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Fulaim X5 Wireless Lavalier Microphone System: Tested (and Approved?)
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Jul 15, 2023
Content creator Dustin Abbott looks at the Fulaim X5 wireless mic system and demonstrates its functions, tests its abilities, and gives a verdict on whether or not it is worth buying. | Purchase the Fulaim X5 at Fulaim https://bit.ly/BuyX5 (use code DUSTINABBOTT for 10% off) or Amazon https://amzn.to/3NsdGkY Check out the DA Merch here: https://bit.ly/TWIMerch | Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/dustinabbott | On the Web: http://dustinabbott.net/ | Instagram: http://bit.ly/DLAinsta | Twitter https://twitter.com/DustinAbbottTW | Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1nuUUeH | Flickr: http://bit.ly/1UcnC0B | 500px: http://bit.ly/1Sy2Ngu Follow Craig @ https://www.instagram.com/craigstoffersen/ Want to support this channel? Use these affiliate links to shop at: B&H Photo: http://bhpho.to/1TA0Xge Adorama: https://howl.me/cjU0LKdp3LN Camera Canada: http://bit.ly/DLACameraCan Sony Canada: https://www.thesonyshop.ca/?ref=abbott Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HrY64d Amazon Canada: https://amzn.to/3qG1p18 Ebay: http://bit.ly/DustineBay Make a donation via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/dustinTWI ============================= Table of Contents: ============================= 0:00 - Intro 1:32 - What's in the Box 2:12 - How to Use
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0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott, and I'm here today to give you a quick review of the full I.m. X.5. This is a duo set of
0:19
transmitters and then a receiver to allow you to get audio, which I'm using right now to record on at the moment
0:26
Now, I have been looking at this as a potential possible upgrade, at least on paper, from the
0:32
Holy Land Lark M1 that I've been using for the last year
0:36
There are some advantages on paper, and that includes the ability to do a backup built-in recording
0:41
There's four gig of onboard storage in both of the transmitters here, and so that allows me
0:47
to backup audio about nine hours worth in an uncompressed bit rate there, and so obviously
0:53
that can be very useful. It also, unlike the LARC, it does have the option of doing a separate lavalier mic input, a 3.5 millimeter input on it
1:02
Also, it has a little bit wider compatibility in that you can include it in there are adapters so that you can use it on a foam, either iOS or Android, along with something like a camera as I'm recording right now
1:16
Then on the actual receiver, there is an LCD screen that allows you to have a little bit of feedback
1:21
So on paper, those are all advantages over the Lark for something that's about similarly priced
1:28
But of course, how does that play out in real life? First of all, let's take a quick look at what's included and how it actually functions
1:34
So in the box, we have the transmitters and the receiver in their charging case
1:40
Charging case is rated for up to about 18 hours of recharging both of them for use with that
1:46
We have the main audio cable that allows you to connect it to, for example, a car that
1:51
camera and then also we have a few adapters and these adapters are going to allow you to connect to
1:57
ios and then also to connect into a android type device as well we have the dead cats to cover up
2:06
the for reducing wind sound and then we also have a charge cable in the box the actual charging case
2:13
is definitely larger than what the hollylands is the hollyland transmitter as you can see is it's a
2:19
a little bit thinner and it is also less wide. And so if your goal is discreetness and you're
2:24
wanting to hide this on your person, the X5 is a little bit more obvious. So I will also note that's
2:30
also a little less obvious with the branding, which could be a factor for you. So taking the look
2:35
at the transmitter themselves, a couple of factors here. First of all, there is on the top there
2:40
there is a 3.5 millimeter input. That's going to allow you to plug in that additional separate
2:46
lapel mic. There is the built-in microphone there. Then if we go along to this side, we have got a power button
2:52
We have also got the setting button. Now, if you long press the setting button for two seconds, it will start the actual recording process
3:01
And so that's giving you a backup recording. And obviously, you can do that on either one of those and then do the same when you want to end that recording
3:10
On the other side, there's USBC that will allow you to both charge, but also if you're going to try to get that file off of there, you're going to want to use that there
3:18
Now, the actual receiver, it is just a little bit slightly larger footprint
3:24
But interesting thing here, we have USBC. We have an output if you want to pass on audio
3:29
We also have a headphone monitoring jack on that. We have the same two buttons here on the side
3:34
We have got the power button, pretty obvious. And then the setting button or set button will allow you depending on what you doing with it if you just do quick clicks you going to recycle through five different volume settings And then if you long press it it will switch between mono and stereo and giving you some
3:53
different control over the audio input there. It is useful to have a little bit of a read out there
3:58
to give you some audio levels right there to also show you the state of charge on both the receiver
4:03
and then also the two transmitters. As has become common for these, you don't have to worry about any
4:08
kind of sinking process, the moment that you pull them out, they are active and ready to work
4:13
and when you put them back in, they will automatically disconnect and start to charge. And of course
4:17
the state of charge, and just in these four major percentage points is shown on the front of the
4:23
actual charge case. So other than it being a little bit larger than what the holleyland is
4:29
at that point, I would give the Holliland Lark M1, a little bit of an advantage because
4:33
the packaging is a little bit more compact and everything is a little bit smaller
4:38
But let's take a look at how the actual perform. So obviously the first claims you get is most of these companies claim a pretty incredible range on these
4:47
With the X5, we have a 200 meter or 656 feet range, though that is line of sight
4:55
And so let's take a quick look at actually testing that first outdoors
4:58
and then we'll switch to an indoor type test. So we'll start by doing a test as I'm walking away, as that puts my body in between the microphone
5:08
the receiver and the transmitter from the x5. I'm now about 100 feet
5:29
Okay, I come to where I'm about 200 feet away now. Another 50 feet closer
5:36
Now I'm about 100 feet away from the camera. We should hopefully have very strong transmission by this point
5:44
Now about 50 feet away from the camera. Hopefully transmission is very strong by this point
5:50
And we'll walk it right up to the camera. At this stage, I have every hope that transmission is nice and strong
6:01
So as you can see from that test, as I moved away from the camera and the transmitter
6:06
was blocked my body to the receiver, we pretty quickly dropped off. And so I went all the way up to
6:12
about 300 feet, about 100 meters, so half of the claim range, there was no audio being picked up
6:17
at that point. Even when I turned around, there wasn't quite line of sight. As you could see from
6:22
the original beginning there, there were some trees in the way, but I wasn't getting any kind of
6:26
audio at the 300 feet. And it was about at 200 feet when I got close to that point. And so
6:32
200 feet being, you know, 66, 67 meters, somewhere in that range, that at that point
6:38
audio started to pick back up. First, you could hear my footsteps and then you could hear my voice. And obviously, the closer I got inside of that, the audio cleaned right up and was nice and clean
6:47
So outdoors, there's obviously a lot of factors that are going to play a role, line of sight being really important with things like this if you want to use them all out near the extreme of the range
6:56
But for practical intents and purposes, you're probably not going to work that far away for the simple reason
7:01
that you would be very, very small on camera. So let's go into an indoor type setting
7:07
and I'm going to test with a lavillier, both to test the sound quality attaching a separate lavallier
7:12
which ironically is one that I've got from Hollyland, and we'll see how that it holds up in an indoor type setting
7:19
So let's see how it does using a lapel mic. Now, typically, if I'm going to be using a lapel mic
7:24
for the reason why I'm going to do that, is I want to be able to hide the transmitter and make it just a little bit more discreet Now that creates a secondary problem and that is the fact that now the transmitter is blocked by my body from the receiver
7:37
So we're going to, in a fairly large room here, we're going to see how it holds up moving to various positions
7:45
So still a decent line of sight. We'll see how the audio quality is here
7:52
Quite a bit further away now. also have the obstruction of the various seats that are between the transmitter and the receiver
8:02
How about over here? How is the sound quality now? Now I'm currently in the lobby, so if I come into the building now
8:12
we'll see how the sound quality does as I continue to approach the camera
8:16
to see if I'm getting a consistent transmission all throughout the range
8:22
So obviously, in the indoor. setting, less, you know, kind of possible interferences in the building like that. We had zero
8:29
problems even when the actual transmitter was blocked by my body and a position behind. So anywhere within
8:35
a hundred feet, you know, 30 meters or so in that kind of setting in an auditorium, zero problems
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And I think that that's a pretty typical case study for actually using it. So all of that is
8:46
positive. So how about the actual sound quality? Obviously the point of a microphone is to record with
8:51
and if it doesn't have decent sound quality, it's just not worth messing with. Let's dive in, let's take a look
8:56
So this is a test of my typical sound environment. Most of you are probably familiar with this particular set or setting
9:03
It is just a typical room in my basement, no special soundproofing or anything
9:08
So this is with the X5 right now using obviously its bare mic
9:13
You've been hearing the raw and unprocessed sound, and now if I apply a sound profile to it
9:18
as I typically do a custom equalization for all of my mics. You can see how the sound quality is after equalizing
9:25
I'll now run the same test with the Lark M1. So once again, this is the unprocessed audio coming right off of the microphone into the camera
9:33
And now we'll take a listen to it how it sounds after I have done a custom equalization
9:38
to try to make it fit the room and my voice a little bit better
9:42
So I would say my takeaway from those tests right there is that the actual raw audio
9:48
out of the M1, sounds a little bit hollow to me. It sounds like the mids or maybe a little bit overboost
9:54
and I have to pull those out a little bit more in my custom EQ profile for that
9:59
I also found like I still always got slightly better low end
10:03
definitely in the raw out of the X5, but even after processing, I like the sound just a little bit better
10:08
even with the custom EQ settings, and so I'm going to lean towards the X5
10:12
when it comes to the overall sound quality. So when the actual use and functionality
10:17
I'm quite impressed with how all of this works out. There are a few negatives that I do want to report
10:23
First of all, while it's great to have a charging case, you'll note that in this charging case
10:28
there is no room for any of the cables that are absolutely going to be necessary
10:32
There's no way that I'm aware of unless you're just recording to the transmitter
10:36
that if you want to feed audio into anything, then you're going to have to use a cable or a connector of some kind
10:42
You can't store any of those in the case. Now, that's also true for HoloLand, but you'll see that they provide the secondary
10:47
zippered case that you can put the actual charge case in. I've got cable here. And up above this
10:55
flap, I've got some other connection points and even a charge cable, the dead cat, you know
10:59
for wind noise, all of that kind of thing. And so, you know, HoloLand kind of recognizes that
11:04
there's a fundamental problem with this and they solve it maybe not as elegant as what I would like
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but at least it solves that problem That something that I think Fulayam needs to work with with the X5 is maybe redesigned the charge case where you can store at the very least At the very least the 3 millimeter cable that you going to be used most often to connect with Having no
11:23
separate pouch obviously is going to be a little bit of a liability there. Now not so much a negative
11:28
but something to watch out for and that is you need to watch out for the gain on the actual
11:33
receiver and so there are five different levels there and I found that initially without me
11:39
recognizing it was tuned up towards the top of that. range. And even though I made sure that I wasn't clipping on camera in terms of the actual
11:47
readout on my actual camera, what I found is that I shot a few clips where the sound was
11:52
overboasted and it was because it was just clipping a little bit in-house. And so I found that
11:58
out of those five levels in the actual receiver, setting it at about three seemed to be a sweet
12:04
spot for me where I get good audio quality at a good volume level, but without having to do
12:08
with any kind of clipping. And then the audio that's sent on to the camera is
12:12
is nice and clean. And so just something to watch out for. You do want to pay attention to what your actual volume level is set at on the actual receiver itself. But because it has that LCD readout, it does solve a problem that I have encountered in something similar on the M1 there. But with the Lark M1, I didn't have an actual LCD readout. And so it took me a while to figure out why I was not getting as good of audio as what I would like. And so it's a little bit visually better. So at the end of the day, in terms of my conclusion
12:42
I feel like the X-5 does present a strong value for the price point of about $130 U.S. dollars
12:49
You know, that's giving you the dual transmitters. It gives you the flexibility to record to a variety of devices, you know, from a camera or a laptop
12:56
down to either iOS or Android without resorting to a separate microphone
13:02
Right now with the Holy Land, I actually have a separate LARC system that's designed for
13:07
recording to a camera or tablet at this point, or excuse me, to a tablet or a phone
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separate from what I have to record to an actual camera. So getting that all in one package is great
13:18
So I do slightly favor it over the Lark M1, even though the Lark is a little bit more compact
13:23
and it's thought about the storage solution a little bit better. But I prefer the audio just a little bit from the X5
13:32
I also like the ability to have that backup recording just in case you had some kind of glitch in the recording to the camera
13:38
I do like having the option of doing the lav input it because sometimes it's a little bit more discreet and in certain settings having that that little tiny lavalier mic just on a lapel or a collar somewhere you can put that easily and not hardly see it on camera whereas you know with something like this it's a little bit more obvious so i prefer having all for for those reasons i certainly prefer i would say the m x5 at the end of the day so if you're looking as a creator if you're looking for a you know a recording solution that gets you away from wires and is basically dummy proof all of the
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connecting up and finding the proper channel. All of that is done, you know, behind the scenes
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It keeps it charged all the time. And frankly, I've been using it for a month at this point
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I haven't had to recharge the charge case yet. And so it's quite efficient in the battery
14:24
use and life. And so overall, it's been a really attractive package. And it's probably going to be
14:30
my go-to moving ahead at this point. And that really is about as high of a stamp of approval as I can
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give it. I'm Dustin Abbott. If you want more information, you can look in the description down below
14:40
there are buying links there. Also links you can just do a little bit more research. There's also linkage to follow myself or Craig on social media to become a patron
14:48
To get channel merchandise, please like and subscribe. Thanks for watching. Have a great day and let the light in
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