Re: Noisy Marantz PMD recorders

["oryoki2000" oryoki2000]

"Raimund Specht"  wrote:

> There has always been a irrational paranoia
> regarding the preamplifier noise issues...

Irrational or not, my experience is that the quality
of bird sounds recorded in the field improved markedly when
the PMD670 was replaced by a Sound Devices 722.
The same mic was used, the same cables, the same recordist,
the same bit depth settings on the recorders.  Only the
recording device was changed.

Using the PMD670, the "tape hiss" added by the preamp
is distracting, to the point that the recordings are marginal
for publication on CD.  With the 722, the recordings
are much quieter, and unquestionably are good enough for
commercial publication.  (This is one case where the extra
money spent for the 722 does buy happiness.)

That's why I say the PMD670 has noisy preamps.  The PMD671
seems much improved in this regard, but I have not used
the PMD671 in the field.

--oryoki