In today’s digital life video is a must-have, so a good sound quality. In fact, you can have amazing footage but it will be completely ruined if the sound is not good enough. There are many solutions on the market for it. The Comica VM10 Pro is one of those. How good is it? Is it plug-and-play? Can I use it on a camera and/or other devices? How expensive it is? Let's find out!
Presentation and Specs The Comica VM 10 Pro isn’t a high-end product, more on the affordable side so we were expecting a simpler combo. In reality that’s far from reality. The card box disguises a very elegant rigid case with many goodies inside.
1. Box 2. The content inside Box 3. Carrying Case We have the Microphone, a Shock Mount, a 3.5mm TRS - TRS Audio Cable, a 3.5mm TRS - TRRS Audio Cable, USB C-USB C Audio Cable, a wind muffler, User Manual, Warranty Card, and a carrying case. This means that you can pair the VM 10 with cameras, smartphones, tablets, and computers.
The VM 10 Pro is a compact mini cardioid shotgun microphone aimed at content creators. It has only 92mm long and has a 22mm diameter.
You can use it on videos, voice-overs, podcasts, zoom calls, and live streams. So you have at your disposal an array of possibilities to execute those tasks with ease.
The no power-driven aluminum mic has a double input/output - 3.5mm and USB. It can be commuted between digital (via USB-c) and analog (3.5mm for cameras). At around 80 euros it's a great price for what it offers, as you will see furthermore.
With the Digital mode, you can use the gain control knob to adjust the mic output gain and monitor the volume in digital mode while recording in real time.
Build, Usage, and Sound Quality
The first thing you notice when you grab the Comica VM10 Pro it is how light (37 gr.) and yet sturdy it is. The mic clips onto the supplied shock mount which effectively absorbs any undesirable vibrations. Both features make it perfect for continued filming handheld or in a gimbal. You don’t feel the weight and aesthetically gives an even more pro look to the combo.
Depending on where it's connected, when using the USB the analog 3.5mm port is a very handy headphone jack.
We can also connect earphones to monitorize the audio leves live, while recording in digital output. The gain knob also works as a level adjustment.
For the audio tests, we recorded samples in two different environments: in our studio and outside. The idea was to recreate the usual conditions and types of useage of this sort of microphone.
The comparison is from the built-in mic on the Canon M50 and with the VM10 We tested indoors at a distance of 1m, then 60 cm. Outside it was used as a vlog distance shot, with and without the “dead cat” or muffler.
The VM 10 Pro is unidirectional (or cardioid) meaning that it should capture the audio from one direction only. It’s perfect to capture clearly your talent voice and ignore the best possible noise around. It increases hugely the overall quality of the recording.
We like this little shotgun mics because usually provide better rejection of off-axis high frequencies. Also, the level of self-noise should be low, otherwise will create well-known white noise.
The Comica has a very reasonable -35 dB, being able to capture most of the low tones or when you speak quite low, almost whispering.
We can see here the sturdy and well built rycote. It suspendes the mic correctly withouth woobleing and avoiding most vibrations being transmitid.
Sound Test in various situations
As we can hear, the Comica Vm10 Pro offers a superior spectrum and the performance is good. The improvement in quality over an in-built mic is direct, and it has more range for capturing audio from subjects with a reduced ambient noise. That's why cardiod patterns are so useful for content creators that don't work on great acoustic conditions.
Final Thoughts
The Comica VM 10 Pro was a nice surprise. Compact, light weighted with great extras it grab our attention and ears!
We think that this is a very good content creator mic for those who want a simple yet effective tool. It is compact, portable, and most importantly very well-constructed which makes it very travel-friendly.
Since it has no internal battery it means that you will never forget to turn it on, despite it also implies not having an amplifier. But that’s the terrain of more expensive solutions that involve more knowledge of the user to take full advantage.
When increasing levels of delay or unwanted ambiance are introduced as the distance increases between the source and the mic increases, but again its quite common on this sort of microphones.
