Review: Point Source Audio Embrace EO2-8WL

Point Source Audio’s Embrace microphone series revolves around a simple earmount clip, designed for getting a capsule, or in this case two, out of sight and near the mouth easily and quickly. 

In practise, putting this mic on the talent’s ear is very simple. Even on my review unit, which I was unable to trim, the plastic is easily bent to the required ear shape. When trimmed, Embrace can hide entirely behind the ear with just the capsule protruding; untrimmed, the mount sticks out from below the ear out toward the mouth, like a headset. The cable can be run through a top-running channel, to emerge over the top of the pinna, or alternatively to the bottom. 

Even without trimming and excessively bending (which, to be clear, is what this mic is all about), the fit on the two ears I tested was remarkable. Dancing, jumping and violent head-shaking didn’t phase the mount at all, or move the mic enough to make any audible noise against the cheek. All this is very surprising for something that is essentially hanging off the ear – again, when custom fit and trimmed it’s doing a whole lot more than ‘hanging’ off the ear. For those who would rather not make permanent modifications, these Embrace earmounts will serve you well on many jobs and many ears, just without full concealment. When chopping and modifying, I can imagine companies working on the amateur theatre circuit keeping and cleaning the mics and picking up fresh earmounts for each cast.

GAIN OF FUNCTION

The Embrace model on test is the EO2-8WL, the waterproof edition of Point Source Audio’s Series 8 miniature capsule, in its dual-redundant iteration. The sensitivity of this mic seems to be well-chosen to optimise gain structure. Once matched to a beltpack, I had very little trouble turning up these little mics, even in a hostile acoustic environment with speakers mounted high in a chapel’s vaulted ceiling. The limits of gain-before-feedback weren’t easily reached and when they were, made sense for the intended source, favouring well-trained stage voices giving plenty of level. For those giving less level, the Embrace mount can be used as a kind of earset when the bottom extension is left uncut – there are actually four different positions to change distance from the ear to suit. The presence boost at 6-7kHz is also useful – a welcome addition The sound quality is excellent, and didn’t throw up any immediate red flags or excessive build up in any particular frequency range. I would put them on par with lavaliers in this price range from DPA and Sennheiser, and it seems the world of musical theatre would agree – shows such as Hamilton, Melbourne’s recent production of Jagged Little Pill, and the Cirque du Soleil have relied on them.