At 12:38 PM +0000 11/16/06, stoatwizard wrote:
>--- In Rob Danielson <> wrote:
>> Astute. With 45dB, 53dB and 50dB of gain respectively for Oryoki's
>> list of ext pres, compared to 75dB for the internal Hi-MD mic pre
>> (and the same A/D as line), using any external pre -> line
>> analog/digital input for quality purposes might not prove effective.
>
>What would be nice is for these manufacturers to give the minimum input
>signal level needed to achieve 0dBFS at full gain max sensitivity. And
>the corresponding noise floor. In the case of the NH700 and RH1 this
>is -66dBu and the corresponding noise floor is -116dBu in 20-20kHz for
>the NH700. The RH1 is a tiny bit worse due to some 100Hz interference
>from the OLED display breaking through but still pretty good. And
>anecdotally much better that your typical midrange CF recorder aimed at
>musicians, though I'd love to get my hands on one and measure it to
>nail this down with measurement.
>
Useful apples and apples measurements incorporating gain and noise
from the manufs, as you describe, would be huge. Maybe that's our
job, to provide some incentive? In addition to such numbers, having
comparison tests to listen to and evaluate would still be very
important for me. I learn a lot from this tangibility.
I wonder if there could be an apples and apples listening test--one
built over time to include many of the recorders and mics we
assess/use? Oryoki has been kicking this around. Such a resource
would require a standardized sound source stimulus (most reliably, in
one, location), standardized test criteria and matched playback
levels. Each new test could be then added to a "master" QuickTime
movie so that anyone could create their own comparison test movies.
QT Pro has this under-utilized feature called "hinted" movies where
one can very quickly cut and string together a series of clips to
play. These "hinted" movies don't contain the "media"-- they "point"
to the media in the master .mov movie doc. As such, hinted movies can
be emailed or posted and used by anyone who has downloaded the master
movie onto their computer. The movies are extremely compatible for
anyone who will risk getting off their Apple/MS butt and use
full-featured free browser like FireFox. QuickTime Pro is
cross-platform and costs $30. Rob D.
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