Worthwhile Shotgun Microphone for Cameras and Smartphones

If your high-quality video content is paired with lackluster sound, it’ll be challenging to attract new viewers. The Joby Wavo Plus unidirectional shotgun microphone promises to allow you to record high-quality sound at a fair price. I found it to work great.

Joby Wavo Plus

The Joby Wavo Plus shotgun microphone is light and compact and offers excellent battery life. It works well with traditional cameras or smartphones and is easy to set up and use. Perfect for vloggers and amateur videographers.

Type

Condenser Electret (line gradient)

Pattern

Super Cardioid

Battery

Lithium-Ion battery

Audio Sensitivity

-16 dBV/Pa at 1kHz (+-3db)

Connector

3.5mm TRS and TRRS connection

Weight

0.24g

Dimensions

11.5 x 5.8 x 11.2cm

Included Accessories

Foam Windscreen, 3/8-inch to 1/4-inch thread adapter, TRS to TRS camera cable, TRS to TRRS smartphone cable, 1.5m Type-C to Type-C USB cable, 1.5m Type-C to Type-A USB cable

High Pass Filter

100Hz

Maximum SPL

130dB

Dynamic Range

110dB

Pros

• 30 hours of battery life
• Battery indicator light
• Auto-off when used with a camera
• Camera and smartphone compatible

Cons

• Windscreen is flimsy, at best
• Picks up quick bursts of air
• Better Joby products are available for just a little bit more cash

Design: Looks Good, Very Light

One drawback of recording video and audio over the years has been the equipment’s size. Luckily, much of today’s equipment is compact and lightweight. The black/red Joby Wavo Plus follows this rule, weighing only 8.5 ounces and measuring just 4.72 x 4.65 x 3.29 inches. The weight alone might cause some pause for some. However, don’t equate it being light with it being made cheaply. It uses material that seems durable. That high quality does not extend to the foam-protective windscreen, however. Those things are often flimsy, and I can’t imagine the one on the Joby Wavo Plus surviving a burst of wind.

Beyond this, the product comes with a TRS to TRS camera cable and a TRS to TRRS smartphone cable. The box also includes a 1.5m Type-C to Type-C USB cable and a 1.5m Type-C to Type-A USB cable. On the top, you’ll find a 3/8-inch to 1/4-inch thread adapter.

Though the Joby Wavo Plus is ideally suited for traditional cameras, I used my review unit primarily with my iPhone 15 Pro Max during testing. I chose this because the product is excellent for vloggers, anyone doing voiceover work, and podcasters.

What It Does

The Joby Wavo Plus does exactly what it promises: it picks up the sound you want and removes the sound you do not want, no matter the conditions. It uses a super-cardioid polar pattern focusing on audio directly in front of the microphone and a high-quality condenser microphone.

But it goes further. When paired with the product’s headphones’ 3.5mm input, you can monitor the sound being recorded in real time with relative ease. And with the 100Hz high-pass filter, you can eliminate low noises in real time to create clean, crisp audio.

With a Li-Ion battery lasting up to 30 hours between charges, you don’t have to worry about running out of juice while on location. For added convenience, the Joby Wavo Plus also includes an auto-power mode that knows when your camera is off and turns itself off. It won’t turn off automatically when attached to a computer or mobile device.

It has a power and battery level LED on the front side to let you know the battery’s current state. This color scheme identifies the remaining power in green, amber, or red. For people who are color blind, this isn’t beneficial, and for those folks, a numbering system would be better, but that’s not what we have here.

The Joby Wavo Plus includes two switches on the right side of the microphone. The first is the safe track switch, which limits the audio to -10dB on the right channel. When activated, the low-cut filter switch sits below this and is designed to remove low-end noises like cars in the background outside or inside air conditioning. You’ll find a three-position gain switch on the left side of the microphone. You can set this to 0 effect, -10dB, or +15 dB. Finally, on the backside is the power button, and below it is a large red headphone volume knob. Below it is a USB-C port and the audio output port.

Sound Quality: Subtle, But Effective

During my tests, I wanted to see how crisp and clear the sound recorded by the Joby Wavo Plus would be. I did this by comparing sounds recorded directly from my iPhone to ones using the external microphone. I did so in various outside conditions, including when it was quiet when neighbors were cutting grass, driving cars, etc. I also tested the microphone inside my home with the television on nearby.

Overall, I was impressed with the results. The Joby Wavo Plus did an admirable job of removing background noise inside and outside. One area of concern was whenever I left out an intense burst of air. These plosives were picked up, which is something podcasters will especially have to take into account. At the minimum, you’ll have to be careful not to do this while recording.

Should You Buy the Joby Wavo Plus?

There’s much to love about the Joby Wavo Plus, including its ease of use, easy setup, and near weightlessness design. If you’re an amateur videographer, vlogger, or podcaster just starting out, it’s a product worth considering. And yet, you should also be aware other Joby microphones on the market offer more features for not much more money. For example, the $250 Joby Wavo Pro DS and $300 Joby Wave Pro are sometimes on sale and might be better for your needs. Regardless, I have no problem recommending the Joby Wavo Plus for anyone new to audio recording, whether alongside video recording or by itself.

Joby Wavo Plus

The Joby Wavo Plus shotgun microphone is light and compact and offers excellent battery life. It works well with traditional cameras or smartphones and is easy to set up and use. Perfect for vloggers and amateur videographers.