Insta360 has long been a name associated with cameras, both in the field and at the desk. Its webcams have been strong tools for creators and business users alike, offering presentation-focused features. The company has now taken the skill set that helped establish its reputation in online meetings and applied it to a microphone full of features. The result is the Insta360 Wave, a device that may be the ideal conference microphone.
In the box, you receive the Insta360 Wave, a USB-C cable and a wireless dongle. Connectivity is excellent, with the option to connect the mic through the cable, through Bluetooth or by using the dongle. The Insta360 Wave features an array of eight microphones surrounding the device, enabling it to capture dialogue from any direction. It also allows you to select among omni-directional, stereo, cardioid, super cardioid and figure-eight patterns to suit speakers in different positions. The mic captures speech from up to five metres away, allowing everyone in the room to be heard.
The Insta360 Wave makes an immediate impression. When the mic powers on, it rises to reveal a touch-screen display with tools not offered by other devices on the market. Its 32 GB of internal storage allows you to record calls directly to the microphone, with up to 1,000 hours of audio stored, and it transcribes recordings in real time. The Wave also includes AI pre-recording, capturing the five minutes before you press record in case you miss the start of a meeting.
“The Insta360 Wave includes eight microphones in an array surrounding the device.”
The capabilities of the Insta360 Wave are expanded even further through Insta360 Insight, the company’s new online software. Through Insight, recorded calls can be transcribed in 99 languages with speaker identification, smart summaries and other features, all supported by unlimited cloud storage. Insta360 Insight offers a basic and a pro tier. The basic tier, which is free for early adopters, provides 300 minutes of transcription with standard templates. The paid pro tier provides 1,200 minutes and additional AI features.
The overall accuracy of the transcription was great, with the only real misses being industry-specific things that I would discuss in my calls that it didn’t recognize. There was not, like so many transcription apps before it, a point where the dialogue became unintelligible due to its inability to keep up. It always keeps up, no matter how many people are talking.
Taking those transcripts to the next level with Insight’s summaries is also an amazing tool. You can select from a number of templates to let Insight know what kind of meeting you were having, so it knows how to best lay it out for the reader. From the summaries and the transcripts, you can pull information more easily with their Q&A feature, letting you ask questions (using ChatGPT or Gemini) within Insight, and it will pull the answer for you and cite the part of the meeting where it found that information.
“The Insta360 Wave can also combine with the Insta360 Link 2 to become the ultimate conferencing tool.”
Getting to the sound, it was easily among the top mics I have heard for conferencing. I do feel that it falls into that trap of claiming “professional-quality audio” and that it could be good for podcasting, when I really don’t feel that it would do a better job than two $35 mics that are designed for those tasks. Purchasers of the Insta360 Wave should know that they are getting a mic that is clear and will be the envy of teleconferencers who care enough to use good gear for their meetings, but shouldn’t expect it to move from the office to the studio.
The Insta360 Wave can also combine with the Insta360 Link 2 to become the ultimate conferencing tool. The Link 2 connects to the Wave via the contact pins on the microphone’s top, and the Wave connects to your computer with the USB cable. Both devices work together to be your complete video call solution. You can also connect multiple Waves for a full-room solution, capturing the voices of everyone in a large space.
The Insta360 Wave is priced at $299.99 USD, which is reasonable for what it offers, although you must also pay $17.99 USD per month or $99.99 USD annually to get the most from the microphone through the pro tier of Insight. Even so, the value provided by the mic itself, including its internal storage, on-board touch screen controls and compatibility with one of the strongest webcams on the market, gives you a substantial amount of technology in a conference microphone.
Overall, the build quality, sound quality and feature set make the Insta360 Wave one of the best conference microphones available. It performs well in any room because of its ability to manage noise and reduce echo. It also supports any number of people in that room with its ability to capture voices at a distance and distinguish between speakers during transcription. The Insta360 Wave sets a new benchmark for anyone seeking a true all-in-one solution.
