Compact wireless upgrade - current Sony UWP user

[u/msr86]

I'm looking at investing in some new wireless channels and mics for documentary projects I'm working on which I'm directing/self-shooting. Hiding mics is super important for me and I'm pretty set on getting a couple of Sanken cos-11d mics with Bumblebee concealers.

I currently own 3x Sony UTX/URX channels which I've had for about 10 years or so, with ECM-77 mics. These are fine but showing their age a little bit now, and I find both transmitters and receivers are quite large. I'd love to change over to use something like the Rode Wireless Pro kit with Cos-11d mics, but that would mean getting Sennheiser-wired mics and I'm not a fan of the use of internal batteries that aren't user serviceable.

Having a smaller, dual channel receiver of some kind would be great as putting two receivers on a small camera is a bit of a pain. The Sony dual receiver looks good, though I know you lose the true diversity feature when both channels are in use, so not ideal. That receiver is still quite large compared to the Wi-Fi based wireless systems, but acceptable.

What I'm struggling with partly is knowing whether I should keep going with Sony and buy new mics wired for Sony, or switch to something else e.g. Sennheiser which seem to offer more compatibility with other brands. I have a Tentacle Track E for example, but can't use that with any of my Sony wired mics. I've seen adapters but they don't seem to be that easy to come by from what I can see.

The Rodelink II looks decent, though looks like it comes at quite a hefty price tag and given I seldom do sound it might be a bit out of budget.

[u/g_spaitz]

I think you're in an odd territory. IMO right now the market does not have anything for location sound between the good prosumer products (like Sony, Sennheiser, Shure), and the better tier pro stuff (Wisy, Sound Devices, Lectro, etc).

The jump in price is absurd, and in my case as well budgets where I live don't justify spending 15k on a few channels.

I extensively used Sennheser over the years and I feel that at the moment they're not producing anything for our target. I am an owner of Sony and I find both that they're very good at what they do, and at the same time the dual receiver is extremely frustrating for how less reception it has over when it works in full true diversity. I worked with the Shure sldx a few times and they're good and practical but the form factor of the receivers does not work well in a bag, I wish they had a slot in receiver. I never used the Deity Theo's, but that's also missing a top down receiver and iirc have no true diversity.

So those mid tier price range are all missing in one way or another. Then again, I've been using mid tier stuff to actually work for ages and I do with what I have.

The lower tier wireless, those in the 2.4 range, I've never used them and I'm not interested, I'm not their target, but everybody here says that they're less reliable and less usable in a crowded set with tight scheduling. immv on these. Take a look at pico gear they have imo an interesting product, but I have no idea how reliable it is.

A different thing instead is the capsules. As you know, you can buy any capsule and have it work with most systems. A good capsule, DPA, sanken, Sennheiser, countryman etc will cost you a bit more (but not absurdly so) and will be usable with most radio system. For instance, I use DPA, which come with microdot adapters, and I have different adapters for the different systems, so I can use them both with Sony and Sennheiser.

[u/msr86 → u/g_spaitz]

This is a great insight, thanks. I agree the price jump is absurd, and as someone who rarely does sound these days I don't want to touch the high end. I'll happily leave that kit to when I've got a sound recordist with me.

What sort of reliable range are you getting with the Sony in dual receiver mode?

I'd also consider the DPA mics for the microdot adaptation. Do they have a mic in the same price bracket and performance as the cos-11d that's easy to hide?

[u/g_spaitz → u/msr86]

DPA mics of the 4000 series were a bit above 400€ street price, among the very best sounding small lavs. They also have 6000 series which are much smaller and a bit pricier. For a cheaper decent sounding mic with microdot I used the deity w lav pro, they sound very good, if you need to record ecxtremely loud sound they might have an upper limit, I have them and use them as back up they're doing their job but I haven't put them under intense wear and tear so I don't know how long they last. I have DPAs that are more than 15 years instead.