DJI’s Mic 2s represent another step forward in audio and voice recording. As modern microphones become smarter and easier to use, even staunch professionals are taking notice. The DJI Mic 2 kit reviewed here is a portable wireless recording system aimed at content creators, vloggers, indie film makers and corporate video producers who want to up their sound game, either in-studio or on the road.
I’ve spent a month with the DJI Mic 2 kit, which includes two transmitters (TX), a receiver (RX), charging case, along with a few other accessories. I generally use professional broadcast audio equipment for our in-house video production work, which includes studio and on-site interviews and pieces to camera. For this we use four Sennheiser Evolution Wireless G4 (EW 512P G4-AS) transmitters and receivers, along with Sennheiser lavalier mics, and we recently purchased the popular Rode Wireless Pro mic system, which is arguably the DJI Mic 2’s closest competitor. So how does DJI’s latest offering stack up?
DJI Mic 2 Specifications
| Prices | DJI Mic 2 (2 TX + 1 RX + Charging Case): $529 DJI Mic 2 (1 TX + 1 RX): $379 DJI Mic 2 Transmitter: $169 DJI Mic 2 Charging Case: $119 DJI Lavalier Mic: $69 |
| Store | DJI Website |
| Warranty | 12 months |
| Dimensions | Transmitter: 46.06 × 30.96 × 21.83 mm (L×W×H) Receiver: 54.20 × 28.36 × 22.49 mm (L×W×H) Charging case: 116 × 41.5 × 59.72 mm (L×W×H) |
| Weight | Transmitter: 28 g Receiver: 28 g Charging case: 200 g |
| Wireless Mode | GFSK 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps |
| Max Transmission Distance | 250 m (FCC) 160 m (CE) |
| Transmitter Frequency Response | Low Cut Off: 50 Hz – 20 kHz Low Cut On: 100 Hz – 20 kHz |
| Transmitter Max Sound Pressure Level (SPL) | 120 dB SPL / Equivalent noise: 21 dBA |
| Battery Capacity (Li-ion) | Transmitter: 360 mAh Receiver: 360 mAh Charging Case: 3250 mAh |
| Battery Charge Time | Transmitter: 70 minutes Receiver: 70 minutes Charging case: 2 hours and 40 mins |
| Max Operating Time | Transmitter: 6 hours Receiver: 6 hours |
| Charging Cycles for TX and RX | Approx. two cycles when charging two TXs and one RX at the same time |
| More details | Official specifications on DJI website |
Standout features
The DJI Mic 2 kit includes two transmitters, a receiver, a couple of wind screens (a.k.a “deadcats”), connectors for your iPhone and Android phone, USB-C cables, TRS 3.5mm cable, 2 x magnets, the charging case and a soft carry case.
You can use the omnidirectional mics built into the two transmitters to capture audio, or run external lavaliers mics (sold separately) into each transmitter. The transmitters will then send the audio signal to the receiver, which connects to your camera, phone or PC or external recorder.
However, a big plus is that you can also save audio on the transmitter’s internal memory at the same time, meaning you have a ‘backup’ version in case there are transmission issues, and the local version can be higher quality than the one sent through the wireless connection, but more on this later.
This also means that you can use each transmitter as a standalone mic, and record audio directly to the internal memory without even being connected to the receiver at all. This can come in handy if you need to grab high quality audio from an impromptu interview and don’t have time for a proper setup.
Each mic can record two stereo channels, and a third channel is possible using a headset mic connected directly to the DJI’s receiver. Most people will just use one or both TX units depending on how many people are being recorded, and you can decide if you want the audio from both transmitters to be mixed together, or separated into left and right channels when sent out from the receiver.
In addition to mono and separated modes, another excellent feature is the ability to save a safety track that’s -6dB less than your recording level to avoid clipping when sounds get unexpectedly loud like at a music concert or air show.
Intelligent audio
For challenging environments, unique to the DJI Mic 2 kit is its Intelligent Noise Cancellation. This can be switched on or off and will attempt to remove ambient sounds like a set of noise cancelling headphones. This could be for grabbing audio on a busy city street, in a plane or with loud AC running in the background. While you can reduce noise in editing software, this can save time so you don’t have to do it later.
What I really love, however, is the DJI Mic 2’s ability to save 32-bit Float audio files directly to the transmitter’s internal memory. 32-bit Float is essentially a very high-fidelity recording format with high dynamic range to handle both very loud and quiet sounds. Unlike 24-bit audio, which can clip or distort when it reaches the edges of its fidelity, 32-bit Float contains much more audio information to help convert bad audio into good.
Charging and charge case
When you’re all finished with your interviews, vlogs or monologues, the transmitters, receiver and attachments all pack up into the metal charging case, which will recharge each unit for the next time you need it.
There’s also a new and improved latch to keep the case from opening by accident, and you can check the charge level with a series of white LEDs on the outside of the case. Overall, it’s well built, as with the receiver and transmitter units, and should stand up to some punishment.
On their own, the TX and RX units will last about 6 hours, and the case will give you about 18 hours of operation. DJI says that it will take about 70 minutes to charge the transmitters and receivers to from empty to full, and if the case is empty, all 3 can be charged with a single USB-C cable that connects into the back of the case.
While 6 continuous hours of change is a fair amount of time, if you have a long shoot day, needing to wait for 70 minutes to recharge the mics and receiver isn’t ideal, so this will need to be planned for.
The charging case will take 2 hours and 40 minutes for a full charge, and it will be able to provide two full charge cycles for all devices.
Receiver (RX)
In terms of day-to-day use, you can manage most of the audio settings via the receiver’s touchscreen display and control dial. The 1.1 inch OLED screen is fairly bright and visible in direct sun. The screen displays real-time audio levels, battery charges, gain settings, signal strength and recoding mode for each transmitter. use the control wheel to adjust the levels and swipe up to access more settings. There’s another view too with a panel of icons for directly accessing the transmitter’s noise cancellation, mute and onboard recording modes.
Overall, the interface can be a little fiddly and it does take a bit of time to figure out when to swipe, tap or use the wheel. However with a little practice, the interface works well and gives you the ‘at-a-glance’ info you need. The RX attaches to cameras via a hot/cold shoe mount, and its low-profile shape leaves room for handle rigs, cages or a gimbal.
Transmitters (TX)
The transmitters come it two colours: Shadow Black and Pearl White. The Shadow Black’s transparent case is looks pretty cool in my opinion, however, some might prefer the neutral white to blend in with shirts and other lighter clothing colours.
You can attach transmitters near your mouth using the clip, and there’s a magnet for each that you can place on the inside of a garment and the mic will firmly stay in place. The DJI’s TX have a more compact shape that the relatively square Rode transmitters, so they don’t stand out as much when not concealed.
Each transmitter has a pair of LEDs to indicate charge, connection and noise cancelling status, plus dedicated buttons to start on-board recording, enable noise cancellation and link to a device. Otherwise, there are no display screens but if you want to adjust a transmitter’s input gain, for example, you can still do this via the Receiver’s display.
Some might also find the transmitter’s built-in haptics handy, which produces a tangible vibration when recording starts or noise cancellation is enabled without looking at the LEDs.
The transmitters can also be connect to other devices using Bluetooth, so you can link it with a DJI Osmo Pocket or Osmo Action 4, a smartphone or even a PC. Compared to the Rode Wireless Pro, which locks its transmitters to the receiver, this excellent feature means you can use the mics however you want.
Each transmitter has a USB-C port to charge the battery and transfer audio files to a PC. The 3.5mm audio jack, however, does not have a screw-lock on it, where the Rode Wireless Pro does. This secures a lavalier mic to the jack to avoid it disconnecting accidentally during a recording, and a good safety feature for pros.
Audio tests
How we tested
The DJI Mic 2 transmitters have built-in omnidirectional microphones with a frequency response between 50Hz and 20kHz, or 100Hz and 20kHz with the low-cut filter enabled. They have a max sound pressure of 120 dB SPL, with an equivalent noise of 21 dBA. The Rode units, on the other hand, have a broader frequency response of 20 Hz – 20 kHz, with a higher 123.5 dB SPL and 22 dBA equivalent noise.
To test the audio, I recorded voices in different environments using the DJI Mic 2s, and compared these to the Rode Wireless Pro, along with the Sennheiser G4 as a reference. I also enabled and disabled the noise reduction to evaluate the differences and listened for any distortion or artefacts.
Recordings were saved to the transmitter’s onboard memory as well as being sent to my reference camera, a Canon EOS C70, via the receiver. The only point of difference here was that the Sennheiser G4 was connected to the camera via mini-XLR cable instead of a 3.5mm TRS cable.
Audio tracks were laid side-by-side in Adobe Audition and listened to with the same reference headphones. I also evaluated the waveforms and spectral frequency display to look for variations.
The Mic 2s have a 250 meter maximum transmission distance, however, this is in an unobstructed, interference free environment, so your mileage will definitely vary. The Rode’s distance was 10 meters more at 260, while the Sennheiser was just 100m and probably a much more realistic figure. With all indoor tests, the receivers were across a room about 8 meters long.
Lastly, I used a broadcast-quality Sennheiser ME 2-II omnidirectional condenser lavalier microphone connected to each transmitter to see if there was any noticeable distortion and the difference in sound quality.
General audio
Overall the DJI audio quality was impressive, with plenty of detail and clarity, especially when using the 32-bit FLOAT onboard memory recordings. However, the tonality of my voice was noticeably different between the DJI and the Rode Wireless Pro, specifically, my voice had a richer and fuller-bass sound.
This was confirmed by the spectral frequency display showing more low frequency signals on the Rode recording versus the DJI for the same voice recording. It’s not that the DJI sounds inferior, just different, and which you prefer depends on personal tastes.
When connected to the same lavalier mic, which negates the internal mic, the direct-to-memory recordings from both the DJI and Rode were near-imperceptible, showing that there’s no perceptible audio noise introduced or degradation from the TX units.
Intelligent Noise Cancellation
Intelligent Noise Cancellation is a unique feature of the DJI. I wanted to see how precise it was so I tested it in a quiet studio with the air conditioning on and off. The AC fans weren’t actually that loud to begin with, however, I did notice the hum nearly disappear with noise cancellation enabled. I could also hear a slight distortion in my voice, with it sounding a little more post-processed than with the noise reduction turned off. It’s not dramatic or will lessen the quality of a production, but it is there if you listen closely.
I also tried the noise reduction in a busy Parkside cafe. Background sound included other people’s voices, the hiss of the cappuccino machine, the clanging of dishes, footsteps, chair noises, birds and dogs. Here, the cancellation was much more noticeable, with a direct reduction in ambient sounds, although other people’s voices received the least reduction. In general, the system did a good job of isolating my conversation with a friend from the other noises, and only with a slight muffling effect overall. What I would like to see is the ability to dial the noise cancellation level up or down, so perhaps this could come in a future firmware update.
Where the cancellation really comes into its own is in windy environments, where low frequency signals are easily cancelled-out leaving mid and higher frequencies, such as voice, clearer. There’s also a pair of wind filters included in the kit that you can attach to each transmitter unit, and a low-cut filter for bypassing 100Hz and below sounds.
DJI vs Rode
Both the DJI and Rode kits are close to one-another in terms of features and price, with the DJI kit being slightly cheaper at $529 compared to the Rode’s $699, however you can get this for about $550 from VideoPro.com.au. Apart from what I’ve already mentioned, the Rode Wireless Pro has a few more ‘pro’ features to justify its slightly higher price. Here’s a quick summary of what’s different between them:
The Rode Wireless Pro includes 2 lavalier mics in the kit, whereas you’ll need to buy these for $69 each for the DJI Mic 2. However, other lavalier mics should also work if you have some already.
While both brands support 32-bit Float recording directly to the transmitters’ internal memory, you only get 8GB of storage per transmitter with the DJI kit and 32GB with the Rode’s units. Still, that’s 14 hours of continuous recording with the DJI so it’s not a deal-breaker.
You can use a single USB-C cable from the Rode’s charging case to copy files from both transmitters to a PC at the same time, while each of the DJI’s transmitters need to be plugged in separately to copy the files stored on them.
The Rode Central app (for smartphones and computers) is a great option for managing your device settings, updating the firmware and batch-transcoding audio files. There is no companion app for the DJI, so it’s harder to do the same things.
The Rode system has Timecode Synchronisation support, so it can generate timecodes for the camera to use. This can come in handy during professional shoots.
On the other hand, the DJI gives you a slimline receiver with a wide and bright display and the RX can connect directly into your smartphone for two-person interview recording.
DJI also includes its Intelligent Noise Cancellation feature, which is both an effective and a handy way to reduce ambient noise during recording rather than in post production.
When comparing both of these to the broadcast-quality Sennheiser system, which is about twice the price for one mic and receiver, the audio quality is nearly on par, but this is only part of the story. The Sennheiser’s are heavier, bulkier but more robust, have better capabilities for dealing with signal interference, and designed to work in tandem with many microphones linked to the same system. They also have removable batteries, so you can instantly swap them out when they run out rather than waiting for a recharge.
Who’s the DJI Mic 2 kit good for?
All up, the DJI Mic 2 is an excellent option for anyone who wants to capture high quality audio for their interviews, presentations, or dialogue in videos and vlogs. The improved battery case makes it convenient and easy to use without a fuss.
Having simultaneous onboard 32-Bit Float recording and a -6dB safety setting means you don’t need to worry about wireless interference or recording in dynamic audio environments.
Sound quality is impressive too, and you can up your game by adding a lavalier mic, however, one isn’t included in the kit. Compared to the the Rode Wireless Pro, this has a few more pro features, however the DJI option is less expensive and has some distinct benefits. This includes an OLED touchscreen and control wheel and loads of connection options including direct-to-smartphone. Another plus is that you can repurpose the mics to directly connect to smartphones and other cameras over Bluetooth, adding to the kit’s versatility.
Overall, the DJI alleviates many of the pain points of old-school microphone systems, and should be on the shortlist for any content creator.
The post DJI Mic 2 review: a marvellous wireless microphone for creators appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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