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Re: Field test: R-09 vs. DR-1 vs. LS-10 vs. PCM-D50

Subject: Re: Field test: R-09 vs. DR-1 vs. LS-10 vs. PCM-D50
From: "Raimund Specht" animalsounds
Date: Tue May 27, 2008 6:54 am ((PDT))
oryoki wrote:

> First, was the mic sensitivity set to the "high"
> setting for each of the recorders?  The LS-10,
> for example, sounds a lot better when set to "low."

Yes, any mic sensitivity switches (if available) were set to high.

> Second, was preamp gain set as high as possible,
> consistent with the goal of matching record levels
> between the machines?

I first tried to use the maximum available gain on all recorders.
However, it was necessary to reduce the gain on the LS-10 and the
PCM-D50 (which both provide a very high maximum gain) in order to
prevent clipping caused by the wind.

I matched the playback levels in post processing on the computer.

Bye the way, I disabled any available high-pass filters and used the
16 bit format on all recorders.

Note that the inherent noise levels of the integrated electret
microphones are relatively high compared to other high-quality
external microphones, such as the Sennheiser K6/ME series mics for
instance. So, the influence of the actual gain settings in this test
should be more or less negligible because the lower preamp noise
should have been safely masked by the higher mic self noise levels.
This is also the reason why I did not use the 24 bit format at all. At
least if one uses the internal mics of these recorders, the 24 bit
format should be more or less useless, even if the lowest available
gain setting is being used.

Regards,
Raimund




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