Overall and Final Verdict
There aren’t a lack of options when it comes to wired or wireless microphones but it is interesting to see Anker join into the mix under their AnkerWork brand with the M650 Wireless Microphone. You actually get a full system, not just a microphone with two wireless transmitters, the receiver, and the base which you use for getting the files and recharging. The M650 follows similar designs including from DJI with their DJI Mic. Going in I thought I had an idea of what the M650 is all about but I was surprised at the flexibility that Anker has built into the design. For connection options alone you can run the M650 independently recording on the transmitters themselves, you can connect it to your Mac or PC and use both microphones to stream directly to the computer, you can hook the receiver up to Android and iPhone and use the wireless mics to record videos or record audio, and you can also hook the receiver up to ANY 3.5 mm microphone jack including to your DSLR to stream the audio that way. In fact, they even have the clip on the receiver setup to be able to slide into the hot shoe. The transmitters have their own unique clips as well which can clip like normal or be pulled off to use with the strong built-in magnet to stick on anything or clip to your clothes using the clip itself as the backer.
For performance, the microphones worked well and you have on the fly adjustability to turn up gain or turn it down, background noise reduction, and there is even a safe mode that will record two copies of the audio with one -6 dB lower that you can use to replace any moments which peak to high. The software also has a small equalizer to tune things, but you do have to do that ahead of time not on the fly. The wireless range was great and I found that if you are recording to the M650 itself the range doesn’t matter at all because it does record to memory on each transmitter. Then for battery life, you get 6 hours on each device and 9 more hours if you recharge from the battery in the case similar to how a lot of earbuds work. So as long as you get some charging time in the case you can go a full day but the total recording capacity is limited to around 7 and a half hours so you will need to stop and pull the files. More importantly, you can only do that when hooked up to a PC right now which defeats the point of having that extra battery life. I also found it a little confusing to get the files at all, until I figured out that you have to plug the case in. Beyond that, the only other issue I has was with the color options for the included covers but only for the black model. The white model has two unique colors but I wasn’t digging the champagne and dark green.
For pricing, the M650 Wireless Microphone has an MSRP of $249.99 which isn’t cheap compared to a few of the no-name brands on Amazon. But when we compare it with the DJI Mic it is $100 less making it a much better value. Overall with the flexibility the M650 offers this is a great pickup for anyone who is filming for social media or an influencer or anyone who wants to have a compact wireless setup that they can travel with. One thing is for sure, it would be great to see a few more of these clipped on people for interviews rather than people on TikTok shoving their phone in people's faces as a microphone. I can also see someone getting creative with the swappable covers to tie it more into their brand with colors or a logo if you are looking to take things up another notch.
Live Pricing: HERE
