The Mic 2 supports internal recording, meaning it can save your audio as a backup directly to the transmitter’s internal storage, but this is not supported on the Mic Mini. Also, the Mic 2 is capable of 32-bit float internal recording, which gives you more headroom when you’re editing. Basically, you have more information to work with in case something goes wrong with the audio. This is also not supported on the Mic Mini. The Mic Mini doesn’t support a Lavalier microphone (no wires here!), and there’s no touchscreen display to interface with. (There is a dial just like on the Mic 2 to adjust the gain.)
But the Mic Mini does have some tricks up its sleeve. It supports automatic limiting to prevent audio clipping, meaning it will reduce the signal’s volume if you’re approaching those limits. To test this, I intentionally maxed out the gain on the receiver and spoke loudly into both the Mic 2 and Mic Mini. The latter sounded fine, but the Mic 2’s audio was distorted and clipped in a few places. Yay!
Also, in general, you will get far better battery life with the Mic Mini. Despite its small size, the lack of internal recording enables it to hit 48 hours of operating time, whereas the Mic 2 is limited to 18 hours.
As for the microphone quality, I found it largely similar to the Mic 2, barring the slight differences in noise canceling. Watch my video above to see how it fares compared to the built-in mics on the iPhone 16 Pro—the amount of ambient sound these mics eliminate never ceases to impress me.
All in all, the Mic Mini is a simple, affordable, and effective wireless microphone system, and I think it’s suitable for most people getting started and upgrading from their phone’s built-in audio (or the mic on the EarPods). Keep in mind that you also can buy the DJI Mic 2 in parts—the transmitter alone is $99, and there are reasons why you may want it over the Mini. But while it can be harder to finagle with because of its small size, the Mic Mini is so much more discreet and nicer to have on a shirt, and that makes me want to use it even more.
