We review the new Hollyland Lark M2S wireless microphone system and compare it with the Lark M2 system which we have been using for a while. Is it the best small wireless microphone system for creators?
Hollyland reached out with an offer for us to review the Lark M2S. We do get to keep the dual microphone combo, but they are not sponsoring this article and no money changed hands. The views are ours and ours only, and they do not get a preview of this article before it is published.
Review: the new Hollyland Lark M2S miniature wiresless microphone
The Hollyland Lark M2S combo set is currently retailing at Amazon.com for USD 149. The Lark M2 is selling at Amazon.com for USD 119.
We got the combo set, which comes with two tiny wireless microphones, a USB-C adapter with receiver, and a camera adapter with receiver. The camera adapter passes the received signals to the camera using a 3.5mm TRS cable.
The raison d’etre: tiny form factor
The entire combo fits into a rather small charging case, measuring only 13.5 x 10 x 8.5 cm and weighs 330g including its contents. The case carries enough charge both transmitters and camera adapter/reciever a total of 2.5 times. The transmitters has an autonomy of 9 hours each, and the camera adapter/receiver has a battery autonomy of 8.5 hours. Good for a full day of recording.
The microphone itself is tiny and very light weighing only 7g. And has a front facing part measures only 13 x 6.3mm. This front body contains the unidirectional microphone capsule. And a rear facing portion is larger at 24 x 9mm, and it contain the electronics for the gain and transmission. The two parts are held together securely with a titanium clip.
In comparison, the Lark M2 transmitter measures 26mm x 9.9mm, weighing in at 9g.
The Lark M2S microphone capsule is very small, and allowing for it to be clipped in easily, providing a very inconspicuous setup where the microphone is barely visible. A yellow button on the rear pod is used for power and to switch on or off the noise reduction.
The receiver is also very small, and has a physical dial which can be used to adjust the gain. For the GFX 100RF and our regular Leica SL3-S, we used the lowest setting, and still get plenty of volume in the recording. The system is capable of doing either mono recording by merging the signals both transmitters equally to both channels, or record each transmitter on to individual stereo tracks. A small button powers the unit on, and another enables or disables the noise reduction system.
Hollyland also offers an app which is a free download. This app will run on iOS as well as Android devices and provides more features for fine adjustment. We rarely used this app, because the system is so easy to use, and is plug and play.
Usable range is rather large, quoted at 300m, and as we never needed this, we did not get to test it. Both systems worked very well in our operating environments. Also part of the package are two mufflers (dead cats) which are useful for windy environments or reducing the noise from clothing rubbing the microphone capsule.
The sound quality
So how does it sound? Well, you can decide for yourself by watching the video below. In the video, we not only go through the features and show you the Lark M2S and Lark M2 side by side, we also use both these microphones to record the audio. We also offer a comparison to the built-in microphone on the Fujifilm GFX 100RF (review coming soon). As an Easter Egg, the video here also includes a link to preview our review of the GFX 100RF.
YouTube Video Review
Here is a summary of our thoughts on the Hollyland Lark M2S and our comparison to the Lark M2.
Concluding thoughts
Now that you have heard both of them in the video, what are your thoughts? To us, the Lark M2S and Lark M2 sounds very similar, with precious little to choose in terms of sound quality from either. Both sound very good, and natural for capturing voices. Both offer good but not top level noice cancellation technology. The noise reduction is usable, but we actually prefer not to use noise reduction as we can hear the artefacts from the additional processing. Both have sufficient gain and signal to noise ratio (-70dB) that preamp noise does not become a problem. And both provide much better sound quality than the built in microphone of either the iPhone, the GFX 100RF or our Leica SL3-S. So which one should you choose? It all comes down to the form factor.
The Lark M2S is less conspicuous when attached to clothing as the front facing part which houses the microphone capsule is very very small. The Lark M2 is somewhat larger, but still quite tiny, and offers a convenient magnetic attachment system. The M2 also comes with a lanyard attachment system as well as a clip. Both are usable with smart phones using the included USB-C adapter.
While we could have wished for more features, we are realistic that this price point, the Hollyland Lark M2S and M2 is as good as it gets. We will stage another comparison to our DJI Mic Mini soon, watch out for that shootout. But in the meantime, you cannot go wrong with either. We wish that the higher end features like the ability to record a safety track and 32 bit recording would trickle down to this price level, but these are still only offered on higher priced wireless microphones.
