SHURE SLX-D Wireless Mic Receiver & XLR Plug-On Transmitter | Curtis Judd

Erm… first? Anyway, this could well be the upgrade to my rodelink kit. Though definitely should have been a dual channel receiver, so may hold off until something else comes along. Nice review.

was about to get sony uwdp series and you dropped this video! so many choices!!!

I always thought for film/TV the top of the line was Lectro or Zaxcom, but not long ago I went to a union event here in NYC and most of the old union mixer pros had Shure systems.

Wait, did you say the Deity Theos TX has a limiter built in?

Even if you are using Axient for recording, this new receiver could make a nice camera hop or IFB solution. And WWB/AD600 will easily handle the frequency coordination across both systems combined.

Thanks Curtis for this video. I was hoping you would cover this system. It's a system that a lot of us should look into.

Excellent review. Thanks Curtis!

The Plug-on sounds a lot better than the Bodypack (possibly due to the mic used), nice system though, thanks for sharing.

I have there SLX5 (analog) receiver, but it does not do good with the DL4 Dura-plex sub miniature element. Super excited about the SLXD version. Thanks Curtis for the review!!

Yooo!!! We use Shure at my church and I’ve had such a good experience with them that I had been wishing to have something like this! (Yeah that axient looks wonderful but is at a higher price point than what I could afford). Thanks for this video Curtis!

And I’m just about to pop in mic shop on next video gig..

So glad Shure made this. For filmmakers they sound great indeed that wireless boom mic option is v interesting. I hope they bring out a dual channel. They are so reliable in the music world..why not filmmaking too. I guess if you got the body pack and the wireless hand held thing you've have to choose on or the other to use at a time...or buy two receivers. Makes one realize what a good job Deity did with Theos though as its so full featured.

Thanks Curtis, i love your programme because i like to learn what is new in the market.
Recently, i installed the biggest improvement to my sound chain: thick, plush carpet 😂. Many thanks for your work🎉🎉🎉.

Planned obsolescence by not having user replaceable antennas... 😢

Single channel also kinda sucks. Would be happy to pay a premium price for an XLR transmitter and a lav transmitter going into this receiver.

Still loving my Sennheiser AVX system. I have in total 4 sets (2 with receiver and SKM, 2 with receiver and SK). The receivers are just so small and it’s so convenient to have them all the time plugged into the XLR socket and having the cold shoe still available for a led head light.
Great wireless system for news gathering.

Didn't realize you were also a fellow Utah Resident. Do you ever do in person lectures?

Shure has always achieved the highest sound quality regardless of cost. I am talking about the audible distortion when the signal is perfect. The difference from other manufacturers is massive. It is audible in speaking voice, but in singing or a music instrument the difference is remarkable.

Hey Curtis, is the latency noticable enough that you still need to sync in post? And furthermore, if you don't sync it in post, does it get worse over time? For example a 5min video looks fine but a 30min video maybe needs to be manually adjusted like when people mismatch sample rates to their video frame rate?

Yes USB-C!

Great review!

Hi curtis, Did sony uwp-d reach farther distance than shure in your test?

Shure had the UR series.

UR4D+ rack mounted system. (tv studio)

UR5 was the portable receiver. (Bag system)

Ur1/Ur2 transmitters with cos11d mics.

Reliable and versatile system.

I loved that system.

You can use the Shure workbench to coordinate any system though

Superb - thank you!

Great review, Curtis. I recently installed an SLX-D system at our church. We needed just a small system with two dual-channel wireless receivers and external antennas. So far the system has been outstanding. Here are a few observations:

1) Reliability has been solid. We have not had a single drop-out or any staticy weirdnesses since I set it up months ago. It extremely robust.
2) The charging cradles are handy. They are designed so that you can drop in a handheld mic, a body pack transmitter, or just a bare Shure proprietary battery. We leave our microphones switched on all the time and when you drop it into a cradle, it shuts off automatically and begins charging. If we need a mic NOW, just grab it, hand it to whomever needs it, and lift the fader with no fiddling for switches or other things that might slow you down. This is great when working with volunteers.
3) It's nice to see the battery life reported on the transmitter as well as the receiver; we never need to worry. Also, you can name each mic and the name appears on the transmitter and the receiver LCD displays, so they are easily identified.
4) Shure has plenty of information on their website to help make decisions on which bands to buy, which antennas, etc. On one of their web tools we entered our zip code and it tells you how many open channels are available for each of the three band options. For antennas, it will recommend options based on distance of the antennas to the receivers and to the transmitters; we went with external omni antennas with splitters and amplifiers, but there are also antenna distribution systems, sharkfin antennas, etc.
5) The bodypack transmitter pairs great with a Countryman E6 head-worn mic if lavs are not desired. We've found the E6 is much better for gain-before-feedback compared with a lav since the capsule is so much closer to the person's word-hole ;-) Plus they sound great!
6) I was super impressed with each component I bought; Shure doesn't nickle/dime you: Brackets, cables, RF couplers... everything is included in the box. Compared to our previous experience, it felt like Shure thought everything out. I didn't need to go out and buy a bunch more stuff to get everything installed and functional and that was a refreshing change.
7) Wireless workbench was super valuable for finding the best combination of frequencies. Since I set them, we've had zero issues with interference or dropouts.

I'm sure other pro systems have similar features, but overall it just feels like a solid, reliable, no-nonsense system. Honestly, we couldn't be happier.

Nicely explained !

Hi Curtis, thank you for the review. I was curious with the Senn EW DP, did it have the latest firmware? I'd be curious if that may make any range difference, I guess to some degree that all do better when there are some walls to bounce signal off from.

I just received the Theos on Thursday…. got scared for a second lol. I would have liked to hear a sound comparison as I could see Shure wining technically but I’ll take the features, Great video 👌🏾

It looks like Shure finally made massive improvements on the FP system. Reviews of the FP are why I ended up buying a Sennheiser ew100 as my first wireless system for film many years ago. Now it looks like I have to weigh a lot of options when I get around to upgrading.

Thank you Curtis for actual hardware reviews!
Helpful as always.

Hello Curtis, I’m sorry I don’t speak English very well
you said you choose «rx outputting line-level signal on mix pre » but why +26db gain on your mixpre? Because it’s not a real line level output?
Thanks for your answer

Do you need to performe a scan every time you switch on the mics or just once in every location/zone? I mean, most of the times the DTV channels in a similar zone are the same, is it needed to scan every single time? What's your go-to procedure? Thanks.

Great and convincing review. Thanks

I recently started moving my wireless from Lectro over to Shure Axient. It really is a remarkable system...Shure is definitely at the top as far as stable wireless transmission is concerned, and the quality of digital is as close to a cable as possible. This is a very exciting product - I'm actually considering swapping my wireless boom over to this SLX system because of price (spending Axient money on a bag based wireless boom system feels a bit out of reach). The plug-on tests sound good to my ears, which is very encouraging.

Thanks Curtis for another fantastic review! I've been using the EW-G4 system with MKE2 for shooting recipe vids for 2 years and recently started experiencing some RFI causing a pretty nasty spike (complete with harmonics, making a repair pretty impossible when it happens mid-sentence). This happens at random intervals, causing a clipped pop every few minutes, from an unknown source somewhere nearby.
My problem is further aggravated by a recent addition of an induction stove which absolutely kills the RF link of the analogue EW with all sorts of nasty artifacts, but NOT effecting the mic cable, nor a Zoom H6 with either the Zoom shotgun capsule at 30 inches from the stove, nor an SM58 plugged into it). The ability to use a wireless setup is immensely helpful in my situation and so after watching your truly excellent EW-DP review, ordered one but haven't received and tested it yet.
Question: would you venture forth a wild guess as to which of the two digital systems between Shure and Sennheiser has the more robust RF link and would be more immune to the nasty RFI / EMI I'm trying to get rid of? Any other suggestions for my working conditions (shooting both in/outdoors, one man crew!) keeping the cost per audio channel under $1500? Many thanks in advance for your valued help!

Hi Curtis! Thank you for the great introduction to the new Shure components!

We’ve also just tested the receiver and some transmitters for some days against the Sennheiser G4 (analog).

We’ve come to the conclusion that the SLXD5 receiver is very solid technically, easy to use and that it has great features (like estd. runtime for both the transmitters and the receiver in hours and minutes). But: The Sennheiser G4 really is audibly quieter.

For that we used the SLXD1 beltpack transmitter and the SLXD5 receiver versus the Sennheiser G4. We tested both with two Sennheiser MKE2 (on the Shure TX with an adaptor). So we could really compare the quality of the transmission rather than the quality of the respective microphones.

The Shure exhibits not much noise overall (which is good), but audible and visible noise in the spectrum around 8 to 12 kHz. It’s a broadband hissing.

I’d consider the system really really good, though. But eventually the Sennheiser system is cheaper by a lot. Okay, it lacks usability features but what matters in the end is the audio quality.

The results were almost the same comparing the feed of an SLXD3 transmitter on an Audio Technica AT4053b. The 10kHz hiss was the same, and it was not there when we cabled the mic directly to the mixer.

Nevertheless the Shure system is less prone to interference, that might be a pro – you either have a signal or you don’t. Where with the Sennheisers the analog transmission quality can gradually decrease with distance, or you can just pick up more noise, which you might first realize after recording.

The decision was hard for me, but in the end I sent the Shure transmitters and receivers back. I want to step up my audio quality and the Shure set doesn’t deliver that. Although the Shures are really easier to use. I consider the beltpacks also easier to hide as they’re rounded and flat against the rather bulky Sennheisers.

Just a bit of additional information: We do a lot of live shows and online streaming with the SLXD rack mounted receivers, their SLXD1 beltpacks and SLXD2 handheld mics for years now. Also I do audio for video more or less professionally. We tested using MixPre 6 II and analyzed everything in adobe audition after matching levels. 🙂

Really nice high quality review Curtis, like aways! We do hybrid events and Shure SLXD is one of our favorite solutions for wireless mic. And finally now.... the video guy friendly version is here! 🎉

Hi Curtis. Do you happen to know whether the SLXD3 can take a line input, as well as mic input? Primarily considering it as a cost effective, second wireless boom to my AD3, but for situations where 2 booms aren't needed, would also love to use it as a camera hop transmitter receiving a main out line level signal from my Zoom F8NPro.

What are your recommendations for singers and performers that don’t want to hold a microphone ?

What are your thoughts comparing this to the EW-DP in terms of sound quality and signal? I'm looking to do something very unconventional and use a system like this or the EW-DP for a mobile wireless horn microphone for small venue live gigs (so either the Shure SLX-D portable with a Beta 98h/c or the Sennheiser EW-DP with their E908b)

Curtis, your reviews are the best. Thank you !

Question, what parameters do you have set on the plug on transmitter when using your MKH50?

Currently, I'm using a 442/744 combo...
I currently have two Lectro UM400a and have my gain structure set to cater to that system, I grabbed 4 of these SLXD wireless, one of them with the plug, but noticed my gain structure had to be completely restructured for Shure... Maybe I'm just accustomed to using Lectrosonics, making changes with Shure felt new to me..

Have you ever played with this wireless system paired with a 442?

..... I know, I know... It's old, but I love how my MKH 416t sounds on it...


Oh, also, forever I thought T-Power was 12v ... I switched to 12v on this wireless plug, and it doesn't work... Bummer for me..

What Shure receiver would I need to make this system dual channel into a mix pre 6ii ? What are the advantages of going with a single receiver and not dual channel like this kit for a 2-3 camera set up for corporate commercials and corporate interviews?

Hi Curtis. Thanks for this awesome review! It was very informative. What “pack” were you using when you did your range test? The SLXD1? I’m curious to see what the range of the SLXD3 is using the various mA settings, 1mA, 10mA, and 30mA? Thank you!

I do not need a system this robust. Just enjoyed the review.

Looking into a a wireless setup for myself, but I plan on running individual XLRs into a recorder like a mixpre. But with Timecode on the recorder; I would like a wireless mic system so I am not dealing with cables. I do like these Shure units though, do you think this would work best for what I am planning to put together? Thank you,

Corrections:

1. DEITY THEOS does NOT have limiters
2. My latency measurement was incorrect. However, we did not experience any practical, noticeable latency issues
3. Shure clarifies that the SLX-D transmitters do have a limiter in this sense (quote from SHURE), "The SLX-D transmitters do have a built in limiter, but it’s only relevant in the context of transmitter user gain (positive mic offset). For example, if the user applies 20 dB of transmitter gain and pumps in a signal at -10 dBFS, the limiter will pull back on the applied gain and only apply 10 dB of gain instead of the full 20 dB. In any other use case, the maximum digital signal level should align with the ADC clip point, that is, the hardware clip point, so the limiter is irrelevant as the audio input cannot exceed 0 dBFS."