Hey everybody,
I have an old Sony MD recorder (MZ-R55) that I use as my always-in-your-poc=
ket-
recorder. The noise floor of the mic preamp is terrible and useless for nat=
ural ambiences
but okay for louder sources like busy train stations.
Now I want to get one of the Sony HiMD 'pro-line' recorders, like the MZ-M1=
Message: 00.
Subject: I have
checked some information in this group and on the web, but a few questions =
remain:
1) How about the headphone levels? Can you boost them more than an old cons=
umer-type
headphone out ? I have Beyerdynamics DT 770 which is a great set of headpho=
nes but
needs more level than most others, my MZ-R55's maximum output is not enough=
for
decent monitoring.
2) There already is a new series of HiMD's like the MZ-RH1. The big advanta=
ge for
recording that I found was that finally you don't have to dive into the men=
u any more to
set the record mode to manual gain. The recorder will remember your last se=
tting. The
disadvantage (in my idea) would be that they don't have the 'outboard' AA-b=
attery-holder
any more that you can add when the powe of the internal battery is down. An=
y other
essential differences for ambience recording that I'm missing here?
3) Sony HiMD recorders are praised for their low-noise mic preamps. I have =
read that this
is possible because of a digital preamp, which probably means that there is=
a fixed AD-
conversion-level (or maybe two, hi-sens and low sens..?). That would mean t=
hat at a
certain volume the signal might clip at the input of the DA-converter. Of c=
ourse the point
when this occurs depends on the microphone too. Can anyone give an indicati=
on about the
SPL or type of source when clipping starts to happen with a common mike tha=
t can handle
high SPL? Or am I just too clip-phobic here and there's nothing to worry ab=
out? (Well
actually the noise has given me more trouble than clipping in the past, so =
I just ask this to
make myself feel certain I don't buy the wrong thing.. ;-)
greetings,
max
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