Definitely different use cases for everybody. I've owned the Rode Wireless Pro set for a year and have never found myself using the lapel mics. So weird for me that switching to the Mic 3's made more sense for me, as I hate the size of the Rode mics; they're hard to conceal when you don't want to attach wires to people. DJI seems to be shifting their target audience to mobile content creators, hobbyists, vloggers, influencers, etc. Rode is the one catering to the higher end professional users who care about functionality over form factor.
I have both the DJI 2 and 3
Both receivers have 3.5 out and headphone. I know you’re talking about 3.5 in, but the 3 is small enough that the big advertising magnet isn’t that big lol. I like both of them, haven’t used the rodes
It depends on what kind of shots you're doing and your preference in the style of recording.
1 man band with mobility, you can go with a clip-on mic like DJI Mic 3 for starter, does internal recording and can attach a lav mic if you want the setup to be more stealthy.
1 man band but stationary, you can go with either a studio mic or a shotgun mic.
More than 1 guy, the other guy could be using a dedicated audio recorder, monitor headphone or IEM, a shotgun mic and a pole to hang the mic over the audio source (closer = better sound) just outside of the frame of the video. OFC, you will need to sync the audio in post, this is where the movie clap sound gets very useful, because if you get that peak of the waveforms sync, you're good to go.
Bottom line, for flexibility and future expansion, go with a shotgun mic and a DJI Mic 3 for convenience.
So if you want to see the difference I actually [made a quick video testing the quality](https://youtube.com/shorts/Ji-bhCX195M) of the Mic 3 over Bluetooth vs. Osmo Audio connection (to the receiver or a DJI device) vs. Internal 32bit recording.
As you can see in the short (or hear I guess) the biggest difference I found was in the loss of quality when connecting over Bluetooth. Osmo Audio vs Internal was pretty much the same cause it’s fairly high fidelity connection.
One option you also have is getting the [1 TX + 1 RX single](https://www.adorama.com/djimic3.html?utm_content=pmax&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=5&gad_campaignid=19096191582&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkLii5LS7kQMVT0tHAR3GEhFTEAQYAyABEgJQwPD_BwE) option which comes with the Mic 3 as well as a receiver (but leaves out the additional Mic 3 and charging case). I [got it with the Mic 2](https://youtu.be/f0b6l2S_st0) and it seems like a pretty good deal to save money for those who will only need one mic.
It works — however you might be disappointed.
This is cause as many have mentioned, Bluetooth greatly compresses the audio. I made [this quick video](https://youtube.com/shorts/Ji-bhCX195M?si=mHlPaLrt_CORddon) that demonstrates it using the DJI Mic 3 but the results will be about the same with the 2.
Mic Air isn’t too bad and is definitely the cheapest of the options available.
[I tested out](https://youtu.be/yRAlIlgxpoE?is=AAI8DfAHlsU1o1Ei) the Mic Air vs the GPS Remote vs. DJI Mic 3 and the Mic Air was pretty good especially for the money
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SM58
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Indestructible live workhorse; but muffled for studio vocals.
Algebruh_m9
