Hello
Thanks for the insight.
I'd be interested to know how it compares with the way cheaper Zoom
H4, which has fantom power.
All the best
geoffroy
>
> I've just received a Nagra ARES-M, Nagra's smallest, lowest-cost
> recorder and the first Swiss/Chinese collaboration for them. See:
>
> http://www.nagraaudio.com/pro/
>
> Right off it's just the right size and has all the features nature
> recordists need, including quiet PIP preamps (critical tests to
> follow).
>
> It has a serious defect in the mounting of the 3.5mm jacks (mic, line
> in, headphone, line out) a little below the surface of the case
> (.75mm for the inputs, 1.2mm for the outputs) so that the plugs don't
> insert far enough to lock securely. I think I'm going to have to
> grind down the plastic around the jacks.
>
> The human interface is fine but not very intuitive; the learning
> curve is steep but short. There are very helpful things like
> pre-record buffer (only 2 seconds max) and ten presets for mic types
> and levels. Loading a preset includes a default gain setting for that
> mic, and record gains can be locked, something that would be useful
> for survey work.
>
> The menu for the set-up of the presets is intentionally a bit hard to
> get to; I think the idea is that an engineer sets it up and hands it
> to a reporter who isn't that technical.
>
> There's a bewildering array of choices of encoding schemes, all
> 16-bit max; PCM, MP2, MP3, and weird phone encodings like u-law.
>
> Tested so far with its snap-on stereo mic (looks like M-S, Nagra USA
> supplies it with the lower-noise Sennheiser capsules, not the stock
> model), Shure WL-183s, and Telinga EM-23s. Sounds great with all of
> them.
>
> I'm really busy right now, so if Rob Danielson has time to do
> comparisons before I do, I'll be happy to ship it out. Rob?
>
> -Dan Dugan
>
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