 Sennheiser's AVX system really caught my eye at NEB this year. It promised to be a reliable system for capturing quality audio, particularly if you're a one-man-ban kind of shooter. But does it deliver on that promise? Let's find out. Oh yeah, and if you guys have any interest in seeing a manly cable management guide where Linus cable manages his desk in a manly way, like this video! The Logitech G303 features a lightweight design and advanced optical sensor with Delta Zero technology for precise tracking and RGB lighting to match your setup. Click now to learn more. Audio, especially for beginners, can be one of the most overlooked parts of making videos. But pros know that even the best video with rubbish audio provides an awful experience for the viewer. So we've been using Sennheiser's G3 wireless lavalier system for quite a while now, and it's been great, but comes with a few minor inconveniences, like the talent and the camera operator needing to shout across the room to diagnose things like one of the packs being dead. The AVX, by contrast, is made with simplicity in mind. There are no settings to tweak, and it works mindlessly so that the operator can focus on making a good video. The AVX comes in a few different flavors, depending on your needs. Our kit included the AVX receiver, a handheld mic transmitter, the body pack transmitter, Sennheiser's standard ME2 lavalier, and various accessories and cables. Physically, the AVX receiver is quite small compared to the Sennheiser G3, shedding most of the bulk by using its own proprietary battery. On the right side of the receiver, you will find three buttons, AF out, check slash power, and pair, as well as LEDs that display battery information and pairing status. On the left side of the receiver, we have the male 320 degree rotating XLR input, which paired with Sennheiser's hot shoe accessory allows you to position the transmitter in the ideal placement for your setup. Moving on to the body pack, while the style is quite different from the G3, your talent will feel right at home with the familiar mute button on the top, a mic input, a digital display that shows connection strength and battery life, and on the left side of the unit, we have the power and pair buttons. Lastly, we have the Sennheiser handheld transmitter, which comes standard with the MD42 mic capsule. The handheld transmitter sports a similar display to the body pack, and has a power and pair button on the bottom of the unit. Now I mentioned proprietary battery packs, which would normally have resulted in me ending the video right here declaring the AVX an utter failure of a product, but Sennheiser is fortunately smarter than that and equipped each pack with a micro USB power input, so while you could purchase extra battery packs for long shoots, I'd recommend grabbing a cheap external battery bank and strapping it to your rig with something like a bongo tie. Sennheiser claims 4-5 hours of battery life for the receiver and 11 hours for the transmitters, which seemed accurate based on my use of the AVX on Linus' latest personal rig update 2015, which you can watch here. And the receiver automatically detects fan power coming from a camera or audio recorder, turning itself off if fan power is not detected to save you battery life. A nice touch. So let's talk about what the AVX was actually like to use. The pairing process is quite painless, I simply had to hold the pairing buttons for 3 seconds on both the transmitter and the receiver I wanted to use, and the audio was up in no time. Once pairing was complete, the units would connect to each other in a mere 5 seconds once powered on. This is where I began to see the benefit of the AVX's simplicity. There have been times where we have fussed with the incorrect channel and gain configuration with our G3 kits, things that contribute nothing to the quality of our content and just waste time, so instead of having the user decide on a channel, the AVX actively searches for the cleanest channel available over a 1900MHz band, increasing signal strength or changing channels on the fly at signs of interference. Range was surprisingly solid even at a distance and through walls. So I'm pretty impressed with the range of the AVX. Currently I'm standing on our not-finished b-roll set, and Ed is actually standing in Linus' office behind one of the windows. That's a fair distance away, and it's more than we would ever shoot in terms of distance for using the AVX for audio. Pretty impressive. Now the big question you might have for me at this point is, how does it sound? Well in my opinion, quite good, since we've been using the AVX for this video since the beginning. What surprised me most was how well Sennheiser's implemented auto gain control, with even Linus being unable to clip the audio in a significant way with all of his excited yelling. Brendan, what is this doing here? I don't know what you're talking about. Brendan, how many times do I have to tell you? Stop leaving your cotton balls everywhere! And for those wondering how the handheld mic transmitter sounds, have a listen. So here's an example of what the Sennheiser AVX handheld transmitter sounds like. I'm currently sitting in the new office warehouse where I'm testing the mic going into a Zoom H5 recorder. So in conclusion, the AVX delivers on its promise of simplicity while not compromising on audio quality. I see it being used by all the shooters in one-man-bang kinds of situations where they're doing everything from producing camera and audio, but also for those of you who are looking for an easy-to-use, quality audio solution. However, be prepared to pay a premium for the ease of use with the price of the AVX coming in at almost 50% more than a standard G3 kit with the same mic. Personally, I plan on implementing the AVX when we do our show coverage going forward. Speaking of going forward, Massdrop has another one of their killer deals on their site today, the Mionix Castor RGB. It's currently available over there for $67.99 and the Castor also features their very solid 3310 sensor and some subtle RGB lighting on the scroll wheel and the back of the mouse. Of course, this product is only available on Massdrop at this discounted price thanks to their group buy model. Essentially, the more people that buy, the more the price goes down to a set minimum, with its minimum price being just under 30% below MSRP. You can check out this drop and many others at the link in the description at draw.slashlinus.techtips. So head over there now if you're interested. That link does not give us a kickback or anything. It just tells them that we sent you. So thanks for watching guys. If this video sucked, you know what to do. But if it was awesome, get subscribed, hit that like button, or even consider supporting us directly by using our affiliate code to shop on Amazon, buying a cool t-shirt like this one, or with a direct monthly contribution through the community forum. Now, once you're done doing all of that stuff, you're probably wondering what to watch next. So click that little button in the top right hand corner to check out our video on 4K. Is it worth it? Where we take a look at how much 4K resolution matters in a YouTube workflow.