It won’t be an overstatement to say Rode’s authentic Wi-fi GO microphone system modified how quite a lot of YouTubers work. It wasn’t the primary wi-fi mic system, not by an extended lengthy shot, however its concentrate on creators made it extremely in style. That success would encourage quite a lot of competing merchandise — corresponding to DJI’s — which have since gained over followers in a class that Rode arguably outlined. Right now, Rode fights again with the Wi-fi Professional — its new flagship wi-fi microphone system for creators.
The headline characteristic is the inclusion of onboard 32-bit float recording which implies you need to not have to fret about setting mic achieve ranges (although it is in all probability greatest that you just do). This characteristic means the onboard recording might be nearly not possible to “clip” or distort by way of being too loud. Successfully you need to at all times have a useable recording if issues went a bit too loud on the audio in your digicam, which might be an amazing anxiousness reducer to anybody who’s ever had a manufacturing ruined because of unhealthy audio.
The Wi-fi Professional may arguably assist carry 32-bit float into the mainstream. There are specialist audio recorders on the market that already provide this characteristic. And Rode already included it on its NT1 hybrid studio microphone, however given that you may plug quite a lot of totally different microphones into the Wi-fi Professional transmitters, this opens the door for recording all kinds of audio content material in 32-bit float — so long as you possibly can feed it right into a 3.5mm jack.
In an additional try at streamlining the creatory course of, the Wi-fi Professional additionally has superior timecode functionality so you will not want an exterior system for this. Although you will want to set this up by way of Rode Central, the companion app for the mic (there isn’t any choice on-device for this setting).
Picture by James Trew / Engadget
The Wi-fi Professional borrows a number of options from alternate options or aftermarket equipment by together with a charging case as normal (Rode at present affords one as a standalone buy). That case is nice for 2 whole costs of your entire system in accordance with the corporate and comes as normal with the brand new mannequin. The said battery life for the transmitters and receiver is round severn hours, which means the Wi-fi Professional ought to be good for at the least 20 hours whole recording onto the 32gb storage (good for 40 hours of fabric apparently).
One other key improve is the improved vary. The Wi-fi GO II, for instance, has an approximate vary of 656 ft (200 meters). The brand new Professional fashions expands that to 850 ft (260 meters) which is, coincidentally, a shade greater than DJI’s said 820 ft (250 meters).
When Rode unveiled its extra affordale Wi-fi ME package, it launched the thought of the receiver doubling as a “narrator” mic by way of a TRRS headset within the headphones/monitoring port. That is a characteristic that carries over to the Professional which means you possibly can file as much as three totally different audio system albeit certainly one of them might be wired, somewhat than cable free.
There are a few minor, however welcome high quality of life updates, too, corresponding to locking 3.5mm jacks so you will not rip your lav mic out and plugin energy detection so the system can detect when the digicam its plugged into is energetic, utilizing that data to optimize energy utilization.
At time of publication, DJI’s dual-mic product retails for $330. The Rode Wi-fi Professional will price $399. That is clearly a slice extra, however the firm determined to incorporate two Lavalier II mics as a part of the bundle. The Lavalier II prices $99 by itself, so from that perspective your entire bundle represents a good worth in case you’re in search of full resolution.