Proud of you Bandrew for your persistence in keeping healthy. As a fellow ice cream “2 litre eater” addict if I have it in the freezer, I need to borrow some of your discipline (except for on microphones and watches) :).
I use FLAC and Opus as audio codecs. While Apple has opensources ALAC (the lossless codec used in M4a) I still prefer FLAC because it always has been open and has no downsides to ALAC (for my usecase). It even creates a bit smaller filesizes (for music at least) and is faster to encode and decode. And I use Opus bit for the same reason. AAC (lossy codec used in M4a) still has licensing fees. Opus is open and totally free. And which one is better probably depends on the bitrate, since Opus has a bit of a focus on the lower bitrates. And AAC would maybe be a marginal better at bitrate I use the codec. But that difference is so small that I wouldn´t notice it and otherwise I would rather encode 192 instead of 160kbs than using AAC for myself.
Danke! Thank you for demonstrating to me again why I don't like lavalier mics! They are convenient, and there are use cases where they may be the best choice. Whenever I could avoid using a lavalier mic, though, I'd do it. You're the best, thank you just for being.
Thank you so much Rainer. That's the conclusion I'm coming to as well. I just didn't want to come to that conclusion without trying the lavs that are considered to be some of the best because I'd always be wondering "do I dislike them because I didn't try a good one?". So I'll review them within the context of lav mics and then walk away knowing that I did my due diligence.
To my ears (or perhaps brain) M4a presented as spatially larger. That is to say, frequency aside, it was less squashed (it's a technical term)...longer tails.
Could you possibly use Rode VXLR Pro to record the lavs that use a 3.5 mm connector using your standard audio interface? That may possibly let you compare the mics using the same preamp and AD converter. I'm not sure what bias voltage is required for each of the mics though (and how the wiring is done). VXLR Pro supplies 4V plug-in power (but I don't remember through which poles off top of my head). Edit: It looks like F2 may not be providing the bias voltage required for Sanken and Countryman per their specs. F2 provides 2.5V, but Sanken requires 3 - 10V, and Countryman requires varying voltage depending on the load impedance (I couldn't find the load impedance spec for F2 mic input). I don't know if 0.5V makes any difference, but just a thought...
I love that not too long ago you almost convinced me to start collecting nice watches and now you have me considering attempting a No Spend Month. You truly are an amazing fellow. If you ever decided to start a channel where you talk about finances (not financial advice) I think that’d be a great topic you can passionately speak more about if this whole microphone thing gets boring. 😉
MP3 was finished around 1991. M4A uses AAC (Advanced Audio Codec), which was finished around 1999. AAC was proven to be 'better' at same bitrate, especially at lower bitrates than MP3. AAC is capable of handling more than 2 audio channels and more than 44.1 kHz. MP3 is the grandfather of compressed audio and we should have to honor it.
Very interesting test on the file formats. I'd not considered subtracting the compressd against the raw being something that would be useful audibly but it actually is. Re what I use: I tend to go with what Bandcamp defaults too which is MP3 320 kbit/s.
I don't know if YT compress degrades the audio quality but there was only slight differences between the lav mics. I could hear the clarity of the Sanken and Shure but if they were not put back to back I doubt anyone would notice on YT. As far as plugging in lavs into something that doesn't introduce noise that's hard. I used Zoom H1, Tascam DR10-L, and Sony wireless transmitters. All add noise that you can here when there is silence. Nothing beats lav into XLR adapter into a quality mixer like Sound Devices MixPre. You could try the Tascam because that's an inexpensive alternative that I believe is better than the Zoom.
That truly means so much to me Joe and I appreciate it so much. There are plenty of great shows out there as well that are worth a listen, but the fact you spend you time with me is an honor.
To connect TL48 with XLR preamp to a 3.5mm mic input on a bodypack, you could use an inline phantom power supply (like Xvive P1) and Shure A96F camcorder interface (or Hosa MIT-156 transformer) (assuming bodypack input impedance is something like 2.5K ohm). Or maybe get the microdot version of TL48 and a microdot-to-3.5mm adapter (assuming the bodypack will supply 5V DC)?
@@bsp the thumbnail! The look on your face on the right and the gesture work together to create something magical. I just laughed again when I looked at it. Devastation or minion-like delight, that is next level stuff, my friend! I love what you do.
Well Bandrew you asked, If it wasn't for size considerations *and you know why* I would use wav files. They are the best sounding. But because of size limitations and a well as you know large music collection, I need to keep an eye on file size. And because I use mp3tag and edit my meta data and use it to name the music in my library. So in case the file names get removed *I have had that happen with itunes when I tried it years ago* I stay away from apple codec's. I convert alac to flac and m4a to mp3 for that reason alone. Otherwise i wouldn't bother. And as for my lossy codec mp3 vb0 is my preffered codec choice, it has the quality of 320 and the smaller file size of 192-224 bit mp3's.
I settled on the Lavalier 2 Rode too. I bought all the expensive ones, including yip the Twinplex, the DPa 4060, DPA 6060 -- and returned them :P . My conclusion is two things..and don't shoot the messenger. Lav mics sound horrible no matter what you do. They don't even sound better than a Blue Yeti and they're not meant to. It's physics I suppose. Heck I'm not even kidding when I think 99% of lav mics sound worse than a $20 XM8500. But quoting someone, " Lav mics aren't meant to sound good, they're meant to sound intelligible. " But yeah even in your vid, not really hearing a $400 difference between the mics. They all sound worse than a $20 XM5800 but that's how things go with lavs. Lavs are a last-resort audio solution when a shotgun mic won't work.
Yes - I agree, tried various Lav mics and the quality is below a XM8500 in general. I found the biggest issues being the amount of "room" and ambience sounds being picked up. Runing them through a software like Hush or Clear does help a LOT with LAv mics and makes them sound a lot better.
That’s what I”m realizing as well. I was told by Allen that lavs are a last resort, but I had to do my due diligence as well. I didn’t want to make that conclusion based on affordable lav mics because I’d always be thinking “I wonder if it would be different with expensive lavs”, but now I have the information I need to make that determination. I can review them in the context of other lav mics, then move on knowing that I put my money where my mouth is and verified for myself.
I remember there was a video that gave me confirmation on this too. The video is called "Best Lavalier Microphones for TV / Film". He goes over super expensive lav mics. What you realize.........is it doesn't sound great...lav mics just don't sound very great :P And they were placed properly too. But the mic that sounded best was the shotgun mic. So yeah the TLDR is LAST LAST resort is using a lav. But if possible try to do a shotgun off-screen.
Very enlightening as always. I was shocked at how mediocre they all sounded, for the money. I am not against lavs -- I have a basket full of them, and many sound good (assuming the recording device isn't noisy) -- but these sound to me no better than sub-$50 lavs, or some that I bought for like $5 a bagful.
File formats... Lossy: MP3, although I'd prefer Ogg Vorbis to be the standard. Lossless: WAV, but then again, I'd love FLAC to be the standard. In other words... In my own "echo chamber" Ogg and FLAC, If "I need to share it with the world"... MP3 and WAV.
You chose a 4 bit music sample for your music test? Also, both Rode and Deity make adapters that convert 1/8" lav (or others) to XLR and pass 48V. You can use your same interface with the lavs and the adapter.
All of the samples sounded exactly the same to me so my takeaway is that if I record audio I only want listeners who use sub-$100 Bluetooth headphones and listen on mobile. 😂
I'm quite disappointed by the fact you totally ignored OGG. I think MP3 stopped being a viable option over a decade ago. I spent LOTS of time re-encoding every single song in my personal cache' from FLAC or M4A (I try to purchase FLAC versions wherever I can, but of course if some album is only available on iTunes I have to make do with M4A) to OGG (First I encoded everything at quality 5, but during COVID I realized even 3 (!) was enough. It's just super-efficient and I'm so happy I made the move. Now all my music is stored in my personal cloud account, and I play whatever songs I want on my phone without filling its built-in storage and without ever topping my cellular data plan.
I’m sorry you’re disappointed. I’m primarily a podcaster and was answering a question that I had where i compare the common formats used for this medium.
Proud of you Bandrew for your persistence in keeping healthy. As a fellow ice cream “2 litre eater” addict if I have it in the freezer, I need to borrow some of your discipline (except for on microphones and watches) :).
So, so proud to be on the journey with you Bandrew! Love the way you talk and simplify things. 🙏😇❤️
I use FLAC and Opus as audio codecs.
While Apple has opensources ALAC (the lossless codec used in M4a) I still prefer FLAC because it always has been open and has no downsides to ALAC (for my usecase). It even creates a bit smaller filesizes (for music at least) and is faster to encode and decode.
And I use Opus bit for the same reason. AAC (lossy codec used in M4a) still has licensing fees. Opus is open and totally free. And which one is better probably depends on the bitrate, since Opus has a bit of a focus on the lower bitrates. And AAC would maybe be a marginal better at bitrate I use the codec. But that difference is so small that I wouldn´t notice it and otherwise I would rather encode 192 instead of 160kbs than using AAC for myself.
Danke! Thank you for demonstrating to me again why I don't like lavalier mics! They are convenient, and there are use cases where they may be the best choice. Whenever I could avoid using a lavalier mic, though, I'd do it. You're the best, thank you just for being.
Thank you so much Rainer. That's the conclusion I'm coming to as well. I just didn't want to come to that conclusion without trying the lavs that are considered to be some of the best because I'd always be wondering "do I dislike them because I didn't try a good one?". So I'll review them within the context of lav mics and then walk away knowing that I did my due diligence.
To my ears (or perhaps brain) M4a presented as spatially larger. That is to say, frequency aside, it was less squashed (it's a technical term)...longer tails.
I am the same . It is easier for me to stpp something completly instead of being moderate with it,i would not enjoy it in moderation anyways.
Could you possibly use Rode VXLR Pro to record the lavs that use a 3.5 mm connector using your standard audio interface? That may possibly let you compare the mics using the same preamp and AD converter. I'm not sure what bias voltage is required for each of the mics though (and how the wiring is done). VXLR Pro supplies 4V plug-in power (but I don't remember through which poles off top of my head).
Edit: It looks like F2 may not be providing the bias voltage required for Sanken and Countryman per their specs. F2 provides 2.5V, but Sanken requires 3 - 10V, and Countryman requires varying voltage depending on the load impedance (I couldn't find the load impedance spec for F2 mic input). I don't know if 0.5V makes any difference, but just a thought...
I love that not too long ago you almost convinced me to start collecting nice watches and now you have me considering attempting a No Spend Month. You truly are an amazing fellow.
If you ever decided to start a channel where you talk about finances (not financial advice) I think that’d be a great topic you can passionately speak more about if this whole microphone thing gets boring. 😉
MP3 was finished around 1991. M4A uses AAC (Advanced Audio Codec), which was finished around 1999. AAC was proven to be 'better' at same bitrate, especially at lower bitrates than MP3. AAC is capable of handling more than 2 audio channels and more than 44.1 kHz. MP3 is the grandfather of compressed audio and we should have to honor it.
Very interesting test on the file formats. I'd not considered subtracting the compressd against the raw being something that would be useful audibly but it actually is.
Re what I use: I tend to go with what Bandcamp defaults too which is MP3 320 kbit/s.
Yes, very interesting - MP3 null test is showing consistent loss while M4A null test is showing a more dynamic loss over different frequencies
I don't know if YT compress degrades the audio quality but there was only slight differences between the lav mics. I could hear the clarity of the Sanken and Shure but if they were not put back to back I doubt anyone would notice on YT. As far as plugging in lavs into something that doesn't introduce noise that's hard. I used Zoom H1, Tascam DR10-L, and Sony wireless transmitters. All add noise that you can here when there is silence. Nothing beats lav into XLR adapter into a quality mixer like Sound Devices MixPre. You could try the Tascam because that's an inexpensive alternative that I believe is better than the Zoom.
I no longer listen to podcasts except yours. I love your life lessons disguised as an audio education podcast.
That truly means so much to me Joe and I appreciate it so much. There are plenty of great shows out there as well that are worth a listen, but the fact you spend you time with me is an honor.
96 kbps mp3 converted to tiff file and then converted to MIDI file is peak audio
Where can we get a copy of the outro music (assuming its a full song)?
To connect TL48 with XLR preamp to a 3.5mm mic input on a bodypack, you could use an inline phantom power supply (like Xvive P1) and Shure A96F camcorder interface (or Hosa MIT-156 transformer) (assuming bodypack input impedance is something like 2.5K ohm). Or maybe get the microdot version of TL48 and a microdot-to-3.5mm adapter (assuming the bodypack will supply 5V DC)?
The picture at the top of the post is awesome! Please use this format for more of your reviews. :-)
Which picture at the top? Do you mean the thumbnail for the video? This was a fun one to make. Thanks!
@@bsp the thumbnail! The look on your face on the right and the gesture work together to create something magical. I just laughed again when I looked at it. Devastation or minion-like delight, that is next level stuff, my friend! I love what you do.
Irrespective of what processing you did or didn't do, RUclips will have further screwed things up.
Well Bandrew you asked, If it wasn't for size considerations *and you know why* I would use wav files. They are the best sounding. But because of size limitations and a well as you know large music collection, I need to keep an eye on file size. And because I use mp3tag and edit my meta data and use it to name the music in my library. So in case the file names get removed *I have had that happen with itunes when I tried it years ago* I stay away from apple codec's. I convert alac to flac and m4a to mp3 for that reason alone. Otherwise i wouldn't bother. And as for my lossy codec mp3 vb0 is my preffered codec choice, it has the quality of 320 and the smaller file size of 192-224 bit mp3's.
Hey Bandrew - the cool windscreen in front of your mics. The brand and type please? thanks in advance🙂
It's the Hakan P110.
This Friday I am going to go and get my YMCA membership again. I sit so much for my job driving, I need to do something.
I wonder how the Opus codec would compare
I settled on the Lavalier 2 Rode too. I bought all the expensive ones, including yip the Twinplex, the DPa 4060, DPA 6060 -- and returned them :P . My conclusion is two things..and don't shoot the messenger. Lav mics sound horrible no matter what you do. They don't even sound better than a Blue Yeti and they're not meant to. It's physics I suppose. Heck I'm not even kidding when I think 99% of lav mics sound worse than a $20 XM8500. But quoting someone, " Lav mics aren't meant to sound good, they're meant to sound intelligible. " But yeah even in your vid, not really hearing a $400 difference between the mics. They all sound worse than a $20 XM5800 but that's how things go with lavs. Lavs are a last-resort audio solution when a shotgun mic won't work.
Yes - I agree, tried various Lav mics and the quality is below a XM8500 in general. I found the biggest issues being the amount of "room" and ambience sounds being picked up. Runing them through a software like Hush or Clear does help a LOT with LAv mics and makes them sound a lot better.
That’s what I”m realizing as well. I was told by Allen that lavs are a last resort, but I had to do my due diligence as well. I didn’t want to make that conclusion based on affordable lav mics because I’d always be thinking “I wonder if it would be different with expensive lavs”, but now I have the information I need to make that determination. I can review them in the context of other lav mics, then move on knowing that I put my money where my mouth is and verified for myself.
I remember there was a video that gave me confirmation on this too. The video is called "Best Lavalier Microphones for TV / Film". He goes over super expensive lav mics. What you realize.........is it doesn't sound great...lav mics just don't sound very great :P And they were placed properly too. But the mic that sounded best was the shotgun mic. So yeah the TLDR is LAST LAST resort is using a lav. But if possible try to do a shotgun off-screen.
good stuff as always
Very enlightening as always. I was shocked at how mediocre they all sounded, for the money. I am not against lavs -- I have a basket full of them, and many sound good (assuming the recording device isn't noisy) -- but these sound to me no better than sub-$50 lavs, or some that I bought for like $5 a bagful.
File formats... Lossy: MP3, although I'd prefer Ogg Vorbis to be the standard. Lossless: WAV, but then again, I'd love FLAC to be the standard. In other words... In my own "echo chamber" Ogg and FLAC, If "I need to share it with the world"... MP3 and WAV.
You chose a 4 bit music sample for your music test?
Also, both Rode and Deity make adapters that convert 1/8" lav (or others) to XLR and pass 48V. You can use your same interface with the lavs and the adapter.
It’s the short music I had available. I’ll redo the test with white noise. That’ll verify all frequencies are covered.
All of the samples sounded exactly the same to me so my takeaway is that if I record audio I only want listeners who use sub-$100 Bluetooth headphones and listen on mobile. 😂
"... I am not that person..." hehe, neither me :D
You walk more in a year than I have in my lifetime
What encoder are you using for mp3? Lame?
I'm really not sure what codec Logic Pro X uses for encoding MP3. I'm going to have to install an encoder which allows for more file types though.
Apple is the devil... Was this a blind A/B test?
I'm quite disappointed by the fact you totally ignored OGG. I think MP3 stopped being a viable option over a decade ago. I spent LOTS of time re-encoding every single song in my personal cache' from FLAC or M4A (I try to purchase FLAC versions wherever I can, but of course if some album is only available on iTunes I have to make do with M4A) to OGG (First I encoded everything at quality 5, but during COVID I realized even 3 (!) was enough. It's just super-efficient and I'm so happy I made the move. Now all my music is stored in my personal cloud account, and I play whatever songs I want on my phone without filling its built-in storage and without ever topping my cellular data plan.
I’m sorry you’re disappointed. I’m primarily a podcaster and was answering a question that I had where i compare the common formats used for this medium.
@@bsp am I the only person using OGG for speech as well? 😅
I like ogg vorbis a lot
I like ogg vorbis