The DJI Mic 3 takes what I already liked about the DJI Mic 2 and shrinks it down – but this isn’t just an aesthetic change for the sake of it.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Hugely improved audio quality | No inputs for Lavalier mics or direct USB-C input |
| Massive jump in effective range | Highest range is only achievable if you skip lossless audio |
| Smaller size is lapel-friendly and customisable | Expensive if you only need a basic microphone |
Score: 4/5
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In this review
DJI Mic 3 Design
DJI Mic 3 Performance
DJI Mic 3 Battery
DJI Mic 3 Verdict
Ethical disclaimer: Ooh, boy, this one is a minefield.
I wrote a week or so ago about the problems with online reviews , specifically calling out DJI for some deeply unethical practices around review devices. I very much expected that writing that and shining an additional spotlight on it would see me blacklisted by DJI, because that’s a super-common play when a brand feels you’re not playing by its rules… no matter what those rules are.
Why yes, I have been blacklisted by brands before for the terrible crime of… reviewing products fairly and equitably. Some of the biggest brands out there have very thin skin unless you’re utterly fawning over them is all I’ll say to stay on the significantly-less-expensive side of Australian defamation law…
To my surprise, that didn’t happen. DJI locally reached out to me to offer the DJI Mic 3 for review, and at the same time other companies claiming to represent DJI internationally reached out to me… with the same kinds of shitty offers that my original post highlighted and that I find to be abhorrent non-journalism.
Yes, I know there are folks in the local tech media scene with a different view, and they can take that comment however they damned well like.
In the meantime, I had to weigh up whether to review the DJI Mic 3 or not.
I decided to do so, because this is a product in the market that people have an interest in, I was already working with a DJI Mic 2 (purchased with my own money) and could therefore compare and contrast, but I made it very clear indeed to DJI that I would under no circumstances sign any NDA or offer them any editorial input or oversight over anything. Period.
That’s as it should be, and to DJI’s credit (locally) that’s what they agreed to. The DJI Mic 3 being used here is not being asked for back, but as always that makes no difference to my eventual review.
Equally, it does appear that DJI is still trying to reach out to reviewers to sign them up for paid “reviews” that are anything but.
This is not one of those kinds of reviews, to be clear and DJI deserves every single bit of criticism that can be levelled at a manufacturer for this kind of approach. Stop it, DJI.
Like I said, a minefield.
For more on ART’s Ethics position, see here.
Design
The big thing about the DJI Mic 3’s microphones are… that they’re not particularly big.
DJI already has a product in the “quite small microphone” category, the inventively named DJI Mic Mini, and it’s not hard to see a little shared DNA between those, but my larger point of comparison has to be the DJI Mic 2 that I’ve been using for some time now.
Here I am at PAX Aus 2025 using the DJI Mic Mini 2 to record a quick interview.
The individual DJI Mic 3 microphones are about half the size of their DJI Mic 2 counterparts, measuring in at just 28.77×28.34×16.35mm and weighing just 16g each.
Comparatively the older DJI Mic 2 models take up 46.06×30.96×21.83mm and weigh 28g each, which shows that DJI’s done a fascinating engineering job of miniaturisation here.
When tech products get smaller or thinner, it’s often just done primarily for aesthetic effect – like, for example, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge – and I kind of expected that might be the same play here.
I was wrong. Yes, the smaller DJI Mic 3 microphones are somewhat cuter as a result of their shrinky-dink nature, but beyond that lies some genuine practical benefits.
Being smaller and lighter means that they sag on clothes a lot less, which has a superb practical effect on audio quality as there’s significantly less likelihood of the microphone edge turning in towards your shirt, something I’ve had happen more than once when using the DJI Mic 2.
The smaller size of the DJI Mic 3 transmitters also makes them far easier to place both unobtrusively and in ways that might work better for different situations, and that’s aided by the fact that the rear clip is removable and can be twisted through 90 degrees with magnetic attachment.
While the transmitters still have a DJI logo on them, it’s with a more matte finish, which means less reflection on camera, and slightly less of a feeling like you’re doing your recording while also being a walking billboard for a drone company.If that really fussed you, I suspect duct tape would be your best solution.
The shift to a smaller transmitter isn’t all good news, however. In order to shrink the size of the DJI Mic 3, the 3.5mm input for a lavalier microphone that you’d find on the DJI Mic 2 is absent, as is an on-board USB-C socket, which means you can’t as easily charge the transmitters outside the case or transfer audio from them. If you wanted significantly more discrete microphones in shot, then the lav-mic-friendly DJI Mic 2 would still be a better bet in that regard.
DJI hasn’t done quite as much work in shrinking down the receiver or battery case for the DJI Mic 3, though both are slightly smaller than its DJI Mic 2 equivalents.
On the receiver end, you’re faced with small LCD screen with rotating and clickable gain dial just like the DJI Mic 2 model, with the fundamental new change being a release catch button for the USB-C converter for connecting to smartphones or other audio sources. On the older DJI 2 you just had to pull that out and hope you weren’t squashing the pogo pins.
Speaking of USB-C, the other big difference here – and it is somewhat a sign of the times, I suppose – is that the DJI Mic 2 comes with converters for USB-C and Apple Lightning connectors, but the DJI Mic 3 only comes with a single USB-C connector plug as standard. It’s a slightly different fit than the DJI Mic 2 as well, so you can’t just plug, play and swap them around interchangeably.
The DJI Mic 3 case also has space at the top for windscreen protectors to squish in, as well as magnetic plates for the magnetic clips you also get, so you don’t have to have those rattling around lose, which is a nice touch.
The one part of the DJI Mic 3’s design that I do feel is a bit of a downgrade is the exterior carrying case.
Functional, but a downgrade.
The DJI Mic 2 comes with a rectangular carrying case with compartments for different cables and adaptors and anything else you might want to bring along with you, while the DJI Mic 3 gets a much simpler zip top pouch.
The pouch functions, and it does have a smaller DJI logo on it if that kind of branding play matters to you, but the older case is better for organisational purposes without a doubt.
The DJI Mic 2 case (left) is better organised than the DJI Mic 3 case (right)
There’s absolutely no issue if you’ve got the older DJI Mic 2 with using the old soft exterior case with the new DJI Mic 3 pack, however if that’s what you want to do.
Performance
The audio I was able to get out of the DJI Mic 2 was always decent (within my own limited skillset; I’m sure that I could probably get even better with tweaking), but the DJI Mic 3 really has improved matters considerably in the audio department.
While the set provided to me comes with two transmitters, it’s possible to pair up to four of them to a single reciever or for a single transmitter to pair to up to eight recievers simultaneously, giving a lot of scope for multi-camera work. With only two transmitters to test I’ve not checked that out, but there’s certainly some scope there for creative work.
The DJI Mic 3 supports recording audio with either a 24-bit (default) or 32-bit float depending on your audio needs with an inbuilt option for audio equalisation to accentuate low or high tones in voice – described as Rich or Bright respectively – also open to you. New to the DJI Mic 3 is also an automatic adaptive gain control setting to reduce potential clipping; this does work fairly well, but you can also just manually set gain if you’re more the tweaking type.
Adding a windscreen (AKA “Dead Cat”) to the DJI Mic 3 can help with wind — and also qualifying for a job protecting the Crown Jewels.
DJI’s claim for the range on the DJI Mic 3 is quite impressive, though it also feels kind of impractical. As long as you don’t have lossless audio recording enabled, the claim is that the DJI Mic 3 can handle audio connections from as far away as 400 metres from the receiver.
I didn’t quite have the ability to test out the precise range I could get with the DJI Mic 3 while testing it – and honestly, the further I got away from it, the more I got concerned that somebody might pinch it as I was recording solo while testing – but it’s certainly capable of some pretty extensive range at the point where I started to lose sight of it and worry about it still being there when I got back. Unless you were, I don’t know, maybe shooting from a helicopter, I’m left puzzled as to who’s going to use these at 400m range — leave your suggestions below.
While the DJI Mic 2 did feature active noise cancelling features, these were binary on/off settings where the DJI Mic 3 offers up two levels of ANC at either a basic or strong level.
The strong level can be quite effective; I could get it to reduce the ambient sounds of nearby vehicles and wind while out doing some test recording, but you can always disable it entirely if you don’t like what it does to the overall sound profile.
By default, the DJI Mic 3 will want you to install the DJI Mimo app onto any smartphone or tablet you connect it to; this is DJI’s all-in-one app for its various cameras, drones, gimbals and microphones.
At a bare minimum you’ll need it to update the firmware, which is a two-step process of copying the files across to the receiver while connected to a phone or tablet, and then letting the receiver fling those files and updates to each receiver while the charging case is open. The set sent my way did require a firmware update out of the box, and while it’s not a hard process, it does take some time and shouldn’t be interrupted while in progress.
DJI Mimo might be a fine app for the purposes of running your drone, but for the DJI Mic 3 set it’s somewhat cluttered overkill and not quite where I’d head ideally for actual recording purposes.
I was genuinely pleased with the DJI Mic 3’s audio capture capture even with minimal tweaking, pointing to their general potential utility for those who don’t want a lot of audio settings to mess around with.
As an example (and to provide some context), I recorded the video below using the DJI Mic Mini 3 while not doing any audio balancing or tweaking beyond what the microphones recorded.
I can’t control what YouTube does to the audio once it’s uploaded there, but compared to what I could get from the DJI Mic 2, I was pretty impressed.
All the audio here is straight from the DJI Mic 3, no tweaking involved.
Battery
Getting smaller often involves dropping battery life, because the practical reality of a smaller frame means that you can’t pack in quite the same amount of power into receivers and especially transmitters.
On paper, that’s quite true; the larger DJI Mic 2 transmitters have (as per DJI’s specs) 360mAh batteries while the smaller DJI Mic 3 receivers have just 137mAh batteries. Given the claimed battery life of 6 hours for the DJI Mic 2 system, you might expect in a linear fashion for the DJI Mic 3 receivers to barely scrape over 2 hours of usage.
That’s not what DJI has done, however, with a claimed battery life of up to 8 hours, though it is worth noting that (rather predictably) that’s in a “minimising features” capacity. DJI states that the 8 hour figure was:
“Measured using DJI Mic 3 (2 TX + 1 RX + Charging Case), with features such as noise cancellation and internal recording off, during close-range audio recording under interference-free conditions, with both transmitters connected to the receiver and the receiver connected to a camera via the 3.5mm audio cable.”
Source: DJI
In real world use, I do want to use some of those features and interference is inevitable, but still I can get a decent whack of battery life for my uses.
If you wanted to record many, many hours of audio all on the fly then the DJI Mic 3 might not be for you, though if you are able to take short breaks it does recharge the receivers quite quickly.
The case itself should be good for up to 2.4 charges, giving you a theoretical total recording time of up to 28 hours.
One oddity here is that the simpler Mic Mini still wears the crown of having the best audio recording time of any current DJI microphone at up to a claimed 11.5 hours per charge. It’s kind of odd that the slightly less premium microphone has better battery life, but that is what it is.
DJI Mic 3: Alex’s Verdict
The DJI Mic 3 is a very nice and more than just slightly incremental improvement to the DJI Mic 2, although it’s far from perfect.
For those who don’t want (or can’t have) brands in their shots, the prominent DJI logo might be smaller, but it’s still present. For those thinking they’d get past that with a lavalier microphone… you can’t.
If those issues aren’t a problem for you, however, this is a nicely engineered microphone system that should work very well for both indoor and outdoor use.
It’s not the lowest cost microphone option out there however – and the DJI Mic 2 is still pretty good and can be found a little cheaper right now for the most obvious of reasons – so it’s worth shopping around and considering your options.
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DJI Mic 3: Pricing and availability
The DJI Mic 3 retails in Australia for $569 with two receivers and one transmitter.
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