🎙️ Versatile Azden SMX-30: Stereo/Mono Switchable Video Microphone for Superior Sound Capture Review

I'm SO glad I bought this. It works great with my Sony a6400. The first thing I recorded with it got over 6 million views on TikTok. Love it.

Before purchasing this mic, I looked at several reviews on YouTube. For the money I find it just as good if not better than its more expensive competitors. I use it on Canon 70D.

This is the best microphone for a camera, in both mono and stereo, it doesn't get any better than this. The sound of the microphone is excellent, the build quality is excellent.

Claimed signal-to-noise ratio of 82 dB is questionable. Too loud. The signal-to-noise ratio of my GH5 on-camera microphone is better. White noise is unacceptable. The Gun Mic's directivity is negligible compared to other microphones at a comparable price. It doesn't improve my camera. If your camera has a very poor microphone, this can improve the situation. I've tried all the ways to amplify the microphone and camera. Maybe I got a bad block.

I will be using this mic mainly to record my guitar playing for social media, as well as flute and guitar duets with my wife. So far I've tested different settings to see what gives the best sound quality. And I can report a significant improvement over my camera's built-in microphone. When the mic is within 5 feet of the sound source the sound seems better when set to stereo, so I use the 24mm wide angle lens on my Canon T5i to ensure this.

LOVE THIS MIC! Good. For you wondering if you should buy Rode or Azden, let me point out a few things. First off, when people say Rode mics sound better, that's a NO. You are just different. This microphone, the Azden SMX 30, delivers broadcast quality sound. And yes, I understand that it is difficult to choose between a stereo and a mono microphone. But why settle for one and not the other when you can get the BEST of both worlds? The Azden SMX 30 is great because you can switch mics with the…

I have tested and used many on-camera mics and this seems to be the best quality for a plug and play mic. It also sounds a lot better than the Shure Lenshopper vp83, which is a very popular on-camera mic, but is VERY noisy unless the camera preamps are set REALLY low to get an acceptable noise level, so the sound coming off the mic is at this level. For the low levels I need I need a preamp or mixer with gain, but for that you can just use Azden smx-30 and have the same levels without external…