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e1ghtyf1ve

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Everything posted by e1ghtyf1ve

  1. I didn't know that one could do that. Neat. The SBM-1 was used to create some fine recordings, that's for sure. It's a great complement to my PCM-M1.
  2. As I said earlier, go ahead and try it. You won't break anything. Just be patient. I have all the tools and equipment to maintain our HiMD portables. I completely tore down and reassembled an RH910 (almost identical to my RH10) last June. It is surprisingly well made, a little engineering marvel. The motors are brushless, and I also made sure all the gears are well lubricated. Barring butterfingers, and natural or electrical disasters, I expect it will last for many years. By then, hopefully new and better devices can be had. Cheers and health to all (typo edit)
  3. Hey vandons welcome! The M100's display works best in dark indoor or night settings, the M10's in bright daylight. The M100 comes with a larger capacity battery. That's it. Unless you need OS X compatibility, I would stick with the cheaper RH10/910 clones and get my own mics, as bobt suggested. Cheers
  4. Hi, Sorry to hear that your HD bit the dust. The NH1 should be recognized as a mass storage device. If other USB storage devices work for you, so should the NH1, which I believe also uses USB 1.1. HiMD recorders appear as a mounted drive on my OS X desktop. I hope this helps you - just don't expect a speed daemon. But this sounds like an emergency. Cheers
  5. That's pretty funny! Lots of science fiction. There's some truth mixed in there, though. But no, sorry to disappoint you, the ferrite cores are not magnetic. If they produce a tiny magnetic field, it is merely coincidental and not intentional. When you wrap a loop of the cable through the cores, you are in effect creating what's called a low-inductance RF choke, a kind of low-pass filter for RF frequencies. BTW, the brain scrambling bit was a little joke. FCC doesn't require it, check the manual again (Page 3 for some). The device already complies with Part 15 as Class B, with or without the clamp filters. They do help prevent Class B digital devices from interfering with each other. You are not breaking any law by leaving them off! It is conceivable that malfunctions could rarely occur, however. Here endeth the physics lesson. Normally I would let these things slide, but there was just too much misinformation here.
  6. The order in which the devices are presented is a bit odd, but I found it very interesting anyway, and definitely shows how poor the MT preamps are, and how well a HiMD recorder can perform. All mics were the same. This was a real-world test designed for real world nature recordists.
  7. This has been asked many times before - use the search. Repeat after me: They are not magnets. They have nothing to do with magnetism. They are RF chokes. They block radio frequency signals from entering and scrambling your (MD) brain!
  8. Drivespace is based on an ancient relic by a different name from the days of slower hard drives and faster CPUs - use software to do on-the-fly compression/decompression. Back around 1991 or so, this did two things; speed up data transfers, and increase the effective storage capacity by as much as 100%. It also required stringent backup habits, as malfunctions often resulted in lost data. Interesting idea, though. Might be worth a shot.
  9. Bingo, mystery solved! You have my thanks as well, DerTapir! Based on the performance, I would guess that the signal is dithered, not truncated, to 16 bits. Well done!
  10. Yeah, others had similar experiences. I haven't timed it, maybe 40 secs on that buffer? Zombie MD! Pretty funny... Cheers
  11. Try not to get upset, Sparky - you'll live longer! tekdroid, I can really empathize with your feelings about MD as a data storage device. For my tastes, it's just too slow, as I mentioned in my (unedited) postings above, for daily data storage. For music, however, HiMD is my replacement for CD-R, just as classic MD was for cassette tape. I've never had one of my own HDs fail me yet (knock on wood). Even my 20MB drive from my old XT still boots DOS 3.2. My problem is that everybody else's drives seem to crash all the time. This really reduces my confidence in them Cheers
  12. What odd responses! Crotch rot?? About the government study: Yes, those were extreme test conditions. We've easily found failures in "ideal" conditions as well. Anyway, it's obvious that MD is much too slow for everyday non-musical data storage. Important stuff gets backed up to DLT or sometimes DVD+R DL for shipping. BTW, we have fired technicians for using HDs as backups. Every couple of years we get a joker who thinks he can play with our data. When the HDs fail, out the door they go! If it's on a RAID that needs a rebuild, they get one warning. Luckily, we can weed out most bad apples during the screening interviews. When I hold up some CD-Rs we made back in 1996 to a bright light, I see clear patches in the dye layer, where data is gone forever. Some other disks are fine. They were all stored in metal cabinets, air conditioned. Carefully stored DLT and DATs of similar age read fine without exception. That's why media such as DLT are the de facto industry standard backup solution, and have been for many years. Deal with it. Cheers
  13. My DVD dual layer burner is great and all that, until bit-rot inevitably sets in. Stability Study
  14. I wish there were, I'm still looking. I found this on the Nature Recordists newsgroup. They have very specific requirements which closely resemble my own with classical instrument recording. Interesting stuff! The 722 is king of the hill, but costs a lot of money... Cheers
  15. All I can say is, I'm not surprised! Comparison
  16. Try doing the same with it plugged in to mains power. Failing that, send it in. In fact, send it in without delay. The only "similar" model that I know of still available is the MZ-RH10 which is a step up. Cheers
  17. Most static discharges would have come from your own fingers - no metal needed. Since it's summertime in Sydney, it's indeed unlikely in your case. Most devices die from static during the winter months when you have heated dry interior air. It's just something to keep in mind for the future health of all your devices! Cheers
  18. I don't know if I would use the word "difficulties" but yes you're correct. As you get into higher and higher frequencies, depending on your sample rate, "difficult" starts to become "impossible." OT: Speaking of frequencies, did you know that mp3 has no scale factor band above about 16khz? Maybe that's why my mp3 players perform so poorly at high frequencies... hmmm Then again, mp3 ain't no hi-fi format. Cheers
  19. The harman/kardons I have are full frequency range, stand about 10" high, and cost about $20. I can't find a model number, but they've got a nice, hour-glass shape. Simple design, great sound, about 5W per channel. I believe they used to be part of a Dell order. Other computer speakers sound like crap to me, especially laptop speakers. Now, the h/k don't compete with my hand-made 500W towers, but for the size they can't be beat. Cheers
  20. Yes, I believe you are on the right track. We are actually talking about pulse density modulation here, not frequencies per se. The 1-bit converters are inherently linear and as dex Otaku pointed out, relatively economical to manufacture. This is why most high resolution converters (such as 24-bit) use the 1-bit approach as it is so difficult to make segmented or ladder versions. Pulse width modulation is used more and more for hifi audio. Most MD decks from 1999 onwards use 24-bit resolution converters (probably 1-bit DA/ADC hybrids) and dither down to 16-bits for PCM/ATRAC format storage. This is how S/N can be around 100dB or better; dithering and noise shaping. I've not seen any evidence (somebody point me to it if I missed it) that HiMD portables don't use the same or similar hybrid converter scheme as the MD decks. Why wouldn't they, as it's cheap, proven technology. Maybe that's why they sound so good. Cheers
  21. Perhaps the less than stellar PMD-660 tainted the 671's reputation somehow? Even so, I would take the 16-bit 660 over the MT any day. Those extra US$100 nets an enormous boost in quality of workmanship and reliability. I simply switch to higher output mics. Yes, in my most humble subjective opinion, of all the sub-$1000 portable/pocket recorders available today, the HiMD analog input stages are the best, and virtually on a par with those of my PCM-M1. We're on the same wavelength here. To me, the resulting subjective sound quality is king. If you want true high performance portable 24-bit recording, may I suggest the following: Sound Devices 722 Portable Audio Recorder You get what you pay for, though. With HiMD, sometimes you get a whole lot more. Cheers
  22. A very good point! Cheers PS Where's Tina?
  23. The best small computer speakers I heard so far are the Harman Kardons. The built-in amp and the little bass-reflex tubes make them sound much larger than they really are. The wide frequency response and dynamic range are remarkable. Cheers
  24. I agree. Based on my experience with lots of equipment, I wouldn't be surprised if the portable HiMD units sported 1-bit converters. Their analog performance is incredible, in spite of the ridiculously low price tag. The PMD-671 I assume you are referring to (~$1000US) almost certainly uses 24-bit linear converters. It sounds amazing to my ears. The MT performs at best as a 16-bit recorder, and not a very good one at that (I compared it side-by-side to my PCM-M1). Does it use a 1-bit converter? Probably, but the analog stages are so poor does it really matter? Cheers
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