[Music] [Music] Hi I'm Dustin Abbott over the years I Have used a wide variety of wireless Mics from a variety of companies but When a serious Audio company like road Comes up with their own take on the Genre I suspect that it's going to be Interesting so I thought that I would Check out how their new wireless micro Mics work now this is a little bit Different review for me cuz I'm actually Filming on my phone using the microphone System this particular system that I'm Reviewing today is designed for mobile Applications not for cameras but rather For mobile applications and it comes in Two flavors I either iOS or Android with Either a lightning or a USBC type Port Now it is a plug- inpl solution that Promises to do all the heaving Lifting For you and allow you to focus on your Own content creation the price tag is 149 in the US and 199 here in Canada so We'll start by taking a look at the Overall feature set the things that they Claim then we'll take a look at some Tests I'll tell you some things that I Like some things that I don't and then Give you my conclusion so here we have In each one of the transmitters this is A dual transmitter set and so right now I've taken the second transmitter out of The box so we're going to get some
Double audio here for a moment so it is Designed for like an interview type Application here but it has in camera Micro or I should say in transmitter Microphones and then it has an automatic Pairing and so you're not gon to have to Do anything as far as you know trying to Figure out channels or anything or even Levels for that matter it's all Essentially just plug and play the Receiver connects directly into the Smartphone with no cables required but You do have to choose which flavor you Want either lightning or USBC it has a Patent pending acoustic chamber design That is uh designed to to capture very Clear and audio while mitigating the Wind noise though there are some dead Cat or furry windscreen type things that Are you can clip onto them if you're in A really windy type environment it also Has their own intelligent gain Assist Technology that will automatically set Your levels and so to make sure that Your sound is balanced and is not Peaking or running too low battery life For the transmitters runs at 7 hours Then of course you have this pocket size Charging case that is really sleek and Well executed I give them high marks for That and it has 490 Mah uh battery life Storage and so it will give you two Complete charges so up to 21 hours for The whole system in running obviously
The receiver itself because it's Plugging into the phone it has no Separate power source it's going to be Powered from your actual device itself Charging case charges via USBC it will Take 3 hours to charge it completely Back up one thing you will note is that These while they're not the smallest That I've seen they are very Compact and They're also very lightweight the Transmitters themselves weigh 12 G or 0.4 o the receiver is just 6 G or 0.2 Oz The condenser mics built into the Transmitters are omnidirectional so Picking up you know primarily the sound Right here but also a little bit of Sound all around so the biggest reason Why they're Omni Direct like this is so That if someone turns away and isn't Kind of speaking directly into them They're still going to pick up okay in That setting operating range is rated at 100 m we will test that 328 ft and it Works seamlessly with roads Free iOS Video app which is called Road capture There's also a couple of other Road apps Called Road Central and Road reporter However you're not tied into just one of The road apps it is going to work as a Generic mic with any other app it's just Going to be a little bit more Implemented uh and give you a few more Controls if you're working with a road Specific app I'm looking at the black
Finish today but there is also a white Finish version as well that you're going To you can check out as well finish here Is kind of a piano black on the actual Transmitters themselves looks pretty Sleek uh I don't love piano black in a Vehicle because it's going to get a lot Of scratches and high traffic I'm less Concerned with something like this it Looks sleek it looks good so how about Some of the tests that I did we're going To I'm going to go into a series of Audio tests here one in a smaller room Just my office that I my home office Then in a larger living room family Space and then testing It Outdoors as Well is to see how it Compares with Recording with the on board mic so let's Jump into those three different Scenarios okay for our first test we'll Hear how the audio is in my home office And so a room that has a hard floor and You know obviously all the stuff various Gear that I am reviewing and all around And so here's how my voice sounds just Using the onboard Microphone all right now for our second Test you can see that I have got the Road mic on and I've got the receiver Plugged into the camera itself and so Let's see how different the audio sounds Under this Circumstance okay now for a secondary Test I'm in a much larger space kind of
A large common area in our home again Similar type hard surfaces be it tile or Again hardwood and so let's see how the Audio sounds in this space okay now We'll try again in this same space using The road microphone and see how the Audio Compares all right so in this case I am walking through deep snow as you Can see at the moment and I am operating Outdoors and so let's see how the audio Works here all right now this time with The road microphone let's walk through The Same patch of snow here and in the same Audio environment and to see how the Difference in the microphone is compared To the onboard microphone quality so my Conclusion after having run and then you Know listen to those tests is I would Say that you're obviously going to get Much less environmental noise that's Particularly noticeable Outdoors where There is more environmental noise Obviously you're going to cut down with Some echo in uh spaces where there would Be more Echo I also found that the voice Mix is better obviously even without Doing any kind of customizing EQ and I Also found that the gain isn't Artificially boosted the way that it is With the onboard mic by the way I'm Using this on an iPhone 14 so the other Thing main thing that I wanted to test Was the actual range claim and so what
We're going to do is jump into a range Test and I'll explain that okay in this Test what I'm going to do is I'm Actually going to test the range and so I'm going to walk away from the camera It is rated at up to 100 m range and so I'm going to call each step we'll call That one meter it might be a little bit Less than that every stride but what We'll do is I'm going to count all the Way up to 100 very likely as I walk away From the camera and there is no line of Sight we'll actually find that it will Cut out probably fairly early but I'm Going to walk all the way up to 100 I'm Going to turn around and start start Counting out 100 as we come we'll see How effective it is at picking up my Voice as I walk along 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 3 34 35 36 7 38 39 40 1 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 7 8 9 8 81 82 3 84 85 86 7 8 89 91 92 93 945 96 97 98 99 100 okay now I'm at 100 We'll see how it goes coming back one 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 7 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 7 38 39 40 41 42 3 44 45 46 7 48 49 50 2 53 54 5 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 6 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 7 78 79 80 81 2 83 84 85 6 7 8 9 90 91 2 93 94 5 96 97 98 99
100 and hopefully we've been nice and Hot for the last few strides so Obviously you saw the same thing that I Did in that while the audio was starting To to kind of cut out and not be uh Flawless in terms of the transmission it Still was transmitting just imperfectly Even at the 100 meter mark and it was Still synced up and so very importantly When I made that turn and it had a line Of sight once again uh the audio was Immediately there and and very very good And so so while I have used other Systems that claim higher uh ratings Than that in terms of the range I would Say that this performs as well or better Of anything that I have tested and so in This sense I would say that they were More conservative not just doing the Range for marketing but it really did Back it up and I think it worked within That real range scenario particularly Obviously when you have line of sight Which is the way all of these are tested So let's talk about some things that I Like I really do like the next level Compact packaging and so compared to Some other type systems this packaging Is even smaller the charging case is About the size of what I'll often see For something like Bluetooth buds so Really really Compact and it uses the Space well inside there's not any kind Of wasted space all good on that front I
Also like the uh integration of the clip SL magnetic attachment magnetic is is Good and strong the clip works fine as Well so you have some varied options There depending on what you're going to Connect to if you have you know Something like this where you could clip On fine but if you're wearing like a T-shirt for example something like that Is going to be a much better solution in This case I would say that the piano Black finish looks nice in this Application I haven't used it long term So I can't tell you how well it's going To hold up as far as that finish but so Far my initial impressions are very good I also appreciate on the receiver itself That there are two green indicator Lights one for each one of the Transmitters and they are bright and They're easy to see and so it is nice so You can tell which one of the is synced And make sure that you're having a Stable connection there the materials Themselves are soft touch they feel nice I noted that even on the um in this case On the back of the magnetic portion that It is really really nicely executed it's A nice soft touch material the magnetic Attachment into the charge case is very Definite it's well executed so you're Never going to have to worry about not Having a not having a stable connection Uh for the actual charging process so I
Appreciate that I have seen as noted Higher ratings for the working distance But I haven't really seen better Performance so I was actually impressed That even with my back to it and walking Away from even though it's having to go Through my body that the fact that it Kept a connection even if it was an Imperfect connection uh is actually Better than what I've previously seen Testing a lot of these systems before I Also found that I actually quite like The road capture software and as I've Shown in a couple of these clips Actually enjoy having the picture and Picture option which could be very Useful for you know something like what I'm doing where a lot of times I'm Wanting to both show you my face as I Explain something but then also show you What it is that I'm actually you know Maybe testing or working on so something That I probably will make use of in the Future how about some things that I Don't like I would have liked to have Had an option to have both lightning and USBC adapters in the kit itself my IPhone 14 Uses a lightning connection at this Point but starting at iPhone 15 I know That they know that they switch to USBC Furthermore my iPad here it uses USBC as Well and so right now I'm stuck with Something that works on my phone but
Won't work on my tablet works on my Current phone but probably won't work on My next phone that I get early next year So I there are other solutions that I've Seen that you know enable you to have Both connectors within one box now you Can buy an adapter OB viously to Probably make that work but anyway it's Not a great configuration second thing That I didn't like is that I actually Had to remove my standard uh phone case Which is a peak design case uh that I Have on my phone all the time but as you Can see here I wasn't able to actually Seat the connector into the phone using My standard case so as a byproduct you Know no joy when it comes to actually Connecting for audio so I had to remove The case to use that some competing um Package packages will have a built-in Recording option which is nice to have As a backup and then so there is no such Thing here I also have noted that there Are some other competitors for example From Hol land this is the main mic System that I use which is the lar M2 And so it's got receiver for a the Phone here but it's also got the Receiver for a camera that I can connect Into a camera and so it's kind of two Systems in one whereas this road is only One specific application and that is Just mobile so I can't use it on my Camera at all if I was able to use both
Of those things I would actually really Love this particular package even more So my conclusion is this this is not the Cheapest option on the market at 149 us But it does feel very well executed I Feel like the audio mix is good right Out of the box it is truly plug-and Playay it does feel a little bit better Made than some of the cheaper Competition just nicer feeling materials And so a little less plasticky a little More substantial feeling overall now It's not going to be the best option Perhaps if you have mixed connectors in What I've described and that you need Both USBC and then also lightning Because of multiple devices so there Might be an option that works better for You in that regard and that is a step That I would like to see Road take to Improve things my final word on this is I would say that there is nothing Revolutionary here no like killer Feature that I haven't seen previously On other packages but it does feel like The overall package is a little bit Better executed than some of the options I've seen before so let's just say put It this way it does the same thing as What competitors do but it seems to do It just a little bit better and so if You're looking for you're not thrilled About buying from kind of some of the Lesser Brands and you want a more
Established Audio company like Road That's been around for a long time then You can definitely check out the road Wireless Micro microphone system it works really Cool and if your application is Recording from a mobile device it'll be Perfect for you I'm Dustin Abbott if you Want more information you can check out The links in the description down below Either to my own website but then also Some buying links if you'd like to Purchase one for yourself as always Thanks for watching have a great day and Let the light in
