Topic: Do I need an A/D?

[blu666z]

This may be a very newbie question but you have to learn sometime.  I run my mics into my battery box(levels, rolloff) and then onto my minidisc.  How much would I benefit from an A/D and then on to the optical in on my MD?

-Kevin

[jpschust]

you would benefit more by upgrading from your md

[blu666z]

I have thought about it but don't think the quality difference is worth it and I just spent $200 or so on a deck so I can do my own conversions.  Hate to waste that.  Th only thing that is a pain is the flip and I have only had a problem with that one time during a moe. show.  They just wouldn't stop!!

-Kevin

[jpschust]

well kevin, heres the thing, the quality that you would be getting out of an outboard a/d will be negated by the atrac compression of the md.  you are going to be losing a lot of the benefit you might otherwise get.  if i was gonna spend 200 bucks or so on upgrading my rig id first work on mics, then deck, then pre and a/d though some will flip the last part of that around... if i was in your shoes i wouldnt see the extra cash as justifiable.

[Brian Skalinder]

if i was gonna spend 200 bucks or so on upgrading my rig id first work on mics, then deck, then pre and a/d

IMO, this is good advice.  I agree.

[blu666z]

well kevin, heres the thing, the quality that you would be getting out of an outboard a/d will be negated by the atrac compression of the md.  you are going to be losing a lot of the benefit you might otherwise get

Exactly what I was trying to find out.  Thanks a lot.

-Kevin

[zhianosatch]

well kevin, heres the thing, the quality that you would be getting out of an outboard a/d will be negated by the atrac compression of the md.

Nope. Not even. The quality from an outboard a/d will be negated ONLY as much as the mic signal going into the recorder's onboard a/d would be because of the compression inherent in the writing of the data. ATRAC is ATRAC - if the signal coming in is better, then the ATRACed version of it will be just a compressed version of the better signal.

you are going to be losing a lot of the benefit you might otherwise get.

This is debatable. You could say the same thing about any kind of signal being compressed.

if i was gonna spend 200 bucks or so on upgrading my rig id first work on mics, then deck, then pre and a/d though some will flip the last part of that around...

I flipped it around.
It IS too bad that you dropped $200 on a home deck. What did you buy? My JE520 was $165 a year ago.
Armen

[ducati]

you would benefit more by upgrading from your md

I don't agree at all.  I used to run AT853 > batt box > MD.  I then bought a Zefiro Inbox.  Made a HUGE difference in quality of recording.  No matter where I played my test recordings and later show recordings, the Inbox improved the sound of the rig by about 300%.  Seriously.

I ended up buying a NJB3 and running AT853> batt box > inbox > NJB3, and didn't notice a whole hell of a lot of difference until I A/B'd recordings on my $10k home hifi.  The differences are there, but you have to have the playback rig to hear them.

I surmise that with the equipment I run now, MD would end up being more of a bottleneck...  But it's nowhere near the bottleneck everyone seems to think, especially when starting out with a modest rig.  ATRAC compression got a whole hell of a lot better from the first MD units (I've owned 4 different iterations, the newer the better in general).

IMO for sure blu66z would benefit from a mic pre/a to d upgrade.  Way more than buying a DAT, IMO

That being said, I wouldn't come close to a MD with a 10 foot pole nowadays; not with the NJB3 out for under $300

Flame suit on

[hippies]

again, for so many reasons, we NEED that Hall Of Fame Forum, Bri...
this one is a classic in the making...  

[jpschust]

hey i stopped there :-)

[zhianosatch]

Yeah Kevin, I don't think anything in a beginner's price range will astonish you as much as the AD-20. I own one myself and would take it and my MZ-R700 over a plain portaDAT A/D any day. There was another relatively recent thread about this subject; I'll try to find it.
A

[blu666z]

+T to everybody for the good discussion.

-Kevin

[Brian Skalinder]

If you decide to go with pre/ADC before changing mics/deck and don't need to be stealth, it's tough to beat the performance/price point of the Edirol UA-5.  I personally like it better than the AD-20.

[blu666z]

Again with the newbie Q's.....how do you power something like that?

-Kevin

[DaryanLenz]

The ua-5 is very easily powered by rc car batteries.  They are light, easy to charge, small, pretty much everything I would want if I had a ua-5.  Now that said, I would certainly suggest that you get the oade mod's, as the stock ua-5 is not very conducive to high gain to say the least.  Aldo, as said above, I would really reccomend fisrst getting a nomad and ditching the MD.  You can easily recoup money through ebay on the MD, and your recordings are far superior.  Armen and you should team up and citch the MD's and get the jukebox!

~~~D~~~