their MV7+ and MV6 microphones.

It'll even remove unwanted background noise automatically thanks to its built-in denoiser that works in real time. As a result, Shure promises that the MV88 is capable of producing clean, professional sound in any environment.

Beyond these features, the MV88 offers five quick-start presets and advanced controls like microphone gain, five-band EQ, limiter, compression, and a high-pass filter. All in, the MV88 pitches itself as the ideal solution for filming a travel vlog, capturing a rehearsal, recording a quick interview, documenting a live event, and more.

Pricing and availability

The MV88 USB-C Stereo Microphone is on sale for $159 / £145 and includes a foam windscreen, protective carry case, quick-start guide, and product safety documentation.

If you're interested in other Shure microphone products, then they also have the MV88+ Video Kit and MoveMic 88+ Wireless Stereo Microphone. We rated both of these 4.5 out of 5 stars, which demonstrates how highly we've rated Shure products in the past.

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I've been using the DJI Mic 2 since it came out and it has never let me down. I mainly use it with my Lumix S5II and Osmo Pocket 3, but lately I've found myself shooting more frequently with my phone.

You can, of course, use the Mic 2 (and newer models) with your phone, but the solutions aren't exactly ideal. There are two ways to do so: you can either connect directly to the phone over Bluetooth or you can use the on-camera receiver connected to your phone's USB port.

Connecting via Bluetooth is convenient, but the quality is awful. Devices like the Pocket 3 and DJI Osmo Action 6 can connect directly without a receiver and maintain quality, but with a phone the difference is stark.

Using the on-camera receiver with a phone works well, but the form factor is far from ideal. It's designed with mirrorless cameras in mind, so it has a cold-shoe mount and it's relatively bulky.

It comes with a clip-in USB-C adapter, which means it can directly connect to your phone, but it sticks out in a weird way – and I'm always worried that it's going to get knocked out.

There are other annoyances, too. I can't charge my phone with the receiver attached, for instance, as it doesn't pass power through. Conversely, I have to remember to charge the receiver itself and have been caught out by that more than once.

For these reasons, when shooting with a phone, I almost always record internally on the DJI Mic 2 and sync the clips in post. That is, until I picked up the Mobile Receiver.

What is it and what does it do?

The DJI Mic Series Mobile Receiver is a tiny version of the on-camera receiver that's designed specifically to work well with phones. It's only 9mm thick (about the same as most phones), it weighs next to nothing and it only sticks out from the base of the phone by just over a centimeter.

Already that's a massive advantage over the traditional receiver, but it gets better. The Mobile Receiver is powered by the phone, so you never need to worry about charging it – and it supports pass-through USB-C charging, so you can keep your phone topped up during long shoots.

The icing on the cake is that it supports the DJI Mic 2, Mic Mini and Mic 3, and you can pair any two at once. I own both the Mic Mini and Mic 2, and I've never been able to use them at the same time because they use different receivers – but the Mobile Receiver changes that.

For clarity, DJI devices like the Action 6 and Pocket 3 can work with both at once, but not the on-camera receiver, so that only applies to mirrorless cameras and phones.

I was pleased to learn that the Mobile Receiver also works well with action cameras. I still use the DJI Action 2 quite regularly, which came out before the DJI Mic series, and can't pair with Mics as newer DJI cameras can. When I hooked up the Mobile Receiver to my aging mini camera, it just worked.

How do you change the settings?

Now, you might have noticed that the Mobile Receiver lacks the touchscreen of the full-sized receiver. So, how do you change your settings? Thankfully, it's pretty easy.

The Mobile Receiver has a physical switch to change from noise-cancelling off to low or high, but otherwise settings are adjusted using the DJI Osmo app. You access the receiver in the exact same way that you'd connect to a DJI camera, and then you'll be able to tweak all the settings.

As far as I can tell, you can adjust all the same things in the app as you would with the touchscreen interface. The options range from simple gain adjustment to whether or not the LED indicator turns on, and plenty more besides.

Who should buy one?

If you have a DJI Mic 2, 3 or Mini (it doesn't work with the original DJI Mic), and if you ever shoot video on a phone or a non-DJI action camera, I think the Mobile Receiver is an essential purchase.

For just $15 / £14, this little gadget makes your wireless microphone so much more versatile and convenient. If there's even an inkling that you might find it useful, just grab it. I don't think you'll regret it.

As someone who finds himself shooting more and more content for platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts, a phone is the obvious tool for the job – and this adapter makes my life measurably easier. I'm not exaggerating when I say I've spent hundreds on camera accessories that aren't half as useful as this one.

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To be honest, I couldn't believe the price on this wireless lavalier microphone kit when I first saw it. At £14, this Joby Wavo Air is a brilliant way of upgrading your video shooting set-up – whether you just shoot with your phone, or if you have a serious vlogging kit.

Every pro knows, is that poor quality audio is a no-no – and that you just can't improve the sound on your video simply using your device's built-in microphone.

This wireless tie-clip microphone kit from Joby cost over £200 when it was first launched... and is now one of our budget choices for the best lavalier mic. But at £14 this is now one of those deals that anyone and everyone should be considering for themselves - or as a low-cost gift.

The Wavo Air comes with two 2.4GHz transmitters and two clip microphones, allowing you record up close to two different sound sources. That's great for interviews - or for, say,, capturing the wedding vows of the bride and groom. The receiver, meanwhile, comes supplied with leads to plug into the audio socket of your camera or phone.

Check out our full Joby Wavo Air review

Since 2022, I’ve reviewed a wide range of microphones for Digital Camera World, from stand-mounted cable-connected podcasting mics such as Logitech’s Yeti Blue to tiny wireless clip-on lavalier mics like the Hollyland Lark A1. I’d use a cable-connected Yeti to record review voiceovers in my home office and a wireless mic like the Hollyland Lark A1 to record audio when testing gadgets on location.

The Maono PD200W has something new to offer in terms of connectivity. You can mount it on its supplied stand, pop it on your desktop, and connect it to your PC via a USB-C cable, just as you would do with a classic podcasting mic such as the Yeti. For even better audio quality, you can plug a female XLR cable into the PD200W’s male XLR socket and connect it to a mixing desk (which you can’t do with the Yeti).

Or you can go completely wireless and transmit audio from the PD200W to a tiny receiver that plugs into your laptop’s USB-C socket (a separately sold lightning connector version of the receiver is also available for owners of iPhone 14 and older models). This USB-C/XLR/Wireless three-way connectivity justifies the PD200W’s ‘hybrid’ label as it can be used either as a cabled or wireless mic.

Specifications

Price

You can purchase the Maono PD200W with a desktop stand for around $99.99. You could also mount the PD200W on a third-party desktop mic stand courtesy of its 5/8” to 3/8" thread adapter, but to enjoy more mic-positioning versatility and control, I’d recommend paying $129.99 to bundle the Maono PD200W with the adjustable BA37 Boom Arm. The mic looks much cooler when mounted on the boom arm, and that should appeal to video makers who want to show off their audio gear in YouTube podcasts (though you can, of course, position the boom-mounted mic out of shot and still get excellent quality audio as long as it's 6” from your mouth).

You can get similarly specced directional mics for a similar cost - take the Yeti Blue for example, currently at $77.75 / £99.24. However, the Yeti lacks the PD200W’s extra features, such as the glowing LED ring that makes it stand out in video podcasts. Additionally, the Yeti cannot wirelessly broadcast to your laptop or smartphone, so the PD200W certainly offers more for your money.

Design & Handling

At first glance, the Maono PD200W looks similar to the Maono PD300X that I tested back in May 2025. Both mics have black cylindrical metal bodies and a foam pop shield covering their capsule. Both mics sit in a circular shock mount ring that’s designed to reduce audio bumps and scratches caused by handling noise.

However, design differences soon become apparent once you start using the PD200W. Both mics have a main knob that you can press to toggle between adjusting the gain of your voice or tweaking the volume of headphones plugged into each mic’s mini-jack socket. However, while the LED ring around the PD300X’s control knob acts as a simple audio level indicator, the LED ring on the PD200W provides a more useful mode indicator, shining grey when adjusting gain, blue when adjusting headphone levels, and displaying different intensities of green when toggling between three noise cancellation settings.

Near the middle of the PD200W (where the shaft meets the foam pop shield), there’s an extra RGB ring light that is designed to draw attention to the mic in your video podcasts. You can press a mode button on the rear of the PD200W to change the ring light to display one of eight eye-catching colours. If you pop into the Maono Link app, you can customise the ring LED by boosting its brightness and changing it from a constant fixed light source to emit a Breathing (pulsing) effect. You can also activate Loop (using the app or the physical button at the rear of the mic) mode, which causes a rainbow spectrum of colours to cycle through the LED Ring light.

A key design difference between the older PD300X and the new PD200W is that the latter can be used wirelessly. In the box, you’ll find a tiny receiver that has a USB-C plug (which looks very similar in size and shape to receivers that ship with most wireless mic kits). You can plug the receiver into your laptop’s USB-C socket and enjoy capturing audio wirelessly, courtesy of the PD200W’s built-in 2.4GHz transmitter. Alternatively, you can plug the receiver into a smartphone’s USB-C socket and use the PD200W to record your voice outdoors from a distance of up to 60 metres from your camera! Check out the video in the Performance section to see (and hear) how the mic performed wirelessly over a long distance.

One press release for the PD200W talks about its suitability for two-person podcasting, thanks to ‘dual-channel stereo recording that captures separate tracks for easy mixing and editing.’ At first, I thought this meant that the mic could capture audio sources from opposite sides of the capsule in two separate channels. However, after testing, I found that the mic only captures a two-channel featuring dual-channel stereo recording that captures separate tracks for easy mixing and editing signal, with identical levels in both channels.

After a bit of research, I realised that you’d need two PD200W mics to enjoy recording two presenters on separate audio channels. This made more sense as the mic has a cardioid polar pattern, so it’s designed to pick up voices directly from the front rather than from the sides. Basically, you need to point it like a gun at its target - your mouth. The USB-C receiver has two indicator lights. When using one mic, you’ll see a single blue light on there receiver. When using two PD200Ws, you’d see two blue lights (and be able to enjoy the dual-channel stereo recording promised by the press release).

Performance

I decided to test the Maono PD200W in my kitchen at home, as it is relatively clean and uncluttered compared to my messy home office (which is clogged full of boxes of kit waiting to be reviewed or returned). However, my kitchen has lots of hard stone walls that cause my voice to echo and boom when I record audio using my MacBook Air’s built-in mics. Fortunately, the PD200W’s capsule has a cardioid polar pattern. This means that it is a directional mic and is able to capture voice sound predominantly from its tip (rather than echoes from its sides). As you’ll hear from my test video, this directional feature captured a closer, more intimate version of my voice while reducing the unwanted echoes bouncing from the kitchen walls.

My first challenge was to mount the mic. I already had a BA37 Boom Arm attached to my office desk for my earlier test of the Maono PD300X. However, I didn’t want to attach a boom arm to my new kitchen table in case its clamp mechanism made a mark (which would incur the disappointment of my wife!). Fortunately, after lifting a foam sheet in the Maono PD200W’s box, I found a handy mini mic stand, onto which I popped the mic. I was able to angle it so that the gun mic was pointing at my mouth for optimum sound levels.

My next task was to connect the mic to my Mac. The Maono kit’s supplied USB-C receiver is very small, but it was blocked by an external SSD drive cable that was plugged into an adjacent USB-C socket on my MacBook Air. Fortunately, the mic ships with a little USB-C-USB-C expansion cable, so I was able to attach it to my Mac. I could then enjoy placing the stand-mounted PD200W wherever I liked on my desktop, free from the constraints of a USB-C or XLR cable.

A pro sound recordist will always want to monitor the audio being captured by their mic, as this will help them identify problems such as room echo or the noise of a fridge, for example. The PD200W has a 3.5mm headphone port, so I plugged my ‘cans’ into that. By monitoring audio via headphones, I was able to hear some remaining traces of room reverb, so I pressed the control knob on the top of the mic to activate its noise cancellation feature.

There are three noise cancellation settings - Slight (-13dB), Moderate (-20db), and Aggressive (-28dB). The setting that you choose is indicated by the varying brightness of the control knob’s green LED ring light. I found that by choosing the Moderate noise cancellation setting, I could remove the remaining traces of room reverb without my voice sounding over-processed.

I used the macOS Maono Link app to control various mic properties, such as adjusting input levels and choosing audio presets that fine-tuned the way the mic behaves. Most if these adjustments can also be performed by pressing and rotating the mic’s physical control knob (or pressing the Power/Mode button at the rear of the mic’s shaft).

There’s also an iOS version of the Maono Link app, so when I plugged the receiver into my iPhone 17, I was able to access extra features, such as one-click presets that configure the Maono’s settings for different Scenes, including Podcasting, Recording, and Gaming. Gaming, for example, might involve a bit of shouting as you chat to friends and followers, as well as quieter levels of audio, so this Scene mode turns on a limiter to keep noise distortion to a minimum and a compressor to lift the quieter levels of speech. The Sing mode adds a bit of electronic reverb to your voice, which is an effective way of ‘flattering’ your singing voice. The Maono Link app also enables you to update the firmware of the PD200W mic, so it’s well worthwhile downloading it for Mac, Pc, and smartphone.

After a successful test of the mic in my kitchen, I decided to make use of the Maono PD200W’s wireless capabilities by taking it outdoors. I plugged the receiver into my iPhone 17’s USB-C port and unscrewed the PD200W from its desk stand. I then placed the iPhone on a tripod and carried the PD200W in my hand. The shock mount made sure that no handling noises were captured as I walked and talked with the mic in my hand. Now, I must point out that I’d normally use a discrete lavalier mic clipped to my shirt when recording outdoors. The handheld Maono PD200W looks too large and ‘showy’ for my liking for on-location recording. However, if you’re a journalist who wants to look more impressive when doorstepping a target, then this handheld directional mic might be right up your street.

In the woods, my voice quality sounded much better than in my roomy kitchen. The 24-bit depth and 48kHz sample rate captured a sharp and clean sound, as you’ll hear from my test video. Some ambient noise, such as background cars, was audible, but the Moderate noise cancellation easily kept those sounds at bay. And by using the Maono Link smartphone app, I was able to trigger noise cancellation with a tap and swipe to adjust the microphone gain. The app’s onscreen level indicator was also very useful, as that turned orange and red when my voice was in danger of peaking too much.

Finally, I decided to see how far the PD200W’s built-in transmitter could reach, so I started walking away from the camera (and its attached transmitter) while chatting into the mic. There was a little signal drop-out from around 30 metres when my body blocked the line of sight between the mic and the receiver, but when I turned to talk to the camera from around 35 metres, my voice sounded as loud, clean, and clear from there as it did from 3 metres away, which is more than adequate performance for any wireless mic.

After returning from my outdoor test shoot, the receiver was still attached to my iPhone 17. On plonking the iPhone down onto the kitchen table, the receiver split open, revealing circuits inside. Fortunately, I was able to clip the two sections together, and the receiver continues to function.

Verdict

The Maono PD200W is a plug-and-play directional microphone that allows you to capture studio-quality audio recordings for your video podcasts. I particularly appreciated the option to connect it wirelessly to a PC or smartphone, giving you greater flexibility in recording locations.

Personally, I don’t need a mic to be visible in shot (especially when recording voice-overs for reviews), but if you’re a video podcaster who wants to capture more eye-catching content, then the PD200W’s adjustable LED ring will add some colour and animation to your footage.

The little plastic receiver is a bit fragile, but as a hybrid mic, you can also connect it via a USB-C or XLR cable, so it should suit the needs of a wide range of content creators.

Alternatives

Modern cameras and smartphones capture high-quality footage, enabling our video content to look as good as broadcast TV. However, the audio quality of our footage will often let the side down when it comes to our programme’s production values. A key problem sound recordists face is distance. Sound levels reduce by 6dB every time you double the distance between the speaker and the mic. The rumble of wind noise can obscure dialogue, and as soon as you step a few feet away from your camera’s built-in microphone, your voice will become much harder to hear (especially when competing with ambient noise such as passing traffic).

Fortunately, it’s not difficult (or expensive) to capture better quality audio on your smartphone thanks to the Boya mini 2 - a wireless microphone kit that transmits your voice via a 2.4 GHz digital frequency from a transmitter to a tiny receiver plugged into your smartphone. By clipping the mic clip to your shirt, the distance between your mouth and the mic remains consistently close (even when you’re standing far away from your smartphone). This helps ensure that you sound loud and clear from up to 100 metres away. The Boya mini 2 also has a built-in AI noise-cancelling feature, so you can sound more audible in busy urban locations.

Specifications

Price

The Boya mini 2 retails at $30. If you’re a smartphone content creator who has yet to purchase a wireless mic, then I can happily recommend the Boya mini 2, as it will enable you to capture better quality audio once you step a few feet away from your smartphone (and out of reach from your device’s built-in mics).

The Boya mini isn’t perfect (which I wouldn’t expect given the price), suffering from signal drop-out if you turn your back on your camera. But as soon as you turn to face the camera, you’ll sound loud and clear from up to 100m (which won’t be the case if you’re relying solely on your smartphone’s built-in mic). When it comes to stopping poor audio quality undermining your video content, then parting with $30 to purchase the Boya mini 2 is a ‘no-brainer’!

Design & Handling

At first glance, the Boya mini 2 looks the same as the original Boya mini that I tested back in December 2024. The Boya mini 2’s press release mentions that there are two versions available, one with a Luna Silver finish and the other with a Matte Black finish. The version I tested certainly had a matte black carry case (which doubles up as a way to charge both transmitters simultaneously via its USB-C port). However, the two transmitters and the receiver looked as black and shiny as those on the original Boya mini.

So, what are the key differences between the Boya mini and the Boya mini 2? Well, for starters, the mini 2’s audio resolution has been upgraded from 16-bit to 24-bit/48 kHz, capturing a richer tonal detail and a wider dynamic range. The BOYA mini 2 also builds on recent milestones found in the more expensive Boyamic 2, which introduced Boya’s flagship AI noise cancellation.

The mini 2 benefits from Boya’s proprietary Intelligence Deep Neural Algorithm Network - an AI-driven noise cancellation system that has been trained on more than 700,000 real-world noise samples and over 20,000 hours of data. This adaptive algorithm responds dynamically to different environments, delivering clear audio whether recording in controlled studio settings or unpredictable outdoor conditions such as bustling cityscapes. Press releases are handy but prone to propaganda, so check out my video in the Performance section to hear how the Boya mini’s upgraded noise cancellation feature actually performs in a city environment.

We wouldn’t expect a budget mic such as the Boya mini 2 to have onboard recording (which enables you to plug holes in a soundtrack if there’s a drop-out in the signal between the transmitter and the receiver). However, it does feature a new ‘safety track’ option in case the built-in limiter doesn’t stop a subject’s voice from distorting. The safety track records a separate audio track at a lower sound level (-12db) compared to the main audio track, so you can use the non-distorted audio from the safety track when editing (if required).

As a content creator who mostly uses smartphones these days, I was impressed at how small and portable the Boya mini 2 is. The Boya mini 2’s carry case is so small that I mistook it for my Apple AirPod case when rummaging around in my pocket. The wireless transmitters are tiny, and as they weigh a mere 5 g, they won’t cause clothing to sag when clipped to a shirt. Unlike many wireless mic keys these days, the Boya mini 2 transmitters don’t offer the option to attach them to a subject via magnets. They have a little spring-powered clip that gives a firm grip on a shirt or lapel. I prefer a clip as often a magnet will drop down inside a shirt when you detach a mic from a subject, and if you lose a magnet, this can render a mic kit useless. So the Boya mini 2 gets a thumbs up for its ‘old school’ clip.

Another key addition to the Boya mini 2 is deeper interactivity. Through the Boya Central App, users can fine-tune gain, adjust EQ (and alter the low cut settings from 75Hz to 150Hz), alter the strength of noise cancellation from strong (-40dB) to weak (-15dB), and perform firmware updates, tailoring the Boya mini 2 to their creative workflow. You can also use the app to set the mics to broadcast in mono or stereo, though if you choose the latter option, then you can’t record a safety track.

Performance

To test the Boya mini 2, I took it to the city and set up my iPhone 17 on a mini tripod alongside a busy street. I plugged the Boya mini 2’s receiver into my iPhone 17’s USB-C port. The Boya mini 2 ships with an additional receiver that’s designed to plug into older iPhone models that have a Lightning connection. Nice touch! Sometimes, when you plug a wireless receiver into an iPhone, the device gets confused and thinks that you’re trying to attach a different accessory (such as headphones).

As a result, you can’t record audio via the third-party mic. The Boya mini 2’s packaging features a reassuring ‘Made for iPhone/iPad’ logo that indicates the ‘plug and play’ credentials of the kit. To doubly make sure that I was recording via the Boya mini 2, I used the Final Cut Camera 2.0 app to record my review footage. This app enables you to manually check which audio source your iPhone is using.

Towards the end of this section’s supporting video, you’ll hear me record audio directly via my iPhone 17’s built-in mics. From a distance of arm’s length, the iPhone 17 enables you to hear my voice, but there’s a lot of additional ambient traffic noise and wind rumble to contend with. If I took a couple of steps away from the iPhone’s mics, my voice levels would drop by 6Db, so I’d need to boost the sound levels in an editing app such as Final Cut Pro, but this would exaggerate the traffic levels and involve lots of tinkering with post-production noise reduction tools. Fortunately, by clipping the Boya mini 2’s tiny 5-grammes weight transmitter to my shirt, I could keep the mic at a consistent distance from my mouth at all times and capture consistently clear-sounding audio from up to 100 metres away.

The Boya mini 2’s two transmitters have a foam windshield attached to their mics (though you can remove these if you want to). I found that the foam windshields made it easier to pull the microphones out of their carry case. The windshields were easier to grip than the mics’ slippier, shiny plastic bodies. The smooth plastic transmitter was harder and fiddlier to remove from the carry case, which could be annoying if you’re in a rush to set up.

When it came to reducing wind noise, the small foam windshields weren’t as effective as the fluffier ‘dead cat’ wind shields that ship with more expensive mic kits (such as the Boya Magic. There’s also a built-in low-cut filter that works in conjunction with the foam windshield to reduce wind-induced bass rumble. Despite the windshield and the low-cut filter, I found that I could still hear the occasional rumble of wind noise during my test shoot, though I was in a very open and exposed space on a walkway above the street.

Fortunately, unwanted wind noise and the sound of passing traffic can be reduced using the Boya mini 2’s AI-powered noise-cancelling technology. This can be fine-tuned using the Boya Central smartphone app. By default, the Boya mini 2 filters out environmental noise with its Strong mode (up to -40 dB) for crowded streets or events. I used the Strong noise-cancelling setting for my test video, and while it did remove the sound of passing traffic and wind noise completely, my voice sounded too thin and slightly ‘warbly’.

A less intense Light mode (up to -15 dB) can be activated via the app to get a compromise between removing noise while preserving the quality of the subject’s voice. Due to the windy location and the adjacent street full of traffic, I left the mic set to the default Strong noise-cancelling setting, though in the future I think I’d be better off using the lighter setting and reducing any remaining noise in post. Circling back to the Boya Central app, you can also use this to adjust the EQ of the audio captured by the receiver, and update the kit’s firmware if required to optimise its performance.

After testing the quality of the Boya mini 2’s noise cancellation feature, I performed a distance test. I felt a bit nervous leaving my borrowed iPhone 17 on a tripod as I walked away to a distance of around 60 feet, but fortunately, no one pinched my device. At around a distance of 20 feet, the Boya mini’s signal started to drop out when I faced away from the camera. This is because my body was blocking the line of sight between the mic on my chest and the transmitter on the iPhone 17. I was a bit surprised that dropout occurred so soon, as on my previous test of the original Boya mini (back in 2024), I didn’t hear any dropout even from approximately 60 feet away when the line of sight was lost. However, it’s possible that the concrete wall that the iPhone 17 was resting on affected the 2.4 GHz signal when testing the new Boya mini 2. Fortunately, when I turned to face the camera (and the line of sight was restored between transmitter and receiver), my voice sounded loud and clear, which is an impressive feat for such a small (and affordable) wireless kit.

Verdict

The Boya mini 2 may be small and cheap, but when it comes to improving your content’s audio production values, this could be the best value $30 that you’ll ever spend on kit. Thanks to the compact nature of the Boya mini 2, you can keep it in your pocket at all times in case you need to record a quick chat to camera or capture a sudden interview opportunity.

Indeed, the Boya mini 2’s carry case is only slightly larger than an Apple AirPod case (and as it’s a similar shape, you’ll easily mistake one case for another when rummaging for the Boya mini 2!). It may suffer from drop-out when you turn your back to the camera, but for the most part, you’ll be facing the lens, so this isn’t a big issue (especially given the small price!).

The obligatory noise cancellation feature can lead to a flat-sounding voice, so I’d recommend reducing noise in a post-production app such as Premiere Pro. But all in all, this is more than worth the purchase price, and I can see myself carrying the Boya mini 2 in my pocket at all times in case I need its services! I can wax lyrical about how this is an effective mic kit for its price, but listen to the Boya mini 2’s quality for yourself via my video in the Performance section.

Alternatives

Many photographers will find the brand name Godox synonymous with lighting, in the form of camera flash guns and continuous LED lighting. In my time as a reviewer for Digital Camera World, I’ve also tested a variety of Godox microphone kits. These mics range from an innovative double-barrelled directional mini shotgun mic to the equally innovative wireless Godox Magic XT1, which uses its receiver to store and charge the two wireless mics instead of needing to use a typical charging case.

The new Godox C01 is a wireless mic kit that is similar in design to the Godox Cube-SC, in that two wireless transmitter mics are stored in a palm-sized rectangular carry case, which doubles up as a charger.

Specifications

Price

The entry-level Godox C01 Kit2 has an official retail price of $36.90 / £39.90. Despite being a budget mic that’s designed to meet the plug-and-play needs of smartphone content creators (on both Android and Apple platforms), the Godox C01 offers great value for money due to its ability to transmit Hi-Fi quality audio in 48kHz and 24-bit recordings. This high-quality audio pedigree ensures crystal-clear sound for vloggers, creators, and live streamers on the go.

As you’ll see from this review’s Performance section, despite the small size of the transmitter and receiver, this kit can transmit further than some other mics when you turn away from the camera and the transmitter loses line of sight with the receiver. So for a small price, you get a surprisingly powerful performance from the Godox C01!

Design & Handling

Pro sound recordists like to be able to control the input levels that are being transmitted from the mic to the receiver and into their camera. This enables them to avoid problems such as clipped (peaking) audio tracks that sound distorted.

The Godox C01 is aimed squarely at the needs of the everyday vlogger who simply wants to capture good-quality audio without worrying about taking manual control over sound levels. Thanks to its ALC (automatic level control) feature, the Godox C01 will ‘ride the gain’ automatically and in real time to soften sudden shouts and lift up quiet voices for a clearer and consistent soundtrack.

Another clue to the Godox C01’s target audience being social media content creators is the collection of colourful stickers available for mic personalisation. While most professionals will stick to the Godox branding adorning each mic, transmitter, and even the carry/charging case, these stickers offer a way for content creators to express their personality and individuality (though they will make this old pro cringe!)

Both transmitters and the receiver fit into a smooth, bevelled, and shiny carry case that is far less than a handspan in length, so it fits comfortably in the hand (and in a pocket). With a press of a thumb, you cause the end of the case to slide out, revealing its contents. The case has a USB-C socket, so you can use the supplied cable to charge both mics simultaneously when they are stored in the case.

One note worth making is this - when you first unbox the Godox C01, make sure that you remove the tiny blue stickers that protect the mics’ charging pins while in transit. Otherwise, they won’t charge up!

I’ve reviewed many wireless mic kits for Digital Camera World, and despite physical design differences, they tend to offer two transmitter mics that you need to attach to a presenter and interviewee, plus a receiver that plugs into your camera or smartphone.

It was, therefore, a nice surprise to find a new design feature on the Godox C01 that I hadn’t encountered before. When a typical wireless mic kit’s receiver is plugged into your smartphone’s USB-C socket, you can’t charge your phone while recording. The Godox C01’s receiver has an extra USB-C socket on its side, so you can plug a power bank’s cable into that extra socket and use up to 60W power banks to charge your smartphone while still recording audio that’s being transmitted to the receiver.

This very useful passthrough charging feature will enable you to keep shooting without needing to take recording breaks in order to charge your phone!

Another key design feature is that you can only attach your mic transmitter to your clothing via a supplied magnet (unlike some kits that offer both a magnetic and a spring clip alternative - such as the Boyamic 2. You can make the small mic look even less noticeable by placing it inside your shirt and sticking the magnet outside, though, like every component in the C01 kit, even the tiny magnet is branded, in this instance with a G for Godox!

I tend to avoid placing microphones inside my clothing as they will be more prone to suffering from distracting rustling sounds. One last word on magnets - there is only one supplied magnet per mic. This means that if the magnet falls off when you detach it from the mic after a shoot, then you run the risk of losing it, which will make the mic unusable for future shoots. I appreciate that this one magnet per mic policy helps keep the price down, but it is an Achilles’ heel.

Performance

To test the Godox C01, I took it to the grounds of a beautiful English Stately Home. The location was under a flight path, which would give me many opportunities to test the Godox C01’s built-in noise-cancelling technology. Check out this section’s supporting video to hear how the Godox C01 performed for yourself.

Let’s start with audio quality. Thanks to its 48kHz and 24-bit pedigree, the Godox C01’s transmitter mics produce impressive quality audio. When talking to the camera, my voice sounded clean, clear, and had a full-bodied and warm range of tones. Some wireless mics can suffer from latency (where the voice is slightly out of sync with the subject’s lip movements), though this was negligible with the Godox C01, so no editing tweaks were required.

This high quality and low latency is made possible thanks to the Godox C01’s enhanced 2.4 GHz wireless, high-gain antennas, and shielding circuits. This ‘out of the box’ excellent quality (and in-sync) audio makes the Godox C01 a useful tool for those who want to shoot and share their content as soon as possible (without needing to tweak audio in post). Indeed, no EQ or Loudness tweaks have been applied to the audio in my test video.

The Godox C01 is a budget mic, so there is no onboard recording feature to capture a backup audio file in case of signal dropout, like you have with something like the Sennheiser Profile Wireless. However, I’d rather have a mic that is less prone to drop-out in the first place, and the cheaper Godox C01 can broadcast a clean signal with your back to the camera (losing line of sight between mic and receiver) from up to 50 meters, whereas the Sennheiser Profile Wireless started to suffer from signal drop out from only a few meters away!

The official specifications give the Godox C01 a transmission range of 200 meters, which is not a distance I’d ever need to broadcast from. When facing the camera at around 100 meters, my voice sounded audible, but there were a few hints of drop-out. However, at that distance, you could barely see me in the frame, so I’m not going to shave off half a star for a bit of dropout at that range.

One unique thing about the Godox C01 is its lack of supplied detachable windshields. This is the first time I’ve tested a wireless mic kit that doesn’t have a foam or fluff windshield (and this is my 33rd wireless mic test since the Joby Wavo Air back in Feb 2022!). Wind noise can ruin a take by adding a nasty rumble. So surely the lack of a windshield should lose the Godox C01 half a star?

Well, not necessarily. If you press the physical orange button on the transmitter, the status light changes from green to orange, indicating that the AI-powered noise cancellation feature has been activated. On most mics that I’ve tested, this would indeed remove wind noise (and unwanted background ambient sounds such as passing planes), but at the cost of my processed voice sounding flat and even electronically ‘warbly’. The quality of the noise-cancelling feature on the Godox C01 is the best I’ve encountered (and superior to noise-cancelling on far more expensive mics).

The processing artefacts from the Godox C01 on my voice were negligible, and there was no trace of plane or wind noise. So on a windy day, I’d be happy to have noise cancellation turned on to make up for the lack of windshields, safe in the knowledge that I will sound loud and clear (without wind noise ruining my take or AI-processing distorting my voice too much).

One thing that initially confused me regarding noise cancellation was the colour coding used by the transmitters. On many mics that I’ve tested, they display a blue light for normal transmission and a green light to indicate that noise cancellation is active. With the Godox C01, the status light on both the transmitters and the receiver is green by default, but it turns orange when you trigger noise cancellation. I soon adapted to this colour coding, and it helps that the button to trigger noise cancellation is orange too!

Another potentially useful feature for the solo shooter is the option to take remote control of your smartphone’s native camera app from a distance. Simply double-tap the orange button on the transmitter to start/stop your video recording. This enables you to record multiple takes from a distance without the need to run back to your smartphone to manually tap the camera app’s record button. A very nice touch!

Verdict

As you’ll hear from my test video, the audio quality of the Godox C01 sounds great! It may lack a windshield, but you can remove wind rumble and unwanted ambient noise very effectively with a tap of a button (on the transmitter or the receiver). Indeed, this mic boasts possibly the best quality built-in noise cancellation feature that I’ve encountered, so I’d be happy to activate that feature at the merest hint of wind noise without worrying about my voice sounding over-processed.

The Godox C01 doesn’t have onboard recording, but you would pay a lot more for that feature. Thanks to its 2.4 GHz Frequency Hopping System, this budget mic outperforms some far more expensive mic kits when it comes to broadcasting a clean signal when the mic loses line of sight with the receiver, so onboard recording isn’t essential.

As well as an impressive audio performance, innovative design features such as the ability to use the passthrough charging slot on the receiver help consolidate this affordable kit’s 5-star rating, plus the option to use the transmitter to remotely start/stop your smartphone camera app’s recording is also very useful for the self-shooter. The Godox C01 gives you excellent value for money and deserves a place in your pocket, especially if you’re a content creator who may need to capture superior audio at a moment’s notice.

Alternatives

If you admire the tiny, phone-friendly RØDE Wireless Micro system but find it awkward to use with your DSLR or mirrorless setup, here's some good news: the company is now addressing that gap.

The new Wireless Micro Camera Kit adds a purpose-built on-camera receiver with a 1.1-inch AMOLED display, designed to integrate cleanly with traditional camera workflows. For many photographers who also shoot video, this could be the missing link between convenience and professional-grade audio capture.

Streamlined workflow

The Rode Wireless Micro earned a strong reputation among smartphone creators for being lightweight, fast to deploy and surprisingly good-sounding for its size. But if you’re a photographer who occasionally shoots interviews, behind-the-scenes clips, product walk-throughs or event coverage, connecting those same mics to a camera felt like an afterthought.

The new Camera Kit makes that workflow far more streamlined. The included on-camera receiver features both 3.5mm TRS and USB-C outputs, ensuring compatibility with most current mirrorless and DSLR models. It mounts neatly using a cold-shoe, making it a far more natural part of a shooting setup than the previous smartphone-only receivers.

Just as importantly, the 1.1-inch AMOLED screen gives clear visual feedback on battery life, audio level and signal strength, removing the guesswork that can plague compact wireless systems.

Core appeal

The core appeal remains the same: two ultra-compact clip-on transmitters, each with an in-built omnidirectional microphone, that pair automatically and are ready to record almost instantly. For photographers who prefer shooting rather than fiddling with audio menus, RØDE’s Intelligent GainAssist manages levels in real time to reduce clipping and inconsistent volume. This is particularly valuable during live events, location shoots or unscripted interviews where subjects move and speak unpredictably.

Practical shooting needs have been considered, with integrated windshields helping to reduce plosive sounds and light breezes, while included furry windshields are on hand for more challenging environments.

The internal batteries offer around seven hours of recording time, and the compact charging case provides two full recharges, extending operating time to roughly 21 hours. This will be a relief for anyone used to juggling accessories, chargers and power banks on longer shooting days.

Although the new on-camera receiver is the headline upgrade, the Camera Kit also includes a USB-C smartphone receiver, ensuring the system remains equally at home with mobile recording. This makes it particularly attractive to creators who switch between a full-frame camera for main footage and a smartphone for social media edits or quick behind-the-scenes posts.

iOS users gain an extra advantage, with the ability to connect via Bluetooth through the free RØDE Capture app, bypassing the physical receiver entirely when shooting directly on an iPhone.

Should you buy it?

The compact wireless microphone market has become increasingly competitive over the past few years, with DJI in particular challenging RØDE’s longstanding dominance. DJI’s Mic Mini and Mic 3 systems offer strong feature sets and have recently become fixtures in hybrid shooting kits. RØDE’s move here feels like a response to that trend, bringing the Wireless Micro fully into the camera world rather than leaving that territory to the Wireless GO II.

However, this Camera Kit is not simply playing catch-up; its main strength is ease of use. By prioritising fast setup, automatic gain control and long life in the field, RØDE has created a system that should appeal to photographers who don’t want to become audio technicians to get good sound.

I enjoyed reviewing the original Hollyland Lark Max wireless mic kit back in 2023, and was especially impressed with its ability to record audio directly onto the mics (a feature called onboard recording). This essential feature enables you to plug any holes in your recording caused by signal drop-out between the wireless transmitter worn by the presenter and the receiver plugged into your camera. I was therefore keen to see if 2025’s Lark Max 2 had any new tricks up its sleeve!

I was lucky enough to test the Lark Max 2 Ultimate Combo set, which ships with four wireless mic transmitters! This is way more wireless mics than most content creators will require, but it will be useful if you need to capture a team talk or a group of presenters/musicians who each require a dedicated microphone clipped (or magnetically attached) to their lapel.

The Lark Max 2 Ultimate Combo set also ships with a pair of OWS (Open Wear Stereo) earphones. The OWS earphones are designed to enable you to wirelessly monitor the audio from the transmitters so you can listen out for problems such as signal drop-out, wind rumble, or a microphone rustling against a subject’s shirt. You can also monitor audio by plugging a headphone cable’s 3.5mm (1/8”) mini jack into the receiver’s headphone socket, which I found particularly useful on my test shoot with the Lark Max 2, as you’ll see from my test video in the Performance section.

Hollyland Lark Max 2: Specifications

Hollyland Lark Max 2: Price

2025’s Hollyland Lark Max 2 is the flagship mic in the Lark range, so it’s no surprise that it costs a higher price than the entry-level Lark A1, which was also released in 2025. The Lark A1’s two-mic combo kit costs around $80/£70 from Amazon, whereas the Lark Max 2’s two-transmitter kit costs $249/£230. This big price difference isn’t a surprise as the Lark Max 2 is a higher-specced kit, featuring pro specifications such as onboard recording.

This review looks at the most expensive version of the Lark Max 2 - the Ultimate Combo kit. You can pick this kit up from Amazon for $319/£260 - and get two extra wireless mics and a set of OWS earphones to wirelessly monitor the mics via the receiver. However, if you’re a solo operator who only needs one wireless mic, then you can purchase the Lark Max 2 Solo kit for a far cheaper $169/£150.

Hollyland Lark Max 2: Design & Handling

2023’s original Lark Max transmitters were relatively chunky rectangles with a wide mesh covering their microphone. Both of the Lark Max’s mics and their rectangular receiver were stored in a rectangular charging case.

2025’s redesigned Lark Max 2 is sleeker and more attractive than its predecessor. Its transmitters are smaller and lighter (weighing 14g compared to the original Lark Max’s shirt-sagging 33g). The Lark Max was constructed from a shiny textured plastic, whereas the Lark Max 2’s mics and receiver are covered in a sleeker black matt material that makes them look more expensive (and therefore more professional) than the shinier chunky bricks of the original Lark Max.

The stealthier look of the Lark Max 2 is echoed in the more subtle Hollyland branding on the transmitters and the receiver, compared to the lighter and more noticeable branding on the Lark Max units. The sleeker and more confidant, subtle design of the Lark Max 2 evokes a sense that this is equipment that deserves a place in a professional’s kit bag.

When I reviewed the entry-level Lark A1, I was disappointed that it relied solely on a single magnet to attach each mic to a presenter. There was no clip on the A1’s mic, so if its magnet got lost, then the mic would be rendered useless. Fortunately, the Lark Max 2’s transmitters have a built-in clip that clamps them securely to a shirt lapel, so no magnets are required.

However, inside the kit bag, I was pleased to find a collection of magnets. You need to slide a magnet adaptor onto a mic’s clip before you can secure the mic to the outside of your shirt by placing a magnet inside your clothing. The mini magnets are super strong - indeed, when I was trying to attach the four magnets to the four mics, they would fly across the table and clump together as if a poltergeist was at play! There’s little danger of the magnetically attached mics falling off during a shoot.

The downside to using magnets is that the little plastic magnetic adaptor that slides onto a mic’s clip needs to be removed before you can fit the mic back into the charging case. This means you need to make sure that you put the tiny magnets and their adaptors into one of the fabric carry case’s interior pockets, or you might lose them.

Another key component of the Lark Max 2 Ultimate Combo kit is its receiver. It actually has two! The main receiver is designed to slide onto a camera’s shoe mount and be attached via a supplied USB-C to USB-C cable (or a supplied TRS cable). The main receiver has a touch-sensitive screen, so you can adjust properties such as mic gain or turn on a mic’s low-cut filter to reduce the rumble of wind noise. The second receiver is a small capsule with a USB-C plug.

You can plug this receiver straight into a smartphone or laptop and record sound directly to your device, which might be convenient for quick plug-and-play smartphone scenarios when you don’t want to use your DSLR/mirrorless camera. The smaller receiver could also be useful if you want to record audio from a gimbal-mounted smartphone.

Hollyland Lark Max 2: Performance

I usually record video and audio via a smartphone, so I could have plugged the Lark Max 2’s tiny USB-C receiver into my iPhone 16 Plus and transmitted audio to that. However, I wanted to test the Lark Max 2’s more sophisticated receiver with its touch-sensitive screen, so I mounted my iPhone into a Smallrig cage. I was then able to slide the Lark Max 2’s receiver into the cage’s cold shoe mount and attach it to my iPhone via the supplied USB-C to USB-C cable. I then popped the cage on a tripod.

The Lark Max 2 Ultimate Combo kit ships with four microphones - this is the first time I’ve encountered so many mics in one kit. As there’s only one of me, I decided to record a split-screen sequence where four versions of me (wearing the four mics from the kit) would appear onscreen at the same time. By default, each mic transmitter features a constant blue light that indicates that the mic is transmitting to the receiver.

The receiver displays each of the four mics on its display so that you can see that they are transmitting a strong signal. When managing four mics, it can be a challenge to work out who is wearing a specific mic. By swiping and tapping on the receiver’s display, you can assign each mic with a unique colour - Pink for Mic 1, Yellow for Mic 2, Cyan for Mic 3, and Blue for Mic 4. Each mic also displays its relevant colour on its own LED. This useful design touch then enables you to see if there is a problem with a particular person’s mic.

The Lark Max 2 Ultimate Combo kit ships with four tiny wind shields. Unlike some wireless mic windshields, the Lark Max 2’s fluffy ‘dead cats’ clipped firmly and easily onto the transmitters, and they did a great job of keeping wind rumble at bay. To ensure rumble-free noise, you can also use the receiver’s touchscreen display to turn on a low-cut filter on each mic.

A pro sound recordist will always want to monitor the sound quality coming from the transmitters into the receiver (in case of problems such as wind noise or a barking dog!). The Lark Max 2 Ultimate Combo ships with a pair of wireless OSW earphones that are designed to work specifically with the Lark Max 2 receiver. However, after trying to pair the earphones with the receiver, I noticed a message on the display saying that the earphones wouldn’t work when the receiver was receiving signals from four mics (only two). Fortunately, the receiver has a 3.5mm (1/8”) mini jack, so I was able to monitor incoming audio via a classic pair of over-ear headphones.

The Hollyland OWS earphones receive a wireless signal from the receiver over the same 2.4 GHz frequency that enables the mics to transmit to the receiver, so you can monitor audio via the earphones from a distance as you talk. The earphones can also sync via Bluetooth to the Hollyland Lark Sound app, which enables you to update the earphones’ firmware when required.

This ability to monitor your audio wirelessly is great as you’re not tethered to wired headphones plugged into the receiver’s 3.5mm (1/8”) socket. It did take me around 20 minutes to get the earphones to pair with the receiver, but it was certainly worth the effort as I can now hear problems such as drop-out as they happen during a take (so I know that I need to turn on onboard recording by pressing the REC button on my mic).

After testing the input of four mics in my split-screen sequence (see my supporting video), I took the Lark Max 2 kit to a local playing field to do a distance test. Hollyland claims that the Lark Max 2 can transmit audio up to 340 metres with line of sight. Normally, I count my steps while walking approximately 100 metres away from my camera to hear if a mic can transmit a clean signal over that distance.

I used my DJI Flip drone to fly 150 metres away from my camera. I then walked to collect the drone and spoke to the camera-mounted receiver from 150 metres away. The signal was audible, but it suffered from some drop-out, so Hollyland’s claim of 340 metres seems inaccurate.

To be fair, 150 metres is the furthest distance I’ve tested any wireless mic for Digital Camera World, and you could barely see me at that distance, so it’s unlikely that you’d need to record audio from such a long range. Plus, it was an easy edit to take the onboard recorded 32-bit floating-point .Wav file from the mic and use it to fill any gaps in the broadcast audio in Final Cut Pro.

Finally, I tapped the mic’s noise cancellation button. It took the edge off a passing jet while keeping my voice free of the type of processed distortion that noise cancellation can create on cheaper or less effective mics. So that’s a big thumbs up for the Lark Max 2’s AI-powered noise cancellation feature.

Hollyland Lark Max 2: Verdict

For most content creators, the Hollyland Lark Max 2 Ultimate Combo will be overkill, as most people don’t need four wireless mics in one kit. However, it’s always good to have a couple of extra mics up your sleeve in case you do get commissioned to wirelessly record a group presentation. You can always enjoy the quality of the Lark Max 2 and save money by purchasing a cheaper 2-mic (or 1-mic) version of the kit.

I loved the curved matte black design of the transmitters (with their understated Hollyland branding). The audio quality broadcast by the mics was rich, clean, and clear, and the safety net of onboard recording meant that any holes could be easily plugged. The fact that the mics couldn’t broadcast a clean signal from 150 metres was negligible, as I’d never need to film someone from that distance during a normal shoot.

The touchscreen on the receiver was large and bright enough to operate outdoors, and the navigation was easy enough to adjust properties such as mic gain and earphone volume levels.

The inclusion of the wireless earphones was particularly useful as I could monitor audio quality wordlessly from the receiver during a take - something that’s essential for a pro sound recordist (though I did find it a bit of a battle to get the earphones to pair with the receiver). All in all, the Hollyland Lark Max 2 is a kit that I can see myself using when recording my voice for other product reviews, such as stabilisers and LEDs, especially as I can monitor the receiver’s audio input from the Combo kit’s wireless earphones.

Alternatives

Modern cameras and smartphones capture high-definition footage that can make consumer video look as good as pro footage! However, if you rely on using your camera/smartphone’s built-in microphones, then the audio quality of your footage won’t match the production values of your video clips. Sound quality drops off the further you stand away from your device’s built-in mic, and your voice will soon get drowned out by background ambient noises such as traffic. You can improve poor audio tracks with some post-production tweaking in apps such as Final Cut Pro, but this takes time, and the results won’t sound as good as they would if you’d used a third-party wireless mic kit such as the Lark A1 Combo.

By clipping a wireless transmitter mic to your clothing, you can make the mic stay close to your mouth at all times, even when you’re talking over 100 metres away from the receiver plugged into your camera. This wireless mic set-up ensures that the sound quality is clean and clear at all times, enabling you to make more effective contact with the viewers of your video. You may have resisted the urge to buy a wireless mic due to price, but thanks to a flood of competing products, Hollyland has released the Lark A1 Combo kit at a very competitive price, and to my surprise, it performed as well (and in some cases better) than more expensive wireless kits.

Hollyland Lark A1: Specifications

Hollyland Lark A1: Price

The Lark A1 starts at $34.90 / £35.86 for the two receivers and a transmitter if you are willing to forego the charging case. However, I reviewed the Lark A1 Combo kit, which contains two receivers – a USB-C version for smartphones and modern iPhones, plus a Lightning connectable receiver for older iPhones – which costs just $69.90 / £70.86.

The older Lark M2S costs nearly twice the price of the newer Lark A1 Combo Kit, but amazingly, the Lark A1 can match its more expensive sibling in terms of specifications and performance.

Both mic kits capture audio with a bit rate of 24-bit and a sampling rate of 48 kHz, leading to high-quality audio tracks. With a 200m transmission range, the Lark A1 can’t match the Lark M2S’s 300-meter range, but even at 200 meters, you’ll barely be able to see the subject, so this difference in performance is negligible. If you’ve been holding off buying a wireless mic, then well done, because the Hollyland Lark A1 Combo Kit offers amazing performance at an affordable price.

Hollyland Lark A1: Design & Handling

When it comes to the physical look of their wireless mic kits, Hollyland tends to experiment with different designs. 2024’s Lark M2 featured magnetically attachable disc-shaped transmitters, whereas 2025’s Lark M2S had a more discrete bulb-shaped transmitter that you could hook over your clothing.

I liked the M2S because you didn’t need to rely on using magnets to keep the transmitter attached to your shirt. The design of the newer Lark A1 is more conventional, with a capsule-shaped transmitter mic that attaches to a magnet placed inside your shirt.

I’m not a huge fan of the magnetic solution to attaching a mic. When removing the mic at the end of a shoot, the magnet can drop down inside your shirt. If you lose a mic’s magnet, then you can’t use it again, as the kit only ships with two magnets for the two mics. Other kits, such as the Sennheiser Profile, offer a magnetic or spring-clip solution, which provides a belt and braces approach to keeping your mic attached.

However, by removing the spring clip and relying solely on magnetic attachment, Hollyland has created a smaller and lighter transmitter mic, which weighs in at just under 9g (compared to the chunkier 30g transmitter of the Sennheiser Profile transmitter, which can cause your shirt to sag under its weight).

Despite being a tiny plastic capsule, the Lark A1’s transmitter has a few tricks up its sleeve. It features a display light that shines a steady blue when it is transmitting to the small plastic receiver plugged into your smartphone. A similar light shines steadily on the receiver, so you know that a connection has been made.

The transmitter’s light is on a discrete rubber button. In fact, this button is so discreet that I didn’t know it existed when I filmed my test video of the Lark A1 in action.

Press once on the button, and you trigger the transmitter’s AI-powered noise cancellation feature (resulting in a green light on the transmitter and receiver). A triple press enables you to remotely trigger your smartphone to start/stop recording video.

This feature is especially handy for the solo operator as it enables them to control their smartphone from a distance! Remote video control is not a feature I can remember encountering on other wireless mic kits (and I’ve tested and reviewed 30 kits to date since the Joby Wavo Air back in 2022!).

As with most other wireless mic kits, the two transmitters and the receivers are stored in a plastic carry case. By plugging a USB-C cable into the case, you can charge both mics at the same time, so that they will both perform for the entire shoot. The case and the supplied windshields (which slide onto the transmitters nicely and easily) can be transported in a drawstring canvas Hollyland-branded bag.

The bag and its contents will fit easily into your pocket, so the kit can always be available if you suddenly need to record a ‘talking to camera’ piece from a distance.

Hollyland Lark A1: Performance

To test the Hollyland Lark A1, I took it with me to record the sound of my voice while I tested and reviewed a studio LED. I film all of my Digital Camera World video reviews on an iPhone, so I plugged the Lark A1’s plastic USB-C receiver into my device. I attached the tiny transmitter to my shirt via its supplied magnet. The little LED status light on the transmitter and receiver shone a solid blue, indicating that they were connected to each other.

There are two mics in the Lark A1 Combo kit, and if you are doing an interview, then both LED lights on the receiver will shine blue to indicate that a signal is being received from both mics. To help you identify which mic is which, you can use the Lark Sound app to assign different colours to them. One mic’s light will shine pink, while the other shines yellow. The receiver also displays a pink and yellow light, so you can more easily spot problems if one of the mics loses contact with the receiver. This is a useful design touch that I’ve not encountered on other mic kits.

I also used the Lark A1 kit to record my voice for the test video in this review’s Performance section. As you’ll hear, the 24-bit 48kHz recording sounds clean and clear. An intelligent auto limiter helps reduce the presence of clipping from sudden loud sound levels.

As with all mics, I performed a distance test to see how far the mic could transmit without suffering from signal drop-out. I popped the camera on a tripod at the top of a long flight of stairs and chatted as I walked down to the bottom of the staircase.

Normally, when I turn away from the camera and my body blocks the line of sight between the transmitter and receiver, I experience signal drop-out quite quickly. I was therefore astonished that the Lark A1’s tiny transmitter was able to broadcast a clean and clear signal from much further than I expected, only dropping out when I reached the bottom of the staircase (at around 77 steps).

However, when I turned to face the camera, the signal returned to a clear high-fidelity level as the line of sight was re-acquired. This impressive performance must be down to the 2.4 GHz Adaptive Frequency Hopping feature that helps keep the mic and receiver connected when line of sight is lost.

Unlike the more expensive Sennheiser Profile Wireless kit, the Hollyland Lark A1’s transmitter does have a built-in AI-powered noise cancellation feature.

During my test shoot, I stood next to a loud air-conditioning unit, which was making enough noise to spoil my take. However, by tapping the button on the receiver (or tapping the discrete rubber button on the transmitter), I was able to activate AI-powered noise cancellation.

As you’ll hear from the test video, this did a good job of removing the nose of the air-conditioning unit without distorting my voice too much. The Lark A1 has three levels of AI noise reduction, which you can set using the LarkSound app, so you can experiment with getting a balance between removing unwanted background audio while keeping your voice sounding natural and unprocessed.

I used the highest level of noise cancellation in my test. You can also use the LarkSound app to adjust properties such as Reverb presets (Small, Medium, or Large) and EQ presets of Balance, Low, and Bright.

Hollyland Lark A1: Verdict

The Hollyland Lark A1 is one of the cheapest wireless mic kits that I’ve tested, but thanks to its 24-bit/48 kHz audio recording and 2.4 GHz frequency hopping abilities, sound captured on the Lark A1 compares surprisingly well with audio from a much more expensive mic like the Sennheiser Profile Wireless (though the latter does sound slightly sharper than the budget Lark A1). If you’ve yet to bite the wireless mic bullet, then the Lark A1 will certainly improve your audio production values without breaking the bank!

I’m a little concerned that each mic in the Lark A1 kit could be rendered unusable if you lose its solitary magnet, so that keeps the Lark A1 from a full 5-star review, but innovative touches like remote triggering of your smartphone’s Camera app via the mic’s physical button help keep the rating high.

In conclusion, I can certainly recommend the Hollyland Lark A1 to consumer video makers who want to take the quality of their YouTube videos to the next level. And given the kit’s compact size, you can carry it wherever you go in a pocket, so it’s always close to hand if you need to make an impromptu recording.

Alternatives

DJI has announced the long-awaited Mic 3, the latest version of the company's premium wireless microphone system, with a host of improvements including much more recording time and the ability to work as part of an 8-microphone multi-camera setup using timecodes.

The new Mic 3 can record in 24-bit or 32-bit float, and uses the Osmo Audio system so it can connect directly to some DJI devices (like the Osmo Action cameras) without the need for the receiver. As a premium device, though, it also has a wireless receiver (RX) which can connect to a camera and record up to two safety tracks (one including adjustments for brighter or richer sound).

Despite the extra features, the new Mic 3 TX – the bit you wear, or clip onto things to record the sound – is (or are) smaller than those supplied with DJI's Mic 2, which is a benefit, similar in size to the very compact DJI Mic Mini (a lower-feature Mic suited more for simple vlogging tasks). Because the clip is magnetically attached and removed, and the mic is square, it can be rotated to point in different directions.

The ability to use Mic 3s in multiplicity is also a step forward; multiple receivers can sync time codes together.

32Gb of storage is also a step up, meaning you can record nearer 50 hours rather than 14 hours the Mic 2 was limited to – depending, of course, on whether you choose 24-it or 32-bit and whether you opt for a safety track (which will halve your storage).

Range, too, is quoted as having increased from 250m (820ft) to 400m (1300ft), though you're unlikely to need to test the full range to record sounds.

Each microphone TX has a magnetic back, and can be worn with a magnet as support, or snaps into a clip. DJI indicate that, given their broad range, they can also be used to capture B-roll sounds by magnetically attaching to all kinds of devices.

The Mic 3 TX can last up to 8 hours, and RX up to 10 hours between charges, and the case can top this up 2.4 times (28 hours) – but five minutes is enough to supply 2 hours odf charge according to DJI.

Interestingly, the TX is small enough that DJI has now ditched the idea of a plug-in lavalier mic on an old-school tie clip connecting to the TX – something that was still an option on the Mic 2.

The DJI Mic 3 will be available for tryout at IFA, 5-9 September, and the prices announced so far are for the UK at £259 / AU$569 for the full 2TX + 1RX + Charging Case bundle, or £169 / AU$369 for 1TX + 1RX (a cradle is used to charge the microphone in this instance).

We'll let you know American pricing when we hear it but many US products have last minute pricing because of tariffs.

You might also like

Check our guide to the best wireless microphones.

Also check my review of the DJI Mic 3, published today.

DJI microphones are often seen in YouTubes and other online videos, and the company offers two distinct categories, a simple 'Mic Mini' wireless mic which can plug straight into a phone (or link directly with some of the company's action cameras), and a higher-specification option – until this new Mic 3 came along that was the Mic 2.

Both microphones series feature built-in batteries and a charging case that tops up their power, but the premium offering – and this is that – distinguishes itself with a more extensive feature set. Both feature active noise cancellation, so what can possibly be offered over the already impressive predecessor?

Firstly the Mic 3 now features 32GB built-in storage and two adaptive gain controls in order to prevent spikes and clipping in loud environments as well as consistent performance in studio-like spaces. It also brings tone presets for richer or brighter-sounding voices. The Mic records in lossless 48kHz 24-bit directly to the receiver (RX), as well as recording dual files for safety in 24-bit or 32-bit floating point. Anything, DJI says, "from a whisper to a shout."

The system also boasts dual file recording, quadraphonics (working with Sony systems), and timecode support.

DJI Mic 3: Price

DJI Mic 3 will cost £259 in the charging case with dual mics and a 1RX, or £199 for 1TX + 1RX at launch, which is competitive with other premium microphone solutions. It is available to order from the launch of August 28 2025, and the pricing essentially says 'this is the higher tier, it can do everything, get the Mic Mini if you're just using your phone.'

DJI Mic 3: Specs

DJI Mic 3: Build and handling

The DJI Mic 3 brings with it the same robust feeling that its predecessor boasted, with a metallic charging case completing a thoroughly premium feel. At the front is a solid catch which will keep it closed for transit – again, much like its predecessor – and beneath that are four while pinprick LEDs which serve to indicate battery charge progress when the device is plugged into a USB-C (the port for which is on the rear).

The case is slightly bigger than it needs to be in the 2TX version I tested which is really useful, because there is room in the lid to keep the little magnets used to hold the microphone onto clothing, and there is no need to remove the windshield (small 'dead cat') from the top of the mic/TX unit when placing them in the case should you not wish to.

On the subject of the furry shields, there were two a gray and a black ones in the box, but DJI are also offering other colors this time. There is, however, nowhere on the new Mic 3 TX for a plug-in lavalier mic. The predecessor had the option of an old-school tie clip connecting to the TX – it seems DJI have now accepted that the TX with built-in Mic is so small this is effectively pointless, especially with the option of a clip or magnet.

On opening the case, as well as TX (transmitter/mics), you also find the receiver (RX), which is a complex device that can be attached to whatever your recording device – be it a phone via USB-C or a camera via a shoe mount.

The RX has a small and sharp OLED touchscreen on the back which can be used to set the clock (so the files have the right metadata), but that's only the beginning of the precision available – timecodes are an option too.

The base of the RX has a slide-in, slide-out attachment which can either be home to the clip, which slides into a camera shoe, or the USB-C socket which allows for live connection to, say, an iPhone for recording. While there is a monitor and output socket at one end, the opposite side of the RX has not only a power button but a mechanical lock button which – when pressed – makes it easier to slide the attachment out. This is much appreciated, as this could get a bit stiff otherwise.

If you don't get the audio directly from the video recording device, you'll find it is also recorded on the Mic 3's internal memory, and all that you need to do is plug it in via USB-C to a computer and find the file (why it's a good idea to set the time, or the metadata will be confusing!)

I found this process didn't work for me every single time – though for that I blame MacOS a little more than the mic. Unplug and re-plug and the box was visible, no problem, just like any other external drive full of .wav files. The type recorded (for me anyway – I know I could have used an app) most easily adjusted using the RX's touchscreen.

A nice feature is the ability to record dual tracks for each mic, the original and the version to which you've applied enhancement (there are three voice enhancement options by algorithm, Regular, Rich & Bright).

The addition of a Dynamic Mode in the adaptive gain is also handy for those seeking to get away with a single microphone between two speakers – you can get away with putting the mic a few feet from both people and it handles any uneven loundness.

All the time, there is still a nice physical round manual gain control knob on the reciever.

DJI Mic 3: Performance

In something which will come as no surprise to users of its predecessors, the DJI Mic 3 delivers excellent performance, not only when it comes to sound quality, but also in maintaining its signal in the promised range. The dual-band system seemed to ensure no interference for me.

In terms of connectivity, I was also impressed that, thanks to the USB-C socket on the back of the RX, the device could also easily be plugged into my Mac and serve as a mic for the computer system. It's very flexible.

Mostly, I tested the Mic 3 by recording a pieces to camera, using my phone or my camera. To get an idea of the full range, I also recorded my fiancée. She is a former session singer for Duran Duran, among many singing gigs, so has a slightly better vocal range than me! The latter gave a great opportunity to hear that the Mic truly lives up to its promises when it comes to the Mic's recording range, with no evidence of distortion at the bottom all the way up, and perhaps only the smallest bit at the very, very top, despite the compact size.

That was a tiny bit more apparent when we turned the noise reduction on in a quiet room, but on the other hand, the noise reduction was able to handle the sound of a busy washing machine when we tested it in the same room, so (as ever) my advice would be to use the noise reduction as needed – it's good but it may slightly challenge the sound resolution.

The performance of the battery charging seemed prompt to me, too. If you keep the TX and RX in the box at lunch and overnight, then it seems likely you can use it all weekend without issue, which impressed me.

DJI Mic 3: Overall Verdict

Using the DJI Mic 3 is not a huge surprise for those familiar with its predecessor, though the notable arrival of an 'unlock' button on the RX means you don't feel you're putting anything at risk when re-configuring from USB-C to camera shoe mode, which I like.

The vast internal storage makes the device feel more generous as well as more refined than its predecessor, while features we've seen before – the OLED touchscreen controls – still feel very premium thanks to thoughtful ease of use. The generous storage mens using the 32-bit float doesn't pose a worry either, which is good; being able to adjust peaking later is the main advantage of this tech (not that I experienced much with it).

DJI has upped the spec here beyond what might be needed by many solo creators or small teams with features like timecodes, but the core of the Mic 3 is also better than ever before. The quality is outstanding, and the simple convenience of a microphone with a safety track and enough recording time to get two or three days worth of sound without having to stop and transfer is hard to argue with.

DJI Mic 3: Alternatvies

How I tested the DJI Mic 3

I tested the Mic 3 over several weeks, recording speaking and singing voices and recording devices. I used a Sony A7iii, a iPhone, a MacBook Pro, a DJI Action 5 Pro, and a DJI Osmo 360 as devices to connect to.

I updated the firmware, but it is likely there will be new firmware updates following the release.

Since I started recording audio as a trainee sound recordist back in the late 80s, the brand Sennheiser has been synonymous with microphones and headphones. Over the years, I’ve encountered Sennheiser mics in various sound studios and used Sennheiser headphones to monitor audio on location video shoots. This ubiquitous presence is unsurprising as this German company has been designing high-quality audio equipment for eight decades. In a market currently awash with affordable consumer wireless microphone kits, I was pleased to be offered Sennheiser’s own consumer wireless mic kit to test - the Sennheiser Profile Wireless.

In late 2024, Sennheiser released the Profile 2-Channel kit – a wireless mic kit that shipped with two mics and a charging bar. In May 2025, they released the trimmed-down (and therefore more affordable) solo version of the kit - the Profile Wireless 1-Channel kit. This single mic kit targets solo shooters who don’t require two microphones - perfect for content creators (and product reviewers such as myself!). The Profile Wireless 1-Channel kit lacks the charging bar that ships with the Profile Wireless 2, but you can charge the Wireless's transmitter and receiver independently by using the supplied USB-C to USB-C cable.

I’ve reviewed dozens of wireless mic kits for Digital Camera World, and it’s been fascinating to see them evolve. One of the most useful developments has been the arrival of onboard recording, where wireless mic transmitters capture a clean audio file that can be used to replace any holes in the recording caused by signal dropout. This useful feature is present in the Profile Wireless, plus the kit has an extra trick up its sleeve in relation to onboard recording that I’ve not encountered in other wireless mic kits.

Sennheiser Profile Wireless: Specifications

Sennheiser Profile Wireless: Price

The Sennheiser Profile Wireless 1-Channel kit launched for $199 / £169. This mic kit only contains one receiver, but if you want to record multiple people at once, then for $299 / £249 you can get the Sennheiser Profile Wireless 2 kit (which features two mics and a charging bar that charges both mics and the receiver).

If you’re a solo shooter who just wants to present to camera, then the Profile Wireless 1-Channel kit should be of interest, but if you need to record any interviews, then consider forking out more cash for the Wireless 2.

Although the Profile Wireless isn’t the cheapest wireless mic kit on the market, it does benefit from Sennheiser’s decades of experience in capturing high-quality audio, thanks to its 48KHz sampling rate and the option to use the 32-bit float onboard recorded .wav files. Plus, the automatic backup recording feature could ‘save your bacon’ if you forget to manually activate onboard recording and there is a signal drop-out between the mic and the receiver. This clever feature justifies the more expensive price as it ensures that you can plug gaps in your audio recordings (which is invaluable when recording events such as a wedding speech where there’s no opportunity for a retake!).

Sennheiser Profile Wireless: Design & Handling

The Profile Wireless ships in a compact, zipped soft canvas case. Inside the case, dedicated webbed pouches contain the single transmitter mic and the receiver. The transmitter mic is fairly chunky compared to many of the tiny clip-on mics I’ve encountered (such as the mini circular mics in the BoyaLink 3). The Profile Wireless transmitter weighs in at 30g, which can cause your shirt to sag a bit when the transmitter is clipped (or magnetically clamped) to clothing.

I liked the lockable TRS port on the transmitter. This will stop a connected lavalier mic from slipping out during a shoot (though you have to supply your own lav mic). This lockable socket is a welcome design feature that will appeal to professionals.

The transmitter has an on switch and a record button that you can use to trigger its onboard recording feature. This captures your speech directly to the transmitter as a 32-bit float .wav file, so if there’s any signal dropout between the transmitter and the receiver, you can plug audio gaps in the edit. The transmitter has status LEDs, such as a red light that illuminates when onboard recording is active.

The boxy receiver is quite chunky, so you might struggle to plug it into a smartphone if you then plan to attach your phone to a gimbal. The receiver requires a cable connection to your camera, so again, this dangling cable might interfere with a gimbal’s operation.

There is also a supplied short USB-C to USB-C adaptor as an alternative to a cable connection, but the receiver is still too bulky to fit onto a gimbal-mounted smartphone. If you do need a wireless mic kit that suits a gimbal-mounted smartphone, then consider the Hollyand Lark M2S, which has a compact receiver that plugs directly into a smartphone without needing a connecting cable.

Both the Profile Wireless transmitter and the receiver are made of black plastic, which gives the kit a low-budget feel even if it doesn’t have a low-budget price. A nice design touch in relation to the receiver is its touch-sensitive OLED screen.

\This screen enables you to swipe to a host of menu settings, such as turning on the low-cut filter to reduce the rumble of wind noise. More importantly, you can use the touch screen to activate backup recording. This automatically triggers the transmitter’s onboard recording feature if the signal between the transmitter and receiver drops out. This is a very useful design feature that I’ve not encountered on other mic kits!

The OLED display also gives you a handy audio level indicator, and you can adjust the mic’s gain from a sub-menu. You can also turn on a handy safety track on the mic so that the left channel will transmit at a lower level than the right channel, which could save you from suffering from peaking (distorted) audio levels.

The 32-bit floating point audio recording on the transmitter captures so much detail that you can avoid clipping or boost low sound levels without adding nasty noise. Oh, the receiver also has a handy headphone socket so that you can monitor sound from the transmitter and notice problems such as a passing aircraft.

Sennheiser Profile Wireless: Performance

To test the Sennheiser Profile Wireless kit, I took it to a local playing field. The large open space suffered from lots of wind, so I attached the supplied windshield to the transmitter mic. Unlike some wireless mic kits (Boyalink 3, I’m looking at you), it was an easy job to connect the Sennheiser Profile Wireless’s fluffy windshield to the mic with a simple push and a twist action.

To be on the safe side, I used the receiver’s touch-sensitive OLED display to turn on the wireless transmitter mic’s Low Cut filter. As you’ll hear from my supporting test video, the wind noise was kept at bay, which is a fantastic achievement that will be welcomed by professional sound recordists who often have to battle against wind-induced rumble!

Talking of noise reduction, the Profile Wireless doesn’t have the AI-powered noise-cancelling feature that you find on most wireless mic kits these days. This wasn’t an issue for me as I prefer to reduce background noise more effectively in the post-production editing stage. I tend to find that most mics’ AI-powered built-in noise-cancelling features make the voice sound too distorted, so I don’t miss this feature in the Profile Wireless.

I used the transmitter’s OLED display to activate the Backup Recording feature. This causes the transmitter to automatically record a 32-bit float audio .wav file if the signal between the transmitter and the receiver drops out.

I then performed my usual distance test. Normally, I try and guess the distance by counting my steps. On this occasion, I used my DJI Flip drone to accurately measure 100 metres away from my tripod-mounted iPhone 16. I then walked towards the distant drone while transmitting my voice to the receiver plugged into iPhone 16. I didn’t manually turn on the transmitter’s onboard recording feature as I wanted to see if it would turn on automatically.

I turned away from the camera, and as soon as my body blocked the line of sight between the transmitter and the receiver, the signal dropped out, even from only a few feet away. I was surprised that the signal was interrupted so soon, as most other mics can transmit through my body from much further away.

Fortunately, the back-up recording feature was activated, and I could see from the reassuring red light on the transmitter mic that it had started an onboard recording. I was then able to plug the transmitter into my MacBook Air via its supplied USB-C cable and add the transmitter’s 32-bit float .wav file to my Final Cut Pro project. This plugged any dropout-induced gaps in my recording, though of course, there was an initial short gap near the start of the test before the backup onboard recording was automatically activated.

As you’ll hear from my supporting video, the audio quality captured by the Sennheiser Profile Wireless sounds professionally clean and clear. Thanks to a low latency of less than 8 milliseconds, the sound of my voice was in sync with my lips, so I didn’t have to offset the audio track in the edit to get lip-synch.

Sennheiser Profile Wireless: Verdict

The Sennheiser Profile Wireless will best suit the needs of solo DSLR and mirrorless camera shooters thanks to the option to mount the receiver via the kit’s cold shoe adaptor. Smartphone users can also attach the receiver to a cage’s cold shoe mount and plug its supplied USB-C cable into their phone. Alternatively, you can use the shorter USB-C to USB-C or Lightning to USB-C adaptors to plug the receiver straight into your smartphone (or older iPhone), though even using this method, the receiver may still be too chunky for you to attach your smartphone to a gimbal, which is something I need to do often.

However, if you’re a pro who can’t afford to miss any audio, then the onboard recording feature will prove essential. And if you forget to press the red record button on the transmitter, then the onboard recording will be triggered automatically if the signal gets too weak (as long as you’ve activated Backup Recording via the receiver’s OLED menu screen). This extra level of backup should certainly appeal to pro sound recordists, though do bear in mind there might be a short gap in your audio recording before the automatic onboard recording feature is activated.

All in all, though I was impressed with the audio quality of the Sennheiser Profile Wireless and it sounded as clean and clear at 100 meters when the transmitter had a line of sight with the receiver. Any audio gaps earlier in the recording were plugged seamlessly using the onboard recorded .wav file.

Alternatives

People sometimes say, “You wait ages for a bus and then three come along at once!” That saying sort of applies to wireless microphone kits from Boya, too! Earlier in 2025, Boya released the Boyamic 2 and the Boyalink 3.

The Boyamic 2 is a flagship wireless mic kit, aimed at the needs of professional sound recordists (with pro features such as onboard recording). The cheaper Boyalink 3 is an entry-level wireless mic kit aimed at social media content creators.

This third bus - sorry - Boya, released in August 2025, is something new. Something a bit different to the seemingly endless wave of plastic wireless mic kits that wash up on the shores of this reviewer’s ‘beach’!

Boya produces a variety of mics for content creators, from on-camera mics to wireless lavalier mics to desktop conference mics. Thanks to a clever design, the Boya Magic can be configured to mimic different mic kits, such as a gun mic or a classic clip-on lavalier mic. This versatility should make it appeal to a wide range of content creators. And having reviewed 25 wireless mic kits to date for Digital Camera World, I was delighted to encounter a wireless mic kit with some new features to explore and write about!

Boya Magic: Specifications

Boya Magic: Price

Given that the Boya Magic can be configured to provide four different mic types - an on-camera mic, a tripod-mounted desktop mic, a classic wireless lapel mic, and a handheld gun mic, $90 is an impressively attractive price for such a versatile mic kit. Indeed, you’d expect to pay around $119/£129 for the recently released Boyalink 3, and that’s just a pair of wireless lavalier mics and a receiver, with inferior (to the Boya Magic) AI-noise cancellation capabilities to boot! If you’ve held off buying a wireless mic (or plan to upgrade your audio kit), then the Boya Magic is certainly well worth the asking price given its versatility and the quality of audio that it captures.

Boya Magic: Design & Handling

Here we go. So much to write about! Most of the wireless mic kits that I test and review have a similar design. They have a carry case to store two transmitter lavalier mics that clip onto a lapel or shirt. They usually have a receiver that plugs into a smartphone or camera. The Boya Magic fits that general description, but it does so much more. You can indeed take out the two lightweight (7g) capsule-shaped lavalier mics and clip them to your shirt (or clamp them via a magnet, which is a common feature these days).

At the base of the carry case is a magnetically attached USB-C receiver. (There’s also a handy lighting receiver if you’re using an older iPhone model). This compact receiver detaches from the case and pops into the USB-C slot of your smartphone or laptop. You can then walk and talk wirelessly (up to 100m) while the transmitter broadcasts your voice to the receiver attached to your camera or computer. This is a classic way of capturing audio for content creators. But thanks to the Boya Magic’s innovative design, there’s more! Lots more.

One thing that ‘gets my goat’ when watching a YouTube video is when a presenter holds a tiny wireless clip-on mic in their hand and talks into it. This just looks silly given that the mic is designed to clip onto their shirt so that they can walk and talk ‘hands-free’. If you want a more impressive-looking handheld mic, then consider the Boya Magic. If you pop the two little clip-on capsule mics back into their long cylindrical carry case, you can use the case as a more impressive-looking handheld gun mic!

The omnidirectional lavalier mic stored at the end of the carry case cylinder transmits audio to the receiver attached to your camera. You can hold the carry case like a gun mic and walk and talk wirelessly into it. There’s even supplied Boya-branded windshield that slides over the end of the carry case, which helps make it look more like a professional handheld interview mic. This handheld configuration is great if you want to do ‘vox pop’ style interviews, as you can point the gun mic towards your interviewee and capture their opinion without having to attach a capsule mic to their shirt. You can then point the stick mic back at your mouth to carry on presenting to camera.

And there’s more. Let’s imagine that you’re working from home on your laptop and you want to record some audio for a project. You can pop the Boya Magic in its carry case (gun mic) configuration onto its supplied mini tripod. Use the tripod’s ball head to tilt the mic towards your mouth and the USB-C receiver into your laptop’s USB-C slot. You can use this table-top mic to stream your voice in high-quality audio or capture a narration in your editing software. And the audio quality is impressive due to the fact that the Boya Magic’s mics record at 48kHz/24-bit and capture a wide 144 dB dynamic range. Check out my supporting video in the Performance section to see and hear the Boya Magic in action via a range of different configurations.

The Boya Magic’s fourth configuration is as an on-camera mic. You can detach the ball head section of the mini desktop tripod to reveal a DSLR-compatible shoe-mount. This enables you to mount the gun mic onto your DSLR or mirrorless camera cold shoe. You then need to attach the third supplied receiver to the unit and plug it via a supplied TRS to TRS cable into your camera.

Boya Magic: Performance

To test the Boya Magic, I started off by taking the kit into my garden. I slipped one of the lightweight (7g) and thin (13mm) lavalier mics out of the carry case and used its magnet to attach it onto my shirt. I’m not a huge fan of magnets as they tend to fall off and get lost when you finish shooting (though in this case, the magnet fell into my shirt pocket when I detached the mic at the end of the shoot, so I was able to retrieve it). Some wireless mic kits come with spare magnets, but the Boya Magic only has the two. Fortunately, both mics have a clip-on attachment too, which will come in handy if you lose the mini-magnets!

I then plugged the USB-C receiver into my tripod-mounted iPhone 16 Pro’s USB-C slot. The Boya Magic’s tiny receiver is attached magnetically to a slot at the base of the long cylindrical carry case. This case’s magnetic attachment isn’t quite as strong as the magnets on the two mics, so I’m a little concerned that if the receiver did slip off the end of the carry case and get lost, the whole kit would be rendered useless. But since you only pop the receiver back onto the carry case at the end of a shoot, it will probably stay safely attached as you’ll then place the carry case into the padded zip bag that stores extra accessories such as wind shields.

Talking of windshields, the design of the Boya Magic windshield is excellent. You simply slide the capsule-shaped mic into the windshield and that’s it! The fluffy shield is shaped so that you can still see the transmission light at the top of the mic and also tap the shiny noise cancellation button at the base of the mic. When testing the Boyalink 3, I spent ages trying to slide a slippery disc-shaped mic into its wind shield, so I’m grateful for the much more efficient design of the Boya Magic’s wind shield.

I was then able to start recording on the iPhone and talk to the camera to test out the audio quality of the lavalier mic. The mic’s polar pattern is set to omnidirectional, so while it picked up my voice loud and clear, it also recorded the loud equipment (perhaps a chainsaw) from a neighbouring garden. Nightmare!

However, with a tap of the easy-to-access noise reduction button on the Boya Magic lavalier mic I was able to activate the AI-powered noise reduction feature. Now, every mic I review these days seems to offer AI-powered noise reduction, but usually at the cost of the isolated voice sounding electronically ‘warbly’ or distorted. Even the recently released Boyalink 3 suffered from less-than-effective noise reduction.

I’m therefore pleased to say that with the Boya Magic, AI-powered noise cancellation works much more effectively. The background sound of the chainsaw and a passing plane vanished, leaving my voice sounding clean and undistorted. Have a listen for yourself to my supporting video. This improvement in AI noise cancellation is impressive, especially as the Boya Magic retails for less than the Boyalink 3.

Above: see and hear the Boya Mic in action in our hands-on video review

Still on the subject of noise cancellation, the Boya Magic features a neat design touch in its various configurations. There’s a shiny noise cancellation button on each lavalier mic. Press this button, and the blue lights on the transmitter and receivers turn green to indicate that noise cancellation is active. An identical shiny button can be found on the carry case so you can trigger noise cancellation in gun-mic mode. There also appears to be a noise cancellation button on the receiver attached to your smartphone, though when I pressed that button, the indicator light on the receiver and mics stayed blue. That wasn’t an issue as I would always trigger noise cancellation from the mic anyway.

The next step of my test involved unclipping the lavalier mic from my shirt and popping it into the carry case, which I then attached via a threaded screw to the supplied mini tripod resting on my table. I unplugged the USB-C receiver from my iPhone 16 Pro and slid it into a USB-C port on my MacBook Air. This desktop gun mic configuration enabled me to capture video and audio directly into my MacBook’s QuickTime app, so the audio from both iPhone and MacBook was of consistent quality.

I then clipped one of the lavalier mics back onto my shirt and performed a distance test in the local park. I found that although there was some signal dropout when I turned my back to the camera (and the mic lost line of sight with the receiver), the dropout wasn’t as bad as it was when I tested the Boyalink 3 and the Boyamic 2 earlier in 2025. When I faced the camera from a distance, the audio was loud and clear, even when I was so far away that you couldn’t see my lips move! Impressive.

Finally, I took the Boya Magic kit with me to London to record audio for a review of the Hohem iSteady V3 Ultra. This is a compact smartphone stabiliszer. The Boya Magic’s receiver is so small and lightweight that I could easily plug it into my gimbal-mounted iPhone 16, and it made no difference to the performance of the iSteady. The noise reduction feature on the Boya Magic was also very useful in my shoot’s the busy urban location.

Boya Magic: Verdict

The Boya Magic deserves a place in your kit bag because it saves you storage space! You don’t need to carry a separate space-hogging pair of lavalier mics, a gun mic, and a tripod-mounted desktop mic (or a separate shoe-mounted DSLR mic). The Boya Magic can easily and quickly be configured (like a shape-shifting Transformer robot from the movies) to suit your shoot’s specific needs. The 48kHz/24-bit recording combined with a wide 144 dB dynamic range produces excellent quality audio, and unlike many wireless mic kits on the market, the AI-powered noise cancellation does a great job of removing unwanted background noise without distorting your voice. Finally, AI noise cancellation comes of age! I’ve already used the Boya Magic to capture sound for another product’s review, and I’m sure that it’ll be a while before something better comes along to outclass it. It is indeed a kind of magic!

Alternatives

Were I a cynic, I might suggest that the timing of the arrival of an Insta360-branded mic from a company which had previously been content to list compatibility with the DJI Mic 2 as a feature might corroborate some rumors that DJI was planning on releasing their own 360-degree camera.

Motivations aside, this is a 24-bit wireless microphone which is designed to pair with Insta360's flagship X5 360-degree camera and Ace Pro 2 action camera, and can also work with a phone over USB-C (but not Lightning – sorry older iPhones), nor any other connection types. In other words, it does the main jobs most people need, but it's not as flexible as certain other mics. Then again, it probably doesn't need to be.

Is this going after Rode, Hollyland and others, or even the DJI Mics? Perhaps – if you can connect to a USB-C socket on your phone and get the RX kit, but it could be that Insta360 are happy just helping Insta360 customers. Either way, is this up to the job?

Specs

Price

The Insta360 Mic Air is available in two bundles:

The Mic Air Transmitter (TX) is for people with an Insta360 camera compatible with the Mic Air – that is an Ace Pro 2 or an X5 camera. You get the Mic (TX), a charging base, button magnet, magnet pendant, windshield, and carry case. Launch price is $49.99 / £49.99 / AU$89.99.

The 1 TX + 1 RX bundle adds in a USB-C receiver (RX) which means you can use the device directly with smartphones, computers, or tablets. It launches at a very fair $69.99 / £69.99 / AU$129.99.

These both compare well with the more expensive DJI Mic Mini (1TX + 1RX).

Mic Air: Build & handling

The TX needs to sit on a tiny cradle to charge, but several magnetic means to wear it are provided once you're ready to get going – either a simple magnet for the other side of a garment, which will usually be the most discrete, or a pendant magnet which offers a bit more flexibility with bulkier clothing.

The mic itself is at the top of the TX, so if you wear the mic with the Insta360 logo facing the right way up the mic will point up. This leads to the somewhat unconventional means of attaching the wind shield (or "dead kitten"). The shield has a small hole at its base to go over the mic, which is held in place through a moulded rubber ring that clips around the TX.

That rubber ring is a bit of an annoyance at first, because it needs to be aligned with the button on the side, though it comes easily enough. More annoying is if the ring and windshield should become detached, as the plastic moulding that grips the ring is really quite small and the rubber is flexible. Re-fitting, as I had to, it with bits of the hairs dangling around was a little irksome, I found the first time.

Some – myself included – may find it a little odd that the charging cradle has a USB-A plug in this day and age, though it has to be said that I certainly have a few devices that still offer that means of charging so it didn't hold me back.

I tested the 1 TX + 1 RX set, which came with a circular zipped case, dividing the main parts from an accessory pocket. I did find the weather shielded zip a little sticky to open a couple of times. Not too much of a problem, though not as elegant as DJI's sprung hinge case, I thought. That said, it's softer, so easier to just toss into a bag, and stores more accessories, so perhaps I'm being unfair. This may be more practical but didn't quite earn my instinctive geeky "like" in the same way.

Performance

No complaints about the performance. If you're looking for a little more detail than that, then I found that the mic handled the sound range well, and was able to get a clear recording of my vocal range indoors and out, even without the windshield when I was outside on a breezy day.

I tested the mic with my iPhone and an Insta360 X5 and didn't have much trouble connecting them. There is a single button, but it does all the jobs I needed, and there aren't that many jobs. It took a few seconds to pair with the RX again after pairing with the X5, but it was clear when this had happened, even outdoors, from the bright LEDs.

I not only tested the mic in the breeze, but near a noisy road, with passing diesel engines, perhaps because I'm cruel. It nevertheless handled the noise reduction well, some of the passing buses reduced to nothing, some to a slight noise. All in all I was impressed.

Overall Verdict

Not the most fully featured wireless mic I've ever tested, and one in which some aspects of the design are perhaps a little less than perfectly polished, but nevertheless one which is also very sensibly priced and certainly offers the quality you'd hope for – not to mention software integration with key Insta360 products.

My main complaint is also, let's be totally honest, likely one that starts to blend away into nothing over time, even a week or two like my test. Slightly unusual or quirky design elements are things we all get used to with devices we use day to day, while the lightness is impressive and the sound quality is not to be sniffed at.

Overall, though, for vlogging or capturing local sound on the go, this mic did a good job of cutting out the background noise, even in challenging environments, and is very small and light to wear, so by the key criteria (as well as the price) it's a good choice if it'll connect to the devices you have.

Also consider

How I tested it?

I have worked as a professional video photographer, and created videos now for Digital Camera World, so you'd better believe I like good, simple, efficient portable microphones. I test them in real-world scenarios by going out there, plugging it in, and using it, then checking the results – and have tried many of the best competing devices, from Hollyand and DJI among others. To get a taste of life with the Mic Air, I kept it in my bag and took it out on several shoots for a few weeks.

The more you delve into video making with a mirrorless camera or a DSLR, the more you’ll find out about the limitations of their audio capabilities… and the more you’ll come to realise just how important is the sound side of any production. 

An external microphone is the least that you can do to improve audio quality, but an external audio recorder takes things a lot further, and the brand that’s made its name in portable digital audio equipment is Zoom. Introduced back in 2014, the original Zoom H5 digital audio recorder was one of the first models with interchangeable microphone modules which made it exceptionally versatile. Consequently, it has become a staple for many sound recording applications including podcasts, interviews, dialogue audio and in-the-field work. The H5studio version incorporates additional features and new audio recording technologies to make it even more of an all-rounder as well as enhancing performance.

It’s still a very compact and lightweight unit that’s comfortably hand-held, and can also be easily mounted on a camera – but it now has the largest microphones ever fitted to a Handy series model – with 19.4 millimetres diameter diaphragms –which have a wider frequency response, a maximum SPL (sound pressure level) of 140 dB, and an expanded dynamic range of 132 dB.

As before, the H5studio allows for the microphone modules to be interchanged so the standard X/Y capsule – which is supplied with the unit – can be easily swapped for pick-ups that are better suited to specific applications. 

However, the H5studio is still compatible with existing optional modules such as mid-side shotgun-type microphone and an XLR/TRS input unit, along with a new dual-channel wireless module which drives a pair of lavalier lapel mics (for interview set-ups) and is also a System 3.0 component which supports 32-bit ‘float’ audio recording. This is a technology that’s designed to eliminate clipped and distorted audio which happens when there are sudden increases (or reductions) in the sound levels… often an issue when recording on location. It also eliminates the need to continually adjust the recording levels manually to correct for changes in the sound level. 

However, the H5studio also supports the 16- and 24-bit formats which don’t need any post-production processing, but do require gain adjustments when recording. Take your pick, and two sets of dedicated gain knobs are provided. For video-makers, there’s the provision for connecting optional TCA-1 or BTA-1 timecode adapters, but the H5studio also supports wireless timecode from the Atomos UltraSync BLUE module.

There’s a host of physical connections with the audio inputs including a pair of XLR/TRS which both support 48V phantom power and use Zoom’s F-series preamps with dual AD converters to support the 32-bit float recording, and deliver the wide 132 dB dynamic range. There’s also what Zoom calls “advanced look-ahead” limiters which anticipate potential overloads and so prevent distortion.

The H5studio can record up to six tracks (i.e. the stereo mics and audio four inputs) with sample rates of up to 192 kHz. It’s also a 4-in/2-out USB audio interface for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android, supporting 32-bit float and 16/24-bit recording. So, for example, it’s possible to live stream and also simultaneously record a back-up to an onboard microSD memory card. 

Furthermore, with either the TCA-1 or BTA-1 timecode adapters connected, the Zoom Handy Control & Sync app for iOS can be used remotely control start/stop recording and synchronise timecodes. The H5studio accepts microSDXC memory cards and now up to 2.0 TB in capacity and, usefully, has a 30-second automatic recording back-up system.

Other notable features include a 5.0 cm full color LCD display (which shows input levels via real-time waveforms), a built-in loudspeaker, headphone and line-level outputs (the latter for direct connection to a camera to sync video and audio), and a mono mode (for recording narration, vocals or interviews). However, it’s not a touch screen so menu navigation is still the old-school way.

Onboard power now comes from four AA-size batteries which Zoom says are good for around 15 hours of operation, but the unit’s USB-C connection supports external power delivery. With batteries installed, the H5studio still only weighs a modest 410 grams. 

In the field, the H5studio is very easy to set up with nicely tactile controls – notably the gain knobs – and the comprehensive colour display which tells you everything you need to know at a glance. 

Zoom has actually made the H5studio more purely a recording tool – the previous model, for example, had some basic audio editing functions – and this actually streamlines its usability and its operational efficiency. 

Perhaps not surprisingly given the word ‘studio’ is in the model name, the sound is indeed studio quality with very clean highs, a well-defined mid-range and a rich, solid bass. The stereo imaging with the standard mic capsule is both wide and very convincing, and handling noise seems well suppressed, provided you don’t keep changing your grip while using it handheld. 

With the H5studio mounted on a camera – there’s a standard ¼-inch tripod screw socket on the back of the unit as the starting point – you still need to take care with handling and using any physical controls because it is quite sensitive to bumps and knocks. 

Obviously there’s plenty of flexibility when it comes to how you record your video soundtracks – line-level to the camera (which will still be better than using the camera’s mics), direct to the H5studio’s memory card or to an external recorder – so it will just depend on how much you want to do in postproduction and, of course, how far you want to chase the best possible sound quality. However, in any set-up or situation, the H5studio delivers a command performance. 

Check out our full guide to the best audio recorders for filmmaking

Although there are a few types of microphones for filmmaking, the most common type used for general filmmaking is the shotgun, whether that be a small battery-powered cold shoe-mounted mic or a larger, phantom-powered option. Of course, there are wireless and lavaliers too, but for daily use, the shotgun is king.

Shotgun mics have a fairly similar feature set and build type, no matter which end of the budget they come in at. At the cheaper end, there are many options, although Rode seems to have dominated for a while now.

At the upper end, things are a bit different. Many sound recordists, supervisors, and solo shooters have adopted a favourite mic, with the Sennheiser MKH416 being particularly loved. Sony, with its new ECM-778, is looking to take that top spot away, by way of form factor and sound quality.

I studied sound design at university and have a keen interest in all aspects of this and believe that good sound is equal to, if not more important than, good image quality. With that in mind, I spent some time testing the ECM-778 to see what it has to offer.

Sony ECM-778: Specifications

Sony ECM-778: Price

At $1,119 / £930, this is an expensive mic and you’d be forgiven for turning your eyes toward a cheaper, lower-end offering, but I urge you not to. Good glass and good audio will serve you far better than the latest camera body or gimbal. The price is high here, but it is worth every penny.

Sony ECM-778: Design & Handling

The ECM-778 ships in a rigid case, along with a number of accessories. These include a 30cm XLR cable, both foam and fur wind shield, a mic clip, and an adaptor to boost the diameter of the mic for standard mic clips. I’m not a fan of adapters. It’s just one more thing to break or be misplaced, but in this case, it’s a trade-off I’m more than happy with, as the size of the ECM-778 is so much better than having to deal with a large mic that can interfere with the frame. At least when mounted on a camera. This adapter could also help with other mounting solutions like boom arms, although the supplied clip could be used too. The adapter is a soft rubber sleeve that will also help mitigate any noise from slight movement in use.

Both windshields are good quality, they fit well, unlike some others I’ve used, with no slippage.

The mic itself has a solid metal acoustic tube that feels very rugged, although small and light. One of the big benefits of this mic is the form factor. At under 20cm, it’s really very compact, especially given how it performs, which I’ll talk about later. If you tend towards mounting on your camera, you’ll appreciate this even more, as any extra weight adds up quickly. As mentioned before, the shorter overall length means that it stays out of frame as well, something that can be a real issue with longer shotgun mics.

There aren’t many controls on the ECM-778. Just a single recessed switch for the low-cut filter. This is a tiny switch, so it will mean using a small tool to adjust, but personally, I’d leave it on all the time anyway, as it does a good job.

It shouldn’t be easy to mess up a simple XLR port, but I have tested mics before, where there was a large amount of slop and play, which really doesn’t inspire confidence. Luckily, the Sony snaps in beautifully and stays in place very well.

The case is a sleek affair, just big enough to hold everything with foam padding to protect in transport, rounding off a very nicely put-together package.

Sony ECM-778: Performance

Let's start with the physical attributes of the ECM-778. I mentioned already that the form factor here is good, but I want to reinforce that. The size and weight really make a lot of difference to the overall user experience, but shotgun mics tend to be long for a reason, and that is for directional control. A longer acoustic tube (effectively the part of the metal body that sits forward of the capsule) lends itself to making sure sound is picked up more strongly from the front, cutting what’s recorded from the sides and rear.

Somehow, the boffins at Sony have managed to give a fantastically directional capture to a mic with a really short body. I’ve seen others that are good at this while being almost as short, but they didn’t sound anywhere near as good. The openings in the side here help to ensure the recording doesn’t sound like it’s been recorded in a tin can.

A shorter mic also balances better. When you think of where you attach a mic to the clip (usually close to the rear), you can see how it’s easy for a longer body to dip. The ECM-778’s short body balances incredibly well, ensuring that the front of the mic is facing where you want it.

This is great news in any situation, but vital on location. If you don’t have the option of wiring your talent with a lav, a shotgun might be the only option, and you really don’t want to be dealing with intrusive ambient sounds, wind noise, and so on. Similarly, if you are a documentary maker, shooting on your own, a shotgun can be the best solution. The ECM-778 deals very well in these situations, and that low-cut filter aids in reducing unwanted noise, too.

That’s only part of the equation, though. Frequency response is a big part of the picture. Good directional control only takes you so far. If your results are lacking in clarity, overly bass-heavy, or demonstrate painfully harsh highs, that is much harder to deal with.

Sony has developed and tuned the new capsule design to be very flat across the entire frequency range, especially so where it matters most, in that 100hz to 3k range where most of what we hear sits. For recording the human voice, this is very important, and the results when I look at the scopes in Logic show just how good it is. It’s a very linear result that sounds fantastic from the off, but also means that if you do need to tinker with certain frequencies, it is much easier to do so.

What’s more impressive is how this response stays the same, even when the source of the sound is further away. Many mics start to fall apart after even a meter, but the ECM-778 performs incredibly strongly at three times that distance.

The signal-to-noise ratio is also very low. This is harder to measure as it will inevitably depend on the preamps you use, what internals your audio interface uses, and even the wiring in the building. That said, compared to other mics I have in my collection, the Sony produced significantly less noise. For reference, I use a Universal Audio Apollo Twin, via a Thunderbolt connection.

I can see this mic being a great choice, not just for filmmakers but audiobook recording, YouTube, and podcast productions, and general content creators.

Sony ECM-778: Verdict

The ECM-778 is a top-tier microphone. It outperforms the competition in my testing, from audio quality to general form factor. It isn’t cheap, but in this instance, you absolutely get what you pay for, and I would be more than happy if this were the only mic I had access to. The incoming audio is great as is, and, for those who need to sprinkle some secret sauce, it takes tweaking very well too.

Alternatives

For other alternatives, check out our guide to the best shotgun mics

As it stands, many filmmakers and sound recording artists look to shotgun mics for many situations. The directionality, response curves and build lend themselves to this task but there is room for improvement. Even the current darling, the Sennheiser MKH416 has some areas that could be refined.

Sony has approached this with a completely new design which, although it may look fairly similar to the previous ECM-680S the ECM-778 has all new internals, from the capsule to the acoustic tube, giving it a very flat response curve at any distance. This should hit the most important areas of the frequency range between 100 and 3k. Important for sound supervisors on set, as well as YouTubers and other content creators, who tend to mount mics to their cameras.

Another benefit for this style of sound recording is the overall size. Shotgun mics can get problematically long, risking infringing the frame but Sony’s design is actually quite compact at just 176mm.

It’s also a lightweight microphone, even though it has a metal body, which should ensure a good service life and protect from damage on livelier sets and harsher conditions.

The new acoustic tube and matched super cardioid capsule, are tuned for human voice and highly directional capture, negating extraneous noise from interfering with results. Alongside a very flat response curve, and a low signal to noise ratio, it looks set to outperform the competition in results and form factor.

To further mitigate unwanted sound, the ECM-778 has a low cut filter, as well as both foam and fur wind shields. Some welcome additional accessories are included, such as an XLR cable and a mic clip, with an insert for use with other clips

The Sony ECM-778 will ship in a hard case, which is a good thing as you’ll want to protect your $1,199 / £930 investment!

There’s a wide range of wireless mic kits on the market, so there’s something to meet the needs of video professionals and social media content creators alike. Wireless mic kits also vary in price and specification, so check out our best wireless microphone buying guide for a round-up of a range of options.

The Saramonic Air is a typical wireless mic kit in that it ships with two transmitters that you can clip onto an interviewer and interviewee. The receiver connects to your smartphone or camera via USB-C or 3.5mm TRS cable. This enables you to walk and talk from a distance while your voice is transmitted wirelessly to the receiver and recorded onto your camera.

My previous encounter with a Saramonic mic was with the Blink500 ProX B2R in August 2024. Thanks to its price and specifications (such as onboard recording), the Saramonic Blink500 ProX B2R had a more professional target audience than the newer (and more affordable) Saramonic Air (which lacks an onboard recording feature).

The Saramonic Air has more in common with March 2024’s Saramonic Blink 500 B2+, though advances in technology enable the Saramonic Air to capture better quality audio than the older Blink 500 B2+.

So is it worth buying the new Saramonic Air, or should you snap up an older (cheaper) model? Let’s find out…

Saramonic Air: Specifications

Saramonic Air: Price

The Saramonic Air is priced at $139 without a lavalier mic and at $159 with two lavalier mics at launch, so if you don’t need the more discrete-looking lavalier mic solution, then you can save some cash and just clip the mini plastic transmitter mics to your subjects.

The Saramonic Air ships with a USB-C adaptor so you can plug the receiver into a range of smartphones. There’s also a supplied 3.5mm TRS to TRRS cable to connect it to a camera. However, if you use an older iPhone, then beware, as only the American release of the Saramonic Air ships with a Lightning adapter as well as a USB-C adapter.

The version of the Saramonic Air with the Lightning and USB-C adaptors is priced at the slightly more expensive $149 without a lavalier mic and at $169 with two lavalier mics.

The price is a reasonable one for a mic with the Saramonic Air’s specifications, as it does capture excellent-quality audio. However, it’s well worth paying an extra $20 for the two lavalier clip mics as they do look more discreet and capture a slightly smoother and more intimate sound quality than the ‘naked’ plastic transmitters do.

Saramonic Air: Design & Handling

Like most wireless mic kits, the Saramonic Air consists of two small plastic brick-shaped transmitters that clip (or attach via supplied magnets) to the presenter, and a receiver that is connected via a USB-C adaptor to a smartphone (or to a camera via a 3.5mm jack cable). Both transmitters and receiver sit inside a carry case that also doubles up as a charging station. This ensures that all the units are equally charged on a shoot, so the interviewer’s mic won’t run out of juice when chatting to an interviewee. You can also charge up the case’s contents by attaching a single USB-C cable to it. The receiver can also be attached to a little adaptor so that you can slide it into the hot-shoe mount of a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Saramonic’s press release says that the Saramonic Air kit is “built with retro-futuristic style”. I’m in my 60s now, so to me, retro means something from the 70s or 80s. The Saramonic Air’s receiver, with its black curved edges, TFT colour display and little red power button, reminds me of 1990s tech, but I guess the Nineties is ‘retro’ to our Generation Z readers! Talking of design, the case does stand out from the wireless mic crowd due to a curved black metal body with a glass panel on the lid that displays its contents. This transparent section is handy as you can see the charging status of both transmitters and the receiver without opening the lid. This is both an aesthetic and a practical design!

The Saramonic Air kit also ships with two lavalier cable mics that you can clip onto a subject’s lapel for a more subtle and discrete look. Lavalier mics suit the needs of documentary or drama makers who don’t want to see a chunky plastic transmitter clipped to their actors.

The carry/charging case and its contents are nice and compact and will fit easily into a pocket. If you also want to carry supplied extras such as wind shields, clips, and lavalier mics, then you can slip these and the mic case into the supplied branded drawstring bag and pop it into your camera bag.

Saramonic Air: Performance

I’ve been shooting corporate videos for decades, so I've enjoyed seeing video kit evolve from chunky 1980s U-Matic format cameras that required you to lug a separate video recorder over your shoulder, to lighter Mini-DV camcorders in the 90s, to DSLRs in the noughties. I now shoot video primarily on an iPhone 16 Pro (and that includes my video reviews for Digital Camera World), so I was pleased to see that the Saramonic Air packaging featured the Made for iPhone/iPad logo on it. This meant that I could clip the supplied USB-C adaptor onto the Saramonic Air’s receiver and plug it straight into my iPhone. I was then able to clip one of the mics onto my shirt and record great-quality sound and video in my iPhone’s native Camera app. This ‘plug and play’ design is wonderful (and it should work just as well with Android phones, too).

When using older iPhones with a Lightning port, my iPhone sometimes failed to recognise that a mic was attached, leading to lots of frustration and fiddling with menu settings as the iPhone mistakenly identified the mic as a pair of headphones. This is thankfully no longer the case, thanks to ‘Made for iPhone’ brands like the Saramonic Air.

To test the Saramonic Air, I took it to the gardens of a stately home. It was raining, but I found a long tunnel of plants and flowers in which I could perform a distance test. The Saramonic Air is a dual-channel 2.4 GHz wireless microphone system, so the sound of my voice sounded impressively clear, clean, and rich with a nice mix of bass and treble. At 25 feet from my iPhone 16 Pro (and the USB-C attached receiver), my voice still sounded the same even if I turned away from the camera. However, at around 30 metres, the signal started to drop out when the mic lost line of sight with the receiver. This is not unusual for a wireless mic, and the signal returned as soon as I faced the camera. Even from a distance of approximately 50 metres, the audio sounded as good as it did when I was 1 metre away from the camera.

I then plugged a supplied lavalier clip mic into a transmitter to see/hear if there was any difference in sound quality. The 9.7 mm lavalier mics shipped with the Saramonic Air have a 6mm diaphragm that is 1.5x larger than standard lav mics. The sound quality from the lavalier mic was superior to the audio captured by the transmitter’s built-in mic, boasting a deep bass and crisp highs. This could be partly due to the fact that high held the lavalier mic closer to my mouth than the clip-on transmitter. The lavalier mic has a front-facing pick-up field which minimises plosives (or pops). Indeed, when I held it close to my mouth and said ‘perfect’ and ‘professional’, there were no popping sounds! Check out this review’s supping video to hear the quality of the Saramonic Air’s built-in and lavalier mics for yourself.

To fully test the quality of the Saramonic Air’s lavalier mic, I used it to record an interview with cinematographer Andrew Rodger about the lenses he used in a recent shoot for the movie ‘Sessions’. By clipping a lavalier mic onto Andrew, I felt more ‘professional’ than I would have if I magnetically attached Saramonic Air’s plastic brick-shaped transmitter mic to his t-shirt. The traditional lavalier gave me more cinematic ‘street-cred’ than using a transmitter with its built-in mic. The quality of the audio captured by the lavalier mic was excellent, and it matched the production values of the teal and orange lights that I used to light Andrew’s face (courtesy of two Viltrox K90 tube lights - https://www.digitalcameraworld.com/cameras/viltrox-k90-review. I include an extract from Andrew’s interview in this review’s supporting video so you can hear the quality of the lavalier mics for yourself. On a slightly negative note, there was a little (but negligible) rustling caused by the lavalier mic’s foam wind shield rubbing against Andrew’s t-shirt, so in the future I’ll remove the wind shield when shooting indoors.

Sometimes, latency can be an issue with wireless mics (where the subject’s voice is a few frames out from the recorded audio). Fortunately, the latency in my Saramonic Air recordings was negligible, so I didn’t have to spend time offsetting the audio channel in editing software by a few frames until sound and lips were back in sync.

Wireless mics can suffer from wind noise. This is usually effectively reduced by a windshield, and the Saramonic Air provides two ‘dead cat’ style wind shields for its transmitter mics. These wind shields clip onto the mics easily and stay firmly secured. These well-designed windshields are a very welcome feature. I’d recently tested the Boyalink 3 and spent ages trying to squeeze that kit’s slippery circular mic into its too-tight windshield.

The Saramonic Air also features AI-powered noise-cancelling technology to remove unwanted and distracting background noise from your recordings. I tend to be a bit skeptical about most wireless mics’ built-in noise reduction features, as they tend to make my voice sound electronically distorted and thin. The Saramonic Air’s transmitters offer two levels of noise cancellation. You can trigger these settings by pressing the NC button on the receiver. A little icon appears in the receiver’s 1.05″ full-color TFT display to indicate which level of noise cancellation has been chosen.

I tested the transmitter’s built-in noise cancellation feature in my garden to reduce the background cries of nesting birds. The first level of built-in noise cancellation dipped the birds a little without distorting my voice. The second level of noise cancellation was too subtle to make much difference in comparison to level 1. Circling back to the TFT display, I could view it clearly on a rainy day, but when the sun came out, I snuggled to see if noise cancellation was active, even after boosting the brightness to 100%. Another niggle was the inability to turn on noise reduction from the mic itself. It could only be activated by tapping the NC button on the receiver. You can, however, mute the transmitter mic without returning to the receiver by pressing the red button on its side.

If you record via the free Saramonic App, you can apply five levels of noise cancellation to your voice. These settings dipped the volume of background birds more effectively, but they also caused my voice to occasionally dip in level, which rendered them useless. The app’s higher levels of noise cancellation made my voice sound very muffled, so I recommend sticking to the more subtle two-level noise reduction feature built into the mics and receiver. The app does have some more useful features, such as the option to turn on a low-cut filter to reduce wind rumble and mic handling noise. When recording video via the Saramonic app, you can also toggle on a Vocal Booster (though I must admit I didn’t test this particular app-assisted feature).

Saramonic Air: Verdict

The Saramonic Air is marketed as a professional mic, and the audio quality that it transmits does indeed sound great. It has a built-in limiter to help avoid distortion, and you can record a lower level (-6dB) safety track to help minimise clipped audio. However, for a truly professional pedigree, you will want a mic that uses onboard recording so that you can fill in any holes caused by signal dropout, and the transmitters in the Saramonic Air kit don’t possess this essential pro feature.

Saying that, signal drop-out only occurred when I faced away from the camera from around 25 meters away. When facing the camera at around 35 metres, the dual-channel 2.4 GHz signal sounded clean and clear, with my transmitted voice quality boasting a range between crisp highs and a strong bass. So if you need to wirelessly capture professional sound recordings at a mid-level price, then the Saramonic Air will suit your needs (and you can use the receiver’s built-in headphone socket to keep an ear out for problems such as drop or the rumble of passing aircraft).

I’d say that the weakest aspect of the Saramonic Air is its subtle noise cancellation feature, but at least it doesn’t make your voice sound electronically distorted like many other kits do. To be honest, I’d do my noise cancelling in a post-production non-linear editing app such as Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro, as you’ll get more effective results, so I’m not too concerned about using noise reduction during a shoot.

Alternatives

Insta360 has finally grabbed control of the whole vlogging toolset with the launch of a new Mic Air accessory.

Until now, the easiest way to connect a microphone to the company's 360 camera, the Insta360 X5, or the premium action camera, the Ace Pro 2, was to go for the DJI Mic 2. Now, though, for some reason, it seems the company is keen to have its own offering – and here it is!

The new Mic Air is Insta360's first wireless mic, and weighs in at just 7.9g. It works with the company's flagship X5 – my pick for the best 360 camera – without any extra devices, meaning 360° vlogging is extra straightforward.

Worn magnetically, it is easily mounted on clothing in a manner we've seen become popular with other brands, like the DJI Mic Mini systems I have already reviewed. In terms of features, buyers can expect:

• Remote control for start / stop recording, toggle noise reduction, and mute / unmute
• 48kHz / 24-bit audio with built-in noise reduction
• Removable windshield
• Device-only option for compatible devices, and a bundle with receiver for wider compatibility (such as phones)

For Insta360 (and DJI) watchers this is a fascinating release, because it clearly has the potential to streamline 360° content production – and, significantly, means that all production can take place on Insta360 gear. The device can be paired with the Insta360 App and work with features like FlashCut and Shot Lab – tools that help with AI edits.

If you've been following the news about Insta360's recent successful float as a listed company, this will make sense as part of a growth plan.

If you've also seen the rumors that competitor DJI – already behind several small wireless microphones for vlogging – is looking at launching its own DJI 360-degree camera, then I think we can see some battle lines hotting up!

That, though, is the future. Right now Insta360 is also launching an X5 Ultimate Creator Bundle including the X5 (obviously), the new Mic Air, the fairly new Bullet Time Selfie Stick 2.0 and a Quick Reader. This is already available on the Insta360 store.

You might also like…

Take a look at the best wireless microphones and, if you prefer a hard connection, check out the best lav mics and the best microphones for vlogging.

Back in April 2024, I reviewed the Boyamic, a wireless mic kit that enabled you to clip a plastic-brick-style mic onto your shirt and transmit your voice wirelessly to a receiver plugged into your camera or smartphone. The original Boyamic also had a noise cancellation feature to reduce distracting sounds such as passing traffic. In May 2025, Boya released an updated version of their pro-targeted mic - the sensibly named Boyamic 2! I was pleased to get hold of a review unit to test prior to the kit’s launch. I was especially interested to see how the Boyamic 2 compared with the Boyamic, especially as I gave the original four stars for its excellent performance.

At the same time as the Boyamic 2’s 2025 release, Boya released the Boyalink 3 - another wireless mic kit. What’s the difference between the two? Well, the Boyamic 2 is Boya’s flagship mic kit and is aimed at the needs of professional sound recordists. The cheaper Boyalink 3 is an entry-level wireless mic kit that lacks some of the advanced features of the Boyamic 2, such as onboard recording.

Let’s talk a little about onboard recording, as it’s an important and valuable feature. As well as reviewing gear for Digital Camera World, I sometimes freelance as a video maker in the corporate sector. A few days before writing up this review, I recorded a Rugby Coaching conference in Wales using a RØDE Wireless Go 3 kit and a camcorder. About half an hour into a talk, I realised that I had forgotten to turn up the input level of the presenter’s mic using a knob on the camera. This meant that the sound being broadcast by the transmitter clipped onto the presenter wasn’t being recorded on my camcorder! A sacking offence! Fortunately, when you turn on the RØDE Wireless Go 3’s transmitter mic, it automatically activates onboard recording. So the presenter’s missing audio was available as an audio file that could be downloaded from the microphone to the PC! Big sigh of relief!

It is therefore reassuring to see that the Boyamic 2 has this essential onboard recording feature built into its transmitters. The cheaper Boyalink 3 kit does not, so if you can’t guarantee (or afford) a re-take, then the Boyamic 2 is well worth the extra purchase price!

Boyamic 2: Specifications

Boyamic 2: Price

On Boya’s official website, the Boyamic 2 is available in three versions. If you’re a solo operator on a budget, then you can pick up a single transmitter and the receiver for just £76, but you’ll need to charge both units separately, which means that one unit could run out of power before the other and spoil a shoot. For the lowest cost, you get two transmitters and a receiver in a carry case. The carry case also enables you to charge the three units in the kit at the same time, ensuring equal performance.

The most expensive version adds two cabled lavalier clip mics. These mics can be plugged into the transmitters if you want a more discreet-looking microphone clipped to the lapel of your subjects. I’d probably go for the midrange kit as I don’t tend to need to hide my mics when making documentary-style videos.

Boyamic 2: Design & Handling

As a second-generation product, you’d expect 2025’s Boyamic 2 to have improved design features over 2024’s Boyamic, and that’s certainly the case. The original Boyamic’s transmitters looked like kids’ toys— with a big plastic red/orange button to trigger onboard recording and a big blue button to toggle noise reduction on or off. The Boyamic 2 transmitters are much more discreet, and the colour-coded buttons have been replaced with much more subtle black ones.

On one side of each transmitter is a button labelled ‘Rec’ to trigger onboard recording. On the opposite side is a button adorned with a waveform symbol, and this triggers the activation of AI-assisted noise reduction (which is indicated when the usual blue light on the mic turns green).

To help them look more subtle and professional, the Boyamic 2’s transmitters are smaller and lighter than their Boyamic predecessor. The Boyamic 2 kit’s transmitters boast a ridged textured front that makes it easier to grip than the smoother (and therefore more slippery) plastic of the original Boyamic transmitter.

Both Boyamic 2 transmitters can be attached to your subject’s clothing via a sprung clip, which is fine if they are wearing a jacket or shirt. If they’re wearing a t-shirt, you can attach a mic anywhere by popping the supplied magnet inside the t-shirt.

Circling back to AI-powered noise reduction, the Boyamic 2 does a better job than its predecessor when it comes to reducing unwanted background noise. This is down to the ever-evolving nature of AI and the presence of a built-in AI chip in each Boyamic 2 receiver. This chip is powered by DNNs (deep neural networks) that have been trained on over 700,000 noise samples. You can use two levels of noise reduction - Strong mode suppresses up to -40dB background sounds while keeping a voice audible. For less noisy backgrounds, you can switch to Light mode, which helps preserve some of the location’s natural ambience. To hear the effectiveness of this noise reduction feature, check out my test video in the Performance section.

The Boyamic 2’s receiver also sees some design improvements thanks to a button that you can press to select properties such as mic input levels and rotate to adjust them. The colour OLED display shows you helpful information such as which mic is making an onboard recording and which has been muted (and you can trigger those settings via the receiver’s OLED screen). When receiving a signal from both mics, you can see two smaller audio level indicators side-by-side. If you’re only using one transmitter mic, then the audio indicator grows to fill the OLED screen, which is a welcome (and useful) design touch. The receiver’s OLED screen is touch-sensitive, which makes it a quick and easy job to adjust mic properties such as tweaking the gain or activating onboard recording and noise reduction.

The receiver can be attached to a smartphone via the supplied USB-C plug (or to a camera via its TRS socket). You can also monitor the audio signal transmitting to the receiver courtesy of its built-in headphone socket, which is an essential feature for a pro sound recordist, as you can hear problems such as signal drop-out and then re-take the scene.

Boyamic 2: Performance

To test the Boyamic 2 kit, I took it to two different locations. I started at London’s Barbican Centre because here I could do a distance test, safe in the knowledge that no one would be around to steal my tripod-mounted iPhone when I walked away from it. Due to the windy nature of the location, I popped a supplied ‘dead cat’ style windshield onto the transmitter mic clipped to my shirt. I’d recently tested the cheaper Boyalink 3 in the same location and had difficulty attaching its windshield.

It was a much easier process to clip the windshield to the Boyamic 2 transmitter, though it did feel a little loose with the potential to drop off. Fortunately, the windshield stayed attached to me during my distance test.

As you’ll see (and hear) from my test video, the signal from the Boyamic 2 transmitter began to drop out noticeably at approximately 15 metres when I walked away from the camera, and the mic lost line of sight with the transmitter. This dropout continued as I walked around 60 metres away, though the signal was loud and clear whenever I turned to face the camera. In most cases, people will be talking to the camera (rather than facing away from it), so drop-out isn’t a major issue, plus the option to activate onboard recording solves any drop-out issues, as I discovered in a later test.

My transmitted voice sounded clean and clear, and thanks to a negligible latency of 25 milliseconds, it remained in sync with my mouth, so there was no need for any post-production tweaking of the audio channel’s position relative to the video clip.

After the distance test, I sat by a noisy fountain and triggered the AI-assisted noise reduction feature. The simultaneously released Boyamic 2 and the Boyalink 3 both offer noise reduction, but on the cheaper Boyalink 3, this made my voice sound warbly and a bit metallic. The more expensive Boyamic 2’s superior deep neural network-powered chip did a much better job, removing the white noise of the gurgling fountain while preserving my voice. Have a listen to the test video.

For my second Boyamic 2 test, I took it to the countryside to test the onboard recording feature. By default, the audio quality broadcast by the mic is a pro-grade level 48KHz/24-bit signal. If you use the transmitter mic’s onboard recording feature, you can record in 32-bit, which should, in theory, sound even better than the transmitted audio.

As I walked away from the camera, I did indeed get some signal drop-out, but as you’ll hear from my test video, I was able to plug any audio gaps thanks to onboard recording. It was a simple matter to plug the Boyamic 2 transmitter into my MacBook Air and drag the onboard-recorded .wav file into Final Cut Pro’s timeline to replace the transmitted audio track. In the test video, I switch between the 24-bit transmitted audio and the 32-bit onboard recording. In theory, we should be able to hear a difference in quality, but to my ears, both clips sound equally great!

Boyamic 2: Verdict

2025’s Boyamic 2 is certainly superior to 2024’s original Boyamic in relation to design and performance. We’ve lost the chunky colour-coded buttons of the original Boyamic’s transmitters, and the smaller Boyamic 2 transmitter now looks more professional and discreet when clipped to a subject’s shirt.

The AI-powered chip inside the Boyamic 2 does a better job of reducing background noise than its predecessor without adding too much distortion to the subject’s voice. The Boyamic 2 costs more than the simultaneously released consumer-targeted Boyalink 3, but the effective AI-powered noise reduction and the safety net of onboard recording make the Boyamic 2 a much more attractive choice for professional video makers who can’t afford to compromise on sound quality or lose a take to drop-out.

Alternatives

I’ve worked as a sound recordist since the late 80s, so I am familiar with a wide range of the best microphone types. I’ve used clip-on wireless lapel mics such as the RØDE Wireless Go 3 to walk and talk while presenting to camera, free from the physical constraints of a cable connecting my mic to a video recorder. I’ve also used directional shotgun mics mounted on poles to capture audio for dramas. During a take, my arms would soon get tired (and the mic and pole seemed to get heavier) as I had to keep the shotgun mic pointing at the mouths of the performers at all times to capture good-quality audio.

When recording voice-overs for product reviews, I’ve favoured a desktop mic such as the Blue Yeti. This directional mic has a built-in stand and sits on my desktop, transferring my voice directly to a PC video-recording app via a USB connection.

In the past year, I’ve even relied on recording my Digital Camera World review voice-overs directly via my MacBook Air’s built-in mic as the audio quality was adequate and I could capture a voice-over from my living room sofa! Thanks to posture-induced backache, I’m back at my home office desk to test the Maono PD300X, which, as you’ll hear from my supporting video, captures superior sound to my MacBook’s built-in mics.

The Maono has a similar spec to a desktop Yeti, both of which have a cardioid (heart-shaped) polar pattern that listens to your voice from the front of the mic while ignoring sound like a PC fan from behind it. The Maono also mounts on an adjustable boom arm so, like the old pole-mounted shot-gun mics I used to build my bicep muscles, you can get the mic closer to your mouth without it appearing in the top of the frame (and without suffering any arm ache!).

Maono PD300X: Specifications

Maono PD300X: Price

On the official Maono site, you can purchase the Maono PD300X on its own for $109.99. You could mount the Maono on a third-party desktop mic stand courtesy of its 5/8"to 3/8" thread adapter, but to enjoy more mic-positioning versatility and control, I’d recommend paying the $164.99 to bundle the Maono with the adjustable BA37 Boom Arm. Or for $129.99, you can buy the Maono with a desktop stand, but the mic looks much cooler when mounted on the boom arm and that should appeal to video makers who want to show off their audio gear in YouTube videos (though you can, of course, place the mic out of shot and still get great quality audio!).

You can get directional mics on a boom arm for a cheaper outlay, but if audio quality is important to you and you want to show off a pro mic in your channel’s feed, then the Maono PD300X is worth its price.

Maono PD300X: Design & Handling

The Maono PD300X ships in a surprisingly small branded box that’s adorned with a Made for iPhone, iPad, and iPod badge. After I plugged it into my MacBook Air via the supplied USB-C to USB-C cable, it did indeed work straight out of the box. As a Mac user, I appreciated this ‘plug-and-play’ design, though from perusing its User Manual, it should also work the same way when plugged into a PC’s USB-C slot. The USB-C cable also powers the mic when it’s plugged into your PC.

The supplied USB-C cable has a handy adapter at one end, so you can attach the mic via USB-C or via a larger USB-A plug. As well as a USB-C socket, the rear of the mic boasts a male XLR socket. This gives professional sound recordists the option of plugging an XLR to XLR cable into the mic and connecting it to a mixing desk. This pro pedigree XLR specification also enables you to capture better quality audio than you could when connecting via USB-C, though, as you’ll hear from my test video, the USB-C connection still produces impressive audio quality.

Circling back to that small box the mic shipped in, the PD300X mic itself is very compact. It was slightly shorter than my handspan, though its girth was slightly wider than my thumb-to-finger grip. Unlike cheaper plastic-bodied mics such as the Joby Wavo POD, the Maono PD300X has a metal body as befits a pro mic. Slide off the foam pop-shield and you’ll find the microphone capsule itself, protected by a dense metal mesh.

Mics that are attached to a boom that’s attached to the edge of your desk are prone to suffering from handling noise. If you drum or tap your fingers on the desk, then vibrations can travel up the boom and add a take-ruining bass rumble to your audio recording or live-stream feed. The PD300X ships in a shock mount that’s designed to reduce handling noise. This is a circular rubber cradle that suspends the mic in the metal ring that’s attached to the boom arm. The rubber is designed to absorb and dissipate noise-inducing vibrations.

However, the shock mount can’t stop handling noise for cables plugged directly into the back of the mic itself. There was a noticeable handling sound when I moved the mic, and the headphone cable rubbed against the USB-C cable. However, this isn’t a big issue as you won’t be moving the mic during a take. Check out our Performance section to see how effective the shock mount is.

My Maono PD300X review test unit also shipped with the Maono BA37 Boom Arm. Clamping the base of the boom arm to my office desk was a simple operation. I turned a silver handle to rotate a threaded screw, ensuring a tight clamp. I then slotted the boom arm into the clamped base and rotated another handle to keep the boom arm securely in place. I then attached the mic to the boom via a thread on the shock mount ring. The boom has three hinges that enable you to raise the mic up or stretch it forwards so that you can ensure that it’s pointing directly at your mouth from a low or high angle.

Traditionally, the separate sections of a boom arm have springs that help it stay in place as you adjust the mic’s position. The Maono BA37 Boom Arm didn’t have any visible springs, but it took a little effort to articulate it, and it stayed in the desired position at all times, so there’s no danger of the mic dropping or drifting during a take.

On the downside, the boom is a little short. Stretched to its full height, it measures approx 26”. When the mic is angled to point at your mouth, this drops it by 7”, so the tip of the mic is only 19” above your desktop. This is high enough if you want the mic to be out of sight as you chat to the webcam of a laptop, but if you’re using a larger PC, such as a 27” iMac, then the mic will probably be visible near the top of the frame. However, this isn’t a problem if you want to show off the fact that you have a studio-quality boom mic in your YouTube channel broadcasts, though it might be overkill to see a boom mic in a Zoom chat with family or colleagues.

Maono PD300X: Performance

To truly appreciate the audio quality of the Maono PD300X, 24-bit Bit Depth and 192 kHz sample rate, play this review’s supporting video. When recording my voice via the Maono, it sounded crisp and clear, with a nice level of bass on the default EQ settings. I then unplugged the Maono to compare its audio quality with the sound captured by my MacBook Air’s built-in mics.

The quality of the audio captured by my MacBook’s built-in mic sounded more muffled in comparison to the Maono, and there was a more boomy quality to the Mac’s audio due to sound bouncing from the walls. The Maono avoided ambient room noise thanks to its cardioid polar pattern, so it only listened to a narrower field of audio when pointed directly at my mouth. Thanks to the adjustable boom arm, the Maono was physically closer to my mouth than a desk stand-mounted mic, so it gave my voice a close-mic quality reminiscent of late-night radio presenters.

This intimate audio quality will help you get closer to your audience, though on the downside, you can occasionally hear ‘glossops’. This is not a standard industry term, but one employer I worked with used ‘glossop’ to describe slimy, sibilant sounds caused by swallowing, lip-smacking, and general mouth and throat noises that you might need to trim from a voice-over after talking very close to a mic. Thanks to the foam pop shield, none of my plosive sounds (such as those you get when you say words beginning with B or P) turned into audible ‘pops!’

One feature I really liked was the tactile control knob on the Maono’s shaft. By rotating this knob, you can adjust audio input levels. Green level indicator lights that circle the knob indicate the strength of your voice, and they turn yellow (or red) if your sound level is in danger of peaking too high. You can also press the knob to toggle between adjusting input levels and headphone monitoring volume (and headphones can be plugged firstly into the rear of the mic).

On the downside, the control knob will add handling noise when you press or rotate it because it’s on the mic itself, so it doesn’t benefit from the protection of the shock mount. The shock mount did do a better job of reducing noise-induced vibration when I tapped the desk that the boom arm was attached to.

The audio in my supporting test video comes directly from the Maono’s default EQ settings. I didn’t tweak any EQ for the Maono’s audio recording or for my Mac’s comparison built-in mic. However, you can use the free Maono Link app to manually adjust EQ for a shaper or bassier sound. It also features one-click presets that configure the Maono’s settings for different Scenes, such as Podcasting, Recording and Gaming. Gaming, for example, might involve a bit of shouting as you chat to friends and followers, as well as quieter levels of audio, so this Scene turns on a limiter to keep noise distortion to a minimum and a compressor to lift the quieter levels of speech. The Maono Link app also enables you to create custom EQ presets and update the firmware of the Maono mic, so it’s well worthwhile downloading it.

Maono PD300X: Verdict

The Maono PD300X mic enables you to make your audio production values match the excellent quality of your HD footage, leading to a more professional-sounding recording. Thanks to the BA37 Boom Arm, you can get the mic closer to your mouth for intimate-sounding audio that will connect with your audience. The boom-mounted mic also looks slick and professional when it features in your footage, though you can of course place it out of shot if you don’t need to show it off! The physical control knob on the body of there mic enables you to tweak the levels and avoid peaking thanks to the ring of coloured LEDs around it - just don’t tweak the knob while recording or you’ll hear handling noise!

Since February 2022, I’ve tested and reviewed 24 more wireless mic kits (including the subject of this review - the Boyalink 3). For the most part, these mic kits are similar in that they have two microphones with built-in transmitters that send a signal to a receiver that’s plugged into your DSLR, mirrorless camera or smartphone.

Over the years, the best wireless mics specs have evolved, with some (such as the RØDE Wireless Pro) solving the problem of signal drop-out by offering onboard recording - a high-quality digital audio file that is recorded directly onto the mic itself. You can then plug the mic directly into your PC and import the onboard recorded audio file into your editing software to fill in any sound gaps.

I must be quick to point out that the Boyalink 3 doesn’t feature onboard recording. The Boyalink 3 was released by Boya in May 2025 alongside the higher-specced Boyamic 2. The Boyalink 3 is the cheaper of the two and is aimed at the consumer market, such as YouTubers or travel doc makers who want to talk to camera as they walk and talk without being tethered by a cable from the mic to the camera. The Boyamic 2 targets the professional filmmaker who needs to capture audio without a second take, and can ensure that they have a decent recording thanks to the Boyamic 2’s onboard recording feature.

RØDE has similarly targeted both consumers and professionals. The RØDE Wireless Pro features onboard recording, while the cheaper consumer RØDE Wireless Micro is aimed at the needs of entry-level vloggers - the same target consumer market as the Boyalink 3.

Boyalink 3: Specifications

Boyalink 3: Price

The official price for the Boyalink 3 is $159 / £189 (although it was heavily discounted at the time of writing). This price is for the version of the kit that has a charging case, two transmitter mics, and both a USB-C and Lightning adaptor to connect the receiver to an old iPhone or a newer iPhone and Android device. If you don’t need the Lightning adaptor, then you should purchase the slightly cheaper USB-C only kit at $139 / £159.

If you’re a solo shooter who doesn’t require two wireless mics, then you can purchase a kit containing a single mic and a receiver for a very budget-friendly $129 / £139. However, this low-budget kit doesn’t include the carry case that doubles up as a charger, so there’s more danger of you losing power during a shoot. I’d recommend buying a version of the Boyalink 3 that has a carry/charging case (and the tiny mics will be less likely to be lost when stored in the case alongside the receiver).

The Boyalink 3 has a similar spec and consumer target user as the RØDE Wireless Micro; however, the RØDE Wireless Micro is less prone to signal drop-out, so saving a buck or two shouldn’t be a factor in deciding which mic kit to purchase.

Boyalink 3: Design & Handling

When I first started testing wireless mic kits for Digital Camera World back in 2022, they tended to have a similar design. The mics with built-in transmitters tended to be chunky plastic bricks - see the Boya BY-XM6-S2 review for an example. Brick-like mics tended to be rather conspicuous when clamped to a shirt, so kits such as the Boya BY-XM6-S2 also shipped with more discrete cabled lavalier mics that would plug into the receiver that was attached to your belt. A crocodile clip would then attach the smaller lavalier mic to your lapel.

As time rolled on, some consumer mics, such as the Boyalink 3, have ditched the brick-like shape and cabled lavalier mics in favour of a smaller circular button-shaped transmitter mic. Indeed, the preceding Boyalink 2’s mics were more traditional rectangular plastic ‘bricks.’ The spring clips favoured by older mics have been replaced by magnets that slip under the subject’s shirt to hold the Boyalink 3’s mic in place. The Boyalink 3 also includes a clip mount that has a built-in magnet, so you can still clip a mic to a shirt or lapel if you desire (and there’s less chance of you losing a magnet when you detach the mic and the magnet slips down inside your shirt!).

The Boyalink 3’s button-shaped mic is very similar to the disc-shaped mics in the Hollyland Lark M2 Wireless Lavalier Mic kit. The Lark M2 also uses magnets to keep the mic attached. Check out our Alternative section for more on the similar Lark M2.

As with most wireless mic kits, the Boyalink 3 ships with a plastic carry case that keeps the two mics and receivers safely together during transit to the shoot. The case also charges the mics and transmitters to ensure that they all perform equally on a shoot. The receiver can be attached to an Android smartphone (or newer iPhone) using a supplied USB-C adaptor plug, or to an older iPhone courtesy of the supplied Lightning connector. There’s also a TRS cable to connect the receiver to a DSLR/mirrorless camera.

Boyalink 3: Performance

To test the Boyalink 3, I took it to London’s Barbican Centre. The open spaces between the tall towers tend to be very windy, so it’s a great place to test the effectiveness of the supplied ‘dead cat’ windshields. Windy locations can be difficult to film in as the wind adds a rumbling base noise to your dialogue, and that can ruin a take.

Normally, you can clip a windshield to the top of a mic so that its fluffy textured material absorbs wind and keeps noise at bay. However, the Boyalink 3’s circular mic needs to be completely inserted inside the circular windshield. As the mic is made of a very smooth and shiny plastic, this makes it very slippery to handle when trying to slide it inside the circular windshield. I spent quite a while trying to get the mic to fit into the tightly elasticated windshield, and on a couple of occasions, the mic slipped out of my fingers and onto the floor, which was quite frustrating.

Eventually, I was able to get the windshield on, but that involved pulling its fluff so hard that some of it came off. This was the trickiest windshield to attach of any microphone I’ve tested. Oh - there’s also the danger of pressing a button by accident when trying to get the mic into the windshield, and this can result in you accidentally muting the mic! So, keep an eye out for a red warning light on the mic that says that it is in Mute mode.

Once the windshield was finally attached, the wind-induced rumble was still audible (as you can hear from the start of my test video). Fortunately, the rumble quickly abated. There is an AI-assisted noise cancellation feature built into the mic, which can be activated by pressing a button on the side, but this button isn’t visible when the mic is wearing the windshield. We’ll come back to noise reduction later in this review, but first, I performed a distance test.

The specifications of the Boyalink 3 say that it can transmit audio from the transmitter to the receiver from 300 metres. There’s nowhere in London that I can shoot where I can safely leave my iPhone 16 Pro 300 metres away, plus you’d not be able to see me at that distance! I tested the mic from up to 60 metres away, and the signal was loud, clean, and clear. Even from that distance, I was a dot on the screen (as you’ll see from my test video). The audio quality sounded as good from 60 metres as it did from 1 metre. However, the signal did begin to drop out when I turned my back on the camera at around 30 meters, and the transmitter mic clipped to my shirt lost line of sight with the receiver attached to the iPhone. Drop-out like this is not unusual, and for most shoots, you’d be facing the camera anyway, so it shouldn’t be a major issue.

If you have to capture sound when you turn away from the camera, then consider the Boyamic 2, which was released at the same time as the Boyalink 3. The more expensive Boyamic 2’s mic supports onboard recording, so you can any plug holes caused by signal dropout. With some wireless mics, there can be a little delay between seeing a subject’s lips moving and hearing their voice. This latency is usually only a few frames and can easily be fixed in post-production software such as Adobe Premiere Pro. I was pleased to see that there was no noticeable latency when viewing footage captured by the Boyalink 3.

My next job was to test the AI-assisted noise-cancelling feature on the Boyalink 3 mic. I sat by a noisy fountain and removed the windshield so I could see/hear how effective the noise cancellation feature would be. After removing the windshield, I could see and tap the noise cancellation button. The mic’s blue light turned green to indicate that it was in noise-cancellation mode.

The noise-cancelling feature did an effective job of removing the white noise caused by the fountain, but the trade-off was that there was a slight electronic warble to my voice. To be honest, if the source of background noise (such as a fountain) is visible in the frame, it’s better to avoid using the Boyalink 3’s noise reduction feature and keep the fountain noise audible (or try manually reducing background noise in editing software such as Final Cut Pro).

Boyalink 3: Verdict

The Boyalink 3 is worth considering if you’re a consumer-level videographer who wants the production values of their social media channel’s sound to match the HD quality of their video footage. The auto-gain feature means that you don’t need to worry about manually setting sound levels (though you can take more control via the Boya Central smartphone app). You can also tweak the EQ of the Boyalink 3 from within the app to fine-tune its recording. The mic’s high-fidelity 48KHz/24-bit audio quality sounds great. However, once you’ve recorded a piece to camera, it’s essential to play it back to check for signal drop-out. You can then re-take the sequence if necessary. Pro video makers (such as wedding videographers) might not have the time to check the audio quality of their footage. They won’t be able to ask for a retake either during a busy and stressful wedding shoot, so they should consider purchasing the more expensive professional-level new release from Boya - the Boyamic 2. This mic features onboard recording, so it will record audio without any signal drop-out.

The Boyalink 3’s button-shaped mics are more discreet than the typical plastic brick shape of other manufacturers, but this compact design leads to challenges, such as getting the windshield to attach to the mic and then being unable to see and press the noise-cancelling button on the mic. There’s also the danger when wrestling the mic into the windshield that you might press the mute button by mistake, but a red warning light will help you avoid filming a scene with no audio. You could also accidentally trigger noise-cancellation mode, which could lead to a slightly warbly soundtrack, but fortunately, a larger and more noticeable green light appears on the receiver when noise-cancellation is active.

For its price, this is an affordable solution to improving the audio quality of your videos and freeing you to be heard as you walk and talk wirelessly from a distance (as long as you face the camera). However, I was surprised and frustrated at how tricky it was to get the windshield onto the mic, which loses it a star in the rating, and the noise cancellation feature wasn’t particularly effective despite the marketing blurb about its AI-assisted pedigree.

Alternatives

I’ve always admired Atomos for the way it thinks about creators, not just in terms of specs, but in real-world usability. The brand is renowned for creating user-friendly yet powerful on-camera monitors, but now, the company is stepping into new territory with the StudioSonic Shotgun Mic, a broadcast-grade microphone.

For those of us who work in smaller, mobile setups such as documentary filmmakers, YouTubers, and on-location content creators, it’s a compelling new tool.

The StudioSonic is a professional-grade shotgun mic designed for both wireless and wired workflows. It can operate over 2.4GHz wireless or plug directly into gear via USB-C, using Atomos’ locking connector for a secure fit.

That makes it a natural companion for devices like the Ninja V, Shogun 7, and Shinobi, but also a solid match for cameras, recorders, and computers across the board. Compact, lightweight, and rugged with a shielded all-metal body, it feels made for the kind of fieldwork many of us do every day.

As someone developing a documentary project, I’m always looking for kit that can adapt as quickly as I need to. Whether I’m filming an interview in a windswept car park or grabbing sound while walking through a crowded market, the StudioSonic looks like it could slide into my workflow without missing a beat.

It offers broadcast-quality 48kHz/24-bit audio from a super-cardioid condenser capsule, with manual gain control, low-cut filters at 75Hz and 150Hz, a high-frequency boost for clarity, and a real-time OLED display for gain levels, filter modes, and battery status. It’s all about staying dialed in without being distracted by fiddly settings.

Battery life is strong too, with up to 7 or 8 hours when wireless, and an impressive 50 hours in wired mode. That kind of longevity matters when you’re working long days in unpredictable environments. It also means I could easily run this into my computer for podcasting or voiceover work, without worrying about charging mid-session.

The release of StudioSonic continues a noticeable shift in Atomos’ ecosystem. Following the launch of their new monitoring headphones and the Atomos PTZ camera, this new mic shows the company isn’t content to stay confined to video monitoring. It’s building out a full creative toolkit that matches the needs of modern hybrid shooters and storytellers.

The StudioSonic Shotgun Mic is available to pre-order now, with shipping set for mid-July 2025. It’s priced at $249, which works out to around £195 or AU$375 excluding local taxes.

For anyone looking to elevate their audio without adding complexity, it’s an exciting development. Personally, I can’t wait to see how it performs with my setup. It might just be the missing link in my run-and-gun doc rig.

you may also like

Check out our guides to the best wireless microphones and the best shotgun microphones.

I spent a lot of time on both sides of studio microphones in my early working life. First I was a studio broadcast engineer for the BBC in London, then moved to Swaziland (now Eswatini) for a couple of years where I continued broadcast engineering while also reading radio news bulletins, my English accent landing me the additional job. The 3 Legged Thing Annie takes me back a few years – actually a few decades, to a time when radio news bulletins were written out on paper using an antiquated machine called a typewriter.

I’m pleased that not much has changed and that Annie works on the same principles. It’s as highly effective as the studio microphone arms of yesteryear. Considering 3 Legged Thing’s habit of naming its products after legends of music, you might wonder if this studio arm is named after Annie Lennox of Eurythmics and solo fame, or maybe even after the hit musical, Annie Get Your Shotgun Mic.

In fact, it takes its name from the legendary Annie Nightingale, whose groundbreaking roles included being the first female DJ and presenter both on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Television’s The Old Grey Whistle Test. Her namesake sets out to do her proud, as one of the best microphone boom arms on the market.

3 Legged Thing Annie: Specifications

3 Legged Thing Annie: Price

What price a decent microphone boom arm? Typically, you can expect to pay from as little as $20 / £15 up to about $150 / £100, which puts Annie in the mid pack, selling for $70 / £60. At the time of writing this review, I was unable to find any Australian outlets selling the boom arm. The same goes for 3 Legged Thing’s other two microphone boom arms that were launched at the same time, namely the Steve (after Steve Wright) at a slightly pricier $80 / £70 and the budget-friendly John (after John Peel) at $45 / £40. The trinity neatly covers off three of Britain’s most iconic and dearly loved radio DJs and presenters of all time.

3 Legged Thing Annie: Design & Handling

Enough of all these studio microphone arms, let’s talk about something else. All the way back in 1932, an automotive engineer by the name of George Carwardine was busy in his garden shed, inventing a new type of spring-loaded suspension mechanism. It could be moved around and positioned at any angle with speed and ease, after which it would hold its place as if by anti-gravity magic. A suitably lightbulb moment followed and the Anglepoise lamp was born.

I only mention it because every studio microphone arm that I’ve ever used works on the same principle. A clever arrangement of springs enables quick and easy movement without the need to release any clamps, or tighten them up again once the mic is in place. It’s simple, intuitive and highly effective. But unlike my old Anglepoise lamps, the spring-loaded mechanisms in the Annie remain completely silent during movement, which is naturally an important consideration when microphones are close at hand.

Unlike most 3 Legged Thing tripods and other supports, this one comes as a kit of parts. Indeed, you’ll usually find a download link for retrieving your 3 Legged Thing user guide online but Annie comes with a good old-fashioned sheet of folded paper. It has what you might call the IKEA effect, in that you’ll love something more if you put it together yourself. In time-honored tradition, the unfolded double-sided sheet of paper contains diagrams and instructions for six steps to reach fully assembled studio arm heaven. Let’s follow the process, as it also neatly guides us through all the salient features.

The first step in construction gives you two choices. You can either go for clamp mounting, in which case you’ll use a C-shaped clamp that fits to the back or side of a desk or table, or you can choose grommet mounting. For the latter, you’ll need to drill 10mm / 3/8in hole through your desk or table, which might sound a bit drastic but is often preferable in the environment of a home studio or professional setup. I like that Annie comes with alternative fixings and that it’s easy to use either option.

Next is the fun part, which comes complete with a safety warning for a ‘stored energy hazard’. When you snip the cable tie that binds the arm in its fully folded position, it might spring out and take you by surprise, so the instructions suggest that one person cuts the tie while the other holds the arm and then releases it gradually. I reckon you can successfully accomplish the task with a single pair of hands and a modicum of care.

The bottom of the arm has a spigot that slots into a nylon bush in the base. It’s the same deal whether the base is mounted to the table by clamp or grommet. To fit the arm, you just need to loosen an Allen screw in the base, plug in the arm, then tighten up the screw again. The net result is that the spigot and bush enable a full 360 degrees of lateral rotation with silent smoothness.

Moving to the other end of the arm, the next job is to fix the microphone mount ball & socket assembly. Again, it’s a simple task, this time involving taking a screw out, wrapping the sides of the socket around the top of the arm, then screwing it back together with the ball section inside. The mount comes with a standard 3/8in threaded shaft plus a 5/8in adapter, to suit the widest range of microphone holders.

Once all that’s done, which only takes a few minutes, you’re pretty much ready to roll. To keep things neat and tidy, however, there’s a final step of sliding out a pair of covers that run the length of both arm sections. These reveal a channel through which you can run the microphone cable, so you can keep it out of sight and out of harm’s way after refitting the covers. There are a couple of load-bearing adjustment screws beneath a magnetic flap but it’s unlikely you’ll need to tinker with these.

3 Legged Thing Annie: Performance

I’m completely satisfied with the performance of the 3 Legged Thing Annie. As I’d hope for, the range of movement is wide-ranging and silky-smooth. It requires barely more than zero time and effort to swing the arm around and to lift it up and down, finding your sweet spot with speed and ease. Even more importantly, there’s no gradual sagging of the microphone after you’ve left it where you want it.

The spring-loaded mechanism works flawlessly and in a similar manner, the ball and socket joint that holds the microphone clamp is equally effective. A simple twist of the lock/release lever is all that’s needed to adjust the angle of the microphone, either laterally or up and down, so you can position it just how you want it. Some prefer to have the microphone angled downwards from above, others like it pointing upwards from below or straight on, and if you’re reading from a script you might like it angled in to face your face from one side or the other. The Annie caters to every need and whim.

3 Legged Thing Annie: Verdict

I’m yet to be anything other than very impressed with 3 Legged Thing tripods and other supports. The Annie continues a winning theme as far as I’m concerned. It’s cleverly designed and well made, fulfilling its purpose in fine style. Movement is smooth and free-flowing, making it quick and easy to get a microphone into perfect position, and once that’s done it stays put with no unwanted drooping, sagging or other drama. It’s a really good studio mic arm, as well as being very good value for money at the price.

Alternatives

Ask the attendees and they'll tell you today is the third day of The Podcast Show London 2025 because events started on Tuesday night, but the hall didn't open until yesterday which was the chance to come face to face with the gear on offer to content creators.

Facinatingly, right at the entrance to the exhibition space was a big Canon booth, and pride of place on that stage was some of the best PTZ cameras and the RC-IP1000 controller.

There is now a strong emphasis on multicam switching equipment in the podcast world, for two factors. Podcasts can't grow unless they have visual content to make clips for doom scrollers, and a lot of advertisers seem to believe people watch podcasts on visual platforms. Naming no names, more than a few creators were privately sceptical about this – but that still creates a market for relatively cheap-to-create good quality video and color matching.

The hotbed of discussion about the very nature and meaning of podcasting was not, then, an "existential crisis" because this is a big and successful market with plenty going on (from the BBC on one side of the hall to Gary Lineker's Goalhangars on another – Brits will ).

The Obsbot Talent was just one of a number of live camera switching solutions I tried on the floor, others including the YoloDeck and the BirdDog. A wide spread of budgets are catered for, as are physical or wireless connectivity.

Because not everyone can field a full camera crew, auto-tracking features on PTZ cameras were garnering a lot of attention from attendees, and the Obsbot Tail 2's smooth tracking was clearly of interest.

Obviously you could also find some of the best microphones on the show floor, but interestingly, digital technologies were also capturing a lot of attention, including AI|coustics. I spoke to founder Fabian Seipel who explained that his tech could handle clipping and other issues... which probably would have been useful before I made my TikTok from the hall...

Finally, possibly not major international news, but your Digital Camera World person on the ground rounded the day off with a game of darts with various industry luminaries, including Podiant founder Mark Steadman and Podcast Space founder Ana Xavier. That taught us that I'm 'not the worst' at darts (but I'm still not sure it's a sport – answers in the comments!)

We've seen some significant price drops on one of my personal favorite microphone systems – the DJI Mic 2 – which I reviewed myself. This was already both a very reasonable and very necessary investment for most content creators, but now it is all the easier. Why, then, has it comes down in price? Well, a rumor about a Mic 3 is circulating, but – in truth – there is very little reason not to pick up an accessibly priced Mic 2, especially if you're cost-conscious. Let me explain...

The DJI Mic 2 system records sound straight to the mic which can be copied off simply by plugging it in via USB-C. The mic charges its battery at the same time.

The receiver (RX) also has a built in levels display and adjustment, and can connect to a camera or your phone.

You can opt for a version with two microphones in a charging case – with the price being reduced by £90 to £219 at Amazon. This two-mic system automatically creates a stereo pair, with the case working a bit like with AirPods, topping the charge up

The DJI Mic 2 system has a number of adapters in the box so it can plug into Lightning or USB-C mobile phones and record audio directly, making it brilliant for capturing great quality interview audio on a phone – and directly into a TikTok or other social media video. I myself sometimes record my audio and social media version of a video this way while also recording the audio onto the microphone's battery – that way I've got two copies of the audio track and can edit on my phone and on a 'proper' editing program as the mood takes me (or my battery convenience).

As you can imagine, the DJI Mic 2 is among the DCW best wireless microphones, and, though we have seen Twitter/X rumors of the registering of a Mic 3, there isn't a lot of reason you wouldn't want this system.

The Mic 2 is also widely compatible with DJI products like the dominant Osmo Pocket 3 and Osmo Action 5 Pro, and for these devices you can get away with the RX, opting for the cheapest TX (mic) only bundle, which is also on offer:

🤝 DJI Mic 2 (1TX Pearl White) at Wex UK was £89 NOW £59

32-bit float audio sounds like a dream come true for vloggers and filmmakers, especially solo shooters, who already have enough to do without having to continuously monitor sound levels too. It means, in principle, that you don’t have to set the audio level at all and you can record sounds of any volume without clipping. How is that even possible?

It’s because the standard 24-bit audio recording format used by almost all cameras has a limited dynamic range, in audio terms. If you don’t set your audio levels correctly when you film, you may find unexpectedly quiet sounds don’t come out at all or unexpectedly loud sounds are clipped and distorted.

Good mic placement and some careful headphone monitoring can help and maybe let you know if you need to do a retake, but many events simply can’t be repeated and being both a videographer and an audio engineer at the same time isn’t easy.

Filmmakers and vloggers have been using regular 24-bit audio perfectly well for years, so it’s not like it’s suddenly useless. But it does have limitations in situations where the audio levels are unpredictable and fluctuate widely.

32-bit float recording changes all that. It’s kind of like capturing audio in ‘raw’ not ‘JPEG’... but with a difference. Cameras have limited dynamic range, so raw files give you a little extra leeway but not much. Microphones are different. Typically, they have a huge dynamic range capable of capturing undistorted sounds over a much wider volume range than the dynamic range of 24-bit audio capture.

This is why 32-bit float audio products are typically sold as needing no levels adjustments – there’s no penalty from recovering very loud sounds in post to bring them back down into audible range. Pretty much all NLEs (video editors) support 32-bit float audio. You will still have to do a little manual editing work to recover very loud sounds, but they won’t be clipped.

What’s especially interesting about the 32-bit float format is that it changes the way values are recorded, swapping from a direct numerical representation to scientific notation, which uses a numerical value combined with an order of magnitude (exponent) to store hugely big numbers. The non-mathematical explanation is that 32-bit float can store audio levels so high they don’t exist in nature. You won’t run out of range.

32-bit float is now appearing in many standalone audio recorders from Zoom and Tascam, for example, but has yet to appear built into hybrid cameras as standard – though Panasonic is selling a Lumix DMW-XLR2E XLR Microphone Adaptor with 32-bit float that can be used with the Lumix GH7, as well as the newly-announced S1II and S1IIE. 

The RODE Wireless Pro and DJI Mic 2 microphone kits also offer 32-bit float recording. It’s becoming more and more common on pro audio kit.

So why not on cameras yet? You can perhaps understand it, since built-in camera mics don’t have the audio quality to justify it and their location is fixed at the camera position, so you can’t expect much from these anyway. Also, camera makers might reason that anyone skilled enough to use external audio gear can choose 32-bit float mics and recorders if they want to.

When Sennheiser released the Profile Wireless 2-channel microphone system in late 2024, it felt like a quietly revolutionary moment for content creators. A versatile, camera and computer-friendly wireless setup with crisp sound, intuitive design, and no need for a clunky app interface? It struck a chord with independent creators juggling video, podcasting, and live content across multiple platforms.

Now, Sennheiser has launched a more streamlined, one-channel version of the system, and I think it might be the perfect wireless microphone setup for solo content creators.

Designed for those who don’t need a two-mic rig but still want professional-grade audio, the one-channel version comes in a compact pouch with the same two-channel receiver as the original, meaning expansion is possible down the line. The charging bar has been swapped for an additional USB cable, making it even lighter and more portable. That’s a thoughtful tweak, and it speaks to Sennheiser’s attention to how creators work and travel.

The single mic setup is incredibly easy to get up and running, with no additional apps or software needed. Whether you’re shooting with a DSLR or mirrorless camera, livestreaming from your laptop, or vlogging on your phone, the system plugs in smoothly and works straight out of the box. It also offers compatibility with external lavaliers and boom mics, adding further versatility.

Battery life clocks in at up to seven hours, and there’s internal memory for up to 30 hours of recording, essential if you forget to hit record elsewhere, or if your camera’s audio fails.

Perhaps most significantly, Sennheiser has also rolled out a firmware update for the entire Profile Wireless line, introducing 32-bit float recording, a feature that will resonate with anyone who’s ever lost a take to clipping.

32-bit float audio gives you an incredibly wide audio dynamic range. It records both extremely quiet and extremely loud sounds without distorting or peaking. If you’ve ever had a sudden laugh, shout, or shift in mic distance ruin an otherwise perfect take, 32-bit float is the safety net.

If you’d rather stick to 24-bit recording to save storage, you can still activate a Safety Channel Mode that records a -6dB backup track alongside your primary signal. That kind of flexibility matters, especially for creators who are also their own editors.

What Sennheiser has done here is pretty smart. They’ve acknowledged that not everyone needs two channels from day one, but most of us like having the option. The one-channel version makes the system more accessible, more affordable, and more portable without compromising on quality or future-proofing.

The Sennheiser Profile Wireless 1-channel microphone is available now, priced at $199 / £169 (Australian pricing to be confirmed). The 32-bit float firmware is available now as a free download.

you may also like

Check out our guides to the best wireless microphones and the best lavalier microphones.

The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2025 has just kicked off in Las Vegas, where a who's who of the biggest names in tech have gathered to showcase new and exciting products, including audio specialists Sennheiser.

Sennheiser has just unveiled the MKH 8018, a compact stereo shotgun microphone designed for the broadcasting and filmmaking industries. Compact and lightweight, the MKH 8018 is the latest in Sennheiser's MKH 8000 range of RF condenser microphones, which are developed for professionals working in the field due to their climate-proof ruggedness and natural sound capture.

Senior product manager for the MKH series Kai Lange says, "The MKH 8018 is a high-class shotgun model that rounds off our MKH portfolio at the top end. It has extremely low self-noise and truly excellent sound, very clear and pure due to the mic’s great off-axis rejection. Moisture resistance, minimal non-linear distortion, and a balanced audio signal at the transformerless, fully floating output are further benefits of the RF condenser technology, which Sennheiser has been perfecting for more than 60 years".

The MKH 8018 is designed for work in the field, therefore, it has been made as easy to handle as possible, measuring 230 mm in length with a diameter of just 22mm. Weighing 115g, Sennheiser has built it with aluminum housing to reduce weight and, in turn, fatigue, whether on a camera or boom pole.

The microphone is also 'climate-proof' with an impressive ​operating temperature range of -10°C to 60°C (14°F to 140°F) and a storage temperature range of -20°C to 70°C (-4°F to 158°F). It also has a relative humidity level of 5 to 95%, which makes it just as comfortable in the rainforest as in the Arctic Circle.

Audio-wise, as the MKH 8018 is designed for film and broadcasting, it has been limited to a range of 40 – 20,000 Hz to avoid overloading the mixing console. This differs from the usually wide frequency range of the MKH microphones.

The microphone also differs from others in the range as it is non-modular, and features a 'fixed XLR-5M output, integrated -10 dB pad, filters for tailoring the frequency response, and an additional switchable -3 dB low-cut filter at 70 Hz'.

Sennheiser states that the matrix inside the MKH 8018 "impresses with its homogeneous sound image, and can output MS stereo for further processing in the studio or on a mixer, or – via an internal matrix – XY stereo in a wide or narrow mode without the need for an external mixer".

It continues, "In XY-w, the mic emphasizes the side signal to a greater extent, thus capturing more ambience. In XY-n, the focus is more on the mid signal, giving the sound engineer more directionality".

The Sennheiser MKH 8018 promises to enhance filming and broadcasting capabilities in a lightweight and compact form, ideal for those working on the go.

The MKH 8018 goes on sale this month and will cost $1,999 / £1,675.

you may also like

Check out our guides to the best shotgun microphones and the best wireless microphones.

Tascam has a decades-long run of creating high-quality audio equipment and has a thriving user base, who test both quality and usability of everything from field recorders to the massively popular Portastudio multitrack recorders.

But these days the market is much more crowded, with options for all levels of budget and skill, so can Tascam retain its position as a go-to name for recording sound? With the DR-07XP, they hope to win over those looking for a simple-to-operate device at the wallet-friendly end of the market. Not an easy task.

I have a degree in sound production and have used gear from all kinds of manufacturers, at all price points, so I was very keen to see if Tascam's latest could find itself as part of my filmmaking gear list. I recently reviewed the sister product to this, the DR-05XP, which is very similar, with the exception of non-movable mics.

Tascam DR-07XP: Specifications

Tascam DR-07XP: Price

Priced at just $159 / £149, you might wonder if there's a catch – but rest assured, there's none. Considering all the features included, this represents outstanding value. While there are a few compromises (more on those shortly), none diminish its overall quality or worth.

I strongly recommend including this in your gear kit, especially for on-location shoots requiring ambient audio capture, recording acoustic instruments, or producing intimate-sounding voiceovers.

Tascam DR-07XP: Design & build quality

Compact and lightweight at just 184g including batteries, the DR-07XP has a plastic shell but doesn't feel cheap or fragile. Although a metal housing could add a sense of durability, it would also significantly increase the price – a trade-off that feels reasonable here.

The control layout is logical and thoughtfully designed, placing everything comfortably within reach, making one-handed operation effortless. Apart from a sliding hold switch, all recorder functions are accessible via clearly positioned transport controls and additional buttons placed conveniently in between. The buttons provide reassuring tactile feedback, ensuring you always know when they've been activated – an advantage over many similarly priced devices.

Menu usage is minimal, as key functions are easily accessible without excessive navigation. When needed, the menus themselves are simple, intuitive, and clearly labeled.

Above the controls sits a nicely backlit LCD screen. While it lacks color, the straightforward display clearly shows recording levels, battery life, file structure, elapsed recording time, remaining space on your SD card, and status indicators for effects and file format. Adding color would be an unnecessary premium for these essential functions.

At the top of the device, there's a 3.5mm stereo input for an external microphone, flanked by built-in stereo mics in an AB configuration. The primary distinction between the DR-07XP and its slightly more affordable counterpart, the DR-05XP, is the swiveling microphones. This feature allows quick adjustments between AB and XY microphone positions, providing greater flexibility for recording situations.

Tascam DR-07XP: Power

I'm all for various power solutions, as that way I can choose what is most appropriate for the job at hand, so it's good to see Tascam allowing for that here. You can use a USB-C power bank to run this for days, a USB-C converter from a v-mount battery or stick to simple AA batteries.

While you may like to power via a battery bank, my recommendation would be to use AAs, as they are cheap and easy to carry spares, plus a pair of them will easily power recording for a couple of days. I put in a fresh pair and left it recording until it died and turns out Tuscan's stated figures were exceeded, as I got over 18 hours from it. I imagine this may depend on where you source your batteries but mine were cheap Amazon basics ones, a promising sign.

Tascam DR-07XP: Performance

Performance is ultimately the most critical factor when evaluating filmmaking gear, and the Tascam performs admirably in this regard, albeit with a couple of considerations worth noting.

Firstly, the recorder supports both MP3 and WAV file formats, providing flexibility between audio quality and file size. Personally, I prefer WAV for its seamless integration into my workflow, but both formats deliver excellent results. Audio recordings sound clear, crisp, and natural, offering a solid frequency range. Tascam has also thoughtfully included three levels of high-pass filters, allowing users to effectively reduce unwanted low-frequency noises such as traffic rumble, minimizing extra processing in post-production.

A notable advantage of the DR-07XP over its counterpart, the DR-05XP, is its adjustable microphones, which pivot from an AB arrangement to an XY configuration. This adjustment enables a wider stereo field. The practical impact varies based on your recording scenario: recording separate sources on opposite sides of a room highlights the wider stereo noticeably, whereas capturing general ambient sounds shows subtler differences—unless the sources are moving across the stereo field, where the effect becomes distinctly apparent and natural.

Typically, I'd advise filmmakers to be cautious about setting recording levels to avoid peaking and unwanted distortion. However, a standout feature of this Tascam recorder is its ability to record audio in 32-bit float format, effectively removing the risk of clipping. This capability is particularly beneficial for solo shooters or smaller teams working without higher-end audio gear, eliminating one critical concern during production.

Recording in 32-bit float offers significant advantages, comparable to the extensive dynamic range available with modern cameras. It allows substantial flexibility in post-production, enabling easy adjustments to recover audio highlights or low-level sounds. In fact, having this flexibility with audio may be even more impactful than with visuals, given that audiences often find poor audio quality harder to tolerate than subpar visuals.

The positioning of the mics is important, as is the fall-off, which is noticeable here and why I added that caveat earlier.

You get a fantastic breadth from the stereo field, making this great for capturing ambient audio, outdoor field recordings, and so on, but it's not suited for capturing speech on a set. For that, you need a dedicated shotgun or lavalier mic.

That said, if you record voiceovers, podcasts, or even (as suggested by Tascam) arms, then the DR-07XP is really very good. Voiceovers sound crystal clear, and you can hear some very intimate-sounding voice recordings when you place this close to the source. It sounds fantastic.

I wouldn't bother using this with an external mic either. For situations where that would be preferable, you'll want to use a recorder with XLR inputs, and at that point, you're looking at very different devices.

If you are recording speech or even an instrument, then you could record to the micro SD card (up to 512GB supported), but you could also hook it up to your computer via USB-C and use it as a USB microphone, great for small podcasts or recording an interview setup. All around ease of use and is designed to do just what it needs.

I found that switching the mics to XY made a difference to the recorded file, but it wasn't as great as you might expect. There is definitely a widening of the perceived stereo field, which could be useful in capturing ambient audio on location, but otherwise, the differences were very slight. So keep that in mind. If that is something you need for your workflow, then go for it. If not, then I would save a bit of cash and opt for the DR-05XP, which in all other respects is the same as this one.

DR-07XP: Verdict

The DR-07XP is a well-built and thoughtfully designed audio recorder. I love the clarity of close-up captures and the quality of ambient recordings, but don't rely on them for capturing speech at anything more than a few feet away. However, if you're recording voice-overs, podcasts, or interviews, it could be just the ticket. Plus, the single-handed operation and the fact that it can run for an age on a couple of cheap Amazon basics batteries is good news. Plus, it's a bargain!

If you hear the name Tascam it's very likely you'll think of good quality audio recording, made easy and accessible. The company has been developing recording gear for decades and has established itself as top-tier, in terms of both quality and user experience.

But these days the market is much more crowded, with options for all levels of budget and skill, so can Tuscan retain its position as a go-to name for recording sound? With the DR05XP they hope to win over those looking for a simple-to-operate device at the wallet friendlier end of the market. Not an easy task.

I have a degree in sound production and have used gear from all kinds of manufacturers, at all price points, so I was very keen to see if Tascam's latest could find itself as part of my filmmaking gear list.

Tascam DR-05XP: Specifications

Tascam DR-05XP: Price

At just $119 / £115 you'd be forgiven for thinking you are missing out on something, but you'd be mistaken. For everything that is offered here, that's simply a great price. Yes, there are some trade-offs (more on that later), but they aren't about value, which is excellent.

I'd highly recommend having something like this in your kit for shoots, especially for on-location shooting where you want to capture ambient audio, or for recording intimate voiceovers.

Tascam DR05XP: Design & build quality

The DR-05XP is a compact, lightweight, but sturdy-feeling device with a plastic body. Don't let that fool you, though, as it is robust and doesn't feel cheap at all.

The buttons all give great feedback and are laid out nicely. In fact, the layout is designed so you can operate everything with just one hand, with only the hold slider on the side of the body. Everything else is done using transport controls, with a separate stop and record button, with forward and reverse, plus up and down, surrounding a central play button. These buttons also allow you to navigate the menus, with extra buttons taking on certain tasks, like marking and opening the main menu.

There is a little menu diving, but everything is clean, clear and logical, so no delving into manuals is needed to get going.

Above the buttons is the screen, a nicely backlit LCD. No fancy colour here, but then, there's really no need for it, and you'd pay a premium for it too. You get instant access to levels, battery life, file system, etc and when recording you get time passed, time remaining (based on your chosen SD card as well as status of things like any effects in use and file format.

Above that, on the top face of the device, is a 3.5mm stereo port for an external mic, flanked by the onboard stereo mics in AB positioning. Unlike the DR-07XP, this one's sister product, the mics are fixed, but for most, that will be just fine.

Tascam DR05XP: Power

A key aspect of any gear I carry is how do I power it? I don't like to be restricted too much, or need to carry a bunch of chargers to a location. Thankfully, that's less of an issue with the DR05XP. Not only does it have the option for powering by a pair of standard AA batteries, but you can use the USB-C port to keep it going, a welcome addition.

That said, needing to connect to mains or a power bank is unlikely as the power draw is tiny. I was pleasantly surprised at how long I could keep recording using just the AA batteries. A couple of fresh cheap options from Amazon kept this running for a full two working days, and seeing as carrying a handful of spares in my tech bag takes little weight or space, this is how I would use it on a regular basis. Plus no restrictions on carrying them on flights, which I do now and then, so another big tick.

Tascam DR05XP: Performance

Performance is clearly the most important measure of any piece of gear we carry as filmmakers, and the Talcum does pretty well here, although there are a couple of caveats to that, which I'll get to.

First up are recording formats. You get MP3 and wav options, with settings for quality balanced with file sizes. I prefer wav files personally as they tend to work better with other parts of my pipeline, but I can work with either, and they both perform well, with excellent results. You get good frequency coverage and everything sounds crisp, clear and natural. In certain situations, a broad frequency response can be detrimental, but Tascam has catered to that too, with three levels of high-pass filter, so you can mitigate any rumbles from traffic for example. This works really well and it's a neat feature to have, saving an extra step in post.

Now, normally I would suggest being careful setting recording levels, paying attention to meters and so on, so you don't peak and get unwanted distortion. That is always true but the headline of the Tascam is that it can record in 32-bit float, which effectively negates that. Having one less thing to check is fantastic for solo shooters and small teams, who aren't using a higher-end field recorder.

32-bit float is like having a massive dynamic range on your camera. You can record the file and pull back the highs and lows to where you want them in post. I'd say for audio recording this is a bigger deal than with your picture, as audio is almost always more important for your deliverables. It's hard to watch something with a lacklustre sound, but watching bad visuals is bearable, so long as you can hear it properly.

The positioning of the mics is important, as is the fall off, which is noticeable here and why I added that caveat earlier.

You get a fantastic breadth from the stereo field, making this great for capturing ambient audio, outdoor field recordings, and so on, but it's not suited for capturing speech on a set. For that, you need a dedicated shotgun or lavalier mic.

That said, if you record voiceovers, podcasts, or even (as suggested by Tascam) arms, then the DR05XP is really very good. Voiceovers sound crystal clear, and you can hear some very intimate-sounding voice recordings when you place this close to the source. It sounds fantastic.

I tested this with an external mic, and while it works fine, I would suggest that if you're in a situation that requires that, it will work at a push, but you'd be better off opting for another solution.

If you are recording speech, or even an instrument, then you could record to the micro SD card (up to 512GB supported), but you could also hook it up to your computer via USB-C and use it as a 2x2 audio interface. I tried this using Logic X Pro and Resolve, and it worked perfectly. All around easy to use and designed to do just what it needs.

Tascam DR05XP: Verdict

The DR05XP is a great all-around sound recorder, which is nicely built and lasts for hours and hours on a pair of AAs. Audio quality is excellent, although you'll want to look elsewhere for capturing speech at more than a few feet away, but that's not really what this is made for. It's easy to carry, can be operated with one hand, and these reasons I think it's a bargain.

Zoom has announced the launch of the PodTrak P2, a new portable podcast recorder designed for creators who need a simple, high-quality solution for recording on the go. With two USB microphone inputs, two headphone outputs, and advanced audio processing features, the P2 aims to make professional podcasting more accessible than ever.

Designed for ease of use, the P2 enables users to plug in their microphones, press record, and start podcasting instantly. It supports up to two USB microphones and records directly onto SD cards up to 1TB in size.

For podcasters who frequently conduct remote interviews, the P2 offers a dedicated USB port to connect a phone or computer. The built-in mix-minus feature automatically eliminates echo and feedback, ensuring call-in guests sound natural and professional.

A standout feature of the P2 is its AI-driven noise reduction, which analyzes and minimizes background noise in real-time. This enhancement is especially useful for podcasters recording in unpredictable or noisy environments.

The P2 includes built-in tone shaping and dynamic control features such as vocal enhancement with EQ and de-essing, a compressor to smooth out volume fluctuations, a mute function for quick silencing, and easy mixing with dedicated volume knobs and level meters.

Podcasters can also use the P2 as a USB audio interface, enabling them to record two USB microphones directly to a computer, smartphone, or tablet. Users can also record a stereo mix for quick sharing or save individual tracks for more control during post-production.

Other notable features include audio notifications that provide real-time alerts through the headphone output, warning users of low battery, storage capacity, or other important settings, additional recording and interface settings through the P2 Editor companion software, and connection to video recording which seamlessly syncs for easier post production.

Above: An introduction video of the Zoom PodTrak P2

Weighing just 226g, the PodTrak P2 is built for portability. It offers up to five hours of battery life using four AA batteries or can be powered via USB-C. This makes it an ideal companion for podcasters who work in the field or need a lightweight setup.

For podcasters working remotely or in the field, the P2’s compact nature, noise reduction, and flexibility make it an attractive choice. Personally, as I continue to plan a podcast where I interview photographers in various locations, I can see how the P2 would be a perfect fit for my mobile recording needs.

The Zoom PodTrak P2 is available now for £99.99 / $99.99, making it an affordable yet feature-rich option for podcasters of all levels.

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To date, I’ve tested and reviewed 31 microphones for Digital Camera World and these mics tend to fall into three categories. You have stand-mounted desk mics such as the Blue Yeti which plug into your PC via a USB cable. Mics like the Yeti have adjustable polar patterns (such as Cardioid or Stereo) that change the way the mic ‘listens’ to sound.

Then you have mini shotgun mics such as the Joby Wavo Plus. Gun mics like the Joby Wavo Plus tend to use a Super Cardioid polar pattern that captures a narrow range of sound from the direction in which the mic is pointed. Gun mics tend to be mounted onto a camera’s cold shoe and are connected to the camera via a cable.

Finally, you have smaller lavalier mics like Boya Mini that clip onto a presenter’s lapel and broadcast sound wirelessly to a receiver attached to a camera or smartphone. Lavalier mics tend to have a fixed omnidirectional polar pattern so that they can pick up audio regardless of where they are positioned on the subject. The older Shure MovieMic kit was a typical wireless lavalier mic with an omnidirectional polar pattern. The newer MoveMic 88+ is much more versatile when it comes to focusing on recording sound that comes from specific directions.

The new Shure MoveMic 88+ is an unusual beast in that it combines properties from the three mic types that I’ve just mentioned. It looks like a mini shotgun mic and can be set to record sound from various directions thanks to its adjustable four polar patterns. However, it can also stand vertically on a desktop stand and be set to record sound from an interviewer on one side and an interviewee on the opposite side of the mic using a bi-directional cardio polar pattern (just like the Blue Yeti).

It can also broadcast wirelessly straight to a smartphone, so you can carry the Shure MoveMic 88+ handheld from up to 100ft (30m) away from the camera and your voice will still sound loud and clear. This gives you the same freedom you have when using a wireless lavalier mic such as the Boya Mini. So, by being a hybrid of three different mic types does the Shure MoveMic 88+ fall between three stools or offer you more choice in the way you can record your audio? Read on to find the answer…

Shure MoveMic 88+: Specifications

Shure MoveMic 88+: Price

At launch, the MoveMic 88+ Receiver Kit that we tested in our review is available for $449 / £439. This kit includes the MoveMic Receiver which comes in a separate box in addition to a cold shoe mic clip for mounting on a DSLR r smartphone cage, a 5/8” mic clip to attach the mic to a desktop mic stand, two USB-C charging cables and 3.5mm coil cable for connecting the receiver to a DSLR.

If you’re a smartphone content creator then you don’t need the receiver, so you can save lots of money by purchasing the MoveMic 88+ Wireless Stereo Microphone for $299 / £289. This includes a cold shoe mic clip, a 5/8” mic clip, and a USB-C charging cable. You’ll then need to download the Motiv Video app to use the mic (and configure its polar patterns) but that is free!

Shure MoveMic 88+: Design & Handling

The key component of the MoveMic 88+ Receiver Kit is the mic itself, which is constructed from a solid die-cast zinc covered in black chrome plating. This evokes the feel of a high-quality product (given that most mics I test are made from plastic).

Despite the fact that the compact cylindrical body of the mic can be hidden in a closed fist it's surprisingly heavy at 99g, which is another indication of a quality build. I measured the length of the mic at 89mm, which makes me think that it gets its 88+ name from its length. I had previously presumed that the 8’s in its name might be a clever reference to one of the mic’s polar pattern shapes - the figure of eight bi-directional mono cardioid pattern.

After removing the nicely fitting foam windshield from the tip of the MovieMic 88+ I found the mic itself inside a silver satin chrome plated antenna that contrasts with the unit’s matte black chrome plated body.

The antenna is separated into three stainless-steel mesh pop shields so that you can capture sound from different directions depending on which of the four polar patterns you choose. More on those in the Performance section.

I liked the fact that a big L and R adorned the sides of the mic so you could correctly set up left and right when capturing a subject (such as a band) in stereo.

The MoveMic 88+ ships in a compact wraparound black hook-and-loop sealing carry bag inside of which are a variety of accessories.

These include a USB-C charging cable that you need to use to charge up the mic before first use. Given the mic’s versatility (in that it can be a handheld wireless mic, a table-mounted interview mic, or a cold shoe-mounted camera mic, there are two very handy mic mounts in the form of a cold shoe clip (for horizontal attachment to a camera) and 5/8” mic clip (to pop on a desktop mic stand and position vertically).

My review kit also included a separate box housing a MoveMic Receiver that you can plug via USB-C cable into smartphone, or you can attach the receiver to a DSLR using the MovieMic 88+’s supplied 3.5mm coil cable. If you’ve used the older Shure MoveMic kit then you’ll be familiar with the MoveMic Receiver which is also compatible with the new MoveMic 88+.

Shure MoveMic 88+: Performance

The MovieMic 88+ was enjoyable to test because it can mimic the behavior of various microphone types, as I’ve mentioned (such as a vertical desktop interview mic or a horizontal directional gun mic).

What’s really useful is that it can transmit an audio signal via Bluetooth directly to the Shure Motiv Video app on your smartphone. This means that you don’t need to use the bulkier MoveMic Receiver at all if you’re a smartphone content creator. Simply fire up the app, power on the MovieMic 88+ and it will pair with the app. You can then record video from the smartphone’s camera and audio from the MoveMic 88+.

This Bluetooth connectivity makes the MoveMic 88+ particularly useful when you can’t attach a wireless receiver to your smartphone, such as when it is mounted on a gimbal for example.

The MoveMic receiver does offer a higher bit rate of up to 24Bit compared to the 16Bit that you get when transmitting to your smartphone via Bluetooth, but I found that the Bluetooth option still produces an impressively clean and clear voice recording as you’ll hear from my supporting video.

Once I’d got the mic talking to the Motiv Video app on my iPhone 16 Pro I propped the MovieMic 88+ into its 5/8” mic clip. I was then able to screw the clip onto a third-party mic stand (not supplied) and point the mic vertically. By using the app to swipe to the Bidirectional Cardioid polar pattern (a figure of 8 shape) I could make the MovieMic 88+ sensitive to sound from the left and right of the mic - a classic interview mic setup.

I was then able to record an interview with the interviewer and interviewee on opposite sides of the mic (as you’ll ear from my supporting video). Despite being a couple of feet from the mic both subjects sounded loud and clear with their voices possessing a nice range between base and treble. I was also able to pick up the audio from garden birds which was a welcome complement to the interview’s dialogue and a suitable background ambiance for my interview’s garden location.

I then popped the MoveMic 88+ onto its cold shoe mount and attached it to my smartphone’s Rode cage. In this mount, the MoveMic 88+ pointed horizontally at my mouth in a classic shotgun mic orientation. I used the Motiv Video app to set the mic to a Mono Cardioid polar pattern, making it ‘listen’ to my voice from directly in front of it while minimizing unwanted sounds from the back and sides of the mic.

I was then able to stand and present to the camera from a meter or so away from the MoveMic 88+ and it captured excellent-quality audio. I sounded as loud and clear as I would have done if I had a classic lavalier mic clipped to my shirt in closer proximity.

Directly behind me was a school, with noisy kids on their break. This gave me the opportunity to test the MoveMic 88+’s noise reduction setting which I triggered in the app. The noise of the kids sounded flatter and less distracting, but it was still audible. What was more impressive was the fact that my own voice still sounded rich and clear without the warbling artifacts that you usually encounter when using noise-reduction of wireless lav mics.

Shure MoveMic 88+: Verdict

I was highly impressed with the clear and rich voice quality captured by the Shure MoveMic 88+. Most of the mics that I test are clip-on wireless lavalier mics, so they are never more than a foot or so from my mouth and they still vary in quality. Even when the MoveMic 88+ was mounted on a camera a meter away from me my voice sounded as loud and clear as it would if I was holding the MoveMic 88+ in my hand.

I liked the versatility of the MoveMic 88+. If I needed a shotgun mic to capture audio then I could pop the MoveMic 88+ horizontally onto my camera’s cold shoe mount and set the polar pattern to Mono Cardioid. This set-up is perfect for documentary filmmakers (or wedding videographers) who need to interview multiple people in busy locations but don’t have time to clip a wireless lavalier on each of them. By using the MoveMic 88+ there’s no mic in the shot, which should make it appeal to makers of dramas as they can easily mount it on a sound pole and use it as an out-of-shot boom mic

If I need to do a classic sit-down interview then I can mount the mic vertically on a stand and use the Mono Bidirectional polar pattern to create a figure-of-eight sound field that listens to both me and the interviewee. Again there’s no need to wire up two people to lavalier mics.

As you’ll see from my supporting video it’s also possible to walk and talk wirelessly with a handheld MoveMic 88+. Using a Mono Bidirectional polar pattern you could perform interviews handheld by placing the mic between you and a subject, or you could present to camera while holding the mic. The only downside is that when using the mic handheld you can’t conceal it like you could with a small lavalier mic clipped inside your shirt.

Personally I think that the Shure MoveMic 88+ deserves a place in my kit bag as it offers a wide range of ways to capture great quality audio (as you’ll see from my examines above). However, I will also need to carry a wireless lavalier mic kit when I want to talk to camera at a distance without holding a mic in my hand.

Alternatives

Shure has introduced its MoveMic 88+ Wireless Stereo Microphone, a new tool designed for videographers and field recordists seeking flexible audio capture. The device is the first wireless direct-to-phone stereo microphone offering selectable polar patterns, allowing users to tailor audio capture to varied shooting environments.

The microphone offers four selectable polar patterns – stereo, mono cardioid, mono bi-directional, and raw mid-side – providing users with the ability to customize sound pickup for situations ranging from two-way interviews to acoustic performances. The stereo pattern can also be fine-tuned between 60º and 90º pickup for precise directional recording.

The MoveMic 88+ has up to 100 feet of wireless range, with the mic able to pair wirelessly with phones using the Shure MOTIV apps, or to the optional MoveMic Receiver which can be connected to phones or cameras via USB-C or 3.5mm jack. Gain, EQ, presets, high pass filter, mute, and noise reduction can all be fine-tuned via the Shure MOTIV apps or MoveMic Receiver. Or if you’d prefer to go the direct route, then the MoveMic 88+ can also directly connect to a phone using the USB-C cable, or to cameras with the included 3.5mm cable.

Additional features include eight hours of battery life, built-in headphone monitoring, and USB-C charging. The device also comes with mounting options that accommodate popular tripods or mic stands either with a 5/8” screw or cold shoe, or can be used as a handheld microphone.

Paul Crognale, Associate Director of Global Marketing at Shure, explained that the design aims to meet the needs of professionals working in diverse scenarios. “The MoveMic 88+ is intended to offer creators the flexibility to record in the field, whether it’s for a news report, a short film, or social media content,” he said. Crognale highlighted that the system is designed to be lightweight, quick to set up, and discreet—qualities that may prove useful in fast-changing environments.

The MoveMic 88+ is available at $299 / £289, and includes a cold shoe mic clip, 5/8” mic clip, and USB-C charging cable, while a receiver kit bundle containing all the above, plus the MoveMic Receiver is priced at $449 / £439.

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For more audio solutions, check out our guides to the best wireless microphones, best iPhone microphones, or best shotgun mics.

Without a wireless mic kit, your camera will pick up unwanted sounds such as background traffic or your voice echoing from nearby walls. This makes it harder for your audience to hear what you’re saying and poor audio quality will soon have your viewer scrolling to the next video offering on YouTube or Insta. Fortunately, poor sound is an easy (and relatively affordable) problem to solve thanks to the Hollyland Lark M2S (or our other best microphones for iPhone).

Hollyland is a company that produces a wide range of audio and video devices for the film industry, such as the Pyro 7 - a wireless video transmitter/receiver that enables a director to view live footage from a remote camera. However, Hollyland isn’t all about Hollywood (and its budget-busting costs). They also produce an affordable range of wireless microphones for the domestic video market - meeting the needs of corporate filmmakers and social media content creators. The Hollyland Lark series of wireless mic kits enable corporate and video bloggers to transmit their voices wirelessly to mobile devices or DSLRs, dramatically improving the production value of their audio recordings.

I’ve tested a few Hollyland Lark mic kits for Digital Camera World, such as the Lark M1 back in 2023. The M1’s transmitter was a blocky unit that looked like you had a Lego brick clipped to your lapel. This mic visibility wasn’t necessarily a problem for social media content makers who like to show off their kit, but some filmmakers might prefer a more subtle way of capturing their audio from a distance.

The Lark M2 kit released in January 2024 followed the evolution of other wireless mics such as the Godox Cube, with smaller and more discrete disc-shaped transmitters that attach to the subject via magnetic clamps (rather than a traditional lavalier mic’s spring clip). The Hollyland Lark M2S has evolved further to provide an even more subtle wireless transmitter solution, as we’ll explain in the Design section.

Hollyland Lark M2S: Specifications

Hollyland Lark M2S: Price

The Hollyland Lark M2S Combo Kit that we feature in this review can be picked up from Amazon for $149 / £139 / AU$269.

We’re reviewing the most expensive version - the Hollyland Lark M2S Combo, but if you don’t need a USB-C to Lighting cable adaptor or a receiver for a DSLR then you can pick up the cheapest version - with the smartphone-friendly USB-C receiver - for $119 / £110 / AU$269. There’s also a slightly more expensive version (costing an extra $10) - The Ultimate Combo - that has two mini receivers - one for USB-C and the other a plug-and-play Lightning connector for older iPhones, so do check the various purchase options on Amazon to make sure that your requirements are met.

Hollyland Lark M2S: Design & Handling

The Hollyland Lark M2S has simultaneously stepped forward and backward in the evolution of its design. Let me explain. 2025’s Lark M2S still retains the disc-shaped transmitters found in 2024’s Lark M2, but the magnets that attach the older model’s transmitters to a subject’s clothing are no longer required due to an innovative design change. The tiny omnidirectional microphone that was built into the older M2’s transmitter has now sprouted outwards on a short curved stalk. This stalk acts as a hook, enabling you to face the tiny pearl-sized microphone outwards to capture your voice while hiding the bulkier disc-shaped transmitter behind the subject’s shirt or jacket. Clever stuff!

The Lark M2S’s mic is now more discrete and much quicker and easier to attach. When attaching the older Lark M2’s transmitter mic to a subject you needed them to pop a thin magnet behind their clothing to keep the mic in place. This was a more intrusive operation than simply hooking the M2S’s transmitter onto a shirt. We’ve come a long way from the 1980’s when - as a young sound recordist - I had to feed a cabled lavalier clip mic up the inside of a subject’s shirt or jacket to hide the wire, before clipping the mic to their lapel. Now I can hook a Lark M2S onto a subject’s shirt in seconds and start recording. I also found it a bit fiddly to remove the old Lark M2’s magnet from the inside of a shirt without dropping it! So I don’t miss the lack of a magnetic component in the Lark M2S.

We tested the Lark M2S Wireless Microphone Combo Kit. This features two transmitter mics, plus a tiny receiver that plugs into a smartphone via a very short USB-C plug. So there are no dangling cables to get in the way if your smartphone is mounted on a gimbal! The Combo Kit also ships with a receiver designed to slide into the cold-shoe mount of a DSLR or mirrorless camera. A supplied 3.5mm TRS to TRS cable then connects the receiver to your camera’s audio input socket. You can adjust sound levels coming onto your camera by using a volume button on the DSLR-attached receiver. A separate USB-C to Lightning cable enables you to attach the camera receiver to older iPhone models. So in effect, you can use the Lark M2S Combo Kit with any device!

Hollyland Lark M2S: Performance

Before testing the Lark M2S Combo Kit on location I unboxed it and peeled off the protective transparent stickers that stop the connectors on the transmitters and receiver from being charged by the plastic carry case when it ships to you. I then plugged a USB-C cable into the carry case to equally charge the three units inside it. When the transmitters (TX) and receiver (RX) were fully charged I fired up the LarkSound app on my iPhone 16. This enabled me to adjust the default gain control of both mics (between low, medium, and high). I could also change the two mics from the default Mono recording setting to Stereo. This would enable me to capture audio from transmitter 1 (TX1) on one audio channel and transmitter 2 (TX2) on a separate channel, so I could tweak the levels of an interviewer and interviewee separately in the edit if necessary.

The LarkSound app also enabled me to update the firmware of both transmitters and the USB-C smartphone receiver. This update promised to improve the vocal performance of high frequencies for a brighter sound. After the update, I could also customize the orange noise cancellation button on the receiver so that it would Mute both transmitter mics with a double press.

I transported the Lark M2S and its accessories to my test shoot’s location in the kit’s supplied leather bag. The location was exposed and windy, so I dug out a circular fluffy windshield from the kit. This ‘dead cat’ style windshield has a little pouch hidden amongst the fur. After a bit of a fiddle, I was able to slide the pearl-sized mic into the pouch. The windshield made the discrete mic look far more noticeable when I hooked it onto my shirt, but there was no hint of wind rumble in my recording.

The spec for the Lark MS2 promises a maximum transmission range of 300 meters (1000 feet). At 80 meters (where I ran out of space to walk further) I could barely be seen on camera, so it’s very unlikely I’d need to record from the full 300 meters, especially when I’d be unable to see my tripod-mounted camera. Talking of cameras I plugged the tiny USB-C receiver into my iPhone 16. As with most wireless mic kits, the Lark M2S sounded loud and clear at 80 meters as long as I faced the camera. If I turned my back on the camera the transmitter lost line of sight with the receiver and the signal dropped out. Dropout started to occur at around 33 meters when I turned away from the camera. As there’s no onboard recording feature on the transmitter you will need to play back your recording to make sure that you’ve got audio clean and clear audio track before finishing the shoot. Make sure that you watch my test video to hear the Lark M2S’s quality for yourself.

After the distance test, I found a noisy fountain to test the kit’s noise reduction function. By tapping the orange button on my transmitter mic I was able to trigger noise reduction. The white noise of the fountain in the background completely vanished, leaving me sounding clean and clear. I’ve tested over 20 wireless mics to date and often the built-in noise reduction feature adds a bit of a flat-sounding warble to my voice, but the Lark M2S’s noirs reduction sounds great as you’ll hear from my test video.

Hollyland Lark M2S: Verdict

I liked the Lark M2S. I was impressed with the quality of the audio that it captured which is due to its high 24-bit depth and the 48 kHz sample rate. True, it is sometimes prone to signal drop out if you turn your back to the camera (from around 33 meters), but when presenting I tend to face the camera anyway, and when I do that the Lark M2S transmits my voice loud and clear from 80 meters (I ran out of space to go further in my test - see video in the Performance section). It may lack the onboard recording feature that other wireless mics possess (such as the Saramonic Blink500 ProX B2R), but if you play back your recording while still on location you can re-take your presentation if necessary). To be honest, I’ve never needed to use another transmitter’s onboard recording to patch holes caused by dropout in any professional job, so for me, it’s not an essential feature and it helps keep the price down.

I was very impressed with the transmitter’s built-in noise reduction feature as it lacked the usual flat/thin and warbly audio captured by some other mic’s noise reduction features (Godox WES2 I’m looking at you). I tend to focus on using smartphones to generate content these days, but the Lark M2S Combo kit’s extra cold-shoe mounted receiver will come in handy if I need to record sound from the Lark M2S’s transmitters to my Canon DSLR. And that receiver has a tactile volume control knob so I can fine-tune the audio levels being recorded on my Canon.

If you need to shoot a mix of smartphone and DSLR/mirrorless footage then the Lark M2S Combo kit is worth paying around $40 more for, or you can buy a cheaper smartphone-centric USB-C only version of the Lark MS2 if you only shoot content on your iPhone or Android device.

Alternatives

For a century, Shure has influenced the sound of history. From the voices of world-changing leaders to the anthems of legendary musicians, and now the crisp clarity behind today’s top podcasts, streams, and films, Shure microphones have become the gold standard in audio. As the company celebrates its 100th anniversary, its legacy of innovation, reliability, and audio excellence continues to push boundaries.

Shure may be in the public eye today for its highly popular products embraced by podcasters, streamers, and content creators, but its roots stretch back to 1925. Founded in downtown Chicago by S.N. Shure, the company originally sold radio part kits before evolving into a global leader in audio technology. Over the past century, Shure has pioneered some of the most iconic microphones and audio solutions, trusted by everyone from Elvis Presley and The Beatles to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Among its most lasting contributions is the legendary SM58 microphone, introduced in 1966, which remains the go-to choice for vocal performances worldwide. Equally revered is the SM7B, a staple in broadcasting, music production, and podcasting. Decades before wireless audio became mainstream, Shure revolutionized live performance with the Vagabond 88, its first wireless microphone – in 1953!

Shure’s dedication to cutting-edge audio doesn’t just live in the past. The company continues to push boundaries with modern solutions like the MV7+ Podcast Mic, designed specifically for streamers and content creators, and its Microflex Ecosystem, which delivers studio-quality sound to conference rooms and professional meeting spaces.

Additionally, IntelliMix Room, Shure’s pioneering audio processing software, has transformed virtual meetings by optimizing sound quality with advanced DSP (digital signal processing) algorithms, ensuring crystal-clear communication in hybrid work environments.

With products now sold in over 120 countries and five global engineering centers driving further innovations, Shure’s impact on the world of sound is undeniable. More about the history of Shure can be found on the official website – Happy 100th Birthday Shure!

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Check out our guides to the best USB microphones and the best wireless microphones.

I recently tried Adobe’s new AI-powered Enhance Speech feature in Adobe Podcast, and to put it bluntly, I was blown away. I took an average recording – background noise, echo, and muffling – and with the press of a button, it sounded like it had been recorded in a professional studio. It was the kind of transformation I didn’t think was possible without expensive gear and meticulous post-production, and I think more people should know about it!

Adobe Podcast is an all-in-one platform designed to simplify podcast production. It offers AI-driven tools for noise reduction, speech enhancement, and automatic transcription, making high-quality audio accessible to anyone, regardless of their technical expertise.

We all know that in video, audio often matters even more than image quality. People will tolerate grainy visuals, but bad sound? That’s an instant turn-off. This is where Adobe’s Enhanced Speech tool becomes a serious game-changer. It enables podcasters, journalists, and content creators to achieve studio-grade sound without needing high-end USB microphones, isolation shields, or deep technical knowledge. It’s an equalizer, giving independent creators access to professional-quality audio at no cost – although premium access is available via the Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.

But as impressive as it is, it also raises some interesting questions. If AI can clean up any recording to perfection, does it make the art of good audio recording obsolete? Are we moving towards a world where craftsmanship, knowing how to use a mic properly, understanding room acoustics, and working with sound organically, become irrelevant?

For me, the answer is no. AI in this regard is an incredible tool that can help those who have stories to tell and things to say do so professionally. It lowers the barrier to entry, making quality audio accessible to more people than ever before. But it doesn’t replace skill, just as having a high-end mirrorless camera doesn’t make someone a great photographer. Good recording techniques will always matter, and those who understand sound will get the most out of these tools.

Above: My recent TikTok video about Holyland USA by Lisa Barlow using the Adobe Podcast software which cleaned up poor audio for studio-quality sound.

There’s also the concern of over-reliance. Just as AI-powered photo editing tools can sometimes strip images of their natural feel, AI-enhanced audio runs the risk of making everything sound too polished, too clinical. Natural imperfections, room tone, subtle voice textures, even minor background sounds can add depth and authenticity. Strip those away entirely, and recordings may start to lose their character.

That said, technology evolves, and so do creative tools. While I have mixed feelings about generative AI imagery, which is a far more complex and controversial space, I see this particular AI audio enhancement as a positive step forward. It’s not replacing creativity; it’s amplifying it and is the ideal example of AI's positive potential. The challenge will be making sure that in our pursuit of perfection, we don’t lose what makes audio (and storytelling) feel real.

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Check out our guides to the best Lavalier microphones, the best USB microphones, and the best wireless microphones.

We all know (or should) that audio is the most important element of a video project. Of course, great visuals are something we all strive for but if these are lacking, while the audio is good, we can still enjoy the experience. The same isn’t true of the reverse. You could have the best image quality, with the most beautiful camera work and lighting but if the audio is hard to listen to the whole thing falls apart and the likelihood of switching off becomes that much greater.

With that in mind, a good audio recorder should be high up your gear acquisition list. Yes, most cameras have the ability to record audio, and some have passable microphones built in (although they are never really production-worthy), so why the need for a separate piece of gear?

Well, there is more than a single answer to that. Firstly it enables you to easily assign monitoring and recording duties to a dedicated sound operator. Secondly, a field recorder will have features that make for easier operation on set/location, as well as features that couldn’t fit onto a camera. There’s also the benefit of being able to record in camera at the same time, giving an extra level of backup. Even solo operators can benefit from adding a field recorder to their gear and they don’t have to cost the earth or introduce huge learning curve roadblocks.

A handful of companies produce field recorders and Zoom is one of the better known, with decades of experience in creating tools for video producers and podcasters – but does that make the F6 a worthy addition to your kit list? I’ve spent years working with audio, both as part of video production and music, so I’ve put that experience in mind while looking at the F6. Let’s have a look at what I found.

Zoom F6: Specifications

Zoom F6: Price

$617 / £479 feels like a reasonable price for the F6, especially when you compare it to some of the competition, such as the Mixpre 6ii which is significantly more expensive. The overall build, features and recording quality make this a great purchase at this price.

Zoom F6: Design & build quality

Zoom’s F6 ships with few extras, just a paper manual and the adapter for mounting under a camera body. No bells and whistles but they aren’t needed as the unit itself does pretty much what you need of it, with the exception of storage and power. Again this is fine, as you will choose which solution is best suited to your needs.

For storage, there’s an SD card slot on the rear, which supports SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. This slot is found behind a hinged door, which I really appreciate. So many companies use nasty rubber affairs that can be fiddly, slow or get lost, so well done Zoom for this choice. What I am less keen on is the placement. If you opt for powering the F6 with an NPF battery, which seems like the option many filmmakers will opt for, as so many of us have these batteries in abundance, then you will need to power down the unit, remove the batter, open the door, swap the car, then do the reverse to get back up and running. Of course, if you power differently that’s less of an issue but many will want to use this in a waist or shoulder-mounted case, which makes it even more of a hassle. A front or side slot would have solved this.

That said the unit is compact so not everything can be perfectly optimized and I’d rather deal with that and retain the excellent build of the F6. At around half a kilo, it isn’t heavy but feels dense, solid, and tough. The materials are a mix of plastic and metal, with everything feeling secure. The buttons give positive feedback, even though smal,l and the level pots feel good too. They have a slight give in them but nothing worryingly so. They also have detents at the extreme counter-clockwise to deactivate the channel.

Mounting the F6 should never pose a problem. Many users will opt for an audio-specific bag with a clear window for viewing meters etc but other options include a ¼ 20 on the underside and a neat cradle that can be attached to the top side allowing for underslung camera mounting. If that’s how I was planning to use it I think I’d opt for a V-mount adapter and mount this behind the camera body but it’s nice to see plentiful options.

Zoom F6: Power

As mentioned, you can power the F6 in a number of ways. The NFP battery can be mounted on the rear, the benefit of which is that you can choose which capacity you use. The F6 can also be powered by USB type C meaning you can run it off most powerbanks, or you can use the sled accessed via the underside to run it from four AA batteries. I really appreciate the multiple options here, making it easy to rig up for pretty much any use case.

Power draw isn’t bad either, with excellent battery life, even when using phantom power. An NPF750 gave me more than four hours of use, with three phantom-powered inputs.

Zoom F6: Interface

Apart from the six-level knobs on the front face and the roller headphone level on the outside most interactions with the F6 happen through the screen and four buttons, plus the three illuminated transport controls. This screen is clear and bright. Plenty bright enough for outdoor use on a sunny day. The size of the F6 means this screen is small but all the information is easy enough to read and, if you prefer, can be displayed in black and white instead. You get level metering, along with other key information, which is all nicely presented.

Accessing things like system settings, codec options, and so on happens in a few pages of menus, all of which are logically laid out and easy to navigate. I would say that the buttons are a little on the small side, especially if you need to wear gloves in a cold location. There are times when you need to press two buttons at once, which can be a little fiddly but not overwhelmingly so. All in all, accessing the menus and making changes is easy enough.

Zoom F6: Connections

The F6 connects to devices in a number of ways. The most used will be the six XLR ports. These do offer phantom power but aren’t the combo type, so no TRS cable can be used. That’s a slight shame but considering the target audience most probably won’t miss that omission.

On the left side is also the USB-C port, used for power and connecting to a computer to use as an audio interface, a 3.5mm line out, and a rubber bung. This bung can be removed to access an accessory slot, which can house a Bluetooth dongle for connecting to the Zoom app (iOS only at this point) and for wireless timecode. I didn’t have a Bluetooth adapter to test (BT1-A) so I can’t comment on performance here but I’d hesitate to rely on Bluetooth for wireless timecode. I’d rather stick to a wired system, or use with a dedicated timecode device. Timecode is sent out on the ring side of the 3.5mm jack, with incoming on the tip, so make sure your camera accepts this. Adapters exist but I’m always hesitant to use them, as it introduces another point of possible failure.

The line out could be handy in some situations. Say you want to record the audio directly to your camera you have that option, giving you some redundancy. However, the converter here won’t give the same result as the files recorded to the SD card.

Headphones can be used but there’s only a 3.5mm port for this. I’d much rather have a ¼” headphone port, mostly as it’s more physically robust, and for a device designed to be used in the field, it would make much more sense. Still, the output is good and the roller volume control makes it easy to dial in output levels, even when in a bag.

Zoom F6: Performance

With all that out of the way how does it actually perform as a field recorder? The answer to this is really very well. The F6 has a few neat tricks up its sleeves which help raise it above some of the competition. The converters are all top quality and in fact, there are dual converters, helping the noise floor stay very low, a key attribute, especially when you consider the dynamic range and any post work.

The 32-bit float audio recording is simply stunning. Yes, you have control over levels but if you make a mistake or forget to set all is not lost, which can’t be said of other such devices. The gain of up to 75db and those dual converters means you can reduce the loudest sounds, even when they look like they are clipping (looking at the waveforms), and where there is apparently no audio, you can bring even quiet dialogue up to very usable levels, all without introducing unwanted noise. It’s really quite remarkable for a device of this cost.

Another neat trick is the auto mix feature, which identifies incoming levels and tries to bring them near each other. This seems a little hit-and-miss at times but works reasonably well. I can see how this could prove useful for a podcast situation or an interview setup.

The timecode is rock solid on the F6. Some devices drift over time and I’m sure that is the case here too but it’s so minimal as to not be a factor. I left three channels recording for over four hours (part of my battery testing as well) and there was no drift evident. I’d say that’s a big success.

It’s worth mentioning the formats on offer here. I’d recommend the 32-bit float at up to 192khz for the best dynamic range and quality but you can reduce this down to 16 bits if needed. This is in .wav format. You can also record .mp3 files at 49kz, which will give you acceptable quality but smaller file sizes and only 2 tracks of simultaneous recording. Wav files can reach a maximum of 14 tracks at a time, giving you 6 32-bit float and 6 linear files, along with a left/right mix. This is handy for backups and an added layer of security.

On top of that, there are some extra features, like a look-ahead limiter. This analyses the incoming audio, predicts sharp increases in level, and adjusts accordingly to avoid clipping. Less necessary when recording in a 32-bit float but useful for other times.

There is also the option of recording 360 audio for VR/AR projects, although you will need to download some extra software (for free) to decode this.

Zoom F6: Verdict

Zoom has produced a field recorder in the F6 that is hme to some truly useful features. While it's always best to take control and capture audio properly, being able to rescue recordings with huge changes in dynamics, without sacrificing quality to unwanted noise is massively beneficial.

The solid, compact size, mostly excellent layout and quality of components, puts this right at the top in this price range and even competes with devices costing a lot more.

Alternatives

The DJI Mic and Mic 2 wireless microphones have quickly established themselves as staples in the video industry; I can't binge YouTube for more than three or four videos without seeing one of them, and if not a DJI one then the competitor Røde Go.

The principle is simple; a digital wireless microphone that plugs into the recording device to record clean audio AND records sound onto its own built-in memory at the same time for safety. Personally it was this device that caused me to finally abandon my near decade-old Zoom recorder in my workflow.

Most people, though, have moved a bit further into the future – and now so have DJI. Recording video on the phone means there is no point recording a 'safety track' – why not just get clean sound on the video you're likely going to edit on-device? Step forward the leaner (but not meaner) DJI Mini – a wireless mic that doesn't record – the sound goes straight into your iPhone/Android phone as you record and straight onto the video? Cheaper and – probably – for most the ideal solution...

DJI Mic Mini: Pricing

The DJI Mic Mini (2 TX + 1 RX) is priced at $169 / £145 / AU$245 for the full stereo set with charging case. (This is probably the best choice for most people)

The DJI Mic Mini (1 TX + 1 RX) is $89 / £79 / AU$125 for a single mic & transmitter.

These prices compare well very with obvious competing products (like the Røde Wireless Me or Wireless Micro). If you have an older iPhone (14 or before, with a Lightning port) you will need to pay extra for an adapter. Cameras can use the 3.5mm port.

DJI Mic Mini: Specifications

DJI Mic Mini: Build and handling

The DJI Mic Mini has quickly become my favourite wireless mic. So much so, that this review is now a bit of a 'long term' effort because I've been using it for a couple of months now for my social media recordings.

The Mic Mini is sold in two combinations mono and stereo. There is a microphone/transmitter (TX) and a receiver (RX) that plugs into the USB socket of your phone and, at least in the case of my iPhone, 'just works'.

It's all incredibly light; DJI's drone division has clearly shared some hints! The RX is built from similar plastic and has no display, just a dial (which has a satisfying click) with the option to adjust the level to one of 5 settings: -12, -6-, 0, +6, +12. This is extraordinarily simple (especially compared to, say, the DJI Mic 2).

The battery charging case is a kind of plastic too, so it's 139g (not too heavy) but DJI has pulled off a very high-quality feel – it looks and feels a lot like a MacBook Pro (and is a tone somewhere between the older and newer 'space gray'). What I really like about it, though, is that you can leave the wind protector – the 'dead cat' (though it's so small 'dead mouse' seems more appropriate) atop it and still close the lid on the more generously sized box. This is much, much better than having to remove the shield each time for those of us who regularly shoot outdoors. Bravo DJI.

The actual mic TXs are tiny and weigh very little, with a power and link button on the side, with a clip on the back (that is also magnetic so you can use the magnet to attach through clothing). The mic is concealed at the top of the square, and the wind muff noise shield clips to the top of this using cunningly placed recesses.

The square also has indicator lights – thoughtfully positioned on the rim so they are not too likely to appear in shot. That said, there is a less-than-entirely-subtle DJI logo on the front. Ah well, public service broadcasters can use black tape!

DJI Mic Mini: Sample Recording Video

Though for a moment at the beginning you can hear the sound sorting out its levels, the sound does not cut out even in the middle of an urban area when I walk out of shot behind steel and glass structures in this sample, shot using the DJI Action 5 Pro link.

DJI Mic Mini: Performance

The simplicity is a big positive for the Mic Mini, but the sound quality is still strikingly good. It'll certainly be a massive change if you're used to relying on your phone's mic (even if it has good AI noise cancelling).

The noise reduction is more or less totally reliable in my tests, as was the signal. That said there were no occasions I felt motivated to walk hundreds of meters from my phone to test the full wireless range!

So auto-limiting works. The magnet works (in that it holds the mic up, even through a wooly jumper). There is no 32-bit float audio here – DJI would say if you need that get the Mic 2 – but it works at 24-bit (or 16-bit in Bluetooth mode) which is fine in most circumstances especially if you can check the monitor on your recording device and use the level adjustment (not that I needed to much).

Admittedly charging the case isn't super-fast, but you'll only need to do that at the end of the day (and not every day at that) so leaving it for 2 hours isn't a disaster.

The ease of pairing with the DJI Osmo Action 5 – the GoPro-beating best action camera – is also a bonus for those who use the camera. I did this when testing and it took seconds and I could see a levels chart on the screen. One or two mics can be paired at a time (and you don't need the RX – just make sure you've updated the camera's firmware since the Mic Mini came out).

DJI Mic Mini: Overall Verdict

The DJI Mic Mini makes a lot of sense for creatives on the move, especially if – like so many – you've pivoted toward using your phone for video recording. If you're already a committed social media creator – using phone-only – then why spend more?

You get mic quality directly on the audio track, so editing is quick and easy. If you only ever edit this way, you lose nothing but save money.

Writing from the Northern Hemisphere, I must admit that the idea of an ultra-lightweight T-shirt-friendly microphone seems a little unnecessary when reviewing in winter, but a few grams can make a lot of difference and DJI has pulled off a wonder which will be very visible in the right circumstances. I'm sure that sales of the Mic 2 will be cannibalised.

Since the Mic is notably smaller and lighter than the Røde Micro, (10g v 18g) and the charging case's battery life more than doubled, this is an easy recommendation.

DJI Mic Mini: Alternatives

How I tested the Mic Mini

I was loaned the Mic Mini by DJI, but retain complete editorial independence so I can say what I like. As it happens, I personally own a DJI Mic (1) which I've been using lately when posting to the DCW TikTok feed so I have regular experience with the product category!

My tests, as always, then are 'real world' – I use the device to do the job it is designed for and I tell my experience 'as is'. We do have a lab at DCW for our lens testing, but with devices like this the experience is much more holistic, which is why I include a video with a sample you can listen to.

I also tested using a DJI Action 5 Pro camera, which can connect to the Mic Mini (or Mic 2 come to that) to get an experience of the workflow.

In a truly futuristic feat, researchers from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, have built a 3D-printed microscope in under three hours, costing a total of around $60 / £50 / AU$95 – a fraction of the cost of traditional microscopes.

The team used a publicly available design from the website OpenFlexure to produce the microscope's frame, and clear plastic lenses they designed themselves that cost $0.13 / £0.11 AU$0.22, using low-cost and accessible 3D printers.

The microscope, which weighs only 3 kg / 6.6 lbs, was completed with a shop-bought camera and light, with the whole device controlled by a Raspberry Pi computer processor.

The best microscopes often cost hundreds to thousands of dollars, and diagnostic models even more. This game-changing technology will cut costs in hospitals, schools and laboratories, and aid work in low-income countries and other areas in need of cheaper, more accessible scientific equipment.

The microscope uses a single lens with a 2.9x magnification, which is at the lower end of the spectrum, “but its resolving power – essentially how clearly a sample can be seen – is what is most important for diagnostic purposes,” says the research paper, adding that traditional diagnostic microscopes typically cost up to $18,300 / £15,000 / AU$29,500.

“It’s not just enabling, it’s empowering,” Professor Gail McConnell at the University of Strathclyde told New Scientist. She and her colleagues previously worked out how to 3D-print lenses like those used in microscopes, which led to the breakthrough.

A critical step in getting to this point was being able to ensure control over the shape of the lens and removing any ‘stepping artifacts’, caused when 3D printers add layer upon layer of plastic to build up a structure.

To test the imaging performance of the system, the scientists used multiple standard test samples including a stained blood smear and a thin section of mouse kidney.

“The microscope demonstrated sub-cellular resolution, clearly imaging individual red blood cells and detailed structures in the kidney sample,” according to the university report.

Dr Liam Rooney, postdoctoral research associate, who created the device with Professor McConnell in Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, said: “In under three hours, you can transform a design, freely available on the internet, into a fully functional optical microscope.

“This opens the doors to democratized access, rapid prototyping, and bespoke design of microscopes and optics at a fraction of the price of traditional microscopes.”

Take a look at out guides to the best microscopes, the best computerized telescopes, and the best document cameras.

When I’m not testing gadgets for Digital Camera World I sometimes freelance as a camera operator in the corporate video sector, which often involves using the client’s supplied camera and mic kit. This mic kit is often manufactured by Australian company RØDE as they have a 50-year history of designing and manufacturing the best microphones for vlogging and filmmaking for professionals. As well as releasing high-end products such as the RØDE Wireless Pro, RØDE unveiled a smaller and cheaper smartphone mic for the ever-growing smartphone content creator market in 2024 - the RØDE Wireless Micro.

The RØDE Wireless Go was first released in 2019 and was embraced by video makers thanks to the freedom it gave them to broadcast sound from a distance without physically wiring the subject’s mic to the camera. In February 2021 RØDE released the second generation of the Wireless Go which featured a dual-channel system so that you could broadcast two subjects’ voices to a receiver attached to your camera. The Wireless Go II also introduced onboard recording on its transmitters so that a clean audio track could be captured even if there was a drop-out between a transmitter and the receiver. In December 2024 the third generation of the RØDE Wireless Go was released and I borrowed on to test it out. Read on to discover its upgraded features and see how it fared during my test.

RØDE Wireless Go Gen 3: Specifications

RØDE Wireless Go Gen 3: Design & Handling

If you already own the second generation of the RØDE Wireless Go then you won’t notice a huge difference in the size, shape, and weight of the RØDE Wireless Go 3’s transmitters and receivers, though the third generation kit’s transmitters are slightly lighter by 5g.

Each transmitter is attached to the subject’s shirt by a clip, or you could clip a transmitter to the person’s belt, plug a cabled lavalier mic (sold separately) into the transmitter’s lockable 3.5mm TRS input socket, and then attach the cabled lavalier mic to the subject’s lapel for a more subtle recording solution (as the RØDE ’s relatively bulky transmitters are very noticeable when attached to clothing.)

It can be hard to differentiate between the blocky black transmitters and the similarly shaped receiver, though when powered up the receiver has an OLED screen that shows features such as incoming sound levels. Each transmitter has a blue light that indicates that it is connected to the receiver, plus a button that turns on the Onboard recording feature.

The key changes to the Wireless Go mark 3 lie in performance features. For example, version 3’s transmitter can broadcast up to 260 metres with line of sight while version 2 could only reach 200 meters.

But perhaps the most welcome improvement to the RØDE Wireless Go 3 is the upgrade to the transmitters’ onboard recording feature. The RØDE Wireless Go 3 now boasts the 32-bit Float onboard recording feature that was previously available on the slightly more expensive RØDE Wireless Pro. 32-bit Float audio enables you to capture an audio file format that has a very wide bit depth. This means that sound levels that exceed 0db won’t be clipped (distorted). You can also boost quiet (low-level) recordings without adding unwanted noise.

This enables you to relax when using the transmitter's onboard recording feature, as there’s no need to ‘ride’ the levels like you would be traditional microphones. Simply press a transmitter’s record button to activate on-board recording. A red light on the transmitter reassures you that your precious audio is being recorded straight to the transmitter in a 32-bit Float audio file format. On the receiver’s OLED display, you can see a red indicator by a particular transmitter’s sound levels if it has onboard recording activated. You can also start/stop the on-board recording on a transmitter by pressing the Ø on the receiver.

You can easily attach a transmitter to your PC and import the on-board recordings to your non-linear editing software of choice. Bear in mind that the 32-bit Float format is only available when recording audio straight to a transmitter. This format is not recorded when the receiver sends audio from the transmitters to your camera, so you may want to monitor the incoming audio and tweak the levels in this instance.

Most wireless mic kits (including the RØDE Wireless Micro have a plastic carry case that doubles up as a charger for the two transmitters and the receiver. Instead of a plastic case the RØDE Wireless Go 3 ships with a charging bar which is basically a short thin plastic stick that has three equally spaced USB-C mounts along its edge. You simply plug the two transmitters and the receiver onto the bar and then attach that via a USB-C cable to a power socket.

The transmitters, reviewer, and charging stick can then be stored in the compact canvas bag that ships with the kit. This bag also manages to squeeze in three windshields plus multiple cables to connect the receiver to a smartphone or a DSLR/Mirrorless camera. I did find it a bit of a squeeze to fit the contents of the RØDE Wireless Go 3 kit into the bag and seal it with its velcro/hook and loop system, but this wraparound bag takes up less space than a chunky plastic charging case (though you can purchase a plastic charging case if you prefer that storage solution.)

RØDE Wireless Go Gen 3: Performance

One of my earliest jobs in the media was as a sound recordist, so I was familiar with monitoring sound as I recorded it and constantly tweaking knobs on a mixer to ensure that the levels coming into my recorder didn’t peak too high on the mixer’s VU meter. Today I can simply clip a RØDE Wireless Go 3’s transmitter onto my lapel, attach the receiver to my iPhone 16 Pro, and start recording, confident that my sound levels will be fine. This is thanks to the receiver’s Gain Assist feature which automatically rides the levels to capture a consistent and healthy sound level. Gain Assist doesn’t apply to onboard recordings, but as they are captured in a 32-bit Float format you can set their levels to perfection in post. If you want to go ‘old school’ you can adjust the levels manually in 3dB increments using the receiver’s left navigation button.

I used the RØDE Wireless Go 3 to record my ‘talking to camera’ review of the Neewer AS 600B LED. I clipped a transmitter to my shirt. During the recording, there was the occasional rustle as the transmitter’s built-in mic made contact with my shirt when I performed certain movements. After checking the recording I repositioned the transmitter so that its built-in mic was clear of my clothing and the rustling sound disappeared. This issue was down to user error, not the design of the RØDE Wireless Go 3. As the RØDE Wireless Go 3 uses series IV 2.4GHz digital transmission it delivered crystal-clear and stable audio during my test, though I did have to boost the Loudness in Final Cut Pro to get the audio peaking at my usual level of -6dB. Check out my supporting video to hear the audio quality of the RØDE Wireless Go 3 for yourself.

Sometimes wireless mics can suffer from latency - resulting in a slight delay/discrepancy between the audio on one track and the movement of the subject’s lips on another track. Thanks to Wireless Go 3’s near-zero latency codec with 128-bit encryption I didn’t have to shift the position of the audio track to make it match my lip movement, which helped me edit my video review more quickly. One thing the Wireless Go 3 ‘lacks’ is a built-in background noise reduction feature. I put the word ‘lacks’ in inverted commas because the built-in noise reduction in most of the mics I’ve tested produces relatively thin and ‘warbly’ audio. I tend to get a much better result using noise reduction tools in non-linear editing apps such as Final Cut Pro, so I won’t mark the Wireless Go 3 down for not having this feature.

After using the Wireless Go 3 to record my video review I headed to the longest staircase in the building to test its ability to transmit over a long distance without losing connection between the transmitter and the receiver. It’s not unusual for a signal to drop out when you turn your back and the transmitter mic loses line of sight with the receiver. The building I was recording in had lots of metal and concrete which can also interfere with a signal. I attached the receiver to my iPhone 16 Pro at the top of the staircase and chatted as I walked down to the bottom at a distance of about 50 meters. After I climbed back up to review the recording I was impressed that my voice remained clear at a distance even when I wasn’t facing the cameras you’ll hear from the supporting video in this section of the review.

RØDE Wireless Go Gen 3: Verdict

If you own a RØDE Wireless Go II then I don’t think the version 3 is a ‘must buy’, as the older version also has the handy Intelligent Gain Assist that keeps sound levels consistent ‘on the fly’. However, you may be attracted by the superior 34-bit Float feature that enables you to rescue very loud (or very quiet) audio without adding nasty artifacts such as distortion or hiss (though this only works with the tracks recorded onboard a transmitter.)

I was particularly impressed with the Wireless Go 3’s ability to ‘go the distance’ without signal drop out, though I didn’t put RØDE’s claim of 260m range to the test as I’d never need to broadcast from that distance (and I wouldn’t be able to see my iPhone 16 Pro!). Its low-latency recording was also appreciated as this saved me valuable editing time by not having to shift the audio track by a few frames. This kit should appeal pto rofessional videographers who need to guarantee a flawless recording, but its availability in 14 different colors also suggests that RØDE is targeting social media content creators who want a ‘showy’ wireless mic with some screen presence. I imagine most pros will stick with black!

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