Thronmax Space Wireless Microphone Review: Entry Into The Lavalier Microphone Space
Retail price: $169.99
Disclaimer: Thronmax sent us a unit of the Space free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
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Lavalier microphones have been an important staple for portable shooting especially when filming outside. With the advancement of mobile photography, content makers have had a renaissance of new technology options to really push what consumer production can make. Thronmax sent us a unit of their new Thronmax Space kit that launches the microphone accessories company into a new category of products. Can this wireless microphone setup compete with the other plug and play leaders on the market?
Comes With Everything
The included case neatly organizes everything you need
I give a lot of credit to Thronmax for the package that they provide as everything has a place and purpose within the case.
The first thing I liked about the Space is that the kit comes with two microphones and a receiver. It’s all packaged together into a neat carrying casing that has plenty of space for all the cables and adapters you’ll need to bring with you to connect the microphone receiver with any type of recording device. The case even has a slot for two small dead cats. I give a lot of credit to Thronmax for the package that they provide as everything has a place and purpose within the case. Having two lavalier microphones included is also a huge benefit as I’ve purchased wireless transmission lavalier setups for a lot more money that only came with one microphone that connects to a receiver. This means two people can simultaneously talk on their own channels for editing in post.
Design
The Space is simple to operate. It uses a 2.4 GHz transmission from a receiver that you can attach to the hot shoe mount. The receiver side has a USB-C port and a 3.5 mm audio jack. I normally plug this into my smartphone with a USB-C to USB-C cable but there are plenty of other connection combinations that can work with the Thronmax. The spherical design is shaped like a lipstick container or a chapstick. There’s a display that will monitor the audio dB readings as well as the current connection and battery life of both the receiver unit and the microphone. There’s a power button and two additional buttons. One of them is to toggle between the connection of the microphones, while the other button is to control the dB adjustments. For full transparency, the buttons on my receiver are a bit mushy straight out of the box and often gets stuck when pressed into. I did receive a pretty early unit to review so the production quality may have been refined as they reached the market recently.
The two microphones share the exact same look as their receiver. I like how the three units are uniformed and look exactly the same. You do need to twirl them around when you pull them out of the case to see which one has the display, but I like the traditional lavalier microphone shape. If you don’t like it, you can also jack in a lavalier lapel microphone and go with that to pick up audio. The microphones themselves use an omnidirectional polar pattern that has a frequency range of 50Hz-20kHz. That means the range of audio the microphone picks up should isolate your voice relatively cleanly if mounted around your chest. I do like the clip that doubles up as a shoe mount on the units and they all feel sturdy when attached to something.
Audio Quality
The audio that I picked up from the Thronmax Space recorded onto my smartphone is clear, but lacks a bit of detail. It’s not as warm as I was expecting, but at the same time I’m not sure what I was expecting to come out of this. I can vouch for the zero latency claim as the wireless connection. I can also somewhat agree with Thronmax’s claim of 8 hour battery life on a full charge. While I haven’t used these for an 8+ hour shoot yet, I have periodically turned them on and off throughout a week and they lasted close to that number combined. The last test that left me quite satisfied was the transmission range. From my uses, I’ve had no problem retaining the audio recording from 10 ft away.
How Does It Fare?
There’s a lot of intriguing mobile audio recording options on the market right now and the more competition that jumps into this space the better the products become. By directly competing with the Rode Wireless Go and DJI Mic, consumers are able to choose from varying price points and can then decide what benefits they’re willing to compromise on. I think the Thronmax Space is a solid option for content creators looking to minimize setup time while also not yet wanting to invest in a higher performing lavalier set. This segment does get pricey the higher you go up the charts and you have to ask yourself exactly what quality of audio you really need for your content. In my opinion, the Space is satisfactory for a lot of social media content being consumed by viewers nowadays and Thronmax has provided a user friendly package that won’t spook off first time users.
Alex
Caught in between the conundrum of his fascination with retro and the future, Alex has a very unique taste in technology. Never one to follow trends like his millennial peers yet constantly desiring to get ahead of the curve, he sees technology like he does his other love: comic books. Always looking for the best value or a hidden gem, his collector mindset reflects on some of his favorite gadgets: the Moto X (2015), HTC U11 and the Google Pixelbook. If there’s a good tech deal out there, Alex is on the hunt!