The internal mic on the Action 2 is awesome. This is just the camera module with the single mic.

Sounds good indeed!

Montfrooij Posted at 10-15 12:03
Sounds good indeed!

Yes, it's great. This is the best dialogue recording that I've heard out of any of the action cams as far as the internal mic is concerned and also beats a lot of other devices.

I think the audio basics of the Action 2 come from the Pocket 2, whose audio is the best I've encountered on any small camera - or indeed, any camera full stop.  On the Pocket 2 the stereo audio soundfield rotates according to the position of the camera head, even though the mics are in the handle which can be "pointing" in a different direction.  It's a pity they didn't do something like that with the Action 2, so that when it's upside down the left/right orientation of the audio matches the picture.  Still, it's great, and the ability to connect USB-C mics to it (and the new Action 3) is completely unique in any camera.  I sometimes use mine with a Sennheiser binaural headset (via an adapter converting Lightning to USB-C) and that not only gives me binaural recording but playback too.  Really, it's a digital audio recorder that happens to do video too!

Edited to add that there's one problem with Action 2 audio, and that is the wind noise reduction cutting in when there's low frequencies (not wind related) happening, eg in a car.  Suddenly the audio quality sounds processed.  So, best to keep the wind noise reduction off when not actually required.

David_Harry Posted at 10-15 12:30
Yes, it's great. This is the best dialogue recording that I've heard out of any of the action cams as far as the internal mic is concerned and also beats a lot of other devices.

Nice
Good to hear

fansfe82067d Posted at 10-15 14:09
I think the audio basics of the Action 2 come from the Pocket 2, whose audio is the best I've encountered on any small camera - or indeed, any camera full stop.  On the Pocket 2 the stereo audio soundfield rotates according to the position of the camera head, even though the mics are in the handle which can be "pointing" in a different direction.  It's a pity they didn't do something like that with the Action 2, so that when it's upside down the left/right orientation of the audio matches the picture.  Still, it's great, and the ability to connect USB-C mics to it (and the new Action 3) is completely unique in any camera.  I sometimes use mine with a Sennheiser binaural headset (via an adapter converting Lightning to USB-C) and that not only gives me binaural recording but playback too.  Really, it's a digital audio recorder that happens to do video too!

Edited to add that there's one problem with Action 2 audio, and that is the wind noise reduction cutting in when there's low frequencies (not wind related) happening, eg in a car.  Suddenly the audio quality sounds processed.  So, best to keep the wind noise reduction off when not actually required.

That's all good to know, thanks. I'll be doing a bunch of stuff with external mics, although, my main use for the Action 2 will be for simple vloggy stuff with the internal mic.

As I'm only using the mic off the camera module, I'm unlikely to run into issues with directionality and no issues with stereo response. Again though, it's all good to know.

I'll be doing some kind of wind protection for the inbuilt mic and while it won't be great for strong breezes, it should take the edge off minor breezes. I'll do a video about that once I've found a suitable way of doing it.

The camera is so small that you could probably just pop it inside a standard Rycote wind muff and you'd get no wind noise at all.  No picture either, come to think of it.  OK, back to the drawing board...

fansfe82067d Posted at 10-16 13:02
The camera is so small that you could probably just pop it inside a standard Rycote wind muff and you'd get no wind noise at all.  No picture either, come to think of it.  OK, back to the drawing board...

Actually, the camera is that small that you can't even use any Rycote Micro Windjammers on it as they enter the FOV on every lens setting.

I'm really surprised that this camera wasn't a big deal with the vloggers. Whatever it lacks in picture, which isn't much, it most certainly makes up for in audio quality for dialogue and its size and ease of use is just ridiculously perfect for vlogging.