Azden UDR400 Wireless Mic Review

[Jacques Mersereau]

Here at The U of Michigan, we recently purchased an inexpensive wireless mic system, the Azden UDR400.

Now, I could go through all the specs.,
but that would really be a waste of time, because IMO Azden is lying (or a brand new unit has problems).

We opened the box. I was impressed with the bomb proof components, but because both the transmitter and receiver are rather _large_ and bomb proof, they are pretty heavy. Well, . . . maybe that's cool.

We took and hooked it up to a mackie mixer and
got out four mics. Two plain ol' Shure SM58s and two Beta 87 condensers. We were excited that the
Azden transmitter provided phantom power and could
therefore be used with the higher end Beta 87s.

First, we plugged in one Beta with a wire and plugged the other to the transmitter. I brought up the first mic's level and it sounded good. Now, I fully expected the wireless not to sound as good as the wireless, but the wireless was dead. Hmmm.
Checked the phantom switch . . . it was on.
Tried swapping channels and made sure that those
were correctly set. Nothing.

Okay, we'll try the SM58. The wired one came up in the PA no problem. Plugged the other into the
transmitter and sure enough this mic worked.
Bottom line, the Azden transmitter does not provide sufficient phantom power to make the beta 87 come alive. LAME. Really lame.

Well, that doesn't necessarily cripple this purchase. I got the gain structure set so that
we were not overloading the receiver. The resulting sound was muffled while exhibiting quite a bit of high end "hash". Bringing up the highs on the EQ didn't help the sound much, but did result
in amplifying the hash. Yeach.

Well, this system is pretty inexpensive, lets take a walk around the studio and see how well the
"true" UHF diversity system does with drop outs.

Again, the hash was constantly changing as we walked around the room, and at times the signal was dropping out. The drop outs were quick, but . . . ugh. We were never further than 40 ft from the receiver and nothing was blocking the radio signal's path.

In summary, you still get what you pay for, and in this case, we got less than we paid for. The system is going back to Fullcompass.

[Chris Hurd]

Thanks for the heads-up, Jacques.

[Don Palomaki]

Which Azden transmitter were you using?


SM87 requires between 11 and 52 volts phantom power, positive on both pins 2 and 3.

Azden's manual for the 1000XT transmitter indicated only 9 VDC phantom power on pin 2 with audio+, Pin 3 being ground, and pin 1 audio-. Does not sound like a happy match.

The Axden 41XT does not appear to provide phantom power at all.

[Jacques Mersereau]

It wasn't a happy match at all, but the
real issue was all the hash and (quick) drop outs
that occured with in spitting distance of the
receiver. That I don't get.

[Don Palomaki]

Sounds like one receiver channel was dead netting to non-diversity operation, and maybe other problems as well.

Your experience sounds much worse then others who have reported on the Azdens. But then they are modest cost devices.

[Jacques Mersereau]

<<Your experience sounds much worse then others who have reported on the Azdens. But then they are modest cost devices.>>

Yup, you still get what you pay for in the wireless world. I was hoping to get "mackie" results . . . alas ;)

I another hope I have (I'm a dreamer you know)
is that there will soon be an inexpensive *digital* wireless system. The Zaxcom system is well over
three grand, but it just seems that someone should be able to do it CHEAP.

[Jacques Mersereau]

An important amendment and _retraction_ for my previous review of The Azden UDR400.

When our audio guy called Full Compass to return the unit, the salesman
Jeff Ryan (a cool guy) said that our experience was way out of bounds with what all his other customers had reported. He asked for the unit to be returned and he sent another.

We got it out and hooked it up. This time the results were great! No hash,
no drop outs, and the audio quality was very good, especially considering the
price. A complete turn around from the first unit. Frankly, I was amazed
that a unit that costs under a grand could be this good. Yes, the receiver and plug on transmitter are rather large and bulky, but . . .
I have to change my opinion from, "Don't" to a enthusiastic "YES!"

[Don Palomaki]

Good to hear that the problem was resolved to a defective unit, and that results are excellent for the price point.

[Nathan Gifford]

Everybody makes a bad unit now and then. My first XL-1 had problems right out of the box (I even found debris in the tape unit, like it had been exposed to a fire). Unit was swapped out viola, no problems.