Excellent product, combining key criteria to make it a very well-optimized product:
- Shotgun including possibilities to passively neutralize off-axis noises, but also to record in stereo (via built-in bi-directional microphone); not tested the rendering yet though
- Very compact knowing it includes the recorder & vibration isolation mount
- REC in 32 bits float, on µSD card without size limitation like older recorder models limited to 32GB. Insert a 256 or 512GB & you are good to go!
- Line out for redundant REC on camera/smartphone (with TRRS adapter required for the latter) for example & headphone monitoring
- Remarkable audio quality for its price range, although you can clearly distinguish a difference with a REC on USB interface (type Scarlett Solo) + XLR mic (K6+Me64 in my case), (so not the same budget) in terms of quality & bass extension (+ muddy & thick on M3), & in definition of highs, dynamics...
- Powered with AA batteries, perfect in my opinion, to associate rechargeable ones, which run with other gear following the same principle; + practical, quick to swap in-out rather than waiting for the battery to charge, etc.
Some additional thoughts:
- In case of recording in the camera via line out, in reality you lose "security redundancy", in the sense that if the mic fails, the REC is then lost internally mic, & on the camera; unlike if the camera records audio independently.
- This model is known to have had EMF/Radio shielding problems, supposedly treated by the manufacturer... So far I haven't noticed anything, but not tested in all circumstances.
- No protective case
- µSD - PC transfer very slow (<10MB/s) compared to connecting it via a µSD UHS/adapter port at USB 3.0 speed
- REC WAV files "mono" actually in stereo, certainly to be compatible with RAW recorded in parallel, in stereo therefore; bitrate 3056 kbit/s (1572 per channel), ×2 with mono + RAW so 6112kb/s
Hope this was helpful
Verified
Posted on 21 Jul 2023
By Edwin Dometille