The other way is to use something like an Art Phantom II which is a battery=
phantom power unit. This has XLR's in and out, so you would need an XLR to=
mini jack lead. This would allow you to use phantom powered mic's with the=
PCM D50's own built-in mic amps.
Phil
On 1 Feb 2009, at 15:34, "justinasia" <> wrote:
Hi Rob
What then is the option for using XLR mics with the Sony PCM D50? They
sell the SONY XLR-1, but that only adapts the XLRs to the 1/8th input,
without even giving phantom power, and costs $450. That seems far too
much when compared to the price of the D50 itself (same price!), or to
the price of the Fostex FR2-LE (just $100 more than the XLR-1).
What I mean to say is, is there a reasonably priced solution to using
XLR mics (with phantom power) with the SONY PCM-D50? I had read that
one cannot properly use some of the other products but I do not
understand it. If people have experience with this I would really
appreciate to hear it.
This was posted on the Tapers forum about it:
"The XLR-1 box seems overpriced, but when looking for a less expensive
solution, people need to realize that there's no such thing as a
universal passive adapter from two XLR inputs to an unbalanced
mini-plug unless it contains a pair of audio transformers. And the
good ones of those, such as Jensen or Lundahl, are quite expensive
(see for example http://www.jensen-transformers.com/ms2xx.html).
Without transformers or active circuitry, no matter how you wire the
box (among the several possibilities that exist) there will be some
good mikes that it won't work with, or won't work properly. It may
pass no signal at all, or it may pass signal from one output lead
while it shorts the other one to ground, increasing the distortion and
lowering the maximum SPL of the microphone. Or it may work fine. But
that depends on exactly how the box and the output circuit of the
microphones are designed. There's no one formula such as "just connect
pin 3 to pin 1" or "just connect pin 2 to pin 1" or "just connect pin
2 and leave pin 3 hanging" all of which I've seen people give out as
if it was the most obvious, well-known thing in the world.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news here, but let the buyer beware.
There is a standard for balanced operation of phantom-powered
microphones, but no standard for unbalanced operation. If you imagine
that this subject has a simple solution, you're simply wrong and
you're headed straight for the problems I'm talking about."
--- In Rob Danielson <> wrote:
>
> Justin--
> Except for the Sound Device products, none of the external mic pres
> you mention are as quiet as the mic pre that is built into the Sony
> PCM D50. The next step-up in noise performance would probably be the
> Fostex FR2-LE. Using an external pre and line input to improve
> performance is an approach better suited for an existing recorder
> with a noisy pre. A good, used external stereo mic pre with phantom
> power is about the same price as a new Fostex and all you gain is
> bulk. Rob D.
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