greenmachine

Electret (a.k.a. pre-polarized condenser) microphones require a small voltage of approx. 1-10V (for the internal FET) to operate, which Sony tends to call "plug in power". Dynamic or externally powered mics don't require this PIP. An extension cord won't significantly affect this voltage (unless unusually long), but the susceptibility to electromagnetic fields tends to increase when the cord is not shielded properly.

Currently not possible (if ever), you will need an external mixer.

The tests for estimating the battery life times from the manufacturer are probably conducted under close to ideal conditions, which means fully charged, well conditioned battery, continuous recording/playback, etc.. In my experience the plug-in power doesn't noticeably affect battery life. With a well conditioned gumstick batt., the RH910's batt. life should be more than sufficient most of the time, with the external batt. attachment it should beat the RH1's max. possible batt. life by far. NiMH (and NiCD) batteries require more maintenance/care than Li-Ion, otherwise performance will suffer. Read more about battery care here: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/ It is important to completely discharge Ni-based batteries from time to time to avoid the so-called memory-effect, which will degrade performance.

PCM is a 44.1kHz, 16bit recording mode, compressed encoding is quite more complex and doesn't happen at a fixed bit depth. Read more here about the (old) ATRAC codec.

I like the R700 (shortcomings: no mic sensitivity selector, noisy motor) and the R909 (no severe shortcomings that i would be aware of).

Not sure if i understand your question. The topic is about playback, not recording or editing live recordings.

It depends on the sensitivity of your mic if the high or low sens. switch of the recorder suits you best for general purpose (not for recording very loud sounds -> line-in). The mentioned Sony mic is not that sensitive as far as i know, thus should work well with the high sens. switch (or a recorder without it). With a more sensitive mic you would probably be better off using the low sens. setting of the recorder most of the time, even for relatively quiet sounds like normal speech since a more sensitive mic requires less preamplification. By using too much preamplification you'll just increase the risk of introducing clipping.

I think the last sample shows similar characteristics. Also, I wonder why the left channel is so much louder in both Nady clips, was it due to mic placement, were they recorded in the same location? How close have you been to the stage? I think using directional mics in a binaural setting wouldn't be necessary. The (dummy) head will work as a baffle and give even omnidirectional mics the desired degree of directionality. Other than that, if you have the time or interest, I would be interested in your opinion about the sq/versatility/suitability for lsp. playback of my pseudo-binaural setup with omnis - not in, but close (just above) the ears. I have samples in the gallery here and here. Most of them were done from quite a distance, so that may kind of limit the suitability for lsp. playback.

AFAIK the volume adjustment of mp3gain works losslessly and is reversible, no need to normalize in wav format. Still, i have stopped using mp3gain, as i want the tracks as loud as they were meant to be.

The person who told you that MDs are 8bit and SACD 24bit must be quite misinformed. For details use the search.

I have seen a few (non-professional) single point (distance of 5cm/2" or less) omnidirectional mics around, which i think is generally a bad idea. Stereo omnis need the distance and/or a physical separator to create the illusion of dimensionality, otherwise they will just sound very close to mono indeed. These might have shaped some people's opinions about single point mics towards a negative direction. Directional mics (cardioid or similar pickup pattern) on the other hand can be angled for creating a channel difference and don't necessarily need a distance or barrier in between to create sufficient channel difference (stereo effect). Because of the nature of wave propagation, these directional single point mics will pick up higher frequencies with greater channel difference than the lower, which is ideal for mono compatibility / loudspeaker playback, but (to me) sounds unnatural over headphones (there is a reason why your ears are on each side of your head with a distance in between and your head as an additional wave forming sphere). As for the samples, i think the Nady's stereo field sounds wider, high frequencies more clear, but altogether at least as nasal as the MS907. Both sound good over lsp. but not too natural over headphones. The bottom end sounds thin in both samples to me, even more so in the Nandy one, but i realize this depends to a great part on the original sound source. A tight bottom can be beneficial for lsp. playback to lower room resonances though. Again, less desirable for hp. playback. By the way, the last sample doesn't seem to work for me.

listening to Hal Galper | Live at Maybeck Recital Hall (1990) Hal Galper - solo piano tracklist: see attached pic

You have to differ between in- and near-ear binaural recording, of which the latter (IMO) is a good compromise between good reproduction over headphones as well as loudspeakers without much post-editing. In-ear recording admittedly requires specific playback equipment (in-ear-phones and/or equalization) for an accurate/pleasant reproduction.

I wonder, if they don't want us to rip these, how are we supposed to play them in our mp3/atrac players? Carry CD players and a bag of original CDs with us instead? Purchase the compressed version separately? Abandon portable listening? Makes no sense to me. At least this silliness can be circumvented.

Hi-SP is 256kbps, which is also the maximum compressed bitrate for real-time recording. 352kbps has been introduced not so long ago and is available via software only. So you compared a 352kbps software encoded track against a 256kbps optical-in recorded track and preferred the latter? Interesting. Since real-time recording requires you to adjust the recording levels manually (you didn't use AGC, did you?) even when recording from the optical-in, it might be possible that this real-time recorded track might be a bit louder or quieter than the other, which might contribute to the perceived difference.

I have a few of these little pieces (4x5 holes) of circuit board left. If you PM me your address, i can send you one of these.

Nathan, I've prepared a few samples* for you to demonstrate the effects of dynamic compression so you can listen/see/judge for yourself. It's pretty hard for me to describe compression artifacts. I would describe it as some kind of "ducking" when a sudden peak arises, particularly noticeable in drum tracks. It can sound very unnatural when overdone. First, an acoustic guitar solo uncompressed: guitar.mp3 Then applied some compression to it: guitar_c.mp3 Here's another sample of a trio (piano, el. bass, drums), first with all their natural dynamics: trio.mp3 Again, applied some (too much) compression: trio_c.mp3 See also here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_compression and here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_gain_control *Samples created with Magix Music Maker, compression and graphs by Adobe Audition, pictures edited with Irfan View, mp3 compression by lamedropXPd

The NH700 (or NHF800, similar unit with radio remote) offers all the recording features you need at an affordable price. I use one myself and am very happy with the results. This question appears pretty frequently here in the forums, so you may want to take a look around for details / other recommendations.

A battery box is not meant to be a substitute for a preamplifier, it just supplies the power for the mics (which is not present at the line input). When recording via BB/line-in, there needs to be a high input level (e.g. loud amplified concert) to get good levels, otherwise the signal will be, as experienced, (very) low. For relatively quiet sounds, a preamp / recorder with mic-in is required.

Does this mysterious maximum quality bitrate have a name?

What is more apparent to me in the example, are the dynamic compression artifacts. Did you use AGC (or the equivalent on a camcorder) or apply some sort of post-limiting? Does your camcorder have a manual level control? These pumping effects can make problems in the low frequency region more apparent and more difficult to correct afterwards.

What codec/bitrate exactly did you convert to/record in? ATRAC can stand for SP, which is a transcoded LP2 version if you transfer via software. For this particular codec, SQ will indeed be a lot better when recorded in realtime. This is a long known issue. If you used a different codec (for example Hi-SP), i'd be interested if you did the test blind? Your brain can play tricks with you if you know the source (placebo effect). See here: http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=16295

Whatever you do, be sure to keep a copy of the unedited original, you might change your mind later about the best way / usefulness of editing.

SP (292kbps), LP2 (132kbps), LP4 (66kbps) and MONO (146kbps) are older recording modes, mainly included for backwards compatibility. If you don't need to play your MDs on older equipment, there's no benefit of using them to my knowledge. In Hi-MD mode the disc will be formatted differently so that the disc space can be used more efficiently (almost twice the space compared to MD disc mode). The available Hi-MD modes are PCM (1411kbps), HiSP (256kbps) and HiLP (64kbps). Hi-SP yields significantly greater fidelity than LP2, the available recording time per disc will be just a few minutes shorter (still more than 2 hours on a standard MD). Hi-MD mode recordings can also be uploaded digitally (no quality loss) faster than realtime via USB connection, whereas MD mode recordings cannot (with the NH700). To set the recorder to Hi-MD recording mode, go to Option -> Disc Mode -> Hi-MD. Other than that, i would suggest to get at least one 1GB Hi-MD disc. The available recording time will increase approximately by the factor of three, so that you can record more than 90 minutes in PCM (uncompressed, CD quality), almost 8 hours in Hi-SP (compressed, high quality) or an awful lot in Hi-LP where quality isn't a primary concern.

I'd also use a conventional "open" (little isolation) ear-/headphone pair in stereo at a low volume instead of a one-sided mono 'phone: Converting to mono will discard the phased content of the signal, sound coming from only one ear will confuse your perception/brain (no room information).