2.4 GHz wireless mics

[Rob Taylor]

I have been seeing a lot of $100 to $150 2.4ghz wireless mics lately. Has any one tried them out? If so what are your opinions on them.

Rob

[Brian P. Reynolds]

Which make / model at that price range?

[Battle Vaughan]

I bought a set of the Sony bluetooth mikes recently, I assume they are 2.4 ghz, or at least they are in the price range you mention. I| am pleasantly surprised at how well they work, within their limitations. For across-the-room interviews they sound good. The range is necessarily limited --- bluetooth is designed, really, to connect things pretty close together --- but they are very compact and would be perfect for a dslr or compact, consumer-type video camera with the 3.5mm audio plug. The built in mikes are not bad but they will accept 3.5mm mike plugs, and I paired mine with an Audio Technica lavalier that cost about $35 and it makes a workable, very compact kit. Apparently Canon has essentially the same units for a higher price.

[Brian P. Reynolds]

Latency or delay seems to be a problem with ALL digital systems (even the top end stuff), I've looked at the Rode film maker system but it seems quite a bit larger than the Sennheiser G3 and Sony systems, but the 1.8 and 2.4 ghz range may be the way of the future for short distance systems.

[Chris Harding]

My mate Roger in the UK has two of the Chinese Boya WM-5 2.4Ghz systems and despite the very low price he tells me they work like a dream with no issues. Some of the wedding pros on our East Coast are using the Rode Link and seem to be happy but both the Rode and AT System 10 units are a lot more (around the $400 mark ).. Boya WM5 units are just over $100 so a quarter of the price.

I have always liked the System 10 and reviews look good but for $100 the Boya just might be fine. I think with all 2.4GHz units you need to respect the maximum range of 100' which is no problem for weddings where we are far closer than that but expect dropouts if your talent is across the valley from you!!

The WM5 also has a neat talkback facility between camera and talent which is clever and might be useful depending on what you are filming

[Donald McPherson]

Not a review but I am using the Rowa dual channel in the first half of this video.
There is another set withwhat looks like individual controls which I wish I had bought for a few £s more.

YouTube (Short URL)

[Roger Gunkel]

As Chris mentioned, I use the cheap Boya system that comes with included Lav mics and a talkback facility which I have only used once, but useful of you want to communicate with the talent. I bought a pair of the Boyas for about £100 expecting them to be for backup, but they have been so reliable that I use them all the time for weddings and school productions.

I would normally keep the distance between RX and TX to about 30-40ft LOS max, but have used them up to 150ft in testing. I particularly like the low noise level, the direct headphone out from the receiver, ideal if you haven't got camera audio monitoring, and I also like that there are output level controls to match the output from RX to camera/recorder. I have made a couple of adapters to enable me to plug various mics into the TX which has been handy for table or stage mics. Inputs/outputs are 3.5 mm only, no XLR at this price. RX and TX use a pair of AAA batteries each and I have used up to 90mins without a problem. Whilst monitoring through the RX headphones, there is a very slight delay in the sound, but there is no delay on the camera recordings.

I have had no reliability problems but they are simply built with plastic casings and I don't expect them to be as robust as Senheiser and other higher end systems, but for short range effective radio mic work they have been excellent.

Roger

[Rob Taylor]

Thanks for the input everybody. I am looking at the Boys and MonoPrice units. I have found someone who has the MonoPrice units and they are letting me borrow them this weekend. I will report back what I find with them.

Rob

[Nathan Buck]

Originally Posted by Brian P. Reynolds

Latency or delay seems to be a problem with ALL digital systems (even the top end stuff), I've looked at the Rode film maker system but it seems quite a bit larger than the Sennheiser G3 and Sony systems, but the 1.8 and 2.4 ghz range may be the way of the future for short distance systems.

I looked at the Rode Filmmaker kit too. In the end I went for the Sennheiser AVX, which is much more expensive. But as a run and gunner, the AVX just made more sense. The Rode is so chunky and is just another thing to have to mount. The AVX plugs straight into my XLR and the battery life on the TX lasts over 10 hours! It's on the 1.9ghz range which is supposed to be more free from interference. That said, at a shoot last week I noticed some interference. I think it was coming from my iPhone, as when I put it on airplane mode it went away. Weird. Also the AVX is supposed to hop to another channel when it detects a bad channel. Also the shoot was in a hospital above a radiology room - wonder if that had anything to do with it.

[Paul R Johnson]

I've been using multiple 2.4GHz radio mics for some years now. Latency is a total non-issue, and reliability has been high. My experience is that they do not suffer with interference FROM other wi-fi users, but CAUSE plenty to them. My equipment has two RF modes, normal and 'friendly' where they cause less distress to other users, with an increase in dropouts to the radio system.

RF technology is now easily managed and even the Chinese cheaper systems are pretty decent specification wise. The key problems from budget systems are construction - they tend to be flimsy and fragile, and programmability - many are quite basic and apart from changing the channel, little else is possible.

Spare parts can often be impossible to source too.

If I buy more systems, they'll probably be digital, or more Sennheiser G3 - I tend to use the two interchangeably as they are so similar in sound quality.

[Ty Ford]

Originally Posted by Rob Taylor

I have been seeing a lot of $100 to $150 2.4ghz wireless mics lately. Has any one tried them out? If so what are your opinions on them.

Rob

Audio Techinica has the System 10.

Ty Ford Audio and Video: Audio-Technica System 10 - Now With Battery-powered Receiver & More

Here's a clip:

Audio-Technica System 10 Wireless - YouTube

Regards,

Ty

[David Peterson]

You can add Azden PRO-XD at US$199 as another 2.4GHz system.

[Chris Harding]

Hi David

I still have my Azden UHF units and the ProXD looks like a great replacement ..What is really annoying is that they are US$199 at B&H but AUS$400 in Australia ... that's a huge rip off!! that's equivalent to US$305 and I'm sure it wouldn't cost US$106.00 for shipping ... Best to buy from B&H I think if you are on this side of the world!!

[Brian Berg]

I've been using a couple of the Shure GLX models for a couple years at our church and have only had a couple issues with dropouts. Far less than the old VHF they replaced. They run long side a few UHF and audio quality is the same. There's no noticeable latency that I can see.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/969725-REG/shure_glxd24_sm58_z2_glxd_rechargeable_hand_held.html

[Darren Levine]

i've been using the at system 10 and the sony aw4 and they both perform well within their limitations.

Sony AW4 bluetooth mic test with sennheiser lav - YouTube