The DJI Mic Mini is a great microphone for the price, but it only comes with a USB-C adapter. If you have an iPhone with a Lightning port, that’s annoying. I bought the Mic Mini myself, tested a few ways to connect it to a Lightning iPhone, and found the cheapest one that works. The short version: a $2 USB-C to Lightning adapter does the job, and you can skip the $20 official one.
What’s in the box
I paid about 70 euros for the double pack. The transmitters are tiny, smaller than I expected, and the charging case is surprisingly heavy because of the battery inside. You get two ways to wear them: a clip, or magnets that sandwich the mic against your shirt.
| Item | My take |
| USB-C to USB-A cable | Standard. Good for charging at your desk. |
| 3.5mm aux cable | Only useful for cameras. |
| Magnets and clips | The magnets are the cleaner way to wear the mic. |
| Mic covers (deadcats) | Use them outdoors when it’s windy. |
| Carrying bag | Worth keeping so the small parts don’t get lost. |
One thing that bothers me: the mics do not record audio on board. If the connection to your phone drops, you have no backup recording.
Test 1: USB-C iPad (plug and play)
To get a baseline, I plugged the receiver into an iPad, which has USB-C. It worked right away. No app, no settings. The lights come on and you have audio.
I also tried the noise cancellation here. Press the power button once and the light turns yellow. It sounded a bit processed, but with background noise in the room the difference was clear. Be careful with the buttons: I paused a recording by accident just by pressing one.
Test 2: aux cable plus Apple’s Lightning dongle (did not work)
My first idea was to use gear I already had: the aux cable from the receiver into Apple’s Lightning to 3.5mm adapter. It looks messy, and it did not work for me. I made sure the phone was not in low power mode, so I don’t think that was the cause, but I can’t say for sure why it failed.
Even if it had worked, there’s a bigger problem with the wired route in general: if you end up recording audio on a separate device, you have to sync it with the video afterward. That’s doable, but annoying.
Test 3: the $2 USB-C to Lightning adapter (works)
The official Lightning adapter costs about $20, which is a fifth of the price of the mic kit. I didn’t want to pay that, so I bought a generic adapter for about $2. I plugged it between the receiver and the iPhone. The flashing light on the receiver stopped, which meant it had connected.
I started a video recording and talked into one mic, then moved it away from the phone but close to my mouth. The audio got louder, so the iPhone was using the mics and not its built-in microphone. It records in one go and saves the audio directly into the video file.
Voice Memos quirk: in the Voice Memos app the waveform did not seem to move at first, which made me think it wasn’t working. I got very close to the mic and it was recording fine.
Tip: the adapter I bought came with a small rubber band. I took it off, and the adapter then fits inside the charging case. You can close the lid and keep everything in one compact box.
How it sounds and who should buy it
In my experience the Mic Mini sounds a bit better than the iPhone’s built-in microphone. The bigger gain comes outdoors when it’s windy or when you’re far from the camera. The trade-off with the adapter is that you can’t walk far away from the phone, because the receiver has to stay plugged in.
- Good fit: you have a Lightning iPhone, want a small kit, and are fine with a cheap adapter dangling off the phone.
- Not a good fit: you need on-board backup recording, or you don’t want anything sticking out of the phone.
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