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Re: Newbie questions- minidisc vs. edirol r-1

Subject: Re: Newbie questions- minidisc vs. edirol r-1
From: Rob Danielson <>
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2005 21:44:58 -0500
At 12:57 PM -0700 10/25/05, j r wrote:
>  Hello,
>
>I have been reading posts for a while and have a
>couple of questions.
>
>I was thinking of getting a mini-disc recorder that
>can record the uncompressed wav files, but i need it
>to
>be able to offload files to my Mac.
>
>Are there ones that do this?


Sony MZ-M10 Professional Portable MD Recorder with Stereo Mic is mac
(only) compatible.
The HiMD forum is a good site to explore HiMD
http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showforum=3D34


>
>If such an MD recorder costs about 300, would it not
>be better to just get the Edirol r-1 at 400?


Depends on your application(s) and the mic(s) you have now or are
considering buying.

>
>Is 24 bit really that much better than 16 bit?

I definitely prefer 24 bits when I'm recording soft sounds in quiet
locations but its hard for me to tell the difference between 16 and
24 bits when I'm recording robust sounds.  The mic pre gain on the
R-1 is considerably lower than on the HiMD's.
>
>I get that uncompressed is better than compressed, but
>what makes for a superior quality of recording other
>than skill and mics?
>
>Would i be able to hear that much difference in
>quality
>between an MD uncompressed recording and one made on
>the r-1, or the fostex field recorder?

At ~$1400 the Fostex will have advantages like a mic pre with phantom
power (advantage over  the HiMD) and  it _probably_  has less noise
than the R-1. If your mics are your weakest link, better mics and a
lesser cost recorder might be the way to go.

Here's a comparison that might be of help:
http://www.uwm.edu/~type/Mic%20Preamps/RollsPB224-%3eHiMDMicPreIMA.mov
It compares:

1) Rode NT1A's (very low self noise mics)-> Sound Devices 722
MicPre/Recorder (24 bit)
2)  Rode NT1A's -> Rolls PB224 Portable Phantom Power Supply->Sound
Devices 722 MicPre/Recorder (24 bit)
3) Rode NT1A's -> Sound Devices Mix Pre -> Sound Devices 722
MicPre/Recorder (24 bit)
4) Rode NT1A's -> Rolls PB224 Portable Phantom Power Supply-> Sony
NH900 HiMD (16 bit)

This test is designed to evaluate mic preamp noise and gain
performance under a worst case scenario. The gain of both recorders
is set to maximum and playback levels are matched in post.

 From reports on this list and other sources, the mic pre in the R-1
and M Audio MT2496 _seem_ to have more noise and less gain than the
HiMD/Rolls PB224 combination, but we've not been able to test then up
and up as yet. Rob D.




>
>thanks,
>
>JR
>


--
Rob Danielson
Film Department
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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