Hi all,
This is my first post after lurking for several years.
I'm a recordist/audio engineer who mainly does audio post and sound design.=
I'm currently planning a trip to Darwin in northern Australia to record th=
e tropical wet season, specifically the thunderstorms.
I made a similar trip last year and there wasn't much storm activity during=
the period I was there so I ended up with mostly frog and insect tracks (n=
ot a bad thing).
On that trip I was running 2 x AT4022 > MixPre > PCM-M10. For this year's t=
rip I've bought a SD USBPre 2 which will probably be paired with a Tascam D=
R680.
Some preliminary tests I've done on the USBPre are concerning me slightly, =
particularly in that my Behringer ADA8000 mic pre/adat interface seems to o=
utperform the USBPre in several important respects. (bear with me on this!)
I don't have the measured figures handy (they're at home), but the crux of =
the matter is that at max gain, with a dummy load (a SM58 with its capsule =
leads shorted), the USBPre's RMS noise floor is about 25dB higher than the =
Behringer (approx -60dBFS USBPre vs -85dBFS Behringer).
The max input levels show a similar difference. I fed a 1kHz sine wave out =
of my Emu 1212m, peaking at -1dBFS (which I believe equates to an analog ou=
tput level of +19dBu), over balanced lines into both devices' mic inputs. B=
y lowering the software master fader I could see the max level each device =
could accept. At max gain the USBPre clipped at about 20dB lower than the =
Behringer (can't remember figures, will post later if people want)
So it would appear that at max gain the USBPre has a far lower dynamic ran=
ge than its cheapo comparison box.
Does anyone know why this would be the case?
I haven't done a direct test with my main mics yet but initially these resu=
lts are a bit disconcerting. I've seen Raimund's excellent recorder tests a=
nd am interested to see how or if my results fit into his framework.
I'm interested in hearing your opinions, and thanks for reading this far!
Ben
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