While Joby might be most well known for the Gorillapod made popular by boosted board vloggers like Casey Neistat, recently it has been expanding its lineup of offerings for content creators. We went hands on with the mobile vlogging kit that included a light and a microphone, but now Joby is out with a huge line of audio gear for almost any creator. Be sure to hit the video below to hear how these new Joby Wavo mics sound in action.
Joby’s new line ranges from a very slim and simple lav mic to an on-camera shotgun mic that features active noise reduction to battle audio flaws like wind noise. Additionally, there is a condenser mic for streamers and podcasters as well as a wireless audio kit much like the Rode Wireless GO II and the DJI Mic that we just recently reviewed.
Wavo Pro – $299.95
First off, let’s start with the most expensive item, the $300 Joby Pro. There are plenty of things that set this mic apart from popular on-camera options like the Rode VideoMic Pro+ and the Sennheiser MKE400, which has been my go-to on-cam mic recently.
As an active mic, the Wavo Pro uses an internal lithium-ion battery that can be recharged with the included USB-C cable. Battery life is rated to a max of 60 hour, or 50 hours with the ANR turned on.
ANR refers to Joby’s active noise reduction, as indicated on the side of the microphone. Joby’s goal with ANR is to remove vibration and low-frequency noises as you might get from wind noise, desk impacts, etc. It works well to take audio-ruining low-frequency booms out of the audio, but often the higher frequency impacts are still present. It definitely does help quite a bit, though.
Joby Wavo Mics: video
Additionally, the Wavo Pro features a Bluetooth connection that can be used to tweak settings on the microphone from the Wavo Pro app on a smartphone. Opening up the app reveals controls for gain, EQ, and turning on and off features like ANR and a safety track.
The safety track, when enabled, will record a secondary audio track at -10dB just in case the audio gets loud enough to clip the main track.
This combination of features makes the Wavo Pro an incredibly powerful microphone that can be used almost anywhere. Joby has also made it easy to use with a built-in battery, safety track, and ANR to help save your audio.
Joby Wavo PRO: app control
Within the Wavo Pro app, there are controls for gain, toggling ANR on and off, adjusting a few other settings like auto power on, and robust EQ controls. The EQ editing panel has two different modes. The basic modes have tools for tweaking parameters like warmth, clarity, and presence, while toggling over the advanced mode unlocks full parametric EQ customization with parameters for frequency, decibel adjustment, and the Q value, or how wide the bell curve is for that adjustment.
Joby Wavo Air – $249.95
Next up is the $250 Wave Air. Similar to the Rode Wireless GO II and the DJI Mic, the Wavo Air is a kit that includes two transmitters, a receiver, and a host of other accessories. One thing that sets it apart from the competition right away is that it includes two lav mics in the kit. Other brands require you to purchase those separately.
For mounting, the Wavo Air has an interesting assortment of options. By themselves, the transmitters don’t have any way of mounting but on the back of them there is an attachment point that can accept a variety of mounts. First up is a spring-loaded belt clip. This is probably the most universal as it can attach to a collar or lapel or sit in a pocket when used with the included lav mic.
Next up is a clip for a gorilla pod leg, as well as a magnetic piece that will grip on to a magnetic necklace, much like we’ve seen with the Insta360 Go 2 and the DJI Mic transmitters. All in all, there is a nice assortment of attachments.
For use outside, the Wavo Air also comes with two attachable windjammers or dead cats, as they’re sometimes called, to help mitigate wind noise. These easily clip onto where the microphone is located on the transmitters.
There are plus and minus buttons on the side of each transmitter that will adjust the gain of the microphone up or down to dial in the volume as needed.
The kit comes with two 3.5mm cables – one with a TRS for more stereo devices, and the other with a TRRS connector, which will work with smartphones, but there isn’t a Lightning cable. So if you are a creator using an iOS device, you will need to make sure you have a 3.5mm to Lightning dongle adapter.
Battery life is rated to six hours on the Wavo Air kit.
The transmitters are quite a bit larger than other similar offerings like the DJI Mic and even the budget-minded Comica VDLive10 that we also reviewed. The bright red color also draws attention. But, with the included lav mics, it’s easy to put the transmitter in a pocket and just clip on the mic for a more stealthy setup.
Comparing the Wavo Air to the DJI Mic, which is about $80 more, the DJI offers some more universal compatibility with the included Lightning and USB-C connectors. It’s also more convenient with the included charging case. But if you want to use lav mics on the DJI, those will need to be purchased separately which drives the price up even higher.
When I was listening back to the audio after recording, the sound cut out occasionally when using the Joby Wavo Air which was very concerning. It didn’t happen constantly, but I noticed it at least twice while recording the video, and some of those even made it into the review video that was posted above. That was never an issue I ran into with the DJI Mic.
Wavo Pod – $99.95
For the creator at a desk, the $100 Wavo Pod features plenty of onboard controls with two selectable polar patterns. For the solo creator, the cardioid pattern will focus the microphone in one direction to pick up a subject while the omnidirectional mode can more easily capture multiple people talking or an entire room.
The multi-function dial can mute the microphone with a single press. When the indicator light is blue, rotating the dial will adjust the volume of the audio output to the 3.5mm headphone port. Holding the button in for a few seconds will turn the ring around button purple and you can dial in the gain of the microphone.
Beneath the multi-function dial is a dedicated button to swap between cardioid and omnidirectional polar patterns.
On the bottom, the Wavo Pod features a USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone out, and a threaded mounting point for tripods as well as a larger adapter to work with larger mounts like those on boom arms.
Wavo Lav Pro – $79.99
Lastly, Job’s Wavo Lav Pro is an incredibly small lav mic. Compared to the mics included in the Wavo Air kit, the Lav Pro’s cable is thinner, and the mic with the windscreen installed is almost the same size as the Air’s mic without the windscreen. If discretion is important for your production, then the Joby Lav Pro is a great choice. Sure, there are other more affordable lav mics on Amazon, but the slim profile of the Joby Wavo Lav Pro is pretty neat.
9to5Toys’ Take
Joby’s huge mic drop makes it even more of a one-stop shop for creators. With the company now offering stabilizers, lights, and audio gear, it’s easy to rig out a setup with Joby products. Most of the items seem to come in at a great price with plenty of functionality built in. While I did hear a couple of audio glitches with the Wavo AIR, everything seemed to work very well. I do think most of these devices could use a little EQ tweak in post-production, but I find that to be the case with most microphones.
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