Review: BOYAMIC wireless mic

Review unit provided by BOYA

BOYAMIC is a wireless mic released by BOYA in March 2024. This is a mic that can be used with mirrorless cameras, phones, tablets and computers.

Price of the mic is USD 159 and it comes with all the accessories necessary for recording to various devices. It's available through AliExpress.

Bottomline: The mic has many useful features, is able to record clean audio and noise reduction works well enough. The mic is versatile since it's able to record to mirrorless cameras, phones, tablets and computers. Battery life, together with the charging case, is long enough for a full day's worth of recording. The only downside is the OLED display isn't bright enough for use under direct sunlight.

Specifications

• 8GB internal storage (15 hours recording)
• Frequency range: 20-20kHz
• Sampling rate: 48K 24bit
• Signal to noise ratio: 80dB
• Noise reduction: yes
• Operating range: 300m (with line of sight)
• Battery life: Up to 10 hours for single recording session
• Total battery life with charging case: Additional 1.5 times
• Time for full charge: 1.5hrs
• Recording mode: Mono, stereo, safety track
• Mic gain: -6 to +9
• Display: OLED
• Transmitter audio in: 3.5mm, USB-C line in

Things included

• Charging case
• 2x transmitter
• 1x receiver
• 1x USB-C adapter
• 1x Lightning adapter
• 2x furry windshield for transmitter
• 2x lavalier mic
• 2x foam windshield for lavalier
• USB-A to USB-C adapter
• USB-A to USB-C charging cable
• 3.5mm to 3.5mm TRS cable
• Drawstring pouch
• Warrany card
• Quick start guide

Accessories for recording to various devices are included. The mic can record to mirrorless cameras, iPhones, Android phones, tablets and computers.

Charging case

The charging case is kinda big but still portable enough. There are status lights to let you know the battery life left and charging activity. The charging case can provide an additional 1.5 times more battery life to the transmitters (10 hours for a single recording session) and receiver. The charging case can be charged with USB-C or wireless charging.

The charging case is big because it holds two transmiters, one receiver, the USB-C and lightning adapters.

You can even put the receiver with the adapters attached into the case. I find this very convenient because I often switch between using mirrorless cameras and my phone for recording.

And you can squeeze in the furry windshield together with the receiver too!

Receiver

The receiver comes with a small non-touch OLED display that shows useful information such as connection strength, recording mode, battery life, noise reduction and mic gain.

Downside is the OLED display isn't bright enough for use under direct sunlight, and the display is kinda small.

The two side buttons can be used to go into the menu system to adjust more settings such as:

• Recording mode: Mono, stereo, safety track
• TS mute key: Enable, disable
• Auto recording: Enable, disable
• Output volume: 1-15
• Low cut filter: On, off
• Speaker: Enable, disable
• Set TX time
• Format TX
• Blacklight: On, 10s, 30s, 60s
• Language
• Reset
• Pair
• Firmware version

It's possible to charge your USB-C or lightning devices (phones, tablets) while recording.

The clip below is for attaching to the hotshoe of mirrorless cameras.

The rubber cover can be removed to attach the USB-C or lightning device.

This is a more convenient implementation compared to attaching a wired cable from the receiver to your device. This also fixes the problem of recording extremely low audio volume to iPhones, but it's likely you'll still need to increase the gain in post for iPhone recordings.

Here's how the mic looks when attached to a phone. There are no moving parts but just be careful not to hit the mic.

This is my usual setup when recording with a phone. I'll have the receiver attached to the phone which is on this phone holder.

Transmitter

Transmitter uses an omnidirectional mic and has a 3.5mm audio jack that lets you attach other mics, e.g. lavalier, shotgun mic.

Attaching the furry windshield is a must when recording outdoors to filter out wind noise. The windshield is quite secure since you have to insert and twist to install.

The transmitter has a USB-C port for charging or attaching to other USB-C mics. There's a switch for switching between recording with 3.5mm or USB-C connection.

The clip can clip to clothing, and there's also a removable (extremely strong) magnet for hiding the mic behind clothing.

Having the 3.5mm port on the transmitter is useful. Shown above is my setup when I need to use a shotgun mic with my phone. I have the transmitter clipped to the windshield of the shotgun mic, and the receiver is connected to the phone. This phone holder lets me turn the shotgun mic to whichever direction I prefer. When used with two transmitter, I can use the shotgun mic to interview people, and have the other transmitter on me to record questions that I ask.

To replicate the setup above on a directional mic, you'll need a dual cold shoe mount plate for your mirrorless camera.

The other side of the transmitter has buttons for power, noise reduction and internal recording. It's impossible to press the wrong button as they are well spaced apart.

Here's what the different colours on the transmitter lights mean:

• Blue: No settings applied
• Green: Noise reduction enabled
• Yellow: Line input selected
• Red: Recording audio internally
• Blinking red: Mute enabled

Audio quality

The BOYAMIC is able to record voice well in outdoor conditions. Noise reduction works fine with slight distortion to voice, but not too distracting.

I personally use 0 gain when recording to mirrorless cameras, and +5 gain for phones and tablets. iPhones, for some reason, still record low volume and hence you'll have to apply more gain while editing. I don't have the low volume problem when recording to Android devices.

Audio quality is similar regardless of which device you record to.

Conclusion

The BOYAMIC is well made, has many features and is able to record good audio quality.

The only two downsides would be the legibility of the OLED display under direct sunlight, and the low volume when recording to iPhones (which can be fixed in editing).

This is a good mic to consider if you're looking for a capable and versatile wireless mic system.

Pros and cons at a glance
+ Well made, functional design
+ Can record audio to camera, phone, tablet, computer depending on the receiver purchased
+ Carrying pouch included
+ Adapters can be attached to receiver and stored in the charging case
+ Furry windshield can fit in the charging case
+ All accessories provided for recording to various devices
+ Records clean audio quality
+ Noise reduction works quite effectively but there's slight voice distortion
+ Charging case can store USB-C and lightning adapters
+ Auto power on and off
+ 10hrs battery life for a single recording session
+ Two transmitters included can be used for interviews
+ Two transmitters included means one can be used as backup
+ Charging case conveniently stores and charges the transmitters and receiver
+ Charging case supports wireless charging
+ Transmitter has 3.5mm and USB-C audio input
+ Receiver has OLED display to show useful info
+ Receiver can charge the recording mobile device through lightning and USB-C
- Bigger charging case compared to competitors
- OLED display not bright enough for use under direct sunlight
- Low volume when recording to iPhone

Availability

Boyamic is available on AliExpress.