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RØDE AI-Micro Interface Review

Rate this headphone/microphone interface:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 19 18.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 37 35.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 43 41.0%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 6 5.7%

  • Total voters
    105

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the RØDE AI-Micro portable audio interface (dual microphone input and headphone out). It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $79.
RØDE AI-Micro Headphone Microphone portable audio interface review.jpg

As you probably can tell, this thing is tiny! Digital interface is USB-C and dual mics plus headphone are 3.5mm jacks. Unit is plug and play on Windows. It has variable input gain which I figured was being controlled by the volume setting in Windows control panel.

RØDE AI-Micro DAC Measurements
Treating the headphone out as line out we get:
RØDE AI-Micro Headphone Out Measurements.png


As a DAC, it is pretty poor but for the application of using it with a headphone, it is probably OK. What was strange was clock instability. It is possible this is due to AP software but I am fairly certain there is something wrong with the clock implementation. It would jump between 1000 Hz and 0.9999 every few seconds causing large amount of interference in the FFT.

Noise may be important and there, at full level, performance is decent:
RØDE AI-Micro Headphone Out SNR Measurements.png


Let's see how much power we have into 300 ohm:
RØDE AI-Micro Headphone Out Power into 300 ohm Measurements.png


Not much due to rather low output voltage of 1.4. This ranks the unit below many portable headphone dongles:
Best portable audio interface headphone 300 review.png


Same story for 32 ohm load:
RØDE AI-Micro Headphone Out Power into 32 ohm Measurements.png

Best portable audio interface headphone 32 review.png


RØDE AI-Micro Microphone Input Measurements
I made the assumption of setting the volume in Windows meaning 0 dB gain and as such, treating the unit as a line interface. With that, here is our dashboard:
RØDE AI-Micro Microphone In Measurements.png


Note the maximum clipping level (or just shy of 0.7 volt). I next ran a frequency response test and was surprised to see the high-pass filter which is not stated in the specs:
RØDE AI-Micro Microphone In Frequency Response Measurements.png


I guess for Microphone use this is OK???

Here is our dynamic range at three gain settings:
RØDE AI-Micro Microphone In Dynamic Range Measurements.png


And performance with varying input levels at two gain settings:
RØDE AI-Micro Microphone In THD+N vs Level Measurements.png


Nothing resembles a proper, professional audio interface but maybe for the specified application, it is good enough.

Conclusions
In absolute terms, the output and input performance of the RØDE AI-Micro is very mediocre. I don't have enough application knowledge of field recording using mic input to know whether what is there is good enough or not. Those of you who do this work, feel free to provide your assessment.

Per above, I don't feel fully qualified to make a recommendation one way or the other.

----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 

Hayabusa

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the RØDE AI-Micro portable audio interface (dual microphone input and headphone out). It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $79.
View attachment 259767
As you probably can tell, this thing is tiny! Digital interface is USB-C and dual mics plus headphone are 3.5mm jacks. Unit is plug and play on Windows. It has variable input gain which I figured was being controlled by the volume setting in Windows control panel.

RØDE AI-Micro DAC Measurements
Treating the headphone out as line out we get:
View attachment 259768

As a DAC, it is pretty poor but for the application of using it with a headphone, it is probably OK. What was strange was clock instability. It is possible this is due to AP software but I am fairly certain there is something wrong with the clock implementation. It would jump between 1000 Hz and 0.9999 every few seconds causing large amount of interference in the FFT.

Noise may be important and there, at full level, performance is decent:
View attachment 259770

Let's see how much power we have into 300 ohm:
View attachment 259771

Not much due to rather low output voltage of 1.4. This ranks the unit below many portable headphone dongles:
View attachment 259772

Same story for 32 ohm load:
View attachment 259773
View attachment 259774

RØDE AI-Micro Microphone Input Measurements
I made the assumption of setting the volume in Windows meaning 0 dB gain and as such, treating the unit as a line interface. With that, here is our dashboard:
View attachment 259775

Note the maximum clipping level (or just shy of 0.7 volt). I next ran a frequency response test and was surprised to see the high-pass filter which is not stated in the specs:
View attachment 259776

I guess for Microphone use this is OK???

Here is our dynamic range at three gain settings:
View attachment 259777

And performance with varying input levels at two gain settings:
View attachment 259778

Nothing resembles a proper, professional audio interface but maybe for the specified application, it is good enough.

Conclusions
In absolute terms, the output and input performance of the RØDE AI-Micro is very mediocre. I don't have enough application knowledge of field recording using mic input to know whether what is there is good enough or not. Those of you who do this work, feel free to provide your assessment.

Per above, I don't feel fully qualified to make a recommendation one way or the other.

----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
A clocking issue that likely (based on you comments) causes dropped samples is just a defect product.
 

Rja4000

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Thanks :)
Interesting.
I next ran a frequency response test and was surprised to see the high-pass filter which is not stated in the specs:
RØDE AI-Micro Microphone In Frequency Response Measurements.png


I guess for Microphone use this is OK???
It is of course important to be able to choose to enable it or not.

It seems there is a way to switch this off.

From their on line manual:
"You can activate a high-pass filter for each of the AI-Micro’s inputs using RØDE Connect, RØDE Central and RØDE Reporter. (...)

There are two filter settings to choose from – 75Hz and 150Hz."
images_page_1880_modules_4859_rode-ai-micro-learning-hub-merged-high-pass-filter-october-2021-...jpg


(EDITED) They also explain mic inputs will switch to stereo if a TRRS jack is plugged.
 
Last edited:

PeteL

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Just a smart product, along with this whole line of tiny field reporter. products including wireless mics in the same form factor. Ultra cheap, ultra small, just making sense and realising ahead of the competition that nobody will ever notice a 0:01 THD+N when capturing that money clip on that scrum press conference, and that nobody in broadcast has the budget anymore to bring a technician, a whole recording rig a boom and a shotgun mic just to get that couple sentences. Home Run really.
 

GD Fan

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With all due respect (which is considerable) this is strange. What's the point of this product? Two mics in and an out. Are the tests applicable? Or perhaps I'm completely ignorant (likely).
 

PeteL

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With all due respect (which is considerable) this is strange. What's the point of this product? Two mics in and an out. Are the tests applicable? Or perhaps I'm completely ignorant (likely).
One mic for the one asking questions, One mic for the one answering questions. Typically the one asking question is the one with the headphone on.
 
Last edited:

HarmonicTHD

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One mic for the one asking questions, One mic for the one answering questions. Tipically the one asking question is the one with the headphone on.
Correct. And for that application (interviewing, reporting) it is designed for, its recording audio quality is plenty good. The headphones are in this application only used for control / monitoring not for high end listening. As I said: fit for purpose.
 
Last edited:

Koeitje

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I like this product, seems to fill a useful niche. Mic quality looks good enough for its use case (interviews and other talks) and the headphone quality doesn't matter because it's just to monitor.
 

PusBesar

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which audio interface with dual headphone out do you guys think I should go with? I just want to co-op music listening on laptop
 

Koeitje

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which audio interface with dual headphone out do you guys think I should go with? I just want to co-op music listening on laptop
You should make a new topic for that, and also be more precise. Information like budget or portability is also kinda necessary to give any advice.
 

sergeauckland

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I like this product, seems to fill a useful niche. Mic quality looks good enough for its use case (interviews and other talks) and the headphone quality doesn't matter because it's just to monitor.
The filters are also very helpful in knocking back traffic or wind noise when doing street interviews. I think this is a nice product for the intended purpose, better than using a 'phone's microphone as sadly many reporters now have to do.

S.
 

Rja4000

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EDITED
Just to get things in perspective, here is quick and dirty
measurement of

Canon EOS R
- external microphone input ADC


RME ADI-2 Pro fs => Radial JDI Duplex (reverse) => EOS R Microphone input
RME ADI-2/4 Pro SE => Shure AT15AS Attenuator -25dB => Radial Catapult TX4L => EOS R Microphone input
Playback through HDMI, extraction through Blackmagic design ATEM Extreme ISO (digital)

Input signal is 20mVrms 52mVrms - Volume Level in camera is set manually to approx. 1/3 1/2 way (50%).
(Lowering the volume in camera and increasing the signal level doesn't help. I tried)

20mV, I guess, is approximatively equivalent to -30dBFS in Amir's plots above.
52mV, I guess, is approximatively equivalent to -24dBFS in Amir's plots above.

Canon EOS R Mic input 58mV - Input level 50% Cropped.png


NB: I used the ATEM as an HDMI extractor.
It's far from perfect, but it's good enough to make sure the result above is limited by the Camera performance.
You may look at its digital loopback in attachment.

I used the Radial Catapult TX4L JDI (passive - transformer based) because there seems to be a +2V DC on the mic input and it generates a high level noise.
Probably to power an external Mic (?)

EDIT: Re-measured at 52mV with the Catapult.
Previous 20mV measurement is still attached.
 

Attachments

  • Canon EOS R Mic input 20mV.png
    Canon EOS R Mic input 20mV.png
    89 KB · Views: 1,314
  • BlackMagicDesign ATEM Extreme ISO Loopback.png
    BlackMagicDesign ATEM Extreme ISO Loopback.png
    85.6 KB · Views: 74
Last edited:

Multicore

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This time last year I was looking at the Rode Wireless Go 2 because I was preparing a foreign trip that would include some interviews for podcasts. The level of performance provided by Rode in these portable devices is fine for that. The alternatives are on the one hand to just hold the phone up to someone or on the other is pro gear at least 10x the cost and 10x the difficulty to travel with and use.
 

staticV3

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This time last year I was looking at the Rode Wireless Go 2 because I was preparing a foreign trip that would include some interviews for podcasts. The level of performance provided by Rode in these portable devices is fine for that. The alternatives are on the one hand to just hold the phone up to someone or on the other is pro gear at least 10x the cost and 10x the difficulty to travel with and use.
There are at least twenty other wireless microphone systems just like the Rode Wireless GO.
 

HarmonicTHD

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Australia

Yes headquartered. But produced? (Yes it says on their webpage as produced, but would be surprised if such a niche product is produced there too).
(Btw. Not sure why it matters to the OP)
 
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