The audio quality of these cheap wireless microphones isn't wonderful.

Good Morning All Wireless microphones! I've now got two sets of these. the one I bought in error which says for iPhone and has a lightning connector and the new ones that came today which are type C. So let's get all the stuff out of the boxes. So here are the two receivers.

Uh, this one's still got its sticky peel sheet on there and another one. I'll do that in a moment. So there we are. lightning on that one and USB type C on that one.

So I can plug the USB type-c into my phone now. I Also have four microphones now so we can see uh, how this thing works with one microphone, two microphones, and whether it will take any more than two. So let's plug it in now, right? I was using uh this headset which is a Turtle Beach something other headset which has a boom mic and sounds pretty good I got that from Lidl I'm now using these microphones or at least I assume they're working. Uh, so the green light comes on and syncs quite quickly.

Let's see what happens if I turn one of these off. We should still have audio from this one now talking quite far away from these things because I've discovered that if I bring them closer to my mouth then they start to distort horribly. In fact, as you can hear, the audio quality from these things is pretty Dreadful right? Let's try these ones. These were from the iPhone set, so press and hold that and that stays flashing so it's not seeing the receiver.

so would it see this receiver. if it were powered up? I Don't actually know, but these two don't appear to be compatible with that one or is the other side isn't it? I have to press and hold like that and that one's also just flashing. So yeah, there's something different about these two sets. These two won't sync in with the receiver unit.

These two will. So no. four microphone tests I'm afraid. not gonna happen.

I Don't know why that is. That's just weird, right? So I've got one of these powered up and one knot now. let's see what happens if I power this completely down right? That's gone green immediately. So I assume the audio is coming through, so no, it doesn't.

The phone doesn't automatically switch um to the internal microphone having seen this signal disappear. I Presume that's because the Um receiver is still acting as a an audio Source Okay, now as far as I remember from previous tests that was mono and then if I bring in the set, um, it remains mono I don't think it switches to stereo I don't think it moves the microphones to left and right sides. uh I could bring one microphone more towards me and then the other microphone more towards me and I don't think you'll hear that in your left and right audio channels. The question is, are these good enough? Um for doing the audio on my YouTube videos, let's say I put them up here and I just talk normally there.

Or if I bring them a bit closer does that work? Or if I just leave them down on the desk. How does that sound? Does it sound better with one four two? Let's switch that one off. It takes quite a while for these to go off. Uh, Okay, so that's with just one microphone.
Let's press both actually. and uh. okay. so I don't know what happened there.

Whether there was a an audio glitch or something. Let's switch this one. and now we're back to two microphones. So how does that all sound? and how does it compare with this? uh, headset with the boom microphone? I'll switch back to that and are these things different inside? Well, yes, they do appear to be.

Let me get in a little bit closer on that. This is one of the ones that's actually transmitting. This is one of the I This is the iPhone one and the chip is different. It's got a magnifying glass on it, right? So this one, um, as I made in my previous video when I showed The Insider thing.

This thing has an identifiable chip number. Um, the USBC one unfortunately has been scraped or etched or something. So, but it is a different chip. What's that? Four? Lots of five pins.

This one is awful. Lots of quite a lot more than five pins. So yeah, they're entirely different chips, which might go somewhere to explain why. when I tried to sync the iPhone one into the USBC receiver, it just didn't connect.

So there we are. Um, there are two sets of wireless microphones. Are these still on? No, they're failing to find the receiver because I've taken it out because I've gone back to my headset. I Don't think these are going to be good enough to record YouTube videos.

So they're probably going to go back in their box and stay there forever more. Um, what do you think? Let me know in the comments below. And of course, don't forget to press the like button. Why don't you cheerio?.


By Julian

Youtuber, shed dweller, solar charge controller aficionado

15 thoughts on “Cheap wireless microphones – awful audio?”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars SidneyCritic ComedyHound says:

    I think they are supposed to be close, ie, clipped to shirt, but the levels need to be turned down a lot, ie, it's being overdriven.
    That being said, even if the levels were correct, it's a bit muffled and not sharp at all. It could be better than the PC mic setup, because that's a bit quiet and dull.
    Isn't Lightning USB2, ie, needs a different chip.

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Dub Dado says:

    Try replacing the microphone capsule with a higher quality one to see if it works better…..hihi…please ๐Ÿ˜‰

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Dustin Watts says:

    "isn't wonderful." Quite and understatement… The search for a budget mic continues! ๐Ÿ™‚ But is you do not care about your headset, you can remove the speakers and just be left with the mic, which you can mount somewhere….

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Fun of world ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒ says:

    can you help me in my project (a battery can charge a VE car) and problem is control pilot how I can build control pilot in easy way ๐Ÿ™‚ and I'm asking for help of you ,sir

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars IrregularShed says:

    Just to complicate things, I've got a USB C version of one of these… except it's not one of these. From the outside it looks identical but the circuitry is entirely different, with the microphone being a MEMS device on a flexible PCB as opposed to the capsule you've got. While a million miles away from a Sennheiser broadcast lavalier mic it's perfectly serviceable (and far, far better than what you've demonstrated), although my phone's microphones tend to do a better job of dealing with background noise (active compensation and all that).

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars DJ_PaulTUK says:

    Yes they were terrible. Do not use these.

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Clive Trezona says:

    I have the exact same one for my iPhone. And when pinned to my shirt with the gain in the recording app turned right down, it actually doesn't sound to bad.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars OffGrid Aussie Prepperโ„ข says:

    SH|T CHINESE CRAP

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars David Vukovic says:

    Replace the microphone element with a better one.

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars RichardS from ESP8266 says:

    Garbage

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Defpom's Electronics Repair says:

    throw them away… they sound pretty bad.

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Paul Guy says:

    The quality of those mics takes me back to watching various YouTubers c. 2006

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Gordon Rogers says:

    What is the sample rate of the MICs? If the sample rate is not limiting it replacing the capsule may give a significant boost to record quality

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars pileofstuff says:

    I though the right hand one sounded a bit better than it's brother, but neither are great.
    I wonder if the limiting factor is the mic capsule or the circuitry?

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Grub Boy says:

    They both sound awful mate. Stick to the headset ๐Ÿ‘

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.