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4 ch WL - audio limited a10 vs Wisycom MCR54


Bems

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I am having a hard time deciding between buying 4 channels of  wisycom (mcr54) and and 4 channels of audio limited (2 A10-RX )

 

It boils down to how much better is the sound quility on audio limited vs wisycom. Has anyone used them side by side for a while? Has anyone done a AB test? Are the wisycom users all happy with the soundquality?  ( I am not in a position to test them both myself ) 

 

 I also understand the range is better on wisycom. I understand the latest firmwares on audio ltd has helped but is anyone regretting buying the a10s because of limited range? 

 

Are there rumours of wisycom coming out with a new transmitter? audio limited with a smaller transmitters? 

 

Is betso bowtie a good solution for bag antenna for both systems? And if so what is the solution to split the antenna signal if I go the audio limited route ? 

 

 

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Hello Bems,

 

I’m a longtime Audio Ltd. user, so you should take my opinions with a grain of salt. However, I’ve just run a side by side test with the Wisycom system to see how they perform together, so I thought I’d pass along my impressions, biased though they may be.

To address your first question, I found the A-10’s to sound better than the Wisycom’s, but that may be because I’m so used to hearing the clarity of a digital signal. We performed tests on male and female voices, as well as the dreaded “key test”, first with a DPA 4060, and then with a Sanken COS-11. To my ears, the A-10’s were considerably better sounding across the board. The Wisycom’s to me compare very favorably to the Lectrosonics range. But again, only an opinion. Your tastes may vary.

 

Regarding range (distance of signal), the Wisycom’s performed very well. I use them as my IFB system, and I’m continually impressed with both their sound and range. But both the A-10’s and the  Wisys went about the same distance, only the Wisycom’s signal began to degrade and fritz at their limit, while the A-10’s simply stopped sending signal. I’d say in general the Wisycom’s consistently went about 20/25 feet further (which may be the extra distance you needed). So there’s that. I might also point out that all tests were done with my standard antenna setup, which is two SNA-600 dipoles. I do know that Wisycom makes some fantastic antennas that I’ve heard great things about.

All in all, since Audio Ltd’s most recent update, the range has more than satisfied me.

 

Regarding new transmitters, I don’t know about Wisy’s future plans, but I know that Audio Ltd is planning on a small TX, hopefully soon. It’s supposedly based on the size and style of the old 2040 Mini.

 

At any rate, I thought that the Wisycom system was very well built, easy to use and certainly acceptable in every way.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Moe

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Thanks, Moe, for the detailed  and  personal report. I appreciate that you preface everything with the statements about subjectivity, familiarity ands personal feelings  ---  after all,  as you know I have said many times that our EARS are our most important test instrument. What you have stated here confers very much with what I heard from others  ---  Wysicom stuff, analog, is very good, possibly better in many respects to it's closest competitor, but the Audio, Ltd. (as  well as the Zaxcom Digital wireless) has so many advantages over any analog or so-called hybrid systems out there. My preference, which is  well known, is for the Zaxcom Digital wireless  ---  Zaxcom has had at least a 10 year advantage over the others, developing several modulations that provide for better signal integrity over most all of the others  (and of course the feature set, functions, remote control and recording capability have been very useful).

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Just try and decide... i prefer the sound of the A10 a lot, right now i am working in Sahara on a documentary, ugly condirions, a lot of fine sand and dust and wind, the a10 performs without problems, range here at the middle of the desert is very good,  as a european user i realy like the record function, for run and gun situations its good to have a backup recording at the transmitters...

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On 2/22/2021 at 9:49 PM, Moesound said:

Hello Bems,

 

I’m a longtime Audio Ltd. user, so you should take my opinions with a grain of salt. However, I’ve just run a side by side test with the Wisycom system to see how they perform together, so I thought I’d pass along my impressions, biased though they may be.

To address your first question, I found the A-10’s to sound better than the Wisycom’s, but that may be because I’m so used to hearing the clarity of a digital signal. We performed tests on male and female voices, as well as the dreaded “key test”, first with a DPA 4060, and then with a Sanken COS-11. To my ears, the A-10’s were considerably better sounding across the board. The Wisycom’s to me compare very favorably to the Lectrosonics range. But again, only an opinion. Your tastes may vary.

 

Regarding range (distance of signal), the Wisycom’s performed very well. I use them as my IFB system, and I’m continually impressed with both their sound and range. But both the A-10’s and the  Wisys went about the same distance, only the Wisycom’s signal began to degrade and fritz at their limit, while the A-10’s simply stopped sending signal. I’d say in general the Wisycom’s consistently went about 20/25 feet further (which may be the extra distance you needed). So there’s that. I might also point out that all tests were done with my standard antenna setup, which is two SNA-600 dipoles. I do know that Wisycom makes some fantastic antennas that I’ve heard great things about.

All in all, since Audio Ltd’s most recent update, the range has more than satisfied me.

 

Regarding new transmitters, I don’t know about Wisy’s future plans, but I know that Audio Ltd is planning on a small TX, hopefully soon. It’s supposedly based on the size and style of the old 2040 Mini.

 

At any rate, I thought that the Wisycom system was very well built, easy to use and certainly acceptable in every way.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Moe

Thank you  Moe for your detailed response. This is very helpful and points me in the audio limited direction. Do you Have any info regarding the new transmitter you are mentioning ? I do like the idea of a «Tiny a10». Do you think we are talking weeks, months or years? :) 

 

On 2/23/2021 at 12:09 AM, Jeff Wexler said:

Thanks, Moe, for the detailed  and  personal report. I appreciate that you preface everything with the statements about subjectivity, familiarity ands personal feelings  ---  after all,  as you know I have said many times that our EARS are our most important test instrument. What you have stated here confers very much with what I heard from others  ---  Wysicom stuff, analog, is very good, possibly better in many respects to it's closest competitor, but the Audio, Ltd. (as  well as the Zaxcom Digital wireless) has so many advantages over any analog or so-called hybrid systems out there. My preference, which is  well known, is for the Zaxcom Digital wireless  ---  Zaxcom has had at least a 10 year advantage over the others, developing several modulations that provide for better signal integrity over most all of the others  (and of course the feature set, functions, remote control and recording capability have been very useful).

Thank you Jeff. I will have a second look at zaxcom. 

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On 2/23/2021 at 12:34 AM, haifai said:

Just try and decide... i prefer the sound of the A10 a lot, right now i am working in Sahara on a documentary, ugly condirions, a lot of fine sand and dust and wind, the a10 performs without problems, range here at the middle of the desert is very good,  as a european user i realy like the record function, for run and gun situations its good to have a backup recording at the transmitters...

Are you happy with the  range  when you are not in the midle of the Sahara ? :) 

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I like the idea of the A10, but maybe not the execution.

 

If you have FB I would suggest that you have a look at the user group forum.

 

Bluetooth range seems to be almoust non existent, the SD recording seems to fail often enough to be worried about and in order to have TC, you need to physically jam it.

 

But the audio seems to be really good, so depends on your expectations I guess. Personally I would go either Wisy for a strong analouge system that you can combine with other brands TX or Zax for all the extras.

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Hello,
I'm a Wisycom user and I always get a bit jealous when I hear that the sound of digital systems is supposed to be nicer. But Wisycom also has some practical advantages that I don't think have been mentioned yet:

 

The MCR54 is supposed to have even better filters. Do you know the walk test of Rycom?

 

The TX also have very long battery life. For my documentary shoots, the 20mW setting on the MTP40S (non NB) is often enough for me and with that I get up to 12-14h with eneloop pro.

Also the bandwidth of 470-663MHz I have not seen with any other TX, which brings a lot of flexibility for worldwide travel.

 

And the most important: the sound is good, but also strongly dependent on what settings you use. E.g. I like the ENC compander setting best and the non-NB also sounds better to my ears.

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Hello docsound,

 

Thank you for posting that video from Rycom. That’s an impressive range test, to say the least. Even in optimal situations, those distances stand out.

 

As I posted earlier, I use Wisycom for my IFB system, and their range continues to blow my mind.

 

My post was never meant to disparage the Wisycom brand, or any other, but merely to express my opinion when compared to my digital A-10’s. And as someone noted in a later post, there seem to be many who are dissatisfied with the performance of their Audio Ltd experience. They work for me. Wisycom seems to work for you. Jeff (and many others) swear by Zaxcom. And the vast majority of sound departments  the world over love Lectrosonics!

 

I say, how lucky we are to have so many bitchen choices that a mere 25 years ago would have seemed like magic to our ears. Anyone remember Vegas?

 

In short, we’ve got it good, my friends.

 

Moe

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Defenitely!

 

I am fortunate enough to just have heard of the dreadful Vega system.

 

Even low end stuff for the starting filmmaker seems to be better than that. 

 

What I will say tho, I spoke with a returning veteran last summer and to him it was kind of unusual to try to pinpoint RF channels with RF explorer and freq finder. He didnt have to account so much for RF back in the day, it would "just work" 10-15 years ago.

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On 2/21/2021 at 9:28 AM, Bems said:

It boils down to how much better is the sound quility on audio limited vs wisycom. Has anyone used them side by side for a while? Has anyone done a AB test? Are the wisycom users all happy with the soundquality?  ( I am not in a position to test them both myself ) 

 

I've worked a lot with Wisycom-systems and they sound really good, but I haven't tried the digital Audio Limited system yet.

 

But, regarding sound quality, I'd like to continue on what Moe and Jeff points out. To me, an analogue radio system just can't compete with a good digital system. It has to do with the companding of the analogue signal, the radio transmission etcetera.

 

I use digital Sony DWX-systems and the sound quality is fantastic. Tempted to say: "like a straight wire" but it's actually better because there is no analogue cable from the receivers to the mixer.

 

So if you're really looking for the best sound quality, then my suggestion is to try a digital radio system, like Audio Limited.

 

Regarding range, Wisycom will beat the digital systems, mostly because an analogue system continues to work at long range, but with lower sound quality.

 

I have worked a lot with the two-channel Wisycom receivers and they are great in a small bag along with a 663 or MixPre-6 II - basically a shoulder bag with the possibility to record four lavs and a boom, that will get you a long way.

 

So, if you're going for the best sound quality, my suggestion is to try a digital system, and if you're going for the most range, you should consider an analogue system.

 

 

Hope this helps

Fred

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