Wireless microphone kits for content creators have become a huge market, with the biggest companies and many lesser-known ones getting into the mix. Boya, which has quite the line of wireless microphones of varying sizes and use cases, has released its larger kit, the BoyaMic, to compete with the likes of DJI, RØDE and others. While they’ve made the price competitive, the question is: did they also match that with quality?
In the box, the BoyaMic comes with a charging case, a receiver, two transmitters, windscreens for the transmitters, two wired lavalier microphones (which hook up to the transmitters) with windscreens, magnets that connect to the transmitters’ clips, receiver connections for both USB-C and Lightning, a 3.5-mm TRS to TRS cable, a USB-A to USB-C cable, and a carrying pouch for all of those accessories.
On the front of the BoyaMic transmitters, there are two indicator lights to let you know if it is powered on, muted, or recording. On the top, there is the microphone and a line-in for the lavalier; on one side, there is a USB-C port and a switch to select the line-in or onboard microphones, while on the other side, there are record and noise reduction buttons. The bottom has connectors for when it is in the charging case, and the back has the mic clip with a magnet.
“The BoyaMic has 8 GB of internal memory in each transmitter, allowing you to record up to 15 hours of audio directly to the mic.”
As for the receiver, there is a single monochromatic LCD display on the front of the BoyaMic, with a headphone jack and line out for your camera on one side, and a power button and menu/function button on the other. On the back, there are contacts for charging in the case, a USB-C port for charging outside the case, and contacts for your adapters, whether USB-C or Lightning, to plug into your phone.
The build quality of the BoyaMic is fairly standard. It’s a solid plastic casing with decent buttons and a really sturdy case.The only weak point is the display on the receiver. The LCD screen is uninspired, much like the Saramonic Blink 500 B2+ (only not as small as their display), which is incredibly hard to see as a vlogger on a sunny day, resulting in me not knowing that I was having audio issues when doing a test recording. A proper LED screen with better brightness is necessary if you are going to have a display on your receiver.
Display issues aside, the BoyaMic has a lot of upsides in terms of features. It has 8 GB of internal memory in each transmitter, allowing you to record up to 15 hours of audio directly to the mic. The ability to capture this audio is crucial with larger wireless mic kits, as it gives you confidence that you are capturing your audio even if there is a connection issue with your phone or camera.
“The BoyaMic does a great job of isolating your vocals and eliminating everything else without significant degradation of the audio.”
Setting up different audio capture options also allows you to shape your vocals in post. You can record in normal stereo, have each mic record on a single channel, or record a safety track—meaning a track that takes your mic’s levels and captures a second channel at a slightly lower level—ensuring you have at least some audio that isn’t clipping if you get too loud. Also, the ability to use your line out at the same time as you are connected to your phone, allowing you to capture to two devices simultaneously, is a great feature because it makes it much easier to sync your content with clean audio on every source.
Adding to those features on the BoyaMic is something I wouldn’t expect of a microphone this affordable: noise reduction. I recorded a small test video outside when the cicadas were out, making their usual terrible noises, but when I went back to listen to the audio, the cicadas were nowhere to be found. All you could hear was a man sounding crazy as he apologized for the insects that you couldn’t hear in the video. It did all this without significant degradation of the audio. Some noise reduction will make your voice sound unnaturally digital, but the BoyaMic does a great job of isolating your vocals and eliminating everything else.
In terms of straight audio quality, the BoyaMic does a decent job. It sounds fine (not spectacular, but fine), but its advertised range is in question. The signal should be strong in open space at 300 metres. It was a little surprising to hear how much the signal was interrupted with my back to the camera at roughly 50 feet, but the range claim is based on a perfect line of sight, so I need to forgive that. At approximately 100 metres, there were some very small drop-offs that I noticed, but nothing I would consider a showstopper. I wouldn’t recommend trying to max out the range on the BoyaMic, however, as it started to struggle at a much shorter distance.
Let’s be honest: the BoyaMic is nowhere near the quality of some of the bigger audio brands, but it is perfectly acceptable audio for most content. You’re not going to find the 32-bit float or higher-quality lav mics that come with some kits, but getting a kit that can give you everything you need for a good price is all you can really ask for.
And what is that price? Well, since the BoyaMic is not on sale on its site or any of the usual suspects like Amazon, it’s hard to say what the true MSRP is. Their site pushes you to AliExpress, which always gives you a price that never seems to be used and a sale price from which it never seems to deviate. The price on the site as of this writing is $117.49 US. That price is a fraction of its competitors’ and makes it a perfect choice for beginner vloggers who may not want to make the investment that one of the other mic kits would require. Being on AliExpress and nowhere else honestly makes it sound like a cheap knockoff on paper, but the BoyaMic is truly a legitimate choice among less legitimate options.
