Insta360 Mic Review

Price

The Insta360 Mic was announced and launched on October 22nd with pricing starting from £75 for a single Mic transmitter. Adding a receiver sees the price increase to £129 and then £229 for two transmitters and one receiver, which is the bundle I tested.

To put that into context of the other Insta360 wireless microphones, the cheaper Mic Air option costs from £49.99-£79.99, while the flagship Mic Pro’s price ranges from £89 all the way up to £455 if you go for four transmitters and one receiver.

Outside of Insta360’s microphone range, the Rode Wireless Go sits at £180 while DJI’s Mic Mini 2S sits at £169.

Design

• Includes e-ink display like Mic Pro
• Clips and magnet buttons both included
• Receiver includes touchscreen display

The Mic looks pretty much identical to the Mic Pro. From the similar circular transmitter design to the touchscreen-toting receiver to the not so super svelte case that both the transmitter and receiver live inside of when not in use.

You can pick up the transmitter on its own, but I’ve been using the bundle of two transmitters and one receiver. Each transmitter features record and standby buttons, a USB-C charging port as well as the magnetic kind on the back so it can be powered up inside of the case. There’s also a small indicator light to let you know when it’s in recording mode and successfully paired to your device.

Out front is a 1.2-inch, six colour E-Ink display, which is the same-sized screen featured on the Mic Pro transmitters. You customise that display from the Insta360 app and like the Pro, it adds a fun, playful appearance when you’re ready to start recording.

Insta360 includes both button magnets and standard clips to wear alongside windshields when you need to record outside. You can use the mics if you’re just connecting to a phone over Bluetooth.

If you want a backup of your audio, you’ll need to slip in a compatible microSD card to the transmitter, which support microSD cards up to 2TB. In contrast, the Mic Pro offers 32GB of onboard storage.

Some might see that as a disadvantage that you need to remember to slip in a card. Others may well see it as a positive that you have greater control over how much audio you store on the move.

The receiver features an integrated clip to make it easy to wear and a top-mounted touchscreen display you can also control from the twisting dial button alongside it. The size of the screen does make it fiddly to take the touchscreen route of navigating menus and screens. I’d say the button does a more reliable job of getting you around the key menu spots.

The case, while not the most pocketable, offers a robust place to store away transmitters and receivers. One thing I do find slightly annoying is that if you’ve decided to use the available windshield and either clips or magnets, you need to remove these before you can place the transmitters back into the case. There is an additional carry pouch you can use instead, which won’t charge the setup when you’re on the move.

Features

• Uses a single mic array like Mic Air
• microSD storage needed for 32-bit floating recording
• Up to 34 hours of battery life

The Mic is a single-mic setup like the cheaper Air, so it does miss out on the Mic Pro’s 3-mic array setup. That does mean it’s pretty much relying on a similar design as rival wireless mics.

You have access to 2 levels of noise cancelling, making it more appealing for those that typically have to record in noisier environments. There’s support for 24-bit and 32-bit float recording, enabling more dynamic range in recordings and removing digital clipping. That 32-bit support is capable when you’ve slotted in a microSD card.

An hour of 32-bit recording will soak up 700MB of space compared to the 500MB you’ll need to give up for an hour of 24-bit recording.

You can connect the Mic to a vast range of devices including Insta360’s own cameras such as its Luna series cameras as well as smartphones and cameras. You can max out connecting four transmitters to one receiver making it ideal for group recordings on a podcast. The 400 metre transmission range is an impressive distance to be able to capture audio from and is an extra 100 metres more than the Mic Air can manage. Getting that range requires optimal conditions, so it’s likely to be less than that for most users.

Battery life maxes out at 13 hours and that’s when you’re using two transmitters connected to a single receiver and you’re not using the noise cancellation. The receiver manages up to 11 hours while the charging case offers up to 34 hours of battery life, letting you charge two transmitters and a receiver fully twice before the case needs charging again.

In real world use, the transmitter and charging case promise more battery than the Mic Pro. That’s 13 hours versus 10 hours for the transmitters and 34 hours versus 30 hours when dropping everything in the charging case.

An hours’ worth of recording with the noise cancelling does see the battery invariably drop quicker with it disabled and was around 10%. Basically, if you were shooting for a while with everything powered up, you can feel confident that you’re not going to be worrying about needing to charge things up mid-shoot.

When you do need to charge, you can get both transmitter and receiver fully charged in under an hour, with a 5-minute fast charge mode getting you a couple of hours to recording time to play with.

Audio Quality

• 2 levels of noise cancelling
• 32-bit float internal recording
• Gain control and voice tone presets available

I was primarily using the Mic paired to record myself on an iPhone 18 Pro and Google Pixel 11 Pro, and did that with the receiver in play and also pairing the transmitters directly via Bluetooth. I found the recording quality impressive across the board. Is it the best of the best? No. But I think for those seeking out a big upgrade on the mics built-in to their devices, there’s plenty to like here.

Having the available Standard, Rich and Bright voice tone presets are great assets to have at your disposal for starters. Especially if you’re looking for something better suited to recording in quieter environments or much louder ones. The standard mode unsurprisingly works well for everyday recordings when you just need to capture.

Opting for the Rich mode adds a warmer profile that you’d associate with podcasts or interviews. The Bright preset is one to turn to for recording outside in noisier environments. Stick to those scenarios and you get the most rewarding results.

One of the Mic’s greatest assets is the noise cancellation support, which is very effective.

Recording with some low-level noise like a TV on in the background or the humming of a fan didn’t wreak havoc with my recordings.

I often have to record videos with infrequent, yet still pretty loud trains passing outside my window. When I opted to bring the stronger noise cancelling mode in play, it did an effective job of muting the sound. I also appreciated it when recording in windier conditions or near traffic.

What I would say is that using that strongest level of noise cancelling support can make sound a little more artificial and less natural, so I’d say you call on it when you really need it most and are willing to sacrifice some of the more balanced, natural sound you get without it.

It’s good to see there’s plenty of scope to tinker with both the receiver and transmitter settings. Whether that’s adjusting gain, automatically enabling internal recording, monitoring volume and you selecting your preferred channel mode. You’ve got options.

Should you buy it?