kuuan

I bought it used from yahoo auction in Japan ( biggest online auction there, not ebay ), while I was in Japan. Supposedly recently they are easy to be found online, but some report having had problems with them. Some say they might be refurbished, others even said they might be copies. Some site from Australia has been offering H120/140 and H320340 via ebay recently.

The 12 Volt version works well with 9 Volts though I I believe changing some resistor values would optimize it for 9 Volts, but I don't know how to calculate them. I made point to point soldering and fit it into a small box, it is very small and portable. I chose to have the 9 Volt battery 'external', total volume still is smaller than the player itself. To add the plug-in-power I followed this: http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/kuuan/pluginpower.jpg schematics. It shows one channel of a ballanced Mic. To adapt it to unballenced Mic you simply leave out the Pin 3, and of course repeat the same thing for the 2nd channel. Since my AT822 does not want plug in power, but my Giant Squids and coming SP-CMC4s do I added a switch to turn it off and on. The switch got 6 Pins, 3 Pins for each channel to switch the 2 channels separately. On one position the input is wired directly as shown at the P13 figure 2 schematics, on the other position the plug-in power wiring as shown at the photobucket file I linked here is added before entering the circuit. It works! If it is not clear please ask again and I will try to clarify. It works fine, but I am not sure if the values of the resistors and caps are ideal. I asked this question,how to change restistor values to optimize it for 9 Volts,and if the solution I found for the wiring of the gain selector pot was acceptable, - it is working but the wiring as shown at the circuit did notand other questions using my name kuuan here: http://sound.westhost.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1086 and question about a mic mixer I'd like to build at the same forum here: http://sound.westhost.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1163 but have not received any answers yet.

so what did I get in the end? I did buy an iRiver H120, installed Rockbox and built my own mic preamp which has a switch to turn on/off 9 Volt plug in power. I am VERY happy with this combination. From what you and others told me I do believe that the HiMDs have better inbuilt A/D and preamp than the iRiver. However I do have use for an mp3 player anyway, and the 20 GB storage, drag and drop facility of the iRiver are very convenient for my use. From what I found out it is mostly the inbuilt preamp the iRiver which is the weakest link and the A/D is not that bad. Therefore the quality of the recordings with my DIY preamp is very good indeed. The material for the preamp cost me about 5 USD. if anybody is interested, here the link with the circuit of the preamp: http://sound.westhost.com/project13.htm I made the figure 2 modified version powered with 12 Volt, but it works fine with a 9 Volt battery. Of course I made two circuits to have stereo, and I simply terminated it with two stereo mini females, one for Mic-in, one for 'out', one power switch, one switch to turn on/off mic in power supply, one pot for gain control and fit it into a box half the size of the player. It really is VERY noise free ( with my AT822, with the Giant Squids there is some noise, must come from the mics, SP-CMC4s are coming ) If anybody wants to know I also can explain you how I made it function as a battery box - 9 Volt plug in power device.

thank you very much, greenmachine, for this interesting link. The findings there, if I understand correctly, say that the built in preamp of the HiMDs is much better/less noisy than even A440 and many others originally believed. Very good news indeed! However I must admit that much talk there ...db, caracteristics of various mics. etc. is beyond my understanding: Is it that the use of batterie boxes made the recordings less noisy? - Surprisng and confusing for me, as I thought to have learned in various forums lately that bettery boxes for mics are specially required if recording loud sound? To avoid noise for 'quiet ambience' recordings the right choice of mic also seemed very important. Do you know how quiet/noisy the AT822 would be? ( from specs you can see here: http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mi...5bdf92967733dc/ or experience? ) I just very recently bought one, it uses an AA batterie and connot be used with higher voltage - as I thought I will not need and use phantom power - did I make a wrong choice then? so: would my AT822 plugged directly into an HiMD be a good solution, of should the use of a battery box lessen the noise? Or would the use of another mic be more favourable?

thank you once again A440 for your thorrow analysis. Just as you are right about my question having changed, I believe that you are right with your asessment of the various recorders. I first learned that the HiMD should be the better recorder. Later I learned about the option of external preamps, even ACDs - which of course I'd rather avoid if the recorder itself is good enough. Than tried to find out which recorder would fit my purpose best. This I am not decided yet: As I had mentioned earlier often I will be recording ambience, e.g. birds singing in an otherwise quiet environment. Would you say that my AT822 directly plugged into an HiMD, the RH10 in particular, or into a R-9 would do that without adding disturbing noise? Or would I need for an external preamp, maybe a ext. preamp+ADC for that anyway?

'disqualify' was just my stupid choice of word, sorry - english is not my mothertongue -

I hope this is not asking to be repetitive, but may I ask you, A440, why would you disqualify the iriver? Even though the HiMD might do better quality, it seems that many experienced tapers using much better mics etc. are happy with it, therefore it should do more than fine for me, a beginner. It would be my cheapest option and maybe my most practical? - still liking those min. 20 GB on board.

WARNING: don't read this post if you are interested in facts, this is rather private talk. just bought the first step to better recording today: an AT822, now doing my first tests recording to the iFP-799 In the shop I bought the mic they sell the edirol R-09 for less than 300 USD...cheaper than the RH1...a 1GB SD card costs 30 USD there. One more contender, another 'vs' thread? I know which one e1ghtyf1ve would prefer.. to tell you the truth at times I think I should get an HiMD simply because all of you here really made your point and I believe that my original question has been answered: The HiMDs will record in superior quality! ...but then think of me, travelling for months, living out of my suitcase but carrying my videoequipment, on the iriver I could record days, weeks , months, all into this one harddisc before needing a PC to upload, not having to carry a stack of MDs... and why not: what is your opinion of the edirol R-09?

thank you all of you, specially A4440, also greenmachine and e1ghtyf1ve. You give me so much information, and there is much I'd like to respond to in detail. Just now I am short of time and I have to make it fast: A440 concerning mics: I do own the socalled 'iriver Giant Squiods' already, so I may not get the ones you mentioned as yet. I had read that the Giant Squid cardioids are bad, but the omnis usually get very good reviews. What's your take on this? As for recorder: battery life: I suppose both HiMDs and theiriver coud be used connected to AC current, yes? HDD noise: should not be too much problem when using external mic. And that means that the HiMD does not have onboard noise, yes? again: I do believe by now that the HiMD does superior quality recordings, as much as I understand mostly due to it's better preamp resp. ADC. Since the difference of quality is disputed though the iriver still might be the better solution for me: ( this is a quote from my last post from the misticriver thread where somebody asked me what my intended use was: ) About two years ago I started to make videos, it is purely a hobby. Now I want the possibility to record audio only which I can use as audio for my videos. I bought an iriver iFP-799 and a socalled 'iriver' Giant Squid mic ( actually two of these mono omni mics to combine them with an Y adapter trying to get stereo as an option ) This solution works fine for voice recording specially because the equippment is so small e.g. for an interview but the recordings are very noisy and I want to get something better for recording music or ambience. I shoot my videos while travelling, hence it is important that my equippment is not bulky. One project I am planning to do is to film and audio record a 10 day long music festival in South India where there is music for many hours at a stretch. By yesterday I pretty much was decided to get a H120. I particularily like that it has a big storage on board and it's drag and drop functionality. I believe it is the better solution for my needs. The latest post at the other thread I had started at minidisc.org made my doubt again as I arrived to believe that a HiMD does somewhat superior quality recordings. I do not like the fact that I would have to carry a bunch of MDs, and I still doubt it's practicality for issues of uploading, having to use sonic stage etc. I have learned a lot these last days. I know I should not ask these questions and research first, but now time is a bit pressing, therefore I dare ask, specially about the 'work flow': Once I record in PCM on a RH10:　Can I also listen to it on the recorder? ( strangly in the equippment browser whee it says what it plays only mp3 and ATRAC are mentioned, though it also says it supports WMA and WAV ). then I connect it via USB to my PC, yes? then I can upload to Sonic Stage. any issues? well, sorry, I have to run now...come back later.

WOW, A440 you are so kind, and thank you greenmachine as well! that link to the tapersection is gold I am just working my way through there, more later. it seems the number of people who like the H120 for recording is growing: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=64277.0 or: NJB3 vs. H120: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=67290.0 very interesting indeed!

I consider to get either of these three and their ranking concerning recoding could be: 1) HiMD recorder 2) Nomad jukebox 3 3) iriver iHP 120 this ranking I conclude ( for myself ) mainly from postings in this and in that: http://www.misticriver.net/showthread.php?t=6193 thread, where again the same guy who wrote the H1xx recording guide also remarks on it's limitations as recorder. I am in Japan right now where I could very likely get a Sony RH10 for about 210 USD, and iHP-120 for 170 USD and a Jukebox 3 for about 90 USD at internet auctions. ( NH700 or 800 nowhere to be seen, but there are socalled 'Net MD recorders?? back in Europe the all of them certainly would cost me more ) I do not need 'professional' recordings, but they should be much less noisy than the ones my iFP-799 produces. With the iFP-799 I use Giant Squid Omnis, the same you use, A440? I still wonder if the more important upgrade would be a better mic anyway... I will record mostly while travelling for months. The fact that I might want to record for hours before having access to a computer to upload would mean that I have to carry quite a bunch of MD with me. The HiMD also is the most expensive. The jukebox takes 2,5inch Harddiscs, I have a spare 40 GB I could put instead of it's 20 GB, I could get it cheap but it is bulky. What above all concerns me it that it might need an external preamp for ext. mics. Can anybody confirm? Or do ask differently, can anybody tell me if an AT822 ( which Iplan to buy for my videocam, see: http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mi...5bdf92967733dc/ which is a AA powered condenser would perform well with the three recorders listed, or if I'd need an extra preamp, specially with the NJB 3? Even though the HiMD seem to be the best recorders, the iHP-120 for it's storage and because it does not - necessarily -need an external preamp still looks like a very good option for my needs.

A44 I am sorry if my last post sounded harsh. Please let me asure you that I am very grateful for all the useful information very helpful posters like yourself offer here. There also has been a small misunderstanding: in my first post I had mentioned that I already have an iFP-799 but was not satisfied with it's quality and that therefore I was looking for a better alternative. I'd be pleased if the irivers did record as well as the HiMDs because personally I find them to be overall a more entertaining toy. However from all my enquieries I slowly do draw the conclusion that the HiMDs should do better recordings than the irivers. So it it high time I learned more about the HiMD's features: e.g. you say that they do offer live level adjustments. How nice! Can you give me more hints how to best use an HiMD recorder to get best recording results? - though this might stretch it a bit as I am sure that I can find it searching the forums, which now I certainly will anyway. two question now particularily interest me: is it essential to have an external preamp or powered mics.? - or can I get very good results with a good condenser mic as the AT822? and: is the RH1 essentially better for recording than the RH10?

I also own an iFP and I am not satisfied with it's recordings this is why I want to upgrade. Your link to the micticriver forum leads to a post which says: This means that the iHP players I am interested in specially with Rockbox do offer better recording and DO pick up thise highs you were missing with your iFP. The iHPs do work as external drive without loosing high bitrate recording. So I am missing the relevance of the drawbacks the iFP players you mention to my interest in the iHP players. reading this: actually rather gives me the impresion that somebody here is tryin to find workarounds to make the MD look more appealing than maybe it is. I'd certainly find a post which said: 'yes, sonic Stage is needed to upload' more impartially informative than a sermon which - well, to my limited knowledge - makes wrong statements: Any CD I burn I can open in the explorer and upload files, no special software is required, and I am very certain that flash drives are juist starting to take off and are far from being outdated. ( even the new to be relaesed Panasonic HD videoecorders will use SD cards ) I am still curious how recordings of iHPs and HI-MDs both at their max. rec. settings compare, other issues aside! ( regarding the other I'd prefer having min. 20 GB on board, the external drive functionality, the live recording level adjustment and recording levels on a 7rockboxed' iHP player to trackmarking and combining tracks functions of the HiMD. But it could be, I even suspect that the quality of the HiMD recordings are superior, and that only would make me incline towards the HiMD, even if having to forsake advantages I clearly see with the iHP iriver...in my view )

Hm...this is very interesing, thank's a lot for your input. I believe you that recordings to a HiMD 'usually' simply will be better than to an iriver, but I do want to inquire further: Orion, I am interested in the H1xx and H3xx irivers because they can record in WAV. So I7d like to find out how their best recording quality which is recording in WAV compares to HiMD recording. Recordings of an RH1 at Hi-SP obviously should be superior to a 256k MP3 on the Iriver. To record WAV to an H320/340 it must be 'rockboxed' though. alrose312, you have the H120 which does WAV recordings 'natively'. Have you ever compared the quality of WAV recordings of the iriver to recordings to your NH900 HiMD? Because I believe that there are many members of the very active forums of misticriver and rockbox who would not agree with your statement that: 'The iRiver is NOT a recorder (though it has some recording features).' It seems that there are more people out there using those irivers recording concerts etc. than there are using HiMDs, and they seem happy. The HiMD might be more intuitive as a recorder as you put it, and Ibelieve that chances are that it's recording quality simply is better than to an iriver. I'd really like to find out if WAV recordings to an iriver might almost match up however since it's functionality as an external drive which enables uploading recorded files to an computer without any software would be such a big advantage for me. - I record while travelling for months at a stretch and I carry an external harddisc. Docking the player and my HD via USB to any computer in any internet cafe would enable me to upload my recorded files. Or do ask differently: Do I necessarily need extra software like sonic stage to upload the recorded audio files to a PC?

for that little money it would be the Panasonic RP-HJE50, though it stil might cost a little bit more than that.