On November 3, 2026, Thomann had 190 wireless handheld microphone systems in stock, each a microphone transmitter with its receiver. They cost from $66 to $9,207, and half cost less than $728.
| Price | Systems |
|---|---|
| Under $200 | 10 |
| $200 to $400 | 20 |
| $400 to $700 | 57 |
| $700 to $1,000 | 52 |
| $1,000 and up | 51 |
Those 190 listings are only 72 different systems. Most wireless systems are sold in several versions, one per frequency range, because the radio bands you are allowed to use differ from country to country. Shure's QLXD24 alone has 28 listings at Thomann, one for each frequency range and microphone head. Pick the range that is legal where you play; the price can differ between ranges too, as we found for Sennheiser's EW-D.
Analog or digital
| Transmission | Systems | Median price | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analog | 100 | $527 | $66 |
| Digital | 90 | $1,076 | $156 |
Analog UHF still works well for one or two microphones and costs half as much. Digital systems skip the compander that colors an analog signal, fit more microphones into the same stretch of spectrum, and the expensive ones encrypt the audio.
Under $250: one microphone, few channels
AKG's WMS 40 Mini costs $114: a non-diversity receiver, one fixed frequency in the European ISM band and up to 30 hours on one AA battery. Thomann's own brand, the t.bone, sells its free solo HT from $222, with 13 groups of 16 channels to choose from and a frequency scan. Fine for a speech or a small room; tight when several systems share a stage.
$350 to $750: what most bands buy
Sennheiser XSW 1-835, $367
An analog UHF system with antenna diversity, Sennheiser's 835 dynamic capsule and automatic search for a free frequency. #1 of 84 wireless handheld microphone systems.
Shure's BLX24 with a PG58 head starts at $358 and is #4 in our ranking. Sennheiser's digital EW-D 835-S costs $638 and adds a phone app for setup.
Shure GLXD24+/SM58, $625
A digital system that works on 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz at the same time, the bands Wi-Fi uses, so it needs no license in most countries. It shows battery life in hours and minutes and charges the battery in the receiver. #2 of 84 wireless handheld microphone systems.
$1,500 and up: digital UHF for bigger stages
Shure QLXD24/SM58, $1,502
A digital UHF system with a half-rack receiver, 24-bit audio, AES-256 encryption, up to 22 compatible channels in one 8 MHz TV channel and an Ethernet port for monitoring. #3 of 84 wireless handheld microphone systems.
Above it, Sennheiser's EW-DX 835-S costs $2,410, and four-channel sets and the Sennheiser 6000 series run to $9,207. These are for churches, theaters and touring rigs that run many channels at once.
How much should you spend
- A speech, a small room, one microphone: $120 to $250.
- A band with one or two singers: $350 to $750. Analog UHF from Shure or Sennheiser, or the GLXD+ if you travel abroad.
- Many microphones on one stage, or a venue full of other radio gear: digital UHF from about $1,500 per channel.
Add rechargeable batteries to any budget: a wireless microphone goes through them fast, and a dead one in the middle of a set is the usual reason people go back to cables.
Where the numbers come from. Every wireless handheld microphone system Thomann had in stock on November 3, 2026, from its partner feed, without bundles. Analog and digital are taken from Thomann's descriptions. Systems are counted as one when Thomann's listings differ only in frequency range or capsule color. Prices are Thomann's US-dollar prices.
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Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
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