Godox WES1 Kit wireless microphone review – Hearing from a distance

REVIEW – Digital sound recording has been around for a while. Remember those little memory stick-sized recorders? Getting good sound quality, however, will always stretch the limits of a tiny built-in mic. Fortunately, most modern devices take external inputs as easily as plugging into the charging port. Today, I’m going to look at a kit from Godox, which makes dozens of microphone and audio products for the video industry. It’s called the WES1 and uses the Lightning port of your iOS device to grab the signal from two different microphones and send it to your recording app of choice.

What is it?

The Godox WES1 Kit is a dual-channel receiver with two transmitting microphones in a charging case.

What’s in the box?

• Two (2) remote mics with clips and pop guards
• One (1) dual-channel receiver
• Soft travel kit
• Hard-shell charging case which holds/charges the mics and receiver
• USB charging cable

This is part of the Himiway A7 eBike review that I am working on, using the Godox WES1 Kit wireless microphone system attached to my iPhone 13 Pro Max. I wore it about 45 minutes and filmed several segments without having to worry about it at all. I just pushed “Record” and the mic was there, doing what was expected.

Hardware specs

Design and Features

The charging case for the Godox WES1 Kit wireless microphone system is 3..25” x 1.125” x 2.5”. Inside, you’ll find two transmitters (each 1.875”. X .5” x .75”) and a dual channel receiver (1.875” x 1.65” x .375”) nestled into custom-designed charging bays.

They are held in place magnetically, so you don’t have to worry that a two-hour bumpy road trip disconnected them from the charging pins. The entire case closes up and has a “gas gauge” charging indicator on the outside in a 0-100 LED panel. A single USB-C connection charger the case and all units that are inside it.

The Godox WES1 Kit wireless microphone all fits into a Nylon padded zippered case that can hold the charging unit as well as paperwork, a USB–A<=>USB-C cable, and the two “dead rat” windscreens. (For full-sized mics, a furry windscreen is known as a dead cat, because it looks like one.  These, however, are tiny, about 2” in diameter, so – much smaller than a cat. More like a field mouse. But the “rat” moniker feels better to me, because it rhymes with Dead Cat, so that’s the term I’m using here. Feel free to coin a better one and advocate for it in the comments!)

Setup

Setup is pretty easy – charge the units, plug the receiver in, and turn on the mics.

Hold the orange Link button for a few seconds. The receiver has a link LED for each of the mics. There is no level adjustment in the hardware. (There may be some through software, but I doubt you’re going to get separate channels since it is all going through the single mic input channel.)

Performance

The Godox WES1 Kit wireless microphone is in a word, stunning. I plugged the receiver into my iPhone 13 Pro Max, put one of the “dead mouse” pop filters on a mic, and linked it up. The video I recorded sounded clearer than I have ever heard on an iPhone. I was testing a bike, and so I chatted through several rides, and the audio was fantastic, even as I neared being a block or more away.

With other mics, I’ve had a lot of wind noise when testing a bike going at a bit of speed. There was absolutely zero wind noise or popping from plosive consonants at all. Here are the detailed, professional installation instructions: I casually clipped it on my shirt kinda near my mouth and it was perfect. To give you an idea of how this system can reduce background noise in a noisy environment, I recorded this short video in the food court of the mall where I work during lunch.

What I like about the Godox WES1 Kit wireless microphone

• Simple
• No drivers or configuration
• Pop filters are amazing

What I’d change

• USB-C is coming…
• A way to know the charge level of items when out of the charger box.

Final thoughts

Like it or not, more of us are going to be recording more video as this media generation moves forward. If it’s not YouTube or Instagram, it’ll be TikTok or whatever new-fangled thing that comes down the pike. Poor audio is probably the number one cause of many folks swiping away from a video. If it’s too noisy or muffled or there’s too much background noise, no one’s going to bother. There’s another video with better sound just a swipe away. And no one holding their earbud mic up to their mouth is going to sound as good as the Godox WES1 Kit wireless microphone system, which doesn’t take any effort at all. The Godox WES1 will provide great sound for any device that uses a Lightning port. (That’s iPad 9th gen and earlier, iPad 5th gen and earlier, and iPhone 14 (all models) back to the iPhone 5.)

Price: $119.00
Where to buy: Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Godox.