Best BUDGET Wireless Microphone of 2024? Hollyland vs Ulanzi vs Saramonic vs Hohem

no matter what kind of camera you're using one of the easiest ways to improve your video quality is to replace the microphone but popular microphones like the DJI mic and the road wirers go or Pro are notoriously expensive so here I have four budget dual Channel wireless microphone systems to test and they range in price from $99 to $179 we're going to see just how they Stack Up in terms of size features and most importantly sound quality and I do think that there is one that stands out Above the Rest now in case you know nothing about wireless microphones these are my favorite to use because the transmitters have a microphone built in and I can be pretty far away from the camera even turn around have my back facing the camera and yet you should still be able to hear my voice so that's why I prefer wireless microphones as opposed to regular on camera microphones first here are the contenders the ulanzi umic amh the hoem mic 1 the ceremon blink 500 B2 plus and the Holly Len Lark M2 all of these mic systems are relatively new the ulanzi came out in 2023 but the rest all came out the first couple months of 2024 now before I talk about differences let's talk about some common features each mic system comes with a receiver for a camera two wireless mic transmitters and charging cases now these mic systems are compatible with cameras via the 3.5 mm TRS output plus phones via USBC or lightning and computers now given the price point these are not professional microphones in that they won't have Pro level settings such as 32-bit float and time code but they are relatively easy for anyone to use now later on in this video I will do a brief sound comparison between the DJI mic 2 and the road Wireless Pro but there won't be an in-depth comparison of these to these microphones now for the comparison points starting with price cheapest is the ulanzi at $99 followed by the hoem at $19 the camonica at $130 and the hollyland at $179 although the holand is the only one here that offers different bundles at different price points it's $179 for the combo kit with the receiver for the camera plus dedicated receivers for USBC and lightning now the latter two options are cheaper so if you don't need the dedicated camera receiver then the price goes down even more but generally speaking the cheaper microphones do mean that certain features have been dialed down or even excluded so you get what you pay for first up is the type of sound that each microphone system records now the ulanzi ceremon and hollyland can all record in mono stereo or safety track audio but the Hem can only record in mono audio now if you don't know what all these audio types are I have a dedicated video that explains each one but personally I prefer to always recorded in stereo audio especially when I'm using two wireless transmitters because that way I can control the audio levels of each microphone in post- production now again there's more info on the pros and cons of each audio type in my dedicated video next let's talk size and appearance all of these mic kits are relatively small and compact the lonzi and the ceremon are the biggest and heaviest of the bunch the camon charging case is a bit bigger and heavier at 141 G versus 128 1/2 G for the ulanzi but the receiver is a bit lighter at 30 G compared to 34 1/2 G for the ulanzi both the camonica and ulanzi transmitters weigh 23 g but I personally prefer the sleeker look of the sermonic the Hem and the holin are definitely the smallest of the bunch the charge in case of the hem is by far the lightest coming in at 76 G compared to 111 G for the hollyland and the Hem receiver weighs just 5 G compared to 14.8 G for the hollyland however the Holly Lin's transmitter is the lightest and smallest transmitter that I've ever seen on any microphone system coming in at 9 G compared to 14.9 G for the hoem but because the Hem and the holand are the smallest both of them had to to make some sacrifices to keep that compact form factor for the hoem the receiver is so small because it doesn't have an actual power source so it technically doesn't even need to be charged however that means that you do need to add your own power source to use the Hem now out of the box you can plug the Hem receiver into a USBC phone or camera and use the connected mics as is but if you want to use the hoem with a big camera like a mirrorless camera then you need to add your own power source for the receiver and you have to plug it into something like a battery power bank or a Gimbal and then connect it to your camera of choice so in terms of connection and usage the hoam may not be the most flexible or convenient depending on what kind of camera that you're going to film on battery life is another area that the hoem and hollyland have less of because of their smaller sizes the hoem transmitter has a s and a half hour battery life there's no battery life for the hoem receiver because it doesn't have a power source while the hollyland transmitter and receiver each last about 10 hours now meanwhile since the uzi and the ceronix are bigger they have quite a bit more battery life the camon transmitter lasts for about 20 hours compared to 14 for the ulanzi and the ceremon receiver lasts 16 hours compared to 14 hours for the ulanzi so cam monic by far has the best battery life while hem has the least now because of their small sizes the Hem and the hollyland receivers have very basic displays with LED lights to show you status the hoem even depends on audio signals to fully show you what level of noise reduction and gain that you're using so learning how to use the Hem and the hollyland mic systems have a bit of a learning curve meanwhile the ulanzi and the ceremon receivers both have screens to show you what settings are active on your mics and also to set and control control the settings the ceramic receiver does not have a touchcreen you have to use the buttons to cycle through the menu but the yanzi receiver has a touchscreen which makes navigation a lot easier however the ceremon comes with adapters to easily attach the receivers to a mobile device while with the ulanzi you need to connect the receiver to a phone with a cable and find a place to attach the receiver to the phone all of these mic kits come with two transmitters each with bu in microphones the ulanzi camonica and hem transmitters all have Clips to easily attach to a shirt collar and all of them except for the ulanzi have a magnet for more discret attachment the hollyland transmitter does come with both a magnet and clip attachments but they are loose and they must be attached separately it even comes with a necklace with a magnetic Mount so in a way all of this is more convenient because you only use what you need in the moment but it also means that that there are more small pieces to keep track of and possibly lose also the clip leaves the transmitter really loose so it's hard to lock it into position and with all of these different attachments it is so easy to accidentally position the microphone away from your intended subject so you have to pay extra attention when putting it on your subject each transmitter also comes with optional wind screens that you can add to cover the microphones to prevent wind noise I find that the wind screen attachments vary in quality and ease of attachment the hoem wind screen feels a bit flimsy while the holin wind screen is really big compared to the transmitter itself and thus it's quite hard to attach I also found the ceremoni wind screen to be very difficult to attach so the Alonzi windscreen is the only one that I could easily attach and didn't have a problem with before I tell you more about how the transmitter features compare let's talk a little bit more about microphone play bement which is one of the many skills that you're going to need when you're filming a video now if you're considering buying a budget microphone kit I'm going to assume that you're a 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with each building on the other so I can learn not only how to edit on my phone but also on my desktop wait capcut has a desktop app I actually didn't even know that so apparently I really do need to take this class so if you guys want to try out skillshare for yourself I'll see you there you can use my link below the first 500 people to use my link will get a one-month free trial to skillshare thank thank you skillshare for sponsoring this video and now let's continue on with transmitter feature comparisons the next transmitter feature is the wired lavalier microphone Port now this is a feature that you always see on high-end wireless microphone systems like the road and DJI microphones but on these budget mics it's a 50/50 chance if you'll get it the yansi and the Hem mics each have wired lavalier mic inputs while the ceremon and the Holly lens do not now now not everyone needs this feature it actually costs a bit more money because you'll have to buy your own wi lav mic to use it but it can be nice for enhancing the audio quality and also appearing more discreet because if you attach a wire lavalier microphone to your subject it is way less noticeable than clipping on the entire transmitter speaking of appearance that's one more thing worth mentioning because the Alonzi is so large it's not exactly the best looking transmitter especially with this touch of silver that draws more attention to it now the ceremon and the Hem transmitters are much more discreet but the holin is by far the least noticeable not only is it exceptionally small but it also comes with stickers so you can cover up the front logo I don't know if any other wireless mic systems that include custom stickers to do that let's also talk about onboard recording which lets to use the transmitter as a standalone voice recorder or to create backup audio now like the wired lab microphone Port this is a feature that comes with almost all highend wireless mic systems but it's 50/50 on budget mic systems the ceremon and the hollyland do not have onboard recording but the hoem and the ulanzi do on the hoem it's a feature that you'll only get if you insert your own micro SD card into the transmitter now this ability to add your own memory card is actually a unique feature in itself that I have not seen seen on any other wireless microphone systems but it would be a welcome addition because this way you can control how much storage is available on your transmitter on the ulanzi on the other hand you get 8 GB of onboard storage built into the transmitter which is a good amounts especially considering that the ulanzi is just $99 the final transmitter feature that I'll mention is the ability to use it as a remote control to trigger the shutter on a camera now only two microphone systems can do this the hem and the hollyland and it is limited to working with smartphones only but it's a super useful feature that can save you some money because that way you won't have to buy a remote shutter for your camera now before we move on to battery life and sound quality let's talk transmission distance or how far away the wireless transmitters can be from the receiver SL camera the cheaper microphones are more limited both the yansi and hoem have a maximum transmission distance of 100 met line of sight the ceremon adds a bit more capping out at 150 M while the holin doubles the ceremon at 300 M this actually puts it ahead of the road Wireless Pro and the DJI mic 2 which is pretty ridiculous for such a tiny microphone system all right let's get to the sound quality now to really hear the differences you want to listen to this with a pair of highquality headphones all of these audio samples are straight out of the camera unedited so let's do a sound test starting with a baseline test of this camera the built-in microphones this is the DJI pocket 3 we are in arms length away from the camera and this is what it sounds like next up we're testing out the DJI Mike 2 transmitter so using the built-in microphone on this transmitter no low cut filter no noise cancellation this is what it sounds like now this is an audio test of the road Wireless Pro using the built-in microphone on the transmitter there's no low cut filter there's also no noise cancellation that's even available on this microphone so I won't be testing that feature out this is what it sounds like coming straight out of this transmitter this is a sound test of the ulanzi microphone so we're using the built-in microphone on the transmitter along with that furry wind screen there is also no noise reduction I believe if there is I'm not able to turn it on or off but uh one complaint I do have about this microphone so far which I'll go into more detail about is that I cannot do the firmware update for it because I have a MATC computer and apparently that's not available right now so that is one downside to the ulanzi next up we're testing out the built-in microphone on the Holly Lin lar M2 transmitter again with the furry windscreen attached but no low cut filter no noise cancellation this is what it sounds like directly out of the microphone transmitter this is a sound test with the Hem mic one using the built-in microphone on the transmitter we have no noise cancellation enabled but there are actually two different levels that we can activ activate for noise cancellation so we will test them out later but this is what it sounds like directly out of the transmitter with no extra effects on the sound this is a sound test of this tonic microphone using the built-in microphone on the transmitter along with the wind screen there is no low cut filter no noise cancellation this is what it sounds like directly coming out of the transmitter microphone all right analysis time now I'm no audio expert but to my untrained ears the road has the richest sound quality followed by the DJI Mike 2 now besides some Pro Lev features it really is the audio quality that you're paying for in these more expensive microphone systems but as far as the budget microphones I really like the audio quality of the Holly lent I thought it sounded richer than that of the ceremon but the ceremon audio quality definitely comes in second for me in my opinion the yansi microphone did a decent job but I do hear a lot of background noise so the voice isolation isn't as good plus the audio quality just lacks some richness compared to the ceronica and the hollyland finally the hoem came in last for me it just wasn't the greatest now all of these microphones except for ulanzi have optional noise reduction that you can activate by pressing a button on the transmitter let's take a listen all right another sound test with the DJI pocket 3 only using the internal microphones want to uh do a noise reduction test now with all these microphones so this is the Baseline test now this is a sound test with the DGI Mike 2 transmitter we have noise reduction turned off right now but I will go ahead and turn it on so you can hear the difference so now with noise reduction turned on on the DJI might 2 Fire Tru going by that is pretty noisy so I'd love to hear how effective that noise reduction is and yeah that's what it sounds like next up we're testing the road Wireless Pro so the road Wireless Pro does not have a noise reduction setting so this is as good as we're going to get uh recording directly to uh the microphone or to the camera but if we go into our video editing software we can actually add noise reduction of Our Own in post production so that's an option with the road if you do want the noise reduction applied to your sound this is a test of the ulanzi wireless microphone using that built-in microphone uh again I don't believe that there's noise reduction because I'm not able to do the firmware update on this mic but this is what it sounds like in a rather noisy environment and like the road you can actually add your own noise reduction in post if you really want to this is a sound test with the Hem mic one there is no noise reduction we're filming straight out of camera in a rather noisy environment but I will go ahead and start start adding different levels of noise reduction so this is the hoem with normal noise reduction applied this is what it sounds like straight out of the camera and we will also add the stronger forward noise reduction [Music] next so this is the strongest form of noise reduction on the Hem this is what it sounds like recording using the built-in microphone on the transmitter this is a sound test with the holin lar M2 using the uh built-in microphone as well as the wind screen we have no noise reduction applied but I will go ahead and add it so once again this is the Holly lenark M2 with noise reduction applied this is what it sounds like recording using that built-in microphone on the transmitter this is a sound test in a rather noisy environment with the Holly this is a sound test with a ceremon microphone using the built-in microphone on on the transmitter no noise reduction we're recording straight out of camera and now we're going to go ahead and add noise reduction this is the weak form of noise reduction on the ceremon there is a stronger form of noise reduction as well which I will test next but this is the weak noise reduction on the stonic microphone so this is a sound test with the strong form of noise reduction on the cerotic microphone this is what it sounds like recording directly into the transmitter straight out of camera in a rather noisy environment with lots of traffic around me this is what it sounds like I personally don't think it sounds very good on any of these microphones you can easily add your own noise reduction and post production and this gives you much more control over how much noise reduction is applied so I recommend going that route instead of relying on built-in noise reduction in a microphone because once it's there it's really hard to take it away now after taking into account price size features and sound quality let's draw some conclusions about the best budget wireless microphone system if you want the absolute best sound quality I would go for the hollyland or possibly even the ceremon if you need more features like an Ola display on the receiver and a physical clip on the transmitter but if you want a ton of pro level features and you don't mind sacrificing some sound quality then the ulandi UIC wins by a long shot it's the only microphone system here that has built in onboard recording without having to add your own media storage and it lets you plug in your own wi lavalier microphone those are two features that you won't get on the hollyland or the ceremon but these are my thoughts and conclusions you guys let me know what you think in the comments below if you agree with my assessments or if you think another one of these microphones is better or if there's another budget microphone that I haven't talked about that you think is better let me know in the comments thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video

Channel: Gemini Connect

Views: 17,573

Keywords: gear review, tech review, camera review, rode wireless pro, ulanzi am18, dji mic 2, wireless mic, hollyland lark, best wireless microphone for youtube, best wireless microphone, rode wireless pro vs dji mic 2, ulanzi am18 u-mic, wireless microphone, wireless mic for iphone, budget wireless microphone, best budget wireless microphone, budget microphone, budget microphone for youtube, saramonic, hollyland lark m2, hollyland lark vs dji mic

Id: R613HcZJE-k

Length: 21min 13sec (1273 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 12 2024