The MAONO WAVE T5 made an impression on me. Extra importantly, it made a head-whipping, “Oh, that’s good,” spectacular response from my non-tech spouse.
The Maono Wave T5 is one in every of a bunch of recent wi-fi microphone techniques which are compact, appropriate with smartphones, and have some extent of AI noise suppression. The Maono Wave T5 equipment options two small however mighty wi-fi microphones and receivers for both a mirrorless digicam, a USB-C connection, or a Thunderbolt connection. This 9g little wi-fi system provides customers adjustable noise cancellation, which is usually a good little characteristic when taking pictures on a Smartphone or streaming from a loud occasion.
Desk of Contents
- First Impressions
- Setup
- Sound High quality
- Vary & Reliability
- Battery Life
- Who’s It For?
- The Quirks
- Verdict
Maono Wave T5 First Impressions
Out of the field, the Maono Wave T5 is available in a wise case the place the charging field, connectors, and magnetic mic clips are all proper at one’s fingertips. Open the charging field, and the 2 wi-fi microphones and receiver’s LEDs gentle up, indicating whether or not they’re linked or require a connection.
Setup
Plug, pair, play. Severely, it’s fairly straightforward to set up these wi-fi microphones. The T5 doesn’t waste time with awkward menus or cryptic LED codes.
Throughout a photoshoot that includes our eight-year-old daughter displaying off her costumes, earlier than she grows out of them, my spouse, who usually avoids fiddly tech, grabbed it, clipped it on, and was immediately recording. She truly laughed at how small it was and mentioned, “That’s all I’ve to do?“ She was genuinely excited that it labored with none setup drama. If my spouse finds it straightforward, it’s principally foolproof. I shot behind-the-scenes household footage whereas my spouse snapped her portraits. It’s good to have clear audio from an iPhone shoot that’ll give a little bit of context to the portraits later.
Sound High quality
Now, this isn’t a high-end skilled microphone system, however for what it’s, the T5 punches above its weight. The sound is obvious with out selecting up an excessive amount of background noise.
Is the Maono Wave T5 broadcast-ready? I’ve used an analogous mic system for a shoot. I don’t see why one wouldn’t use the Maono Wave T5 in a pinch. For instance, I shoot on a Canon C300 Mark III for many of my documentary-focused work. That digicam has two XLR inputs and a single 3.5mm jack. I can break up Channels 3 and 4 and have two further wi-fi microphones in use if wanted. It’s a workaround for the Canon C300 Mark III growth pack that’s first rate, absent an expert sound recordist. Like, I wrote, I’d use it in a pinch. However, I puzzled if I may use the Maono T5 Wave in one other method.
Whereas within the technique of reviewing the Maono Wave T5, I used to be additionally testing Blackmagic’s URSA Cine 12K LF which gave me a thought. I wanted a good video displaying off the Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF and I wanted one thing to point out off the Maono T5 Wave. So, I requested my spouse to document a narration observe for slightly video we created. She did every part you’d not anticipate an expert voice actor do, she recorded the narration on her cellphone with the Maono T5 Wave. Now, her audio doesn’t sound prefer it was recorded in an expert audio sales space. However I believe it really works.
Vary & Reliability
Maono claims the T5 can deal with as much as 200 ft of vary. I didn’t dive into the true vary for one purpose. In the event you’re utilizing the Maona T5, I’m guessing you’re taking pictures close to your topic. I don’t see a big have to shoot greater than 50 ft away from a topic. That being mentioned, I used to be in one other room, and the T5 dealt with it nicely.
Battery Life
I discovered the Maono Wave T5 saved a good cost all through my evaluation interval. I charged the system as soon as and went about my enterprise, testing the wi-fi microphones and receivers. That’s first rate for a battery-powered mic system. Now, these microphones are small, which means their batteries are small too. One would possibly get away with a 6-hour shoot. Something over 6 hours would trigger me to really feel anxious about when the battery will likely be drained.
One can’t evaluation a wi-fi mic system constructed for smartphones and never, on the very least, point out that the Maono Wave T5 USB-C and Thunderbolt receivers each have USB-C charging ports to maintain one’s system totally charged throughout a shoot. That’s a pleasant characteristic.
The Quirks
In the beginning, you can’t plug a lavalier microphone to the Maono Wave T5 mics. Which means you may be caught with a quarter-sized microphone hooked up to your topic. That may be fairly the eye-sore for some. The delicate case that holds the USB-C and Thunderbolt adapters additionally holds small clothespin-style clips that magnetically connect to every mic. Nicely, these magnetic clips are jammed into the softcase and my fats fingers struggled to get a grip on them. Moreover, the Maono T5 Wave bundle got here with two necklace-style microphone holders. I discovered it troublesome to get the microphones into the necklace holders so I didn’t use them.
Who’s It For?
- Content material creators who need higher audio than built-in cellphone mics.
- Educators doing distant courses or tutorials.
- Marriage ceremony/occasion shooters who want a backup wi-fi mic.
- And, apparently, spouses who need one thing that works with out studying a guide.
Verdict
The Maono Wave T5 Wi-fi Microphone isn’t right here to dethrone the Sennheisers of the world. However that’s not the purpose. It’s right here to offer creators and informal customers a plug-and-play mic that simply works, sounds clear, and doesn’t value as a lot as your month-to-month streaming subscriptions mixed.
In the event you’re the sort of one that desires fuss-free, transportable, and surprisingly strong audio with out breaking the financial institution, the T5 is a no brainer. And if my spouse—who usually offers new devices a suspicious side-eye—discovered it “cute“ and enjoyable to make use of, then Maono actually nailed the simplicity issue.
