pjburnhill

Cheers 722Forever, that's really helpful. As you said, I really wouldn't like to get into NR, if I can help it and I can. :smile: One question though, won't the 'headphones' output add quite a bit noise as well so should I try to run all recorded material to my computer trough desk minidisc unit's optical out if I can find one? Or have you experienced this problem with 'headphones' output at all?

Thanks guys, I guess the problem is the mic pre and I could use noise reduction in Sound Forge or other software. I'm just not too keen on goin through hours of recording especially, like you said if you have to change the noise reduction parameters on different material. Also that FEL mic pre looks promising, though still quite pricey. I've been looking into other mic pre options one being making it myself. Here's one option http://www.geocities.com/ferocious_1999/md...micpreamp2.html Any other cheap portable mic pre choices?

I'm using little Sony ECM-MS907 but I get the hiss without even anything plugged in to the inputs and recording.

Hi all, it's my first post and my hope to use my MZ-N707 for field recordings brought me here to the forums, It's been great reading about the tweaks and tips. I've been reading stuff on this topic and I've ever so grateful for all the great advice, but I'm yet to find a definate answer to my questions.. Ok, I've been trying to do some very simple tests on the recorded sound quality of my minidisc, but I've yet to figure out the 'bottle neck' for my recorded material, I get considerable amount of hiss (maybe most people wouldn't mind it I guess, but I find it really annoying) when using mic in and 'line out' (headphones). Basically I'd like to get the best sound quality when transferring material recorded by mic to minidisc and then onto my Mac. I am aware that SonicStage is out of the question which means that USB is out of the question. So since I'll be using analog & possibly optical I got a few questions on the quality of my N707: - What do you think is the main source of hiss? (I understand that it could be pretty much anything, but I'm using 'good' equipment with no auto rec vol etc.) As in what point of the (component) chain is there most noise added? - Is there any point using external mic pre (with optical out? [is there any such pre? ]) for recording or are the components that transfer recorded data onto the actual disc too poor to really have any advantage from such pre? - Will a rack minidisc player with optical out change the quality dramatically when transferring material from MD or does the 'hiss' happen before it actually is saved on the MD or before its been send to the optical out? - I really wouldn't want to buy a separa pre or rack minidisc player so is there any other way to improve the quality of the recording that is being saved onto the MD and then send to my Mac? What kind of solutions have you been using and found useful? Thanks in advance, I really appreciate all the suggestions.