MZ-R700 digitalAGC

[haruhi]

we're having this sound experiment with an MZ-R700 and MZ-NH700 recorders and as much as possible we wanted to get almost similar results recording in the R700 in reference to the NH700. we didn't want any AGCs on the NH700 so we turned it off. we noticed that when we did calibration experiments with the R700 and NH700 we found that R700 is "noisier" and it seemed to have an AGC when the user manual tells nothing about it. we do manual recording capturing the "natural" sound we want to hear but the R700 prevents us to do so.

is there a way to turn the digital AGC off in R700? or is there a way to set the R700 manual recording so the record quality is almost the same as Nh700 without having to ignore slightest sounds because of the noise?

thanks!

[A440]

I think the MZ-R700 does let you go to Manual volume, but it doesn't then allow you to set volume levels while recording--only in Pause. But it has been a long time since I had mine in hand. Have you tried going through the menus (with the disc in and REC-PAUSE on) pressing Menu repeatedly?

Take a look at page 29 of the user manual. http://www.minidisc.org/manuals/sony/sony_mzr700_manual.pdf

[haruhi]

oh yeah, we always set the volume level manual but when we had it record simultaneously with NH700 it looked like it amplified small signals when in fact we want to record it as it is. also, the recorders too noisy that littlest sound recordings we would want to have is unrecognizable.

[A440]

It just seems odd to me that even with Manual you would get AGC, and then only for quiet noises, but who knows what was in Sony's mind at the time.

The R700 is an old unit. So your noise could be coming from an imperfect mic preamp--remember, it has to fit inside the unit and run on 1.5 V--or possibly from a worn-out connection at the mic jack.

I would expect the NH700 to sound better. It's newer and recording on a different codec than the R700.