Sony's WEIRD Wireless Microphone that's actually PRETTY GOOD!! But, is it worth the price??

The Wireless Sony ECM-S1 is one of the strangest offerings from Sony. It's intended to be used in a home office or podcast environment, but I find the most practical use to be as a standalone travel microphone. The sound quality if far superior to a wireless lav and does not take up any more space in your bag. In addition, it is AWESOME for ambient sound recordings as well when in stereo mode.
The one thing I can't figure out is how Sony manages to prevent the audio from clipping, regardless of what the gain is set too. In a traditional analog arrangement, once the circuit gets overloaded, the audio distorts. That does not happen with the digital signal. I have no idea what kind of magic Sony has developed, but I love it because it works so well.
Get your's while it's still on sale!!
www.amazon.com/Sony-Wireless-...

[@NoEgg4u]

That microphone (when the video started, without the noise cancellation) adds a base hump -- sounds like a radio DJ's voice with enhanced bass, like when you are listening in your car with the bass turned up, and his voice has umph in the bottom end. With the noise cancellation, the base hump is absent, but the quality of your voice is lost. The omni directional setting sounds natural. The stereo setting is very good, but has an ever-so-slight hint of a bass hump. I wonder why the initial setting (at the start of the video) and the stereo setting differ in the amount of exaggerated bass? The directional aspect is very good. I agree with your assessment of the low cut setting. I do not know under what circumstances someone would choose that setting? I am blessed (and cursed) with critical listening skills. I can hear when music has any issues with the mixing and mastering (could also be the microphone or tapes or analog to digital conversion done in the studio, etc). I can't always be sure where unnatural sound of someone's voice or an instrument was from, but it takes me 2 seconds to hear it. Sadly, nearly every song has such issues. When a song has everything done right (a rarity, and it is never actually "everything" right -- but pretty close), it is heaven. I know little about microphones. So I do not know what is on the market, how they sound, pricing, etc. So I can't speak to why no one is talking about that microphone. Perhaps if there are hundreds of $300 microphones to choose from, it is hard to garner attention? Is there a blizzard of $300 microphones to choose from? There are hundreds of speakers to choose from, with a $300 budget. Most people will never hear of 90% of them. Is it the same for $300 microphones?

[@RandumbTech]

There is a lot of competition at the $300 price point, but I don't know if there is anything else that offers similar features / convenience like it. I've looked at the frequency analyzer during playback and and it's consistent with other microphones which is great! There is a bit of handling noise, but other than that, I think it's a solid buy.

[@CharlieVN]

I think sony has a limiter on everything, it does look like a really nice mic, and the reason why I would pass would be the simple fact that it's another device that sort of competes with other wireless systems that may not be as good, but maybe good enough, and it's wearable. Next trip, I'm only taking one mic with me, rode wireless pro

[@RandumbTech]

I need to do some more detailed tests on the limiter capabilities. My experience with all of the ECM mics is that that you can recover just about any audio, even if it appears to be clipped. And if it's recorded too low, you can raise the volume without introducing additional noise. It's really slick. I have the Rode Wireless Pro as well, but am finding it's too fiddly when I want to fire up the camera and just start recording. If the ECM-S1 had a 3.5 mic input, it would be the ULTIMATE travel mic. Will be interesting to see how you get along with the Rode during your travels - have a great trip!!

[@BrianCatalano]

Oh, great! Now one more thing that I might need... but agreed, if it was like $275ish, it would be an easier purchase.

[@RandumbTech]

It is WAY more versatile than I realized when I bought it. It's AWESOME for ambient recording in stereo mode. It's on sale for $318, which is expensive, but it solves a pain point for us creators because it's essentially 3 mics in one that is small, light, and records fantastic audio directly into camera. The only feature I wish it had was a 3.5mm input for a lav mic. But I have a Tentacle Sync Track E so I can just use that when needed.

[@AndreasRavnestad]

Hm, the active noise cancelling combined with low-latency 48Khz/24 bit output is actually kinda awesome for a wireless mic. And it definitely sounds great based on this demo. Is there anything else like this on the market?

[@RandumbTech]

The noise canceling is indeed quite good! I was surprised when I listened back to the footage. The A/C fan was really cranking in the background and it removed it without sacrificing too much sound quality. I don't think there is anything else like it on the market - at least nothing that connects directly to the camera with no wires.