Debbi,
The "Equivalent Input Noise (EIN)" number are a measure for the
"quietness" of the recorder's preamplifiers. Large negative dBu
numbers correspond to small inherent noise voltages.
So, ideally, these noise voltages should be as low as possible in
order to minimize the annoying self noise floor of the recorder.
However, another source of noise is the microphone itself. So,
depending on the noise specification (the "dBA" figure) and the
sensitivity (the "mV/Pa" figure) of the microphone, it is not
necessary to chose the recorder with the lowest noise floor (-130
dBu). For instance, if you had a microphone that already provides a
relatively high output level such as the Sennheiser K6/ME66 (50mV/Pa),
even a mediocre EIN value of about -115dBu would not much degrade the
overall noise performance of the recording system because the inherent
noise floor of the microphone would be the limit. In other words, even
the best available preamplifier cannot further improve the overall
noise performance beyond of the specification of the microphone.
I hope that this helps at bit to better understand these things.
Regards,
Raimund
On the other hand, if you had a
--- In Debbi B <> wrote:
>
> This looks useful, but can somebody explain what these numbers mean in
> simple terms for us who don't understand the technicalities very well?
>
> Raimund Specht wrote:
> > Hi Gianni,
> >
> > I just measured the noise floors of the Olympus LS-10, the Marantz
> > PMD620 and the TASCAM DR-1. The results can be found on my updated
> > recorder test page:
> >
> > http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm
> >
> > I will also measure the new MicroTrack II when I get the one I ordered
> > back in February.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Raimund
> >
> --
> /Debbi Brusco/
>
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