it sure is strange looking but how does
it sound
Chris here from Video Maker and in this
video we'll be reviewing the Sennheiser
MKE 440 and comparing it to the road
stereo videomic pro and the Asda Ness MX
30 to answer is it worth buying before
we get started if you'd like to skip to
any section of this review check out the
description to skip ahead as well if
you'd like to win and as Dan SMX 30
follow the link in the description or go
to video maker comm slash win cool gear
to enter oh yeah click that like button
and comment we want to know what you
think we first saw the Sennheiser MKE
440 at nab 2016 its unique form factor
what's that immediate draw for us this
strange v-shaped mic beckoned us into
the sennheiser booth to take a closer
look
we shared a picture of it on our
Instagram page and created a short video
for Facebook and the world's response to
it was similar to ours tell us more the
Mk II 440 is different from other stereo
camera mounted mics with the mp4 40 Sen
Heiser made a dual shotgun mic by
combining two directional mics into a
stereo array and it costs three hundred
and fifty dollars your typical camera
mounted stereo mic is in an XY
configuration giving a wide special
recording direction the Mk II 440 is
meant to capture the audio that's
directly in its field of view and reject
what isn't
Sennheiser explained it to us as a mic
to best capture the hearing perspective
we as humans have our ears give us
directional hearing and the Mk II 440 is
an attempt to reproduce that human
hearing experience the mic itself is
super simple it's made of metal and hard
plastic and takes two triple A batteries
the Mk II 440 also has a built-in kveld
cable with a 3.5 millimeter tip ring
sleeve connector a power switch and
low-pass filter and a 3-way sensitivity
adjustment because it's mostly metal we
suspect the Mk II 440 will have a long
life if treated well we would have liked
to see a detachable output cable so that
we could replace it later if needed that
would prolong its life significantly as
the cable will most likely fail for
[Music]
being that the MKE 440 is a new mic type
we wanted to put it to the test we
started first by trying to find its best
use case and also find out what it's not
good for we are pleased the day that it
arrived just prior to a trip to
Manhattan
we took it with us to see how it did
when compared to another stereo mic the
road stereo videomic pro the main
difference between these two mics is
their stereo configuration the road is a
more traditional XY configured stereo
mic we equipped ourselves with a
Panasonic gh4 and set out to shoot some
city sound scapes whenever you're using
an external mic we try to use as little
of the gain in our camera as possible we
set the mic to its highest output then
gain down the camera till we have the
right signal level this ensures that
we're using the camera mics preamp as
little as possible most cameras don't
have the best sounding preamps now that
you know our setup let's take a listen
to the two mics
we found that with the MKE 440 the left
and right weren't as separate as with
the road stereo videomic pro now this
makes perfect sense because the Mk II is
two directional Mike's not XY configured
Mike
so the pickup direction would be limited
to forward giving cancellation to the
sides and the rear the next test we put
the Mk II 440 through was in the studio
we moved around the room to see if there
are any positions relative to the mic
that offered more rejection we again
tested this to the road stereo videomic
pro but added the as den SMX 30 in mono
shotgun mode let's take a listen to that
Sennheiser MKE 440 rode stereo videomic
pro as din s MX 30 Sennheiser MKE 440
rode stereo videomic pro as din s MX 30
Sennheiser MKE 440 rode stereo videomic
pro as din s MX 30 Sennheiser MKE 440
rode stereo videomic pro Aston s MX 30
Sennheiser MKE 440 rode stereo videomic
pro as Dhin s MX 30 sanitiser
Mk II 440 rode stereo videomic pro
Sennheiser MKE 440 rode stereo videomic
pro as then s MX 30 when it came to a
stereo sound
it went from a wide pickup area of the
road then narrower with the Sennheiser
and most directional with the Aston the
take away is that the Mk II has a
broader area of pickup than the mono
shotgun mic but not as broad as the XY
configured stereo pair we next wanted to
see what the best use case of the Mk II
is since the as dn't as a mono shotgun
made even off axis audio sound as good
or better than the Sennheiser two of us
stood in front of the Mk II for forty
ten feet away and ten feet apart this is
where the benefit of the Mk II became
apparent but not in a substantial way
let's take a listen
so ideally you'll hear me out of your
left ear and Chris out of your right ear
yeah and we're I don't know if you'd
ever do a shot with feet apart from each
other
it might be the most Awkward shot ever
like we will stick to each other smells
well maybe if you had like like a like a
convention panel where there's you know
four or five people along a table yeah
you know you wouldn't have exactly two
people one for each mic but you might
have a spectrum of people going yeah I'm
thinking a range is probably what's
gonna be but these are two directional
mics so I guess so now we're gonna try
out the SMX thirty in mono and see how
it sounds in the same situation there
shouldn't be any directionality to our
voices it should all be coming out not
having any place left or right it should
just be out of the center I'm thinking
maybe we're gonna have a little more
room noise now yeah probably
and this is definitely a situation
you're where you would never use this
kind of microphone for this kind of
setup no you'd have them pointed
different directions and the only place
that this would be beneficial is if you
like moved like thirty feet back right
eventually the small amount of degrees
would cover us both but the amount of
noise or the amount of availability of
noise entering the signal from that far
back is is really pretty bad also you
know with the Sennheiser those two
microphones that are on there or
essentially at what we're standing here
pointing right at us the ESDA now is
pointed straight down the middle like
passes right yeah so we'll see how that
does so I guess we shall test this in
stereo just done you know have another
test all right it's gonna be interesting
to contrast this with the separation
from the sennheiser because we're the
same distance apart we're doing we've
got the two individual microphones
recording us here but the Sennheiser is
a big focus or big selling point is that
it's supposed to be highly directional
whereas the stereo mic on the accent is
not direction know the directional is
not part of the definition so I guess
we'll find out how it sounds and I guess
I'll be talking to you probably with
that hat on or glasses here next all
right so what do you think we still
would choose a mono shotgun mic in this
situation next we wanted to see if the
distance from the mic made much
difference so we got the camera closer
and shot three feet from us the subjects
now let's take a listen to that okay
here we go we're doing the air close
test yeah we're doing an hour just a
couple feet away and just to see really
what the use of
this stereo directional mic is we've had
a lot of tests so far and we're just
trying to find that place to which it
fits and works what is the situation
where this microphone is clearly better
than the alternatives or designed for I
think we've tried out the things that's
designed for and it's not necessary
strongest yeah we'll see maybe this is
the one yeah this might be the the right
use case for it so there you go this is
where the audio captured from the Mk II
440 was best our overall feeling is that
this is the best use for this mic a
close interview of two people we tested
the Sennheiser MKE 440 against the road
stereo videomic pro and the as Denese MX
30 new are exact stand-in for the
Sennheiser because it's so unique the
road is 300 bucks and is a different
kind of stereo mic from the Sennheiser
because of this you wouldn't buy this
and replace your need for the Mk II 440
it sounds good but has a different use
now the as in SMX 30 is 250 bucks offers
both XY stereo mic and a mono
directional shotgun in one so that we
switch between the two modes and you
have a multi-tool that would easily keep
up and in most cases beep the Mk II 440
lastly the cost of the Mk II 440 is 350
bucks that's 50 more than the road and
$100 more than the Aston there is a
super niche set up where the Mk II does
a better job but outside of that the
other mics offer a better value and
performance the Mk II 440 sounds great
it's nicely built of metal and seems
quite tough it's the only mic like it on
the market so it's number one in its
pool one it sits between two different
product types on the market and those
can be found for very little or quite a
lot of money you'll pay a premium for
the Sennheiser name and the newness of
the product at $350 it was the most
expensive of all the mics we tested it
against if you plan on shooting with an
interchangeable lens camera want a hot
or cold shoe mic for capturing a wider
direction that ain't normal shotgun
would give you then Bob's your uncle and
the Mk II 440 is for
though we think it's best uses are
limited we found it to work well in
those scenarios that's our review of the
Sennheiser MKE 440 if you'd like to buy
one and help support us make videos like
these you go ahead and click on that
link in the description and you can buy
it today as well we'll have links for
the azan SMX 30 and the road stereo
videomic pro as always like share and
comment we want to know what you think I
have an Chris from video maker until
next time keep doing the hard work that
you do bye bye