15May HMNSound $79 Lavalier mic – First impressions
I just got this sub $100 Lav microphone in from HMN Sound. Base price is $79 and you can get these with pretty much any wireless system adapter you like. In this cause I went for the Sennheiser twist lock adapter (extra $20) since most of my wireless units are Sennheiser G2 or G3 units.
There isn’t a huge price difference between the HMN Sound lav and the Sennheiser ME-2 lav I normally use. Going with the HMN Sound saves you about $30, but the HMN lav offers a lot more options in terms of adapters and audio performance. In this case I have the shelved version, which according to HMN “provides a smooth 6 dB “shelved up” curve between 2 kHz and 15 kHz to compensate for lost facial reflections when the mic is used on the exterior of the body, as in the typical lapel or tie-clip position”.
Unlike the Sennheiser ME-2 lav, the HMN Sound lav is compatible with normal 48v and 24v XLR phantom power as well as lower voltages. So if you are looking for a lav to plug directly into an XLR jack, you can get the HMN Sound lav with an XLR adapter ready to go.
I’m still catching up from travel, but hopefully I’ll have some audio tests up of the HMN Sound lav in the next week or so and a full review to follow. I’m interested to compare this little hand made lav to my Sennheiser ME-2 lav microphones and see how it stacks up.
May 15th, 2014 at 8:52 am
Hello! This mic is very similar visually to Giant Squid Audio Lab mic (updated version). I’m using this one for more than year and very happy with sound quality/sensitivity (you can use this mice without preamp with DSLR for example). Noise level so low compare to cheap Audio Technica lab for example.
May 15th, 2014 at 9:28 am
Thanks for the heads up!
May 15th, 2014 at 10:43 am
” to compensate for lost facial reflections when the mic is used on the exterior of the body…”
I guess the alternative is using the mic on the interior of the body, but my interview subjects always seem uncomfortable when I break out the KY jelly
May 15th, 2014 at 11:15 am
Nice. Maybe something lost in translation there.
June 2nd, 2014 at 9:20 pm
I recently picked up 2 Sony ECMCS3 lavs and have been extremely impressed. Plugged into an H2 or H1 I get great sound. The silver color is annoying sometimes because you have to hide it more and the clip isn’t strong but it is only $20 and doesn’t require batteries so I find it a really hard to beat bargain.