Sony ECM-AX10: spatial audio mic for smartphones

Sony's ECM-AX10 is a four-capsule USB-C microphone for recording spatial audio on a phone. It supports Eclipsa Audio on YouTube and is on pre-sale at $249.

Sony has announced the ECM-AX10 mic, which it bills as the world’s first Eclipsa Audio-certified microphone for smartphones. It is a portable USB-C spatial audio microphone pitched at vloggers, mobile filmmakers, and content creators, based on a newly developed spherical microphone module. This holds four omnidirectional capsules, which feed into Sony’s spatial audio processing that recreates a sense of space, direction, and distance.

It’s designed to be mounted on smartphones and connects directly to compatible models via USB-C. It weighs approximately 24 g (0.85 oz), so will not add too much extra weight to any rig.

The mic has three recording modes, spatial and otherwise. Ambisonics recording works with Sony’s Spatial Audio Video Tool app to support publishing in Eclipsa Audio on YouTube (Eclipsa Audio being the open-source spatial format from Google and Samsung). Binaural recording uses Sony’s proprietary spatial audio technology, also used for 360 Reality Audio, and works where Eclipsa Audio is not supported. And lastly there is good old-fashioned stereo recording for headphones and speakers, ensuring the mic can also be used with general recording and video apps as well as Sony’s dedicated ones.

The Spatial Audio Video Tool app lets users shoot video, review clips, make simple edits, and export content with spatial audio on their smartphone. Sony PCL, a Sony Group company, supported the sound quality tuning.

Sony says that users can now complete the entire production workflow for spatial audio video on their smartphone, though it is an open question how much YouTube demand there is for that content. Google and Samsung have suggested that it’s a lack of prosumer hardware that is limiting its adoption, though, so having at least one mid-budget option might be the boost that it needs.

Pricing and availability

The ECM-AX10 is available for pre-sale now for $249 from the usual sources.