I was sent a Joby Wavo Pro for review. The out-of-the-box impression is that it looks worthy of its price point and target audience of expert content creators and storytellers. Joby considers this to be the most advanced on-camera shotgun mic on the market, so let’s find out!
JOBY Wavo Pro — Solid design
The box includes the microphone, a foam windscreen (already installed) and a fuzzy windjammer, a 3.5mm TRS cable, and a USB cable (Type C to Type A). Note that a TRS-TRRS cable is NOT included. The microphone has an interesting yet cool look. It is certainly more “substantial” than the Rode or Lume Cube mics I have previously reviewed, but that is to be expected at a significantly higher price point. It looks professional, so no worries about using it to interview the CEO. Despite its roughly 5.4” x 4.3” x 1.1” footprint, it only weighs 1/3 of a pound.
The body construction is a combination of aluminum, ABS plastic, and Hytrel (the latter are types of thermoplastic). It feels well-built. Importantly, the cold shoe mount provides a solid grip on the DSLR camera. The windscreens fit snugly. The Rycote shock mount has an awesome design, and truly helps deliver stability for clean sound.
The microphone controls and indicators are intuitive, providing you all the essentials without a cluttered design. The back utilizes LED lights for key real-time notifications. This includes power, audio level, Bluetooth connectivity, and battery life. Speaking of battery life, the Joby Wavo Pro excels at longevity. You get up to 60 hours of battery life on a full charge of the built-in Lithium battery. The mic can also auto power off when your camera does.
JOBY Wavo Pro — Audio capture
The Joby Wavo Pro — features a super cardioid polar pattern and a nice frequency response of 20Hz-20kHz (+/-3dB). The Max SPL and sensitivity specs are adequate, and the signal to noise ratio is good for this microphone class. Suffice to say that the mic does a great job of capturing the sound in front of it.
Active Noise Reduction, or ANR, is perhaps the biggest reason you would consider purchasing the microphone. It helps filter low-frequency noise from your recording. Wind and general handling can cause vibrations and introduce noise into your audio. While unwanted noises weren’t eliminated completely in my testing, ANR definitely helped alleviate the severity of the intrusions.
JOBY Wavo Pro — Safety track
Another awesome feature of the microphone is safety track recording. When enabled, this feature records a copy of the audio signal to your second audio channel at 10dB lower than the primary audio channel. So, if your primary track ever encounters clipping, you have the safety track to fall back on. This can be a lifesaver! Note that this is disabled if recording a second microphone.
JOBY Wavo Pro — Secondary mic
The mic base has a 3.5mm connection for a secondary mic, so you can attach a lavalier if you desire and record separate signals. The base also has handy buttons to independently boost the camera output and the secondary mic input up to +20dB. The mic also features Mix Mode and Mono Mode. Mix Mode records the Wavo on the left channel and the secondary mic on the right channel. Mono mode mixes both microphones together for recording on both channels.
JOBY Wavo Pro — App control
The app is a great companion to have for your video shoot. It lets you easily perform gain adjustments, set EQ and toggle ANR. The Bluetooth connectivity worked instantly for me. I did encounter an error updating the app after I installed it, but after a second try all went well. It’s nice to have this level of control from a quick and easy interface. It won’t slow you down at all.
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