If I said the name Joby to you, what would you think of?
I’m guessing that if you’ve heard of the company, it’s probably because of these,
the Gorillapods, a range of flexible tripods for cameras.
Well, Joby have branched out, into audio specifically, and I was really pleased when the company
asked if they could send me over a couple of products to take a look at, the first of
which is this, the Wavo Pod microphone.
It’s a USB C microphone aimed at people who want to be able to connect to their device,
hit record and just go.
But how does it sound, and how does it perform?
Well, in this video, I’m going to find out.
A quick reminder, as ever Joby have sent me this item at no cost to myself, but they’re
not sponsoring this video, and they have no editorial control over this review, all thoughts
and opinions are entirely mine.
OK, let’s get into it.
This is a condenser microphone, designed for podcasting and streaming, that connects to
your device via USB C. It’s just over 22cm tall, and weighs just over 700 grams, enough
that it doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy when you pick it up, but also not weighty to the
point where if you needed to pack this and take it away with you, it would be an issue.
It is made of plastic, although it does still feel well built.
It comes on this neat little stand with a weighted base, the bottom of which is a fabric
designed to stop the microphone from slipping about on your desk.
Loosening the screws on either side allow you to tilt the microphone up and down, giving
you some flexibility as to how you position this.
You can unscrew the entire thing if you wish, and it does have a mount at the bottom that
would allow you to attach this to a microphone arm for example.
At the bottom is the port for the USB C cable, a couple of which do come included in the
box, and a standard headphone jack to allow you to monitor your recording.
On the front of the microphone, you’ve got a couple of controls.
A pattern selector button allows you to switch between a cardioid polar pattern and an omnidirectional
polar pattern.
Put simply, with cardoid, the microphone is going to reject noise from the sides, and
pick up noise from the front.
For most applications, this is what you’re going to want to choose, but if you’re recording
more than one person, omnidirectional would in theory allow more than one person to speak
into the microphone and be picked up at the same time, maybe you’re sitting at a small
table opposite one another for example.
This knob here allows you to perform a few important tasks.
You can use it to change both the input gain of the microphone and the audio output of
the headphones, and you switch between the two by pressing and holding the knob for a
couple of seconds.
Tapping it will mute the microphone, and a red LED indicates that this has happened.
Back on the stand for a moment, you have this Joby Link screw that allows you to attach
different accessories like LED lights, holders for your phone, so you could in theory build
out quite a nice little vlogging kit with this microphone as the base for it.
It also comes with a removable pop shield, the one included in the box is for cardoid
pattern use or, person talking at the front of the mic, but you can buy a clip on attachment
that allows this to become a double sided pop shield, for better use of the omnidirectional
pattern.
I don’t have that so can’t test it, but if you like this microphone, Joby certainly
give you lots of options for speccing it out.
Connection is made via USB C and it’s plug and play, and I’ve successfully managed
to get this working on my Macbook Pro and my iPad Pro.
In both cases, plug and play was absolutely correct, no installation or drivers needed,
just plug it in and you’re good to go, I just had to choose it in the input menu of
my Mac.
Joby say that it will also work on your iphone, via a lightning to USB C adaptor, and I would
assume the same for Windows or Android devices.
So, how does it sound?
Well clearly, the most important thing for you watching this video is to hear some examples,
so for the next couple of minutes, I’ll include a bunch of audio samples on various
devices, and in various different situations.
I’d recommend wearing headphones for this bit if you’re not already, and I’ll put
captions on-screen to show you what each setup is.
Examples
Verdict;
So, what do I think of the Wavo Pod?
Well, I’m actually really pleasantly surprised.
Whenever I review anything, I always have to take the cost of that item into consideration.
Priced incorrectly, even an amazing product can end up feeling like a bit of a dud.
The setup that I’d naturally compare this with is my own setup, a Shure SM7B microphone
plugged into an Apollo Twin Audio interface with multiple XLR cables and a Fethead gain
lifter.
But, that’s about £1000 worth of kit there, and whilst it does sound better, I’d expect
it to.
This, when I checked pricing this morning, costs around £85 or $100, plus you’re plugging
straight into the device that you want to record into, no additional cable or interface
required.
The audio in my opinion sounds good, it definitely sounds much better than recording straight
into your computer or iPad.
It does a good job at removing much of the background noise, although if you listen to
the examples of my office and then listen to the examples of my kitchen, it’s clear
that the room you’re in is still going to make a difference, no microphone is able to
work miracles, but I did think this did a pretty respectable job of handling a large,
open room, and there was a clear difference between the cardioid and omni directional
patterns.
One thing I’m not so keen on is the stand.
It’s a bit small, if you sit it on a desk in front of you, you’re either
going to have to slouch to speak into it up close, or sit it on something to raise
it up
in front of your mouth.
I appreciate that Joby have included a mount for a boom arm at the bottom, although you’re
going to have to keep in mind there’s an additional cost there if you pick one up,
but if you’re not planning on taking advantage of the connectivity options of the included
stand, just keep in mind that you might need a solution to lift it up and a bit closer
to your mouth when you come to use it.
If you’re someone who likes the idea of starting a podcast, and you want a good sounding,
no-nonsense solution to get you going that isn’t going to break the bank, then this
could well be that solution.
Maybe you want to start making YouTube videos, and you understand the importance of good
quality audio, but you’re working on a budget, this could help.
But likewise, if you’re constantly on video calls for work, and you’d like a low cost
solution to help improve your audio quality with the least fuss possible, this could absolutely
be the right product for you.
It’s easy to use, feels well built and sounds good, to my ears at least, and
I don’t really know what more you could want in that regard.
What do you think?
Is this the kind of microphone you’d consider picking up?
Or, is there another USB C microphone that you’d choose over this?
Drop me a comment and let’s talk about it.
And as ever, if you found this video useful, do please consider leaving me a like, and
subscribing to my channel for more content like this in the future.
See you on the next video.