STARVIS 2 with good audio quality? (128kbps, 192kbps)

[glostix]

Owned dashcams since 2012. Video quality has improved. Audio quality has not, or even gone backwards. My best audio dashcam is a 2016 Xiaomi Yi.

I'm trying to capture sportscars' exhaust noise, to better capture the driving experience.

Even the top Viofos are only 96kbps. Any suggestions?

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Welcome to the club @glostix
Best dash cam audio I ever tested was the original A229 Duo (IMX335) 2022 with External Microphone, (discontinued).
Second best was A139 Pro (IMX678) 2022 with External Microphone, (currently available).
I wish Viofo would bring back the 3.5mm External Microphone input.
Maybe one day we’ll get a VIOFO brand Bluetooth wireless microphone.

VIOFO EXTERNAL MICROPHONE

 

[TonyM]

Owned dashcams since 2012. Video quality has improved. Audio quality has not, or even gone backwards. My best audio dashcam is a 2016 Xiaomi Yi.

I'm trying to capture sportscars' exhaust noise, to better capture the driving experience.

Even the top Viofos are only 96kbps. Any suggestions?

You might want to consider the Vueroid S1 4K. Testers found that it has excellent audio, from quiet sounds such as conversations through to race car sounds. Here's a couple of quotes from testers:

I am a race fan at heart. Sonoma is an interesting track and was repaved in 2024. Here is a in-car video of Ty Gibbs at Sonoma, notice how the (unknown brand) in-car cam records what the driver sees and feels. It can be a rough ride, and the car setup, tires, suspension are everything.

The VUEROID S1 video from Sonoma accurately reflected what the driver was experiencing. That "driver experience" on a video is what most of us race fans appreciate.

The past few weeks, the S1 4K has continued to work flawlessly as it should. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

I also want to report that the audio quality of the S1 4K is very impressive.
It will pick up quiet noises decently and also capture loud sounds, such as loud music, without issues.
With loud music, even with heavy bass, there is no distortion. Everything can still be nicely heard.
Some cameras tend to quieten everything once low, loud frequencies appear. The S1 4K manages this very nicely.

 

[glostix]

Thanks guys, I will check out the Vueroid S1. And perhaps the cheapest/easiest workaround is a separate audio recording device.

I understand there hasn't been much market pressure for good audio on dashcams, but I think the dashcam industry is really behind the times when it comes to audio.
96kbps is the audio standard of like 40 years ago. And Viofo is now charging >$400 for a 2-channel dashcam set, it better have audio at least comparable to a basic cell phone camera 😏