Carefully judgement of sophisticated tools pretty much has to involve
comparing the unknown to at least one known, preferably more. There
are always performance trade-offs and multiple factors to be measured
and weighed before knowing which tool is the best investment. No
dealer, manufacturer or even mod shop is in position to criticize one
piece of equipment in terms of another when the quality reaches a
certain point. If its a cottage industry run by an artists who don't
care if they go out of business tomorrow, okay let me hear their
tests. Otherwise, though I'm basically a trusting guy, I agree with
Raimund that there are way too many accommodations one can leave in
place in making sound samples for one to base decisions on them. I
got as far as reading Oades pre/post mod test file descriptions.
Check me if I'm wrong, but if one can hear a difference in
performance in a PMD 660 with and without their mods when testing
with a mic that has 17dB A self noise and sensitivity of: 13.8 mV/Pa,
doesn't this suggest its a fairly noisy mic pre circuit in all forms?
The pres would have to introduce noise above the mic's self noise in
order for two steps of improvement to be discerned. For comparison,
Aries mic is a only a tad quieter than a pair of WL-183's and noisier
than a Rode NT-4. The Hi-MD pre and many standard MD pres are
comfortably below the self noise of both of these mics. The
http://www.fonozoo.comeng site seemed to be down the couple of times
I checked it. Rob D.
At 10:33 PM +0900 12/24/06, Mark R. wrote:
>If Oryoki says they are spectacular, then they probably are. Sounds like
>Oade aren't great at providing the most flattering samplings...but we have
>had reports over the last year from this group, that confirm what she says=
.
>One such report was from Raphael Marquez and he was kind enough to provide
>his own samples. http://www.fonozoo.comeng/rinconbioacustio.php
>
>Mark R.
>
>On 12/24/06, Raimund Specht < > wrote:
>>
>> Alan wrote:
>> > Has anyone used the Oade Brothers' Marantz PMD 660?
>>
>> oryoki wrote:
>> > The results are quite spectacular.
>>
>> While I believe that Oade can indeed improve the performance by
>> removing and/or modifying parts of the stock circuit, I would doubt
>> that the modifications are that spectacular.
>>
>> The sample files that are available on their website seem to provide
>> less evidence for the improvements than implied:
>>
> > http://www.oade.com/digital_recorders/hard_disc_recorders/PMD-660MODS.=
html
>>
>>
>> Fist, it does not make much sense to compare different microphone
>> preamplifier without connecting a microphone (unless the input is
>> terminated by a resistor that is equivalent to the impedance of the
>> microphone). An open unterminated input will usually create a higher
>> noise level than a properly terminated input. The increase of noise
>> will depend on the specific details of the preamplifier circuit. So,
>> this kind of comparison is nearly irrelevant.
>>
>> Secondly, the sample recordings made with the M-Audio Aries mic have
>> obviously been made at different gain settings. The Advanced mod
>> sample exhibits a significantly lower level (about 6 dB below the
>> stock example). A lower gain setting will of course also reduce the
>> absolute noise level.
>>
>> I wish all the group members a Merry Christmas,
>> Raimund
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>--
>Every seed is awakened and so is all animal life. It is through this
>mysterious power that we too have our being and we therefore yield to our
>animal neighbours the same right as ourselves, to inhabit this land. -
>Sitting Bull
>
>
>
>
>
>"Microphones are not ears,
>Loudspeakers are not birds,
>A listening room is not nature."
>Klas Strandberg
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
--
Rob Danielson
Peck School of the Arts
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
http://www.uwm.edu/~type/audio-art-tech-gallery/
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