Hi Rob
> >XLR-1 > SONY PCM-D50 (total $870, about 0.89kg)
>
> What's an XLR-1? Do you mean Art Phantom II or Rolls PB224?
Sorry, I should have written "SONY XLR-1". It is the box SONY makes
for having XLR with phantom for the PDM-D1 and D-50. It is expensive,
at $450. However, it works with all mics which apparently some of the
cheaper options do not. And it uses AA batteries, which is very
appealing for me. Plus on 4 AA batteries it is supposed to last for 40
hours. I thought these reasons, combined with its quality, add up to
make it appealing. My questoin was though, how much of a difference
the added weight and price would make to step up to the Mixpre.
I also should have mentioned, all weights I quoted were including
batteries.
> >1) How does the line input sound quality compare between the SONY and
> >Olympus? (Enough to notice with the AT-3032?)
>
> No appreciable difference.
That's good news. Is there a test anywhere which has been done?
> We've gone full circle. I'll stick with my original suggestion: the
> Fostex FR2-LE should you decide now or later you will need phantom
> and low noise performance for mics like the AT-3032's. The extra
> bulk, wire mess and cost are more of an issue than the slightly
> larger size of the Fostex. Think, "professional sound recorder, not
> 'iPod."
I get what you mean, but although the combined weight is about the
same as the Fostex, this solution would also give the option of just
using the recorder, being very light and portable - an option which
the Fostex would not. In that case I would anyway need to buy an
additional recorder when the Fostex is too big/heavy.
> >I thought the Mixpre should be much better
> >than the D50's mic preamps. Does anyone have the experience to compare
> >the two?
>
> You will hear a tiny bit of D50 pre noise hiss "behind" that of the
> self noise of the AT-3032's.
Did you listen to the file Andrew uploaded? At least on his recording,
the difference in noise was dramatic, and definitely seemed to be in
front of the self noise of the Rode NT2000. Is the AT-3032 self noise
so much louder as to cover that up?
> You get no noise performance
> improvement with the Mix Pre over the Fostex FR2-LE.
Do you know if anyone has done any tests? I would be interested to
hear about it.
> Recordists used to have to buy external pres because pro recorder
> noise performance cost $2K and more. Today, it costs ~$600USD. With
> this in mind, I feel its not a too bad of a simplification to think
> of external pres as an unfortunate, expensive "fix" if one has bought
> a recorder with noisy mic pres. You are not in that position. Rob D.
As you all know, I am very new to all of this. Am I perhaps
interpreting Andrew's test recording wrongly? At least on the test,
there is a vast difference in the noise floor of the SONY PCM-D50
preamps and the Mixpre.
Justin
|