With the recent announcement of the DJI Action 2 camera, we saw DJI not only announce another new product but also enter into a completely new sector for the company. Microphones. Yes, they released the DJI Wireless Microphone Kit. Priced at $329, DJI certainly feels confident that it can hang with the best and is actually a little bit more expensive than the popular standard by which all other microphones of this type are judged, the $300 Rode Wireless GO II. In this video, Stewart Carroll puts the two systems against each other in a pretty in-depth comparison that lasts almost 23-minutes. He covers some of the unique features that the DJI Wireless Microphone Kit has over the Rode Wireless GO II and vice versa. He also goes through each of the devices to compare the features that they both contain to see how well they really compare and if the DJI is worth the asking price.
Throughout the video, you’ll hear the audio switching between the two microphones as he talks about and demonstrates the various systems, and both of which are very good, although the DJI does offer a handful of unique features that the popular Rode offering does not – thus the slightly more expensive price point. Features like the charging and pairing case – something that you can only get for the Rode from a 3rd party – a touch-screen display on the receiver, individual gain controls over both transmitters and easier smartphone connectivity that doesn’t require you to buy a separate cable.
The Rode does hold its own when it comes to one feature, though. It has attenuation to help reduce the signal from microphones that run a little strong to prevent clipping. That being said and as Stewart demonstrates, you shouldn’t experience clipping with either of these units if they’re set up appropriately. One feature that they both have is the ability to record your audio directly into each transmitter. You don’t have to worry about signal dropout or crappy mirrorless camera preamps because you’re bypassing all that completely. Just record in the transmitter and sync in post. The DJI does make this process a little less painful, though, as you can plug the transmitter straight into your computer and it’ll see it like any other USB storage device and you can drag all your files over at once. With the Rode, you have to go through a user interface that only lets you download one file at a time manually, which will get very frustrating if you have a lot of clips to sift through. Still, none of the differences between them are dealbreakers for me with either device. But, to my ears (with Sennheiser HD25 studio headphones), I do prefer the sound of the Wireless GO II. Which do you prefer the sound of? Or do the features win over sound quality? P.S. if you want to see the RODE GO II compare to the Godox Movelink M2 check the video below
