Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 review: Content creators rejoice
Rode consistently makes some of the best microphones, and the new Wireless Go Gen 3 is no different. A worthy upgrade from the Go Gen 2, the Gen 3 has better wireless range, 32-bit float recording (up from the 2’s 24-bit), a massive 32GB of on-board storage in each transmitter, headphone monitoring, GainAssist, and so much more.
Yes, it’s true: the Go Gen 3 definitely deserves its place as one of the most iconic wireless mics. While there are still a few little annoyances (for example, opening the Rode Central app stops recordings midway and the high-pass filter isn’t super adept at noise cancellation), the Wireless Go Gen 3 is a fantastic set of compact mics.
So is it worth the $329 price? It depends who you are — if you’re a content creator looking for the best of the best without dropping $$$, then it’s certainly for you. Keep reading to find out the full story in this Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review.
Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review: Cheat Sheet
- What is it? A super compact clip-on wireless mic for cameras, smartphones, and tablets
- Who is it for? Content creators
- What does it cost? $329 / £279
- What do we like? The sound quality, of course
- What don’t we like? Ambient noise reduction is a little disappointing, especially as this is a content creator-focused mic
Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review: Specs
Price | |
Connectivity | USB-C, TRS, lightning |
On-board storage | 32GB (40 hours) |
Range | 850 feet / 260 meters |
Max SPL | 123.5 |
Audio resolution | 196kHz, 32-bit |
Frequency response | 20 Hz – 20 kHz |
Microphone type | Condenser |
Battery life | 7 hours |
Polar pattern | Omnidirectional |
Weight | 1.2 ounces (RX and TX), 3.6 ounces altogether |
Dimensions | 1.8 x 1.7 x 0.8 inches |
Colors | Various: I tested black |
Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review: Price & availability
The Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 costs a pretty hefty $329 from Amazon U.S., making it $20 pricier than its predecessor the Wireless Go Gen 2. Surprisingly, the Gen 3 comes in a huge range of colors: I tested black, but it also comes in white, red, purple, blue, and more. I’ve never seen a mic with this much range before, so it’s a welcome departure from mundanity.
On Amazon U.K., the Wireless Go Gen 3 has an RRP of £279, but has been around £230 since April. Right now, I’m unsure why there’s such a price difference between the U.S. and U.K. However, I think $329 is still a pretty decent price for a microphone of this quality.
If you want the most basic Rode wireless mic, I’d suggest the $149 Wireless Micro. It’s basically just the Wireless Go Gen 3 but with a much more beginner-friendly usage and slightly reduced quality audio. Even so, for amateurs or beginners, there’s nothing better. Conversely, if you need a fully professional mic, then check out the Rode Wireless Pro ($399).
Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review: Design & controls
- Bright LED RX screen
- TX record button
- Ø button for muting
The Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 looks pretty much like every other wireless RX and TX set, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the design. The transmitters and receiver are the same size: just 1.7 x 1.8 inches. The microphones also come with a soft pouch for easy transportation, which is also roomy enough to fit the USB-C, lightning, TRS cables, and dead cats.
On the receiver, the controls are as follows: Volume (mic gain) buttons, channel buttons, and the Ø button for connection. The transmitters have one button for pairing or recording, and an Ø button for muting and marking (which I struggled to get working — more on that in the ‘Features’ section below). Both transmitters and the receiver also have a clip, which I found incredibly useful for on-the-fly recording. There’s also a 3.5mm output on the RX for live monitoring and 3.5mm inputs on each TX for additional lav mics.
I quite like the RX’s bright LED screen. It’s a little brighter than the Shure MoveMic 88+’s screen (which I still liked), but a decent amount smaller. In future versions (I know the Gen 3 has literally just been released), I’d like to see this screen even bigger, and maybe even controllable via touch for even easier usability.
There’s also a dead cat for wind resistance. I found this really efficient for pop reduction when carrying out my plosive testing, so I’d recommend using it to mitigate pops with interviewees who perhaps don’t have the best microphone etiquette. Unlike the Sennheiser Profile Wireless, the dead cat didn’t distort audio clarity.
Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review: Features & connectivity
- 32-bit float recording
- Lightning, TRS, and USB-C
- 850-foot range
First off, one of the most impressive features is the 850-foot wireless range. This makes it a touch longer than the Sennheiser Profile Wireless’ ($299) 800 feet. The Rode Wireless Go Gen 2 ($299) has a max range of around 650 feet, so this is a major improvement on the previous iteration.
Another major improvement is the massive 32GB onboard storage — 40 hours of 32-bit recording. On the Gen 2, this is 40 hours of 24-bit float recording, which means the Gen 3 has higher memory. You can still export at 32-bit on the Gen 2, though.
While the Gen 3 has improved range and memory over the Gen 2, it also carries over one of the Gen 2’s most helpful features: Safety Channel mode. This mode automatically records a second track at -10dB, so if your first recording is too loud or distorted, you’ve got a backup. Enabling this feature is easy: simply activate it in the Rode Central app.
Even when I was trying to shout loudly into the mic and distort it, my recordings were reasonably salvageable thanks to GainAssist. I definitely would place my trust in this mic, even when recording in noisy environments.
Due to the 32-bit float recording, even tracks from loud environments are easy to edit in post. I tested this with both whispered speech and shouted speech. I was able to amplify my whispered recordings without losing any quality.
Incredibly, the recording still sounded clear and crisp. In fact, all the recordings you’ll hear in the ‘Audio quality’ section were amplified in Audacity. Then, I held the mic way too close (think complete microphone newbie) and talked loudly into it. I was, again, able to save this in Audacity.
One of the most interesting features is the customizable ‘Ø’ button. This button can be configured to mute the mic, or place a ‘marker’ in the on-board recording. Markers can be used for noting in long audio files where you need to trim, edit, or cut, amongst other reasons. It basically makes your life easier in post.
I was expecting this marker to place a beep sound in the recording, but nothing happened. I’ve reached out to Rode for assistance, but have yet to receive a response. I’ll come back to update this review once I hear back.
Another fantastic feature is the Camera Preset. This is an automatic, premade setting that links up with a number of cameras. You can load these presets into your RX (via Rode Central desktop only) and then enable when the mics are set up with your camera. Unfortunately, this is limited to new and popular cameras: my Canon Rebel T3i is too old now.
Finally, battery life. The Go Gen 3 has 7 hours charge in each TX, and you can buy a charging case (to up the overall charge to 21 hours) for $89 from Amazon U.S.. This is a pretty good battery life, but other wireless mics come with a charging case, like the Sennheiser Profile Wireless.
Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review: App
- Rode Central
- Load camera presets
- Control gain
As with the Rode Wireless Micro, the Wireless Go Gen 3 works with the Rode Central app. This app is very straightforward and easy to use: I had no problems navigating it during testing.
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As you can see from the three screenshots above, the camera preset settings has a huge range of cameras, from Canon, to GoPro, to Panasonic and more. You can also customize channel gain and split or merge the TXs, and configure settings like the Ø buttons.
Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review: Audio quality
- Classic Rode quality
- Still not massively adept on-board noise reduction
- Reliable and faithful sound capture
As you can record in ‘Split’ or ‘Merged’, be aware that you will need to re-merge the mics if you turn one off. The first time I used the Go Gen 3, I didn’t realise this and was left with a stereo recording only on one channel. I had to fix it in post, which was easy, but a little annoying.
Thankfully, due to the 32-bit float recording quality, my recordings were never distorted even with a lot of fiddling in Audacity. The tracks were crisp, clear, and faithful to my voice, even when I had an ambient noise track playing in the background. Here you can listen to all my standardized audio testing clips.
Standardized audio testing
As with all mics I test, I recorded clips of tongue twisters (to analyze plosive and fricative performance), ambient noise clips to test the high-pass filter, alongside generic spoken tests.
Plosives
Here you can listen to the Rode Wireless Go Gen 3’s ability to record plosive (B, P, D sounds) sounds without popping. To get the best result, I used the dead cat here.
As you can tell from the audio clip above, the Go Gen 3’s quality was pretty excellent. There were no loud pops thanks to the dead cat. A word of warning, though: I would recommend using said dead cat, as when I repeated this test sans-muff the recording was quite poppy.
Fricatives/sibilance
Fricatives are soft, airy sounds like F and Z, and sibilance refers to S sounds (like a snake). I recorded myself saying a couple of S-heavy tongue twisters.
As you can hear above, the sibilance performance was really impressive. There’s no unsavory hissing whatsoever, and I was really trying to do my best imitation of an angry snake here. I would have no reservations about interviewing even the most serpentine of guests with this mic.
Ambient noise performance
As with the Wireless Micro, the Wireless Go Gen 3 doesn’t really have an ‘ambient noise reducer’ like some of the best Shure microphones. It’s got a high-pass filter, which basically blocks noises below a certain threshold (75Hz or 100Hz). For these clips, I used the 75Hz.
This is with the high-pass filter enabled.
You can still hear quite a decent amount of background noise. Sure, my voice is still audible, but this might require a few hours in post-production if you want it completely silent.
This is the same clip without the high-pass filter.
See, there’s not much difference between the two clips. It’s definitely because the Wireless Go Gen 3 doesn’t have an ambient noise reducing technology like Shure’s proprietary ‘Denoiser’ (which is excellent). It’s just a high-pass filter, so better to use for wind and quiet interference.
In the future, I’d like to see Rode release an AI traffic/speech reducer, so post-production would be easier if recording in very loud environments. Still, it’s not awful… just not mind-blowing.
Rode Wireless Go Gen 3 microphone review: Verdict
The Wireless Go Gen 3 is a worthy upgrade from Gen 2. You get higher quality recordings, more onboard storage, a range of new features like GainAssist, a charging case, and live headphone monitoring.
On top of these extra features, the mic’s recording quality is fantastic — of course it is, it’s Rode. You’d expect it to be brilliant. My only qualm is that the high-pass filter isn’t hugely adept at minimizing ambient noise. For a mic that’s so often used as a street interviewing mic, I’d expect it to have much more advanced ambient noise reduction in future.
However, if you’re a content creator looking to upgrade your professionalism, of course it has to be the Rode Wireless Go Gen 3. There’s a reason this mic is everywhere in TikTok videos.
