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Sound Devices, My A20 Mini review. Love it or leave it?


Michael Wynne

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Great write up and it's definitely a nice piece of kit.  The battery life conundrum is sure a bummer but I think I'd rather play the battery management game and have the spectraband/gain forward.  It's a shame they don't have a four channel receiver yet as this would be killer for documentaries or run and gun bags with an 833 / SL2 combo.

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Hi Michael,

Thanks for sharing.

Great review  far more « real world » oriented than many of what can be found on the net.

I am also a A20 mini owner and share all your thoughts. I’ll add that fortunately, firmware updates allow to upgrade the possibilities. Long range modulation and Spectra Band are good examples. I was disappointed by the range at first when I bought it last year, but I am now very satisfied with the Long range option, especially in  the 1350 MHz band available here. 
Regarding the shape and weight, talents love it, but some complaints about the heat. 
 

Codyman, I also have Wisy’s and prefer these for run and gun. The A20 mini battery life is more tricky on fast pace production where talents are always on and one should roll at any time. The Bluetooth app is not always very reactive, especially in stressful situations. 

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Nice write up Michael. Curious your thoughts on how the A20 sounds as compared to “other” brands? I don’t believe you mentioned the sonic quality of the SD modulation. 

 

 I had the opportunity to demo the A20 mini with an A20rx in a superslot a few weeks back. Comparing to lectro D2 wires, to my ear, the lectro had a slightly richer sound.  On the flip side, the SD did a bit better in usable RF range being able to jump away from DTV into those higher bands. 
 

Keep the YouTube vids goin, I always take a peek and enjoy.

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1 minute ago, Jobo said:

I had the opportunity to demo the A20 mini with an A20rx in a superslot a few weeks back. Comparing to lectro D2 wires, to my ear, the lectro had a slightly richer sound.  On the flip side, the SD did a bit better in usable RF range being able to jump away from DTV into those higher bands. 

Hi jobo, thanks for the feedback and also your valuable feedback on the D2 comparison.  My first impression of the A20 mini transmitter audio converter and modulation quality was it was very good.  But first impressions are not very conclusive.  I’ll need to do some more testing with different mics before I really determine what I really think about it.  I want to get some other mics & voices into play to see how things are really translating 

 

7 minutes ago, Jobo said:

Nice write up Michael. Curious your thoughts on how the A20 sounds as compared to “other” brands? I don’t believe you mentioned the sonic quality of the SD modulation. 

 

 I had the opportunity to demo the A20 mini with an A20rx in a superslot a few weeks back. Comparing to lectro D2 wires, to my ear, the lectro had a slightly richer sound.  On the flip side, the SD did a bit better in usable RF range being able to jump away from DTV into those higher bands. 
 

Keep the YouTube vids goin, I always take a peek and enjoy.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
3 minutes ago, Michael Wynne said:

Providing you have Bluetooth range power off/on is instantaneous

 

 

Are you finding yourself turning off all the transmitters remotely when you have a lot of downtime between setups?  If so, how much more battery life does that eek out in terms of time?

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3 minutes ago, codyman said:

Are you finding yourself turning off all the transmitters remotely when you have a lot of downtime between setups?  If so, how much more battery life does that eek out in terms of time?

I haven’t used them on a narrative film set yet, so I don’t have that feedback yet.  But when the TX is off, the user should be able to extend those battery TRT’s by the exact amount of time they are off.

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  • 4 months later...

Hi Michael, 

thanks for a nice review. I´ll be frank and short. The technology of A20-mini and the new Nexus is fabulous - you´ve said it all and I agree. The reason I would never invest in this could not be simpler : the battery life and a lack of physical settings. All I try to reach is green (rechargeable) approach, great sound recording while not bothering a talent. With only 4 hours of battery life -  all these great remote features aren´t worth a penny. I use SK 6212 txs with great sound, similar RF range,  same size and simply amazing 13 hour battery life, with full user menu on tx. Yes, I´m limited to 110 db of dynamics only, but it has never put me down yet. I simply figured-out the right "one setting fits all" during hours of homework. One other reason I will never buy Nexus: since it is not a modular syste m anymore: once it goes wrong, you loose 8 to 12 channels, which, for me, would cause a disaster. And no, I don´t want to keep another 15k USD nexus unit as a backup in my van. I ĺl stick with 2 channel superslot rxs for a time being.

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since i have been using my Nexus, i have, for the most part been able to stick with one battery in the morning, and one in the afternoon.
Nexlink has proved very good at helping extend battery life by powering the transmitters between setups etc. (i appreciate that if you arent doing drama, then this isnt as great a benefit)

 

however, i feel the same as you about redundancy, and so dont think i will be moving on my A10 racks and receivers just yet.

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11 hours ago, Martin Lonek said:

Hi Michael, 

thanks for a nice review. I´ll be frank and short. The technology of A20-mini and the new Nexus is fabulous - you´ve said it all and I agree. The reason I would never invest in this could not be simpler : the battery life and a lack of physical settings. All I try to reach is green (rechargeable) approach, great sound recording while not bothering a talent. With only 4 hours of battery life -  all these great remote features aren´t worth a penny. I use SK 6212 txs with great sound, similar RF range,  same size and simply amazing 13 hour battery life, with full user menu on tx. Yes, I´m limited to 110 db of dynamics only, but it has never put me down yet. I simply figured-out the right "one setting fits all" during hours of homework. One other reason I will never buy Nexus: since it is not a modular syste m anymore: once it goes wrong, you loose 8 to 12 channels, which, for me, would cause a disaster. And no, I don´t want to keep another 15k USD nexus unit as a backup in my van. I ĺl stick with 2 channel superslot rxs for a time being.

Hi Martin, I checked out the SK 6212 and it looks like a great piece of kit!   In regards to your comment, I also am a big fan of modularity and it's a must have in my kit.  I agree it's substantial investment for an additional Nexus and I also feel like it would be necessary on a cart if it was your primary system.  But you also would gain the additional use of simultaneous bands which could be advantageous for larger channel counts.   I'm currently using A20RX's on my small cart, and plan on installing my Nexus on the big cart for my next show.  I'll also be using my Lectro digital along side for now, as I need much more than what SD has to currently offer such as plant TX's with 48v, boom plug ons, handhelds, higher power TX's etc.   I will say that I don't mind the power on the A20 mini and management on set is not as daunting as one may think.  However I'm in narrative and we do have the opportunity to change batts.  Also as Rich posted, Nexlink really takes power management to the next level and has been able to not have to change batts before lunch, etc.

Edited by Michael Wynne
Edited for punctuation and clarity.
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I own two A20 mini TX and a A20 RX alongside Wisycom systems. It's worth noting I mainly work on documentaries.

 

I have to say that the batterie life is not really an "issue". In documentary too, people have to eat and rest, so I just swap at lunch time, like I do anyway with the Wisy's too.

BUT, sometimes one have to change batteries on the field. Last time, in the speed of action,  I did swap the batteries in a hurry just before a take, without properly switching it off with the app first. . 
When powered up the A20 mini TX back, all the settings were gone. I had to set the frequency and power with the app which is not always very responsive (on an iPhone 12) while the talent, a musher with his 6 dogs and the team were waiting for me. Quite stressfull.

 

Other misadventure: on a previous shooting, I had installed the A20 mini on the neck of a salsa dancer. Great shape and weight, impossible to see it on camera with her long hair and she was vey happy to wear it..
After a couple of hours, the temperature in the venue went quite high with all these dancers. And the sound began to "fade away" and get distorted. I thought it was the transmitter overheating and installed another one.... same issue. The problem came from the receiver. It was so hot I couldn't really touch it. When I came back home I changed the way the receiver was installed in my bag to allow an air flow and the heat to dissipate. I wasn't able to reproduce the problem since and the system is working flawlessly now.

 

So, these two stories illustrate some of the challenges that we could be facing with the A20 in fast paced documentary.  On the other hand, I also had great success on a skier with the integrated recorder ( I am based  in Europe). To conclude, I'd say that these little transmitters are great tools to have, but you can not rely on it in each situation. For me, the weakest part of the system is the control only via the app. I have no doubt that the Nexus link is far more reliable and straightforward, but unfortunately, I is definitively too expensive for the kind of "bag" gigs I mainly work on. 

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1 minute ago, henrimic said:

is definitively too expensive for the kind of "bag" gigs I mainly work on. 

For us mixers who do the dance of bag and sometimes cart work, mobility is key.  Yes, it is nice that the nexus can literally latch onto an 8 series recorder, but I can't help but be worried constantly that if it broke, I'd be in a world of hurt as I couldn't afford two.  If I was a mixer on a big time television series or major motion picture, sure, get the nexus + some backups (or hell, another nexus).  But for us that work on docs etc, I just much prefer having a couple 4 channel slot receivers that can be easily moved to any device (bag or cart) and are affordable enough where I can afford to have two.

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I am a Europe based mixer and own 4 A20´s. 

It is worth to mention, that in the end of the line the receiver gives out 44.1 khz.

This huge dynamic range, that is obviously responsible for the transmitters short battery life, puffs away afterwards. 

And the battery doubler makes them in my eyes bigger than SMQV´s. (This update costs for older transmitters 250€!!! No,  they did not say: sorry it´s for free, we did never test the runtime in normal workflow. ) 

Maybe they should step back to 24bit in order to extend the battery life (hopefully only a software update?)

I intend to add A 10´s transmitters to my system. They last more than half a day with NIMH´s.

My receivers work perfect (A 10´s). Designed in England.

 

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When I wrote this review, I hadn’t actually had the opportunity to use them on a film set so the practicality of power management and RF robustness were still in question. But now I’ve been able to utilize them on a TV narrative workflow with the A20RX for about three months now along side my mixed bag of Lectro digital / digital hybrid.  We typically always cook them at 20mw, and the gain forward is a life saver since I’m very particular about transmitter gain staging and often utilities get in a hurry and don’t remember to set them where I request.  What’s interesting is I switched to all Nimh for my Lectros as well and the magic number for all talent batt changes is every 3 hours around the house.  We have ample time to change batts in between a scene or lighting set up even with big page count days.  Nobody ever complains, it’s never an issue and nobody is ever waiting  I do use low voltage alarms on my Cantar Mini hydra for my A20RX & timers for my Lectro which are helpful as well.  I have two of the battery doublers if I absolutely need it but I doubt I’d rarely deploy,  But I’d go with AAA lithium’s first if needed.   As far as RF robustness there as every bit of good as my Lectro digital.  I will say however that the A20 mini can be a bit more prone to RF body absorption, so transmitter placement is key,

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On 2/20/2023 at 12:20 PM, Michael Wynne said:

 

Hi Martin, I checked out the SK 6212 and it looks like a great piece of kit!   In regards to your comment, I also am a big fan of modularity and it's a must have in my kit.  I agree it's substantial investment for an additional Nexus and I also feel like it would be necessary on a cart if it was your primary system.  But you also would gain the additional use of simultaneous bands which could be advantageous for larger channel counts.   I'm currently using A20RX's on my small cart, and plan on installing my Nexus on the big cart for my next show.  I'll also be using my Lectro digital along side for now, as I need much more than what SD has to currently offer such as plant TX's with 48v, boom plug ons, handhelds, higher power TX's etc.   I will say that I don't mind the power on the A20 mini and management on set is not as daunting as one may think.  However I'm in narrative and we do have the opportunity to change batts.  Also as Rich posted, Nexlink really takes power management to the next level and has been able to not have to change batts before lunch, etc.

Hi Michael, thank you. I work on a Fantasy TV series where costumes are often difficult and tiny, we use a lot of belting, we rehearse a lot and then shoot a half day long (and more) scenes in the same costumes. As of today, I (luckily) never had to change frequencies during the scene - doing a quick frequency scan in the beginning did the job so far. Almost everytime I manage to somehow find a 3.2 MHz of uninterupted hole in the spectrum. (Yes, this is not New York but Prague). With equidistant frequency grid (SEDAC doesn´t create harmonics) i usually fit in this hole with all of my 8 digital channels (example: 470, 470.400, 470.800, 471.200, 471.600, 472, 472.400, 472.800 Mhz). That´s why I don´t quite understand why woud we need such a large tuneability - my txs still have only 88 MHz of range and it always worked for me. With 13 hours of battery life of SK 6212, I don´t need to think about turning off the txs at all, they cover the whole 14 hour day. When our "No.1" actress first wore it, she said she will never go with anything else 🙂 One thing I am jealous for is a greater dynamics of newer systems like A20-mini that will allow me and my crew to go even more lazy and do not care about gaining anymore. I´m sure SD will come with bigger battery life in it´s future units.   

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On 2/20/2023 at 5:00 PM, codyman said:

For us mixers who do the dance of bag and sometimes cart work, mobility is key.  Yes, it is nice that the nexus can literally latch onto an 8 series recorder, but I can't help but be worried constantly that if it broke, I'd be in a world of hurt as I couldn't afford two.  If I was a mixer on a big time television series or major motion picture, sure, get the nexus + some backups (or hell, another nexus).  But for us that work on docs etc, I just much prefer having a couple 4 channel slot receivers that can be easily moved to any device (bag or cart) and are affordable enough where I can afford to have two.

Hi codyman, that is exactly my thinking. I´m still on SL-6/688 setup - got six channels in it plus one extra 2CH receiver connected via analogue line inputs. I keep my 664 with 6ch XLR backplates standby in a van for a case my 688/SL-6 breaks - that would be only 10 minutes delay for production. 2CH slot receivers are easily movable when I go ENG/Mixpre style of work, too. What would I do with Nexus ?

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On 2/23/2023 at 11:00 PM, Kambor said:

Wide band is mandatory where I live, in a matter of 150km you switch TV areas and go from 470-580 to 580-650. If you don't travel and don't use a lot of channels 88mhz can be enough

Interesting. Luckily, in Europe, I never had to leave 470-550 or 550- 638 bandwidths yet. I have my digital txs in these two ranges. In worst case scenario I wipe off the dust out of my analogue SK 5212-II txs - they range from 470-633 MHz and are compatible with my 2CH receivers, which are hybrid/ can do analogue and digital txs, too. The only disadvantage of them is that they get easily ruined by Cinetape camera measuring since they don´t have a low pass filter.

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On 2/20/2023 at 4:54 PM, henrimic said:

1:

BUT, sometimes one have to change batteries on the field. Last time, in the speed of action,  I did swap the batteries in a hurry just before a take, without properly switching it off with the app first. . 
When powered up the A20 mini TX back, all the settings were gone. I had to set the frequency and power with the app which is not always very responsive (on an iPhone 12) while the talent, a musher with his 6 dogs and the team were waiting for me. Quite stressfull.

2:

Other misadventure: on a previous shooting, I had installed the A20 mini on the neck of a salsa dancer. Great shape and weight, impossible to see it on camera with her long hair and she was vey happy to wear it..
After a couple of hours, the temperature in the venue went quite high with all these dancers. And the sound began to "fade away" and get distorted. I thought it was the transmitter overheating and installed another one.... same issue. The problem came from the receiver. It was so hot I couldn't really touch it. When I came back home I changed the way the receiver was installed in my bag to allow an air flow and the heat to dissipate. I wasn't able to reproduce the problem since and the system is working flawlessly now.

 

 

Hi henrimic, that seems to be a real pain if the tx changes settings when changing battery (quote 1). Please, is this happening all the time with A20-mini or was it just a one-time-unique situation ? If a a battery on tx goes completely flat or if I forget to turn it off when changing batteries in a hurry, it is crucial if it always keeps the settings. and turns itself back on automatically, too, after battery replacement. (SK 5212, SK 6000, SK 6212 do this).

(Quote 2:) Was it Nexus or A10-RX on receiving site, please ? I have experienced same overheating with ADX5D receivers in SL2/Scorpio setup. It went so hot being in a bag on interior cca 82F temperature shoot I could not keep my hand on it (must have ben more than 130F). I had to take it completely off the bag and wait, beacuse it also overheated Scorpio. This never happened to me with lectrosonics SRC series, Sennheiser EK 6042 or Audio A10-RX. Otherwise sound quality of Shure Axient was great, gain staging worked and AD1XM txs were good enough with 5 hours of accu battery life and size. I also loved their phantom boom tx (AD3). I never had to use any wireless features of ti, though. Shure Axient is definitely the one to consider, too - after they figure-out the overheating issue.

 

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On 2/20/2023 at 12:20 PM, Michael Wynne said:

 

Hi Martin, I checked out the SK 6212 and it looks like a great piece of kit! 

Hi Michael, yes, I love it. But you have to consider that SK 6212/SK 6000 have absolutely no remote settings possibility, which as I can hear, US mixers use a lot. It only diaplays a very accurate time left on TX batteries and that´s it. At the same time Sound devices hasn´t been very friendly to EK 6042 dual receiver when constructing A10-rack (see picture). DYI work must be applied. The range of SK 6212/EK 6042 was just a tiny worse compared to A10-TX/RX in my tests when used with internal antennas but the difference almost dissappeared when using Sharkies. Cheers.

EK 6042 vs A10 RACK.JPG

6212_small.jpg

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