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Hollyland Lark M2 Compact Wireless Microphone System Review | Is Smaller Better?
Aug 18, 2024
The Hollyland Lark M2 wireless microphone system is both incredibly compact, has great audio quality, and costs just $139! | Check out the text review: | Purchase the Hollyland Lark M2 @ B&H Photo https://bhpho.to/3M6nzVn | Adorama https://howl.me/cmSOnoy0oRP | Amazon https://amzn.to/3SPbYxU | Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/3SQvAkW | Amazon UK https://amzn.to/3SRFHGd | Amazon Germany https://amzn.to/3yEkf0B
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Table of Contents:
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0:00 - Concept
1:45 - Quick Strengths
2:55 - Quick Weaknesses
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott, and I'm here today to give you my review of the Holliland Lark M2 wireless microphone system
0:18
Now, I actually use the original Hollyland Lark, the M1, in this parlance, for several years as my primary microphone for my channel, for recording my various videos along the way
0:30
Lark M2 system really highlights how small and miniaturized things have gotten in the years since that point
0:37
And it is the smallest wireless transmitters that I have ever seen or used to this point
0:43
But it holds up both on the range, up to 300 meters line of sight, and then also the sound quality
0:49
It's really the latter that has won me over. And it does all of this for an amazing price
0:55
The maximum kit, the one that I have been testing, it retails for just $1,4,000
0:59
$39 U.S. dollars, and that includes dual transmitters and then three different receivers
1:05
one receiver that I'm using that will go on to things like a camera or can be used to
1:10
attach to a laptop, but then also two separate other receivers that allow you to connect
1:14
directly into either a USBC or a lightning port for recording on either iOS or Android-based
1:23
devices. And so you're getting a really extensive package for that amount of money and then
1:27
obviously this tremendously downsized system. So let me give you a summary of the strengths and weaknesses
1:34
and then if you want to stay tuned longer, I'll do the deeper dive into the actual performance
1:38
So strengths are incredibly easy plug and play. If you don't have a lot of technical expertise
1:43
but you want to experiment with wireless microphones, this is extremely easy
1:48
It is completely no-brainer. So that's a definite plus. As noted, not only does it have support for iOS and Android
1:54
there's actually an app as well that will allow you to, do things like control audio levels, allow you to remotely start video recording, things like that
2:04
And so definitely some very useful features there if you're wanting to look at it less from the
2:09
camera aspect as I'm doing right now and more from recording onto your phone or your tablet
2:14
It has extremely good mic quality. More on that in just a moment. Obviously the size is extremely
2:20
compact when it comes to the transmitters but also the receiver itself is very small. It has very easy
2:26
mount options, three different mount options, and I'm talking about the actual transmitters to where
2:32
they can just use magnetic as I'm using right here. There is a clip-on option, and then also there's a
2:37
land yard slash necklace option that comes with it as well where it can just hang easily around
2:42
your neck. And in many cases, people might just think it's your jewelry. They don't even know
2:46
that it's a microphone. So some of the negatives, I would say, is that it has no lav options. So you
2:52
are just using the transmitter here. There is no, um, a multisible
2:56
multi-interface shoe compatibility, my shoe compatibility for Sony-based cameras, and also the charge
3:02
case doesn't have room for a 3.5 millimeter cord, which is unfortunately, unfortunately, is a pretty
3:07
common issue with these. So while there are simpler kits, let's take a look at what's included
3:12
in the kind of complete kit that I've reviewed here. First of all, the packaging is good. Everything
3:18
fits inside this relatively small pouch that is included. So included is two different transmitters
3:24
There are three different receivers, as noted, a camera receiver, a lightning-based receiver, and a USB-C-based receiver
3:31
There is the charging case itself. There is a charge cable. In this case, it is a USB-A to USBC, USBC being what plugs into the charge case
3:41
It includes two a dead cat or furry wind screens for the actual transmitters outdoors
3:48
It comes with a 3.5 millimeter audio cable coiled in this case, and so it doesn't take up a lot of room
3:53
There are two included two clips that you can use for mounting the camera, clipping it on to your garment
4:01
There is also the land yard slash necklace style that you can use as well
4:06
There are stickers so you can personalize the face of the transmitters if you so desire
4:10
and then as mentioned, the pouch that includes everything. A few more details about some of these components The transmitters have a very particular metallic mesh that designed to protect against interference and there is no mic on the receiver itself
4:28
Some systems I reviewed, there's an option to use a mic on the receiver. In this case, it is only the transmitters that have the mic
4:35
Now, it is rated for up to a thousand feet or 300 meters of transmission range
4:41
That's line of sight, and it uses LDS or Laser Direct Strikes
4:45
and TANA system for that communication. Let's take a look at a couple of tests that I have ran today
4:51
trying to test out the overall range claims and see how this holds up at longer distances
4:56
than what I'm filming with right now. All right, so just for the fun of it with this test
5:01
I'm going to, we don't have a line of sight here. As I walk away, we're going to see how it does picking up my voice
5:08
with my torso right now, blocking the actual transmitter, which is attached to my T-shirt here
5:14
at the front and then we'll see how it does when I turn around I'm going to walk a
5:19
fair distance away I'm shooting with an 85 millimeter F1.4 lens so all right I am kind of
5:25
but obviously those being less dense than going through my actual torso as I
5:39
round this bend should be the first time that I start to establish line of sight with the camera
5:44
which I can see in that direction. And at this point, I'm about 150 meters away, a little under 500 feet
5:51
heading back towards the actual camera position at this point. So I'll continue to speak as we approach here
5:59
And let me highlight, as I'm doing that, another feature that I really like. I'm intentionally worn a T-shirt, not that I wear T-shirts very often
6:06
but what I wanted to do is to wear something with a crew neck. A lot of times I do wear button-up shirts, particularly when I'm on camera
6:13
because it provides a convenient way for me to click, clip on either a lavallier microphone
6:18
or to, if I'm just using a clip on transmitter, to have something to clip to
6:24
where I have a decent position between the microphone and my mouth. Obviously, with a crew neck or a skirt that does not have a collar or any kind of buttons on it
6:35
you have this issue where you don't have anything to clip to naturally, But being able to use the magnetics on this really lightweight little transmitter allows me to wear this
6:46
And obviously it's discreet, but also I can put it on there on any kind of shirt, not just those that are buttoned up
6:53
So here we are within a more typical transmission range. I'm about 15 to 20 feet away from the camera
6:59
And I'm sure at this point audio is fantastic. So obviously, in our last test, as my body was turned away interrupting that line
7:09
of sight and having to go through the density of a human body, we saw how much of that interfered
7:13
with the signal, starting at somewhere about probably 60 to 70 meters out, audio begin to chop out
7:19
and created an issue. But of course, the claims are based on line of sight. So I found as
7:24
biggest space as I could in the woods back behind my house, where I am right now, I'm probably
7:31
right under 200 meters. I would estimate as a golfer, I would estimate if I had a par three here
7:38
I would be about 180 yards away from the camera at the moment
7:42
So hopefully even at this kind of distance, because we have line of sight, we still do have decent audio quality
7:48
So obviously, overall, I would say that the conclusions there are pretty positive
7:52
particularly the ability to get such clear audio at a distance of right under 200 meters
7:57
which is the maximum limit for a lot of opposing systems. So the fact that we're still getting stable transmission at nearly 200 meters is very, very positive
8:05
And it's, frankly, it's unlikely that you're going to use it at a long. longer range than that. Also better than average is the actual battery life of these transmitters
8:14
Part of them being so small is the reality that they're actually able to up rather than decrease
8:20
the battery life. So pretty commonly I've seen eight hours, for example, but these are actually
8:24
rated at 10 hours of direct continual use, which is impressive. And then with the charge case
8:30
getting multiple charges from that you can actually get up to 40 hours of total recording time across the system pretty impressive and everything recharges within about an hour and a half or less So overall that a pretty good ratio I been able to get close to 40 hours of recording time at less than an hour and a half of charge time
8:49
So very impressive on the power specs here. It's further evidence of the maturation, I think, of Holliland as a company that makes microphones
8:58
I've been testing Holliland microphones for quite a long time at this point, and it shows, I think, in the quality of what they're accomplishing
9:05
You have the option of recording in either a mono or a stereo environment, depending on your preference
9:11
You have the option also to use ENC, which is environmental noise cancellation
9:16
I'm typically not a big fan of noise cancellation circuitry because I feel like it does too much damage to the audio
9:23
And frankly, for me personally, I feel like I could do a better job in post than what I can do by just the electronic circuitry in one of these microphone sets
9:31
But your mileage may vary. So the feature is there if you want it. The transmitters are not only very small, they're extremely light, and so they weigh just nine grams and obviously are very discreet
9:42
One other option, just for flexibility here, is that you have the USB audio class certification, so UAC compatibility
9:51
And what all that means is you're able to directly connect from the receiver
9:56
By USB, you can connect right into a computer and have computer audio connected that way
10:03
So it means that there's no external sound card or any extra pieces involved
10:07
You can make a direct connection there. Again, it's further compatibility for the system
10:11
So before we get to the conclusion, let's talk about some things that I like and some things that I don't like
10:16
First of all, I really obviously love how compact the transmitters are
10:20
But beyond the compact size is the thing that really won me over is the audio quality
10:27
And a couple of things, both on the technical and then the practical side on that
10:31
on the technical side we are recording at 48 kilohertz and a 24-bit audio so high-end audio that we've got coming off of this
10:40
it's also in a practical level i just find that the quality of the recording is more akin to and thus a
10:47
better match for the high-quality podcasting mic that i use for my computer-based segments like image
10:52
quality in my typical lens or camera reviews and so what that means is that there's less of a
10:57
a difference when I'm switching from audio sources to where in some cases my audio, when I'm
11:03
coming back from the very big sounding, you know, studio sounding podcast mic and coming back to a
11:08
mic like this, this audio sounds kind of tinny by comparison. But in this case, I don't really think
11:14
that that's the case. And if you've been watching any of my other recent videos, I don't know
11:18
if you've noticed, but I certainly have in the editing process that there is very little variance in
11:24
the audio quality between those two pieces. So there in a nutshell, you have a little bit of
11:27
some of the give and take, the tension between the optical performance of these two lenses
11:32
So hopefully the optical deep dive has helped to clear up any further questions you might have
11:37
had. And that's really huge for me because it means that the overall professional quality of my
11:42
actual videos, it's more even, it's more professional sounding, and thus I think the audience
11:49
is going to receive it better. So obviously that's really important to me. I also like the
11:54
fact that you have a universal kit. The earlier editions of mics like this, and this was true of
11:59
Hollyland as well, it was basically an either or. You could purchase the Lark M1 kit that was for
12:06
camera recording, or you could purchase the Lark C1 kit that was for recording on, you know
12:12
phones or other wireless devices like that. So the fact that we now get everything in a single
12:18
kit or the option to have everything in a single kit means that you don't have to have two
12:22
different kits, you can have a consistency in your workflow regardless of what you're recording
12:27
And also, if you're wanting to do some B-roll stuff and switch between different sources
12:32
you have the flexibility of doing that. So that's pretty fantastic as well. I also like the fact that on the receiver itself, there's a really easy and obvious to use
12:40
gain function. And so you can see at a glance out of three different gain levels that are
12:46
there, and so you have a low, a medium, and then a high gain level. You can see at a glance
12:50
and you can use this rotary dial on the top to select the two
12:54
But I like the fact that the rotary dial itself you have to actually do an intentional click in between each one And so it not going to be just easily bumped into a recording level that you don want and thus ruining a recording
13:06
because it's peaking because the levels are too high or you have to really artificially boosted
13:11
in post because the levels are too low. And so I appreciate that. I really love the extreme
13:16
plug and play in nature. The earliest audio systems that I used, you had to use, that were wireless
13:22
you had to use scanning and kind of pick a proper channel
13:26
And so there was always possibilities that you started recording and you hadn't quite nailed that process of syncing things up
13:32
So it was much more complicated. Every time I did a shot, I had to set up the audio as a part of it
13:37
Now, I mean, this is literally dummy proof at this point. You literally put them out of the box
13:42
You clip on the transmitter. You hook on the receiver. And the one thing you have to be sure to do is to hook up that 3.5 millimeter cable
13:48
if you're recording to a camera, for example, and as long as you do that, all the other wireless stuff
13:56
it's just automatically handled and it's handled flawlessly. I also like on the phone side of things that either one of the, either the USBC or the lightning-based
14:06
transmitter cable or receivers, they actually have a charge cable option on one end of them
14:12
So very nicely, you can both charge and record at the same time, making sure that your phone or your tablet
14:18
that doesn't go dead on you during the actual recording process. The final plus is, of course, the price
14:24
The price is fantastic for all the stuff that you get, and I have watched market forces just steadily drive these prices down
14:31
So the technology is getting better and better. You're getting more components for the money
14:34
and you're paying less and less money with every generation. So, I mean, that is a pretty fantastic trend
14:40
particularly when you look at inflation driving the prices of pretty much everything else sky high
14:46
So what about some things that I don't like? I always like to have a 3.5 millimeter jack on the actual transmitters themselves
14:54
so the option of using a lavicular mic. Now, in this case, that's less of an ejection because these are so small
14:59
They're really about as discreet as what a typical lavicular mic's going to be
15:04
You don't have to mess with running a wire underneath your shirt and all of those things. So I'm not going to complain too loudly on that front
15:11
but it has been my tradition that if they don't have the option of using a lavicular mic
15:16
I do like to highlight that. The second thing that I do want to highlight that I don't like that I would love to see changed is that the actual receiver itself, the camera-based receiver, is not Sony's MI shoe, that's multi-interface shoe compatible
15:31
And what that means is you're not able to record digital audio through it. There are some competitors that will allow you to record digital audio
15:37
I reviewed one of those a couple of months ago. And I think that that would just kind of take this whole system to the next level if you had that option, which you don't
15:45
So in conclusion, the Holy Land Lark 2 has actually won me over
15:50
I was pretty set on one of those other digital audio recording setups as being my go-to system
15:57
because of not having to mess with 3.5 millimeter cable. And it's just one less step and so I really appreciated that
16:04
However, what I found is that the transmitters for that setup, they just didn't deliver as good of audio quality as what I would like
16:11
I actually had fairly low expectations for these. They're so small. But the reality is that the microphone quality is fantastic
16:18
It's probably the best of any of the systems I've used to date. And that really won me over
16:22
And so I found myself just reaching for this for all of my recording episodes for the simple reason that the audio quality is so great
16:30
And so that is really fantastic. And so to me, if you added a MISU compatible receiver to all of this, you would have pretty much a perfect combo, in my opinion
16:41
So in this case, the most discreet combo out there, actually happens to be one of the best sounding as well
16:48
And so if you are looking for a very flexible auto recording system
16:52
that has the kind of transmitters that you can put pretty much anywhere
16:56
I would say that the Holy Land Lark M2 is the way to go
17:01
If you want more information, you can check out links in the description down below that will allow you to further explore them or to purchase
17:08
As always, thanks for watching. Have a great day. And let the light in