The Best iPhone 7 Video Microphone Blog Post
Apple Scrap 3.5mm headphone socket on iPhone 7
So Apple have abandoned the 3.5mm headphone socket on the iPhone
7. Well who wants that pesky little socket when all it’s doing is taking up
valuable space! Well, I do actually! Yes, the 3.5mm jack maybe 50-year-old
technology but it is darn useful technology that allows me to plug in a set of
headphones or microphone into my iPhone.
If you’re interest, the 3.5mm jack was a development of it’s
even older big brother, the 100-year-old ¼ inch PO jack. It dates back to the
days when you couldn’t dial a number from your phone. In those early days you
lifted the receiver and asked the telephone operator to connect you to, say, “Hollywood
639”.
Anyway, back to why I think ditching the 3.5mm jack is a bad
move.
For a start, the Lightning connector is proprietary
technology that Apple will only share with other manufactures provided they pay
a licensing fee. The technology will make accessories more expensive than if they
continued to use the industry standard 3.5mm jack. That’s why very few
headphone manufacturers have not gone down the Lightning connector route. One
exception being JBL who offer their Reflect Aware Headphones
, which admittedly provide
excellent audio clarity, for $200 (£169.99 in the UK). They are not cheap and you can only use them with an iPhone or iPad.
Secondly, think of the unnecessary waste. There must be hundreds
of millions of headphones and other accessories that might not work with the iPhone,
or at least will need an adaptor. Why should consumers have to ditch the kit
when it works perfectly well.
According to the Apple website the iPhone 7 ships with a Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter, so at least we should be able to connect our heritage accessories. But who wants a clunky adapter poking out of the top of their stylish and expensive phone! More-over, you just know the adaptor is going to get lost. Kaching, more money for Apple! But at least vloggers and videographers should still be able to connect their existing external microphones.
At this point I better clarify what I mean by “external
microphone”. For videography I’m saying it is a mic that can be placed on the
presenter, several metres away from the iPhone, and NOT on the phone itself. In
other words, a lavalier or lapel mic connected to the phone by a long cable.
Apple has provided a terrific camera and awesome processing
power on the iPhone 7, allowing us to shoot fantastic video. It’s only
reasonable that we should want to record good quality sound with an external
mic. For the time it would seem we can still use our 3.5mm equipped microphones
but if Apple get their way the Lightning connector will replace the 3.5mm jack
as the industry standard.
But say you do want to go down the digital mic route, what
are your options right now? Searching through Amazon there are actually very
few, and all of them a bit pricey. Here are the three I was able to find,
remember we do not want microphones that sit on the phone, instead they should
be placed on the presenter. By that criteria I was only able to find two mics
and one mic interface, the latter for use with professional microphones.
Sennheiser ClipMic digital Microphone
There are two versions of Sennheiser’s digital lavalier mics
(or lapel mics). Sennheiser is a respected name in pro audio but they are NOT a
prosumer or even consumer level manufacturer. I actually own a rifle mic and
radio mic by Sennheiser for use in my video business because their products are
top-notch. However, that quality comes at a price, in this case between $200
and $500. If you have deep pockets and can afford either of these lavalier
microphones I have no hesitation in recommending them but even I am going to
wince at paying almost as much for a mic as the phone.
Sennheiser ClipMic
with Sennheiser’s ME 2
omni-directional microphone capsule, for use with iOS devices.
Cost on Amazon: $199
Sennheiser ClipMic Digital Microphone with Sennheiser’s MKE
2 Omnidirectional Microphone capsule.
Cost on Amazon: $499
IK Multimedia iRig
Pro microphone interface
Yes, I know this isn’t a microphone but if you have access
to professional mics, the sort with chunky three pin XLR connectors, then the
iRig Pro provide a good solution to connecting to your iPhone. What’s more, if
you are a musician it also allows you to connect your midi instruments to your
iOS device and Mac.
iRig Pro instrument/microphone interface with
MIDI for iOS and Mac.
Cost on Amazon: $129.80
The Future
If Apple succeed in ousting the 3.5mm jack as the industry standard,
then we will see many better quality digital mics appearing but they will be
more expensive than the 3.5mm jack version. At present you can buy a Movo LV1
Lavalier microphone for under $20 but that price point is unlikely to be kept
when you need to add a digital audio converter (DAC) and Lightning connector.
On the plus side you potentially will have excellent audio quality, but at a
price.
Note that some of the links in this post maybe affiliate links.