Hey Noah.... what is your impression of the 02IB compared to the MP6 pre's?
I just re-looked at your sig.. is it supposed to read 02IUB??
If so, I'm not familiar with that variation of VMS.
My impression is that I
love it. It makes me feel good about myself and my gear to run a small, Schoeps, kcy only pre (the Schoeps VMS 02iub is the KCY only version of that gear), which integrates well into my rig. It runs forever on AA, fits in my bag perfectly, and makes my signature on ts.com even sexier that it had been before.
Basically, now that I run it, I think my (proverbial) penis is thicker and longer.
But this is exactly my larger point: Despite the fact that I now use the VMS for my "primary" pair of microphones, I'm skeptical that I actually hear a clear, unambiguous, better/worse difference between the mixpre6 and the VMS, or even the littlebox I used to run in its place, especially from an OTS in Madison Square Garden, etc. I might hear some subtle differences, not unlike with the mixpre6 vs. sonosax comp. The consensus there was, that, despite slight personal preference, both sources sounded similar and both very good. Furthermore, we were also listening to two different AD stages. I'm excited to run the VMS because it allows me to run two more microphones into 5/6 in a small unit.
I think what is actually going here is that owners of the 7XX, who (justifiably) love their gear, are loathe to admit that a newer, less expensive, more "pro-sumer" option might compete with their beloved "pro" gear. Conversely, owners of the Mixpre line (like me), who love their gear, are excited to own something which competes with (beats?) more expensive gear. I can't speak for Andy, but I was relieved that I "preferred" the sound of the deck I own. (For the record, we each preferred the gear we own). But that tells me that it's more about
me than the
gear.
None of us listens blind. We judge "sound" not only on what our ears hear, but how our brains interpret what we hear. And our brains are affected by things like how much I paid, the brand name, who else runs this gear, how pretty the lights are, etc.
Dsatz is on record here stating that with Schoeps microphones, basically all professionally designed microphone preamplifiers have essentially the same "sound." I like the VMS for all kinds of reasons. It's "sound?" I don't know. But again it makes me happy to run it.
I think there are real reasons to buy a 744t, a Sonosax, a Nagra or a Zoom over the mixpre6. These include: size and shape, powering options, in/out options, number of channels, multiple sd card recording, brand name, resale value, metering, and much more. But none of those things are about pure "sound."
Just as in "Audiophile" circles, and "pro-sound" internet groups, tapers love to tout the "sound" of their gear in comparison with other brands. I do it too. We all do. But I'm really skeptical of claims like this:
As far as the MP’s being nicer than the RX4 I dont think I could ever really agree with them ever being in the same ballpark.... Generally speaking sonosax makes a better sounding pre-amp, hands down.
The comp we did showed definitively that when it comes to "what we do," (use expensive microphones to record PA systems from far away) the Mixpre6 and the Sonosax are
indeed in the same ballpark, and, indeed, more people preferred the SD to the Sonosax. That doesn't mean that it's wrong to buy a Sonosax. It's also a great piece of gear. I listen to Andy's tapes all the time.
p.s. this is the best place on the internet, where people with different points of view argue with respect with one another. I'm proud to be part of this community.