This is an honest review of the Synco Xtalk. The Synco Xtalk from outside looks like a competitor to the Hollyland Solidcom c1 but at a third of the price. However it is a you get what you paid for situation with this product. It is an ok product, but it is in its own low budget class and is not competing with Eartec or Hollyland which are on a whole different price range.
Travel Case
The Synco Xtalk X5 comes in a pretty large case, which looks a lot like an Aputure light case.
Battery
On the lid you get multiple double chargers instead of a single large charger, which isn’t a major problem ,just annoying to find so many usb plugs, however all of the chargers are USB Micro and take 2.5 hours to recharge when fully empty. While I would have preferred something like the Hollyland which has one large charger via USB-C and charges much faster.
Battery Life of the Synco Xtalk is 20 hours which is a lot more than compared to Eartec or Solidcom. And charging after one day of use is close to 1 hour to recharge. But I would have preferred a USB-C charger as most of usb cables I carry are USB-C.
Headset
Now to the headsets, the design is quite nice and it has a good fitting and can be used on either left or right side. There is a proper on and off switch to prevent accidentally turning it off. Buttons on the side to change volume, change master unit and turn denoiser on or off. Also we have an audio port for monitoring audio, which can be useful for the director to monitor the sound but also give instructions to the crew, without needing two headsets.
The range is about 350 meters or diameter of 700 meters around the master headset. But honestly rarely need such range and even rare occasions even be 100 meters away from set.
The audio quality is really dependable on how loud the person is talking into the XTALk, the louder the better it sounds, but when the person talks softly or even whispers the built- in denoiser will make the audio sound very digital. Though you can turn off the denoiser, but result in hearing a lot more noise.
Cons
One big drawback of the Synco Xtalk is there is a 0.4 seconds delay on the audio, which might not be a lot of delay, but it is a noticeable delay, when you are standing close to the person talking. Though in normal use cases this won’t be a major issue as instructions given over the intercom aren’t always for an instant action. However if you can communicate with a gaffer to move a light until you say stop, he might stop too late. Also because of the delay, it is not recommended for live broadcast use to instruct the camera operators. But general use to instruct people to grab something or move something or asking questions about something over the intercom are no problems.
Conclusion
Conclusion the Xtalk X5 is an ok product that is usable on a film set, especially if you don’t have the budget for the more expensive intercoms. However if you need a zero delay intercom, it is more advisable to opt for the more expensive systems.
