Dinky mics at a dinky price

Design

• Very tiny mics and a carrying case
• Look more like a set of wireless earbuds
• Plastic chassis is okay for the price

Look at the Boya Mini for a split second, and you could easily mistake its small case for a set of wireless earbuds. It has the same oblong shape as many earbud cases and opens with a hinged lid in a similar fashion.

This at least means the case is light, compact, and easily pocketable. The microphones themselves and the receiver sit magnetically inside the case, as they do in the case of rivals such as my own Hollyland Lark M2. The case also comes with a USB-C port on the underside for charging.

Taking the microphones out reveals a dinky 5g unit in a glossy plastic shell, complete with a lapel clip and a pre-installed fabric pop filter. Having that fabric pop-filter already there on the transmitter makes life a lot easier, as I can’t imagine how long it’d take someone as ham-fisted as me to try and slot it on myself.

The only drawback to the small size of the transmitters is that they can easily slip out of your hand if you hold them incorrectly, and pressing the Noise Reduction button, located on the right side of the units, can be quite finicky.

The build quality of the entire set is a little plastic, although I appreciate the glossier finish of the receivers and transmitter against the matted finish of the charging case. The plastics used feel quite cheap, although the set itself is a bargain compared to its rivals, so I wouldn’t have expected the Earth.

Features

• Simple plug-and-play connectivity with receivers
• Limited wireless range against rivals
• Competitive battery life

Given the more modest price, there isn’t too much to discuss in terms of features for the Boya Mini. Connectivity is wireless to either a USB-C or Lightning receiver, which sits in the case alongside the microphones. Both receivers are supplied in the packaging, along with a small grey travel bag.

Hooking these mics up to a supported device is plug-and-play, and they were instantly recognised on both my Honor Magic V3 and even when plugging the receiver into the vacant USB-C port on the front of my Windows gaming PC.

Transmission range is limited to 100 metres in clear sight, which is significantly lower than the competition. Hollyland’s Lark M2 can go up to 1000 feet, or 304.8 metres, while the DJI Mic 3 sits at 400 metres.

Furthermore, if there are obstacles in the way, or if you lose line of sight to the host device, such as turning away from a camera, then you are likely to get interference at much closer than 100 metres, which is a shame for using the Boya Mini to record out in the field.

With this in mind, these mics impress with a battery life that surpasses that of much bigger and more expensive alternatives. You get six hours of runtime from each microphone, plus the 260mAh in the charging case provides additional charging, giving you a total of 30 hours of runtime.

Audio Quality

• Lacks richer bitrate recording
• Crisp and clean pickup
• Surprisingly effective noise reduction

It’s important to note that the Boya Mini’s recording capabilities fall a little short compared to its rivals. The audio depth is limited to 16-bit, and the microphone output is mono only. Spending more will get you richer 24-bit audio (as with the Boya Magic) and the option for stereo output.

With this in mind, the Boya Mini still constitutes a significant upgrade over recording straight out of your phone. Audio recording is crisp and clean for the most part, with good body and clarity. For most folks using it for social media or less ‘professional’ content creation, it’s great.

The handling of plosives from this mic when I used it in a talking-head style situation with my PC was okay, and having the pre-installed foam shield is handy for dulling any inadvertent pops as a result. 

The Boya Mini has some effective noise reduction, too. Enabling it dulled out the noise of my keyboard and the hum of background chatter. That said, the lack of a low-cut mode means it isn’t as effective as dealing with the hum of a heating unit, for instance.

The only thing with that noise reduction is that it can be very difficult to know which of the three levels you have selected, as you only see a green (on) and blue (off) light when you press the dedicated noise reduction button on the side of the microphone.

Boya also bundles this set with a voice changer feature, accessible through a button on the receiver, which is designed to make a voice sound deeper or higher. It sounds horribly gimmicky, and works more to distort than change a voice.

Should you buy it?