I've now received and tested the Rode 3.5mm outputting receiver. To repeat, they are giving this to original purchasers - eg me - and it is now part of the bundle if you haven't bought the Wireless Micro before. So what you now get is the tiny receiver that plugs into your phone or anything that accepts USB-C mics, plus an extra receiver that you can connect to anything with a 3.5mm mic input, eg audio recorder or camera. And that receiver will also connect via USB-C to a phone or PC.
The receiver is very small and light. You could just about put two side by side on a credit card. It has a power button, a button to connect to the transmitters (once off pairing), and a button to choose high medium or low output. It has one rather bright LED strip which shows very clearly what had been selected by colour, and by whether one end or the middle or both ends shine. Clever. When you plug it into a plug-in power 3.5mm socket, it turns on (and off if you power down the recorder) so you don't have to think about that. Underneath it has a spring clip designed for attaching on top of cameras. They supply a short USB-C lead and a short curly (bright red...) 3.5mm lead.
I tested it quickly by connecting it to my Zoom H2essential and clipping the mics either side of my baseball cap to give the binaural stereo effect that I have described before. I put the rig on a table at one end of the house and then walked around the rest of the house making noises and stuff wearing the cap. Then I walked out the front door to the street and recorded a couple of cars passing, plus a bird call which was unexpected in the evening darkness. Then back into the house, recording as I did so a minor digestive sound... Oops. The house has four bedrooms plus study, single storey, and it takes about 25 seconds to walk the length of it. I don't know the actual measurement but the system worked perfectly over that distance, right out to the street, no loss of connection at all.
The sound was, as always with this rig, excellent. The stereo image is very clear and wide. I'm 76 so my ability to hear system noise is kind of lacking but what I could hear was tiny details of the ambient sound, not seeming to be covered by anything. The rumble of the hot air heating was, well, rumbly, no indication of lack of low frequencies.
So now this neat little system can be connected to a 32 bit float recorder for worry-free and idiot proof recording, and if the mics are tucked inside the cap rather than out, and the recorder in your pocket, it's as low profile as just about anything.
Alternatively I could picture the H2e in front of a group of performers with the wireless mic system recording to it as well, providing spot mics without having to trail cables. Then mix the resulting four channels of audio later for best balance.
I hope to do a video review in a couple of days - but currently the required camera is at another location.
Topic: Retitled -Rode & Hollyland wireless mics for stealthy binaural recording (Read 30761 times)