Customer Reviews

AZDEN EX503 Omni-Directional Lavaliere Microphones

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With lav mikes running anywhere from $10 to $250 these days, it is nice to find a $25 unit with tie clip and wind screen. Sound quality is excellent and works fine with wireless systems. It does, however, require a bias voltage to work properly as do most condenser mikes. Most all systems (azden, sennheiser, etc) provide this bias on the connector to make the mike work so it is not a problem. Be sure your jack has around 5 volts or so on the mike terminals and you are good to go.

FYI - the price of the whole mic is less than the tie clip and wind screen bought separately, so if you need to replace a lost part just buy a new mike!

I liked the pickup quality when I used this on my video camera and my wireless system. The clip is very strong and hold well to clothing when it is placed in any spot. The wind screen stays ON...many of these small ones don't over time. So far I have enjoyed using this one.

Great price. I bought this for a video shoot. I plugged it in to my computer... and it sounded really shallow and noisy. I plugged it in to my Panasonic dvx through a really bad mini to XLR converter. It sounded very noisy again. So I blamed it on the cnverter.

Then... I plugged it directly into a Canon 5D. I was amazed! It really sounds good. On top of that, is is shockingly noise-less. Good full bodied voices. Not tingy or shallow. Ultimately, I am really happy with it. We'll see how it performs tomorrow during the shoot.

P.S. it comes with a little wind shield. You cant beat that with a stick for 17 bucks!
I'll try to add a video demo soon.

The title should say it all.

PROS - Good sound, quality alligator clip, right-angle connector.
CONS - The windscreen falls off on occasion.

MENTIONABLE - The microphone is mono. A lot of people think microphones are only good if they are stereo. Stereo simply means two channels and mono means one channel. Check your recording device to see if it's a mono or stereo. If it's mono, they you are good to go. If it's stereo, you are still good to go. Plugging this into a stereo recorder means you will get sound only in the left channel. Post-production editors all allow you to clone the left channel to the right for pseudo-stereo sound. If you want to record to both channels at once (on a stereo recorder), you can also go to Radio Shack for $4 and buy an inline mono-to-stereo adapter.

These microphones require power to be supplied by the recording source as they do not have have a battery port like some other models. Do not purchase this expecting it to work in your laptop. Your laptop won't provide power to the mic.

The cord length is just fine if connecting the recording device (audio recorder or wireless pack) to the users belt.

This will work as a replacement mic on the Azden wireless packs.

I use these to mic up documentary actors by connecting them to voice recorders (Olympus 8100PC) for untethered video production.

This mic replaced another major brand lavalier that I had bought several years ago but was not happy with. That other brand had very restricted frequency response. The Azden mic on the other hand sound excellent with good highs and lows. The audio quality is very natural sounding and of very high quality. The alligator clip holder is very solid and of metal construction compared with the plastic clip of my previous mic. So, if you need a wired lavalier mic at a very reasonable price you can't go wrong with this one. I highly recommend it.

I wanted to dip my video toe into the world of wired lavaliere mics. So the price point made it attractive. I wished to marry it up with my Zoom H1 audio recorder. I had a bit of a worry because I had read somewhere that these small mics require some minor phantom power to operate. Which I was not sure the H1 provided. There were other mics available near this price, (Audio Technica ATR-3350) but it required a battery. Which I thought might get me some time if the battery died or I forgot to turn it on. So I took a chance on this one.

The Azden H1 combination has exceeded my expectations for sound quality. Although I've not tested it on a windy day. I'm sure better quality can be had with other, more expensive mics, but that was not my objective. If the clothing attach clip allowed a bit of swivel, it would, at least for me, be perfect. That's the only reason for my 4 stars.

I bought this to turn my voice recorder into a body worn hearing aid since BTE's are not customizable by much. It works just fine. For the first time in my life in conjunction with this mic I am able to understand many sounds I never could, such as voice at a distance, e.g. yells and so on.

I cannot speak much for the technical quality of this mic, but it is solid as far as my experiences go. Granted if you want some awesome quality with extra bells and whistles you always have to shop around and try various mics for that, but if you are looking for a cheap, stable lavalier with good sensitivity and not a lot of annoyances this does the job.

I've been using one of these with an AZDEN wireless unit for 2 years and it has never let me down - records voice as clear as a bell.

We're hard on microphones, going through more than a few when we film outdoors.

These microphones perform very well and can take a beating, standing up as well as others we've paid 4 times as much for,

I understood that this came with a four foot cable, yet it measures just over three. When plugged in to my camcorder, it triggers the camcorder's mute feature, thus making sound recording impossible. So far I'm not impressed.