Three Audio Adapters for DSLR and Mirrorless Cameras: JuicedLink, beachtek and Saramonic

If you shoot with DSLR or mirrorless cameras and you want to connect multiple lavalier or XLR microphones, an audio adapter may be a good option for you. But can you really produce high quality audio with one of these adapters? Let’s have a listen to three adapters and see: The JuicedLink Riggy Assist 222, the beachtek DXA-Micro Pro, and the Saramonic SR-PAX2.

The audio for this episode was recorded entirely with these adapters (noted for each clip) along with a decent to good quality condenser microphone (RODE NTG2 and Audio Technica AT4053b).

So that you can evaluate the sound quality from each of these adapters, we did not do any processing of the audio clips aside from loudness normalizing each clip to -23 LUFS, the European broadcast standard for TV loudness. No EQ, no compression, no de-noising, etc.

Full disclosure: For this comparison, B&H lent me the JuicedLink RA222, beachtek gave me the beachtek DXA-Micro Pro, and Saramonic gave me the Saramonic SR-PAX2.

Gear mentioned in or used to record this episode:

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Juiced Link Riggy Assist 222 (2 XLR inputs)

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beachtek DXA-Micro Pro (1 XLR input, 3 3.5mm inputs)

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Saramonic SR-PAX 2 (2 XLR inputs, 3 3.5mm inputs)

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Also shot with Aputure Light Storm LS1s LED Light, Nikon D750, Audio Technica AT4053b Microphone, Sound Devices 633 Mixer/Recorder, Rycote Cyclone Windshield

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Aputure Light Storm LS1s LED Light

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Nikon D750

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Audio Technica AT4053b Hyper-cardioid Microphone

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Sound Devices 633 Mixer/Recorder

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Rycote Cyclone Shockmount

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Copyright 2016 by Curtis Judd

[curtisjudd]

Sadly, it appears that JuicedLink is no longer in business as of late 2017.

[Jonnysmithwillis]

Just bought the Saramonic after watching a number of your videos. Thank you! I think you might be the nicest guy on Youtube...

[flipout]

Thanks Curtis. I bought the Beechtek in part because of your earlier in depth review. I use it primarily with a Rode VideoMicro into my GH4. Great combo. Sound quality is excellent. Glad I subscribed to your channel.

[AANasseh]

Curtis, I originally bought the Beachtek but found the gain to be inadequate for a NTG2 to 5DMKiii set up. I returned it and got the JuicedLink that was more than adequate in gain for that set up (my tests showed the JuicedLink had literally twice as much clean gain as Beachteck.) The noise floor with the JuicedLink was also much better than the Beachtek. The only problem I have with the JuciedLink is a lack of external power. Would have been hands down the best performance if it only had an external power option. Also, regarding its lack of 3.5mm input, a cheap 3.5mm to XLR adaptor makes this a non-event. So, I wouldn't even mention that as a shortcoming. Thanks for the great review!

[PinnacleStudioPro]

Nice comparison CJ.
I used to use JuicedLink and Beachtek devices prior to moving to my Tascam DR 70-D and syncing my audio in post. Great brands that help to increase your production value.

[SaramonicInternational]

Thank you Curtis for the nice video. Very professional comparison:)

[ruskreeder]

A really good review and excellent presentation.

[RobertShaverOfAustin]

Nice review. I hadn't seen that model from Saramonic.
I was puzzled by your use of _"indenting"_ on the control knobs. Some control knobs can be pushed in so that they can't get bumped. It finally became clear you were talking about the cogging tactile feedback as the knob was turned. On pan pots there is often a detent at the 12 o'clock balanced position. So I'm guessing you are saying that the knobs have a kind of rough or granular feel when you turn them. Is that correct?

[stryder]

I've had the Saramonic for over a year now and have never missed the headphone volume control with my Sony headphones. I use it with a Lumix G85.

[MysticApertureStudios]

I have modified my Saramonic SR pax 2 to run directly from a power bank. On a 5000 mah, tiny lil powerbank, it ran more than 12 hours and the power bank was still blinking all its power indicators. Power was the only issue i faced with the pax 2.

[ericjulien]

Hi Curtis, really enjoyed this video, I'm leaning toward the SR-PAX2, i like the feature set and i have a workaround for the headphone volume issue ( a tiny headphone amp i own and don't really use for anything at the moment) but the dual xlrs, the backlit display and the price point .

Great job as always, keep it up !

[leslienewton]

Personally prefer Saramonic for the high performance and price. Thanks Curtis!

[diazfilms]

Great presentation! The Saramonic seems to be the best bang for your buck$
Thank you Mr. Judd

[OJungell]

Thank you for this! So hard to decide if it's more well spent money to get something like this or a better audio recorder. This didn't exactly make it easier but at least I have some new information!

[ZachBoyce]

So the only difference between these and devices like Tascam's or Zoom's is that these "adaptors" do not record audio to external memory?

[MarcelloScotti]

Hi Curtis, and thanks for yet another great video!

I have two questions if you could please answer them:
1- do you have a video (I can´t find it if you do) on comparing differences between Saramonic SR-PAX2 vs SR-AX107? If not, briefly (don´t want to abuse your time) why wouold you get one or the other for DSLR video recording?
2- I own a Zoom H4n Pro Black recorder, would it be interesting to use either of these Saramonic mixers before getting the audio signal into the Zoom or would it be almost no value added (either versatility of mixing and controlling o sound quality)?

Thanks !!!

[andrewford]

The Beachtek and Saramonic are very reasonably priced!

[pablorico]

Great Curtis! Because of you I decided on the Saramonic in the link to amazon you provided.
I also prefer to record audio separately but, why not combine everything?, i.e. camera audio separately to sync later and Rode+Preamp+Zoom.
I know it is a lot of stuff to carry on but Rode signal is to low and adding gain in the camera/mixer produces quite a lot of noise. The pre-amp help to add gain with little noise.
Thanks again!
Pablo

[konceptmedia]

wow thanks for a lovely video Curtis. I didn't know about the Saramonics or the Beachtecs before. Only juicedlink and it was a bit expensive for me. But looks like Saramonics will do just good for half of that price of the JL. I would want to get the wireless lav inputs into the camera through a Saramonics and looks like it is a great option. Thanks again.

[DynamixWarePro]

Nice comparisons. I had the juicedlink Riggy before getting an audio recorder and tried it with a Rode VideoMic Pro with a Rode VXLR Stereo 3.5mm Mini Jack to XLR Converter going into my Canon t3i, and even with Magic lantern to turn off auto gain control on the t3i and the volume turned down low like you said, I didn't really hear much of a difference on noise and it sounded practically the same as it would if I had just plugged the mic directly into my camera. Maybe that was because I wasn't using an actual XLR mic.