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Issues discovered with the ned DJI Wireless Mic2 - Audio problems
  • Among the tons of glowing Mic2 reviews from the usual "influencer" suspects, there have now been a few videos with a different take.

    First of all: of all the Mic2 vs Røde Wireless Pro comparisons the Mic2 sound noticeable worse, dull as well as other issues. But the features man...

    Some mics seems to be duller sounding and more "muffled" in quality than other copies.

    Anyway DJI now claims that there is a firmware bug in the Mic2 which causes the bad sound quality. Or at least some of them.

    Clear difference in frequency response for different copies of the Mic2 transmitters built in microphones. If used with external mics no problems.

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  • 14 Replies sorted by
  • It is always the "firmware bug", as all else is expensive :-)

  • Chris Judd on the world of influencer marketing (taken from you tube comments in linked video above():

    @curtisjudd

    Some of the bigger influencer channels are paid in addition to receiving the product and have to submit their videos for review before posting publicly.

    We received the kit for free but negotiated no review before posting (and we’re not receiving payment beyond the kit itself).

    @curtisjudd

    In my case, DJI sent the Mic 2 to me in exchange for a review. I do not get paid a sponsorship fee like some of the bigger YT creators (because I do not do sponsored deals — it is no longer a review in my mind when you're paid and the company get's editorial review and control.) They initially wanted to review my video prior to posting but I told them no. So they came back and said, "ok, we trust you..."

    @curtisjudd

    I feel this. At NAB a few years ago another creator told me, "Curtis, you HAVE to get an agent. With your channel, they'll easily be able to get you $10 - $15K per month in sponsored content deals." Glad I didn't take that advice, even though it has cost in terms of money.

  • From the comments about the Mic2 performance found on the Chris Judd YouTube video:

    @curtisjudd

    Yes, muffled sound and whistling sound in some rare cases as well.

    @curtisjudd

    If you listen on quality headphones, it sounds quite muffled and in the silhouette sample there’s an odd whistling artefact sound.

    @curtisjudd

    It is basically missing most audio above 4kHz and if you play it on quality speakers or headphones, it should become apparent.

    @curtisjudd

    Yes, plus an awful electronic whistling sound on the silhouette sample.

    @curtisjudd

    Other videos also point out similar issues and I’ve heard other samples that are also somewhat muffled like ours. All I’m saying is that based on my experience so far, I cannot recommend the DJI Mic 2. Perhaps there are differences from copy to copy. I’m working with DJI to figure that out.

    @andyhighfield3439

    I actually have three of these things on my desk right now. An original MIC 2 TX that came with the Osmo Pocket 3 kit, plus a pair with RX and charging case that only arrived Friday. Totally concur with your findings, Curtis. One of the three TX's is as dull and lifeless as all heck, one is more neutral, but still on the dull side, while the other is quite 'thin' sounding. Only way to overcome it is to use external lavs. This is not a transmission issue - it is there on the internal recordings. No NR used, but still some evident artifacts and a 'compressed' sound... suspect two things going on here. First, the internal mic capsules seem inconsistent. Second, there is something odd happening with the internal processing. They can hopefully fix the latter in firmware, but if the capsules have poor QC..... meanwhile both the Rode Wireless Go II and Rode Wireless Pro both sound WAY better right out of the box. Also, the recorded levels on the MIC 2's are incredibly low, averaging -22dB. They know about that issue too. There have been many complaints.

    @MrMoviePhoneEx

    I can’t believe they left off locking ports again considering their biggest competitors have them now - that really limits the lav mics you can use with these units, because none of the good ones will fully seat in the port… Was going to update from the gen 1 mic kit for faster gigs, but I’ll stick with what I have for now.

    @lynes2peters438

    In my experience you wouldnt wanna do that anyway with the DJI. If you look into any professional Lavs Datasheet, you would the the section power supply and a number between 5-7.5V. The DJI Mic only supplies 2.5V, so any professional mic would be way to quiet and thus would require a higher gain which dramatically increases the noisefloor... So no real benefit from using a sanken cos11 or mke-2 on a dji-mic, just buy cheap rode go lavs (these only need 2.5V)

    @curtisjudd

    Yes, good point that the supplied voltage is low and may actually damage the microphones with extended use.

    @andyhighfield3439

    I have tried it with the Rode Lavalier Go - certainly sounded better than the internal mic, but still not great. Oddly, I plugged a dirt cheap lav in from a Synco set and that sounded half-decent! Possibly because it is very bright and almost harsh sounding on most systems. It does not have the bias voltage to run most pro grade mics, and you can't properly insert locking plugs either. Sennheiser's of example, proper contact is not made.

    @lynes2peters438

    Jup the SNR of their ADC are quiet poor actually if you look inside the Datasheet. So DJI "cover-up" is a simple noise-reduction-filter ontop. But as we saw here that comes with its own Problem and personally i even liked the DJI MIC more than the new version from a pure Audio perspective. I think they just wanted to much features into too little space...

    @curtisjudd:

    That’s what it sounds like, yes. I confirmed that noise reduction was off.

    @krzysiekbs

    Curtis, can you do a test between both TX's? To check if the built-in microphone sounds the same in both cases? Since the sound is different on my DJI 2 unit, one has muffy similar to yours, but the other one had clear and detailed sound.

  • For people using this Mic2 - like me - the latest transmitter firmware is found under the Pocket 3 section:

    https://www.dji.com/no/downloads/products/osmo-pocket-3

    But I can confirm that the firmware on the kit unit is the same as the last issued on the DJI web site: 04.02.01.13

  • No problems?

  • @EspenB

    Stay away from Chris, he try top look more innocent, but he is not. He is deep in tight relations with all major brands.

    I know, as after I posted about something innocent and technical he waited for some time and banned me. It is normal standard practice of such channels. They try to ban anyone who can question their results or show issues with reviews, even if small ones.

    I know that I am talking about as I tried to make really independent review channel. And know how manufacturers mostly don't like this, especially more famous ones.

  • For some reason or another @curtisjudd and maybe all the other "influencers" got a review sample which did not have the final retail firmware v04.02.01.13 installed.

    He does not reveal the firmware revision first installed, but influencers got their samples back in early january, 2-3 weeks before the official release.

    @curtisjudd

    Update 24 Jan 2024: DJI Sent the production firmware and I've updated the receiver and transmitters (v04.02.01.13). Now we will get back to testing!

    Update 23 Jan 2024: Confirmed that my copy has a pre-production firmware version. The DJI site does not have the first production firmware version available for download so I'm working with DJI to get my kit updated. More to come, hopefully soon!

    Turns out I have a pre-production firmware installed on my kit. Not sure what the other creators have. Also, I found the issue on my kit is SPECIFICALLY when recording 32-bit float on the transmitter. The audio quality is MUCH better when transmitting wirelessly to the receiver.

  • "The audible difference between the BT to the Action 4 and the 32BF internal recording is subtle (way less noticeable than the difference between my 2 TX built-in mics) but there is a slight detectable difference. For me, the real difference is reliability as the internal TX recordings seem much more reliable than the direct BT connection to the Action 4 (with the connection to the RX being in the middle)."

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  • @EspenB

    Bluetooth compatible microphones will be always inferior to custom 2.4ghz ones. As BT is not designed for good wide bandwidth signal if any interference is present.

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev

    The sound with DJI's own devices is a light year better than BT to my phone, so seems like there is a use of the Enhanced Data Rate mode and not Handset-profile.

    In fact, I would say that the true benefit of something like the Mic2 only comes with DJI's own products where the functionality is totally integrated.

  • DJI has released a new Mic2 firmware which brightens the sound ever so slightly in the high end with a new "optimized EQ setting".

    https://www.dji.com/no/downloads/products/mic-2