A rundown of highlights from this year's NAB show in Las Vegas (first time back since 2019), covering new gear and old/new industry friends.

At the Deity Microphones booth: the SF-1, a directional "shark fin" log-periodic dipole array antenna (as opposed to the roughly omnidirectional bowtie antennas), covering 470MHz-1GHz, usable with the Theos system or any wireless system with SMA receiver connectors and an RF distribution box; and the DIFB, an IFB (interruptible fold-back) unit for sending mixer audio to a director, script supervisor, or crew member, or camera-hopping audio to a camera — tested across the show hall with no dropouts.

At Sound Devices: a look at the A20 handheld wireless microphone (used by Kendrick Lamar at the last Super Bowl halftime show), part of their A-series wireless system, supporting swappable capsules including third-party Sennheiser and Shure options, with an antenna design aimed at working around hand-blocking issues common to handheld wireless mics. Also got hands-on with the CL-16 control surface for the 8-series recorders, a similar third-party control surface from Icon, and got to give direct feedback to Sound Devices' Paul Isaacs on what a next-generation MixPre could include.

At Sennheiser: the new MKH 8018 stereo shotgun mic, switchable between mid-side stereo, wide XY, and narrow XY modes — useful either as a standard directional shotgun (using just the mid capsule in mid-side mode) or for full stereo capture, using the same RF-bias technology as the rest of the MKH 8000 series.

Met up with YouTuber/instructor Tom Buck, who showed off a compact wireless setup nicknamed the "Tiny Mike" (a play on the classic get-to-the-point mic), and later had dinner with a friend; also met production sound mixer Michael Wynne (Atlanta-based, works in TV/film, runs a YouTube channel under Wynne).

At Zaxcom: a new VHF-band IFB receiver, the VRX-1, worn on a belt by whoever needs to hear mixer audio (director, script supervisor). Being VHF rather than UHF keeps it from competing with UHF wireless mic spectrum on set. Despite VHF's reputation for so-so audio quality (similar to Comtek units), a walk-test across the venue and around a block wall produced zero dropouts and surprisingly good sound for VHF. Also ran into Doc Justice of Halter Technical, showing off the Peeko, a tiny in-ear monitor with an almost invisible over-ear cable.

At the Redding Audio booth (US distributor for several European brands including Audio Root, Ambient, Radius, and Voodoo Straps): the highlight was Radius Windshields' Mini Alto with Rad shock mounts — founded by Simon, the original founder of Rycote (now owned by the same parent company as Audix, Manfrotto, and others). The Mini Alto windshields are the fastest windshields to get on and off that I've seen, faster than even the Rycote Cyclone (built more for intense wind) or Nanoshield (better for light breezes).

Zoom shared a table in the B&H booth this year instead of having their own, where Samuel from Zoom showed off the new Zoom H5 Studio — notable because it finally uses larger microphones and the Zoom F-series preamps, addressing my long-standing frustration with noisy preamps and mediocre built-in mics on handheld-style Zoom recorders.

At Saramonic: their newly announced TC Neo timecode generator, similar to Tentacle Sync or the Deity TC1, integrated into their app for wireless re-jamming — addressing the ecosystem gap I noted in my earlier Saramonic K9 review compared to Deity's Theos.

Finally, at Allen & Heath: a first hands-on look at the CQ mixer series — compact mixers with lots of inputs and automatic mic mixing, a feature rarely found outside dedicated podcast mixers like the Mackie DLZ (whose automix is just okay) or the Sound Devices MixPre's excellent paid MixAssist plugin. Reviews of several of these products are coming as availability allows. Get out there, make some great sound, and we will talk to you again next week.