Yes Rob, the line inputs shouldn't be a bottleneck for typical nature
recording, as long as the gain of the attached external preamp is sufficiently
high. There must be a major design flaw in a recorder if this turned out to be
a problem. I currently have an Olympus LS-11 in my office and could measure its
line input noise floor when I find some time for this.
Regards,
Raimund
Rob D. wrote:
> I'm not aware of poor line input quality being a wholesale
> phenomenon. It would be a true set-back in audio standards as this
> wasn't the case in cassette decks 20 years ago.
>
> If we find that others confirm Dan's finding of low frequency noise
> in the line input when used with external pre and mic with known
> low-noise noise performance, then it does create cause for more
> general suspicion about line input noise performance. But the LS-10
> might also turn out to be the only exception too. A large reason
> that we can make reliable recommendations because we can use our
> collective resources until we get consistent results. Stay tuned. Rob
> D.
>
> = = =
>
> At 11:38 PM -0500 11/14/09, Michael Raphael wrote:
> >I ask because a number of these recorders do not have real line
> >inputs. The micro track is the perfect example.
> >
> >On Nov 14, 2009, at 11:17 PM, Rob Danielson wrote:
> >
> >> At 4:38 PM -0500 11/14/09, Michael Raphael wrote:
> >> >Is there a measurement on the line input on the LS10 or LS11?
> >>
> >> Michael--
> >> Something you might want to keep in mind: An unbalanced, "line" input
> >> is designed for audio signals that have a much higher level than mic
> >> outputs. You can safely assume that there will be no
> >> noise-compromised performance with line level inputs if used at unity
> >> gain (near the "mid" position typically). Recordists have been using
> >> external mic pres with consumer grade recorders for many years and
> >> the only exception I can recall is M-Audio Microtrak's balanced line
> >> input which was addressed in the replacement model. Its great that
> >> Raimund is willing to test things for us, but its not essential to
> >> test the line inputs. Rob D.
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